Air brushed decal
19 messages in this thread
Hello all,
One of our animators is having an unusual problem, perhaps someone has a
suggestion?
When applying a bitmapped decal to an object, the background color of the
bitmap is bleeding into the image around the edges. For example, in Adobe
Photoshop, we create a bitmap and spraypaint the words "Kilroy was here" in
blue (or any other color) on a white or black background. This bitmap is
brought in the the Materials Editor, and then applied to an object (a "brick
wall"). This does not happen when the decal has a clean, straight edge (i.e.,
when it is created as text or with a line drawing tool).
Any suggestions for applying fuzzy-edged decals?
Thanks in advance!
Tom
Tom,
There is a parameter called Texture Blur .. which blurs all of the bit maps.
If you don't want this effect .. you have to change select a lower number.
Ang
Ang,
Thanks much for the tip, it's exactly the parameter that my animator hadn't yet
located in the documentation. Another slope on the 3DStudio learning curve
successfully scaled, thanks to you!
Tom!
Tom,
>> thanks to you!<<
My pleasure.
Ang
I don't use Photoshop much, though I've fooled around with Photostyler. The
problem you're having is probably due to the lack of a true alpha channel from
the Photoshop image. Your spray paint is probably generating intermediate color
pixels and, since only the background is clear with Decal, you're not getting a
smooth effect. If you have the budget, I'd recommend getting Altamira Composer
so you can create your paint effects with full alpha control and decal with
true transparency rather than using the "upper-left-pixel" technique that
clears only a single color.
– Jack
Jack,
Another powerful product that will also do this is HiResQFX (object oriented
draw and paint).
Ang
Jack, Photoshop does support the Alpha channel. Just FYI.
Dave Mennenoh
If it's anything like Photostyler (and I think it is), the alpha channel is
treated as a separate mask and I found it pretty awkward to control. In
Composer, every image carries its own alpha channel at all times, and most
functions deal with the RGB channels _and_ the alpha channel. Also, if
Photoshop is like Photostyler, they jumble the pixels to soften edges rather
than employing the alpha channel, so the anti-aliasing is sort of a "cheat."
– J
Thanks for the info Jack. Composer seems like a great package. What are your
thoughts on how it compares to Painter 2.0 with the X2 extensions? I talked
with a rep from Fractal Design the other day and asked the same question of
him. Biased as he was he seemed to think Painter was a better overall product.
I think you are right as far as how Photoshop treats the alpha channel, I will
take a close look at it today.
Dave Mennenoh
I think Painter is one of the best "paint" programs, with excellent paint-like
effects. But when it comes to manipulating multiple images, even with the X2
extensions, it doesn't come close to Composer. But I'm also biased.
Nevertheles, Composer has a lot more "graphic/draw" features than most other
packages. That is, it combines paint and draw functions, along with image
processing stuff. Since it was designed from the beginning to work with
multiple images, so there are Align functions and homing commands, etc. to
place the images accurately. Composer also has a family of what they call
"texture" commands that I haven't seen on any other package. Essentially, they
let you transfer different pixel values (such as RGB, or alpha, or intensity,
or saturation) from one image to an overlapping image. For example, you can use
the intensity of one image to alter, say, the saturation of another. These are
powerfull tools and, once you get the hand of them, you can do amazing stuff.
– J
PMJI
Fauve Matisse has a texture function which is like bump mapping in 3DS. I
suspect this is different from Composer but interesting nonetheless. I saw FM
advertised for $150 bundled w/ one of Kai's packages. FM has the floating
object capability that the X2 extension allows in Painter. Pretty powerful for
the cash.
I've heard good things about Fauve Matisse. Maybe one of these days I'll get
the time to check it out.
– J
Thanks for the info on composer Jack. I'll definately look into getting it (I'm
sure the manuals are good <g>).
Dave Mennenoh
Dave:
Saw your message to Jack – we have 10 copies of Composer in stock, and would
love to move one out! (hint, hint!)
Greg (714) 833-0334
Greg, Gosh, I'd love to get Composer, and when I can afford it I will get it
from you. I just moved to Milwaukee and am still looking for a job so I can't
drop the money to get Composer. Anyway, I hope things are going good out there.
I can't wait to see the project you guys just wrapped up – sounds really cool.
Dave Mennenoh
Dave:
So what are you doing in Milwaukee? Animation, I hope?
Actually, the work on our big project is just getting going. All the live
portions are done, and the off-line is being completed. We should be able to
go full steam next week.
Greg Pyros
David,
>> I just moved to Milwaukee <<
See Ya' made it!
How's it going? Did you hear anything about that project?
Murph'
Hi Jack,
Hope this doesn't "read" funny, but fyi, Photoshop has classically hip methods
of alpha control. The RGB channels have feathered edges, as do the alphas…
one of the strengths of Photoshop is the ability it affords to manipulate any
number of alpha channels with the full range of image-processing controls
available in the RGB channels.
This approach is quite different from the "seen-but-not-heard" alphas in
Composer and Painter. All three programs allow for applying, to various
degrees, the values of any channel to operations in any other channel of any
other image with the same pixel dimensions. To use the intensity of one channel
to control the saturation of another, just apply one channel as a selection
mask to the other and adjust saturation.
From what I've seen, Photoshop excels at channel operations, Composer at
multi-image placement, and Painter at texturing. Photoshop and Painter
(Composer too?) also accept the same plug-ins, such as Kai's Power Tools or the
varied additions from Xaos Tools.
Photoshop's generally conceded to be the *the* program that brought
alpha-channel compositing to the desktop. Interestingly, the program grew out
of work done by the Knoll Brothers at Industrial Light & Magic… the classic
work on alphas was also done by folks affiliated with ILM, Tom Porter and Tom
Duff of Pixar, in their 1984 SIGGRAPH paper. And this leads us around to Alvy
Ray Smith of Altamira again…. <g>
But, yes, Photoshop definitely does use true alpha channel ops… es muy cool,
amigo! <g>
Regards,
John Dowdell
Macromedia Tech Support
Guess that's what comes from using its Photostyler clone instead of the real
thing. Thanks for the correction, John.
– J