#Questions
24 messages in this thread
Hey impulse, got some questions that need answering, and I dont have the time
to call (by the way one of you tech support dudes is always in a bed mood.)
1) How do you use the lite textures? What type of object and lite
do the best job..
2) QEMM and imagine 3.0 just do go together.. are you telling me
that im going to have to disable it every time I use Imagine?!
What configuration works best for you guys?
3) Wheres all that Inverse Kinematics stuff? Constraints? Is that it.
Well there sure isnt much info on how to use it in the manual..
4) When you load an object into the particles requester does your
objects get shaded flat when rendered?
That all for now, You guys deserve a pat on the back. Great Job Just add some
Alpha channels and Field Rendering and RIB files output.
PS, I heard Industrial Light and Magic Is using your software for Previs.. Is
that true?
_ARG
>> Just add some Alpha channels and Field Rendering and RIB files output.
What? No field rendering? Mike or Rick, is that true? If yes, the list of
features that were promised and haven't been included is getting longer…
-David
Dave,
Field rendering is included. Just drag a box around the area you want
to render (perspective view), and Imagine obliges by only rendering that area.
Its a REAL timesaver.
Scanline mode shadows are the only feature that didn't make it. The
reason: they actually took longer than a full trace.
Don't worry about being satisfied. There's some real nifty stuff (fog
textures, light textures, deform tool, etc.) that makes up for any perceived
deficiency in 3.0's promised features. My grin is ear to ear anyway.
-Steve
Steve, the feature you described is Set Zone. Field rendering divides each
video frame into two distinct fields (one for even scanlines, the other for odd
scanlines). The result when animated is that motion appears smoother because
every position represents a 60th of a second, rather than a 30th.
Impulse ran into delays implementing the feature in 3.0 and chose not to
include it rather than hold off delivery. –Rick Rodriguez
Rick,
Oops. So preoccupied programming, got my terms confused. Thanks for
the correction.
-Steve
Gentleman,
I have been trying to some of your 'quite choice' new animatable
textures. I was attempting was to make two states altering only a few of the
variables and morph between them. I can successfully morph …color…shape…&
size…. but, I must be missing something when varying the texture… heres
what I
tried; -load Primative sphere
-add DancSprk Texture
-Render …looks fine next…
-Create state named 'Main' picking the boxes (shape & properties)
-go back into attributes req. and change.. oh lets say the # of
branches
-create 2nd state called 'Morph' picking boxes (shape & properties)
-save and then goto project called Morph (add lights,& so forth)
-In action editor, add actor to frame 1, (of 15) state= Main
-Then add actor from frame 2 to 15 state=Morph
– Save and then Animate… and the result…. 15 frames of state=main
The odd thing is this exact formula worked for all other morphs(
color,shape,size )
I know I'm missing something….
Brendan G.
Brendan
Textures do morph while in the same texture ie size, position and so
forth, as in large leather to small leather or what ever but they do so not in
states, they do so by morphing one object to another.
Mike
What you just outlined is NOT Field Rendering as far as I know, selective
area rendering perhaps? Field Rendering generates 2 FIELDS per 1 FRAME,
hence 1 second of Field Rendered animation would result in 60 Fields.
Field rendering helps Animation ALOT
>Field rendering is included. Just drag a box around the area you want to
>render (perspective view), and Imagine obliges by only rendering that
>area.
That isn't what `Field Rendering' is. You are refering to `Set Zone'.
Field rendering is when a frame is divided into `Fields' (even and odd
lines) and the motion is sampled at 60 FPS. Since there are 2 fields for
each frame you are in essence playing back at 60 FPS. This is good when
there is movement close to the camera or when there are small moving
objects light stars.
One field rendered image may have lots of jitter but when played back it
is VERY smooth. This does increase rendering time though.
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
(Any render time >0 needs acceleration.)
Hi Steve,
I think now you already know what I ment with field rendering. But the other
feature (render region or whatever it is called) is very handy. I'll use it a
lot (if only I'd get my copy…).
Do the spot lights and the other lights have soft shaddows now?
-David
Lights meant to cast soft shadows must be created in the Detail Editor where
the SoftEdge.itx texture may be applied as an attribute.
What I've done is created a directory of these light objects that I can use
over and over again in the stage. —Rick Rodriguez
Rick,
> Lights meant to cast soft shadows must be created in the Detail > Editor
where the SoftEdge.itx texture may be applied as an attribute.
I have tried using SOFTEDGE.ITX to cast soft shadows with no success.
What I get is a light who's brightness falls off at different rates (depending
on the settings in SOFTEDGE) as you approach the edge of it's cone if it is a
spot light, but the shadows it casts still have very hard edges.
I am using a sphere with it's attribute set to light, spherical, filter
(255,255,255), variable fall off, and using the SoftEdge.ITX. I have three of
these grouped together as a single object as the lights in a room.
I get hard edges everywhere.
Any help in this would be appreciated.
-Marco
Marc,
Your right about the softedge texture. I spent an hour trying to
achieve true soft shadows with softedge before I realized its true purpose.
I have been working with Impulse, developing a Texture editor with
realtime preview for market, which is why I STILL haven't finished the other
batch of utilities I promised. I've wanted a fully functional version of the
.and stuff at least a dozen times myself, ironically. I intend to finish these
once Texture Explorer is finished (I have the help of Impulse themselves, now).
I'll be sending you an initial beta of Texture Explorer in 3 or 4 days. This
(I hope) will save my reputation. (no need to respond til you actually SEE the
software.)
BTW, GreG did an excellent job on the light eh. I haven't played with
3.0 in a week (programming 12 hrs a day), so its nice to see someone else
really spending time discovering the capabilities of 3.
-Steve
>> What I've done is created a directory of these light objects that I
>> can use over and over again in the stage.
Hm, sounds like a good solution. If only I would get my copy… Maybe it got
lost somewhere.
-David
Dave,
No soft shadows, unfortunately. There is a new light texture called
softedge, which creates soft edged spotlights, which is a definite improvement.
Also, shadow pattern light textures like venetian and french window work in
scanline mode, so a carefully constructed scene can appear to have shadows in
scanline. All accurate soft shadows (like those in PowerAnimator), require
either time or tons of RAM, so we'll have to wait.
-Steve
Hi Steve,
>> …require either time or tons of RAM, so we'll have to wait.
The Indy had 64 mb RAM and I was told that this was the minimum to run Power
Animator on it. Also a 500 mb Swapfile is recommended when using all advanced
tools. 🙂
-David
Dave,
Field rendering is included. Just drag a box around the area you want
to render (perspective view), and Imagine obliges by only rendering that area.
Its a REAL timesaver.
Scanline mode shadows are the only feature that didn't make it. The
reason: they actually took longer than a full trace.
Don't worry about being satisfied. There's some real nifty stuff (fog
textures, light textures, deform tool, etc.) that makes up for any perceived
deficiency in 3.0's promised features. My grin is ear to ear anyway.
-Steve
>> Field rendering is included. Just drag a box around the area you want
>> to render (perspective view), and Imagine obliges by only rendering >>
that area. Its a REAL timesaver.
That is not field rendering. In field rendering, two seperate renderings
are done for each frame. In video, each frame is made up of 2 fields, if
you move an object in each field (it will move twice per frame), the
motion will appear much smoother.
I hope its in there.
Jim R. Ollick
Using AP from Bergenfield, NJ
James,
Thanks for the correction, something about that had been nagging me all
day, now I know why. 🙂
-Steve
>Thanks for the correction, something about that had been nagging me all
>day, now I know why. 🙂
What was nagging you? All the replies you got? :^)
I remember writing something that was TOTALLY off-base, usually in the wee
hours of the morning, and then realizing the next day how wrong I was. The
next time I would log-on, I had PLENTY to read.
So if anyone feels lonely and wants to get LOTS of messages to make you
feel impotent, I mean, important, then all you got to do is follow my
style of writing and screw up what you say.
Isn't it fun? :^)
<<< Tony D. Tracer >>>
(Any render time >0 needs acceleration.)
You are welcome.
Jim R. Ollick
Using AP from Bergenfield, NJ
Dave
Alpha is there, field rendering will be done a different way, stay
tuned.
Mike
Help!!!
I CANNOT! get global haze to work properly. (Yes, I took the fx off of disk 1
and deleted the one that came lha'd.). I first tried a bright, perfect yellow
sphere on a checkered ground (not creative, I admit, but quick and easy to see
results on), applied the haze fx to global fx, rendered and got great results.
I took the same scene and took out the sphere and put in a ring obj. that I
made (color: blue, and it was bright). Nothing happened. I have tried several
other objects and had no success. I've tried changing the color key param. in
the fx to match the object and that hasn't helped.
Any ideas, suggestions?
Thanks
Steve
Steve I,m not sure but I had some problom with the global.
This is what I do and it seems to be some kind of magic fix.
Go into your Action Editor and add to your Global a size bar from frame 1
to fram 1 than change the x y z values to 0.000..
No promise but it's worth a try!!!
NightStalker
AP Incontrol