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Autodesk Software Forum · Autodesk 3D Studio

#Suggestions

11 messages in this thread

#7905From: Yost GroupJan 17, 1992 10:54 PM

Thanks for the ideas, Albert. As MartinF suggested, ImageCel's makes many many great textures. Regarding your 1st comment, for a material that hides things behind it… Have you played much with the Matte attribute? It turns any object into a hold-out matte, hiding anything behind it. – G

#7948From: Albert NurickJan 18, 1992 3:28 PM

Gary, I haven't played with matte…. I don't want to hide *everything*, just certain things. For example, I'd like to make a rotating sign with cutout text that's different on each side… the background should be visible through the cuts. A selective mask object would make this easy. — Albert

#7959From: CSA/CAJan 18, 1992 4:57 PM

Albert, For the rotating sign, seems to me there's no problem creating a sign with different text (and different holes) on 2 or more sides. Of course, the view through the cutouts to the background would only be through the overlapping areas, and would also change based on the camera position and object rotation. Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates

#7997From: Albert NurickJan 19, 1992 3:23 PM

The signs I'm making are more cutout than solid, and the effect doesn't work as I'd like it. Currently, I'm making each sign in two pieces, the solid border, and the cutout stuff. When the sign is on edge to the camera, I swap the stuff inside. It works OK, but is a pain to set up. — Albert

#8041From: CSA/CAJan 20, 1992 1:02 PM

Albert, Are you lofting a polygon (for the sign background) with internal polygons? This should let you handle cutouts in a variety of ways (single object, or multiple, different extrusion depths, etc.). Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates

#8078From: Albert NurickJan 21, 1992 8:11 AM

Kevin, I assemble the sign in the 2-D shaper, loft it, and have a 3-D object that does what I want… until I put another one back-to-back with it. Then you see the one behind through the cutouts in the one in front. I want to just see the objects behind the compound sign, not the back objects showing through. — Albert

#8087From: CSA/CAJan 21, 1992 12:24 PM

Albert, OK. What about treating the front & back as two objects, and HIDE one of them for the necessary segment, so it does not obscure the view through the cutouts? Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates

#8119From: Albert NurickJan 22, 1992 12:22 AM

Kevin, The hiding is a good idea; I haven't tried that. I had been moving the object out of camera range. I'll give it a try right now… Thanks! — Albert

#8140From: CSA/CAJan 22, 1992 12:48 PM

ALbert, If you can do the HIDE and render the appropriate ranges separately, it should still render faster than by using an opacity map. However, MOVing the object should work fine also (as long as you set tension, continuity and bias for an instnat move). Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates

#8094From: Yost GroupJan 21, 1992 3:41 PM

Try this: Assign two different materials to the two signs. One material uses a flic as an opacity map that goes from white (opaque) to black (transparent) at exactly the frame where you want it to become transparent. The other material uses a flic that does the opposite, making the second sign opaque as it rotates into view. – Jack

#8120From: Albert NurickJan 22, 1992 12:22 AM

Jack, That's another good suggestion. I'm going to try Kevin's idea about hidden objects first; if it doesn't work, it's on to the opacity map! Every time I work with 3-D Studio, I am reminded what a fine piece of work it is… of course, I can't wait for version 2.0! — Albert