#Refractive Metaballs
16 messages in this thread
Good morning!
Gary!
We made our Refraction Mapping AXP compatible with Blobs.AXP !
(we continue testing, but it works).
It means
(even if you are extremely busy),
that you can have Refractive Metaballs
(water or Abyss style creatures or whatever)
even in Release 4
(where it seemed to be impossible!)
It also means that we will make all other Mapping AXPs compatible with Blobs,
so Metaballs can have Aurora Mapping, MultiMapping and whatever type of
Mapping AXPs we will come with.
And not only metaballs, but any compatible AXP.
So, at least as a User, you can benefit from all this.
(And we also have correct Auto Reflection on our Refractive objects).
See you at SIGGRAPH,
Alex, Video International
P.S. We surely can make any shape-creating AXP compatible with RefrMap.
P.P.S. This also sets a precedent of unseen before level of collaboration in
IPAS development community (which, perhaps, is not less impressive, then
technological achivement itself)
Hey Aleksey,
The testing is going great! Refraction mapping and metaballs work seemlessly
together and are producing the most realistic liquid effects I've ever seen on
a PC.
After only 5 minutes of use, without looking at a manual, I managed to create
an animation that demonstrates the effect of combining metaballs and refraction
mapping in an animation. It took me a little over and hour to create the
animation, start to finish. It's a simple demo, but it does give an indication
of the potential of this merger.
I'd say we should go ahead and proceed with applying the metaball axp support
for your other mapping routines.
> This also sets a precedent of unseen before level of collaboration in
IPAS development community (which, perhaps, is not less impressive, then
technological achivement itself).
I agree. For anyone else reading this message, I'd like to state publicly that
there was no remuneration involved in this exchange of technology. Both our
organizations realized that these programs could benefit eachother so we just
went ahead and did it! In the final analysis, I believe that we have created
an IPAS hyrid that benefits both programs, increases the value of both, and
gives the animator an incredibly powerful new method of creating
photo-realisitic models, characters, and animations.
I sincerely hope that more of this type of collaborative work can take place in
the future. Not only between Video International and Details, but between all
IPAS developers. As we all strive to provide the animator with the best
modelling and animating tools available for the PC, this type of cooperation
will ensure that these tools outperform anything out there at the PC level and
rival the best effects that can be generated on workstation-based packages.
See you at Siggraph!
Danny…
Danny,
major congrats on this. Hope to see you at Siggraph.
Thanks Martin,
I'll definately be at Siggraph. See you at the Asoft party on Sunday night?
Danny…
Danny,
>> See you at the Asoft party on Sunday night? <<
I'll be there, mate 🙂
Hi, Danny!
We are very exiting about this,
and we devoting the rest of this week to making
1. Some good demos of Refractive Blobs to show on SIGGRAPH.
2. To make Aurora Mapping also compatible with Blobs and demonstrate
this
compatibility on SIGGRAPH as well.
All this work should result in couple uploads to the Forum Library,
but SIGGRAPH is our first goal.
See you at SIGGRAPH,
Alex, Video International
Hi Aleksey,
<< This also sets a precedent of unseen before level of collaboration in IPAS
development community (which, perhaps, is not less impressive, then
technological achivement itself) >>
Very well done!
jonas[adesk]
Hi, Jonas!
Hope to meet you at SIGGRAPH.
And I hope you will not try to disappear knowing that we are
bringing whole bunch of tough 3DS questions (R4 related, so far).
See you there,
Alex, Video International
>>Very well done!
Thanks!
Let me mention (besides Oleg and Danny) also Michael Tsipko-Sitnikov (Bones
Pro):
it was his READYness to collaborate with us that gave me enough confidence to
ask other developers to make their AXPs compatible with Refraction Mapping.
And Danny was first one who said YES.
Hi Aleksey,
<< you will not try to disappear knowing that we are bringing whole bunch of
tough 3DS questions (R4 related, so far). >>
Feel free to e-mail them to me ahead of time. I really love to answer questions
with my manuals nearby. 🙂
jonas[adesk]
Hello Aleksey
will ref map be demoed at siggraph? If so where.
Also what about support for Metareyes metaballs?
Thanks, looking foward to getting Refraction mapping
Ed
Hi, Edward!
>> will ref map be demoed at siggraph?
YES
>> If so where.
Digimation Booth. David is putting together very tight schedule:
he've got A LOT to show: World Builder, Blobs, Refraction Mapping, Bones
and who knows what else.
But if short (hour long) presentation of RefMap will be not enough you can
talk as much as you want to Oleg Buyborodin (author) and myself:
we both will be there to answer all questions.
>> Also what about support for Metareyes metaballs?
Technologically: not complicated.
>> Thanks, looking foward to getting Refraction mapping
Great.
(but don't forget to look what Aurora Mapping can do…)
See you at SIGGRAPH,
Alex, Video International
Alek,
>> We made our Refraction Mapping AXP compatible with Blobs.AXP! <<
you guys are geniuses!!! I love this.
Can we see a demo of this at Siggraph or even an upload here?
I can imagine a combination of metaballs, refraction, and a dynamics package
and you could create some amazing fluid dynamics with refraction. Too cool,
this is something that has been lacking in 3ds produced animations.
Martin
Hi, Martin!
>>you guys are geniuses!!! I love this.
Actually, all credit for finding this workaround and implementation
goes to Oleg Buyborodin (Video International).
BUT YOU were the person who maked me start to think about this idea:
you asked if you can use RefMap with Bones (if you remember).
And only then I realized all potential of the fact that RefrMap.AXP is assigned
not to the object itself, which leaves room for another AXP to be assigned,
I went to Oleg and convinced him to make it happen.
AND this would NEVER happened without Danny, and without
Michael Tsipko-Sitnikov (Bones Pro's author), who agreed to collaborate with us
(yes, it does mean that next version of Bones Pro will be compatible with
Refraction).
Keep up good work, supplying us with impossible to implement ideas!
Alex, Video International
>>Can we see a demo of this at Siggraph or even an upload here?
Yes, both answers are positive.
Alek,
>> BUT YOU were the person who maked me start to think about this idea: you
asked if you can use RefMap with Bones (if you remember). <<
ah, yes. I forgot about that – it seemed like a simple idea, but it sounds like
it was a lot of work to implement. Congrats to Oleg – buy him a beer or vodka,
or something <g>.
I'm very happy that you all were able to collaborate on this idea.
Martin
Hi, Martin!
>>but it sounds like it was a lot of work to implement.
It was a lot of work TO MAKE IT EASY enough to implement.
It was a lot of work to find a generic solution (not just for these two
IPASes),
but for many pairs of AXPs. And we are ready to continue
making other AXPs Mapping compatible.
>>Congrats to Oleg – buy him a beer or vodka, or something <g>
Thanks.
You also may have a chance to buy him a beer or vodka or something:
I'm bringing Oleg to Siggraph.
The only problem is that Oleg doesn't drink or smoke (perhaps, only "something"
will work)
On serious note: Oleg is working hard to prove his newfound approach,
making Blobs Aurora Mapping compatible. Results are scheduled to be shown
at Siggraph.
So, meet you there,
Alex, Video International
Alek,
>> Blobs Aurora Mapping compatible <<
what is this "Aurora mapping" that I'm hearing about?