#Bump map render glitch
17 messages in this thread
I have created an Asphalt material, default with an image of road
aspalt as texture and bump map entries. I am panning around this road surface,
and in certain frames, rendering in any resolution
and palette combination, dithering and other settings in any combination
produces wild "flashes", jaggy torn blocks of lighter or darker coloration as
the camera pans around this "bumpy" surface. I am at a
loss: I understand that I might have expected some interference patterns
if these bumps were being treated as actual surface features (as with
a CD-ROM surface) but these jaggy flashes don't really seem to conform
to any pattern, or order, nor do they seem to change consistently as
the road and camera change angles with respect to one another: it just seems
that certain frames insist on having great blotches of dark or bright.
I am at a loss.. if anyone has a thought, I would be delighted to be
rescued.
There really isn't enough information in your description to pin this down, but
let's start here: Your reference to pallette implies to me that you're
rendering a flic. If so, Are you using LOW pallette mode ? If so, change to
MEDIUM and re-render a test.
BILL
Thanks for the reply. Sadly, this glitch is occurring when rendering
individual GIF files, and in all resolutions and palette configurations.. the
individual GIF frames show this glitch.
Any further thoughts?
How does the image look when rendering to a 24 bit targa file? You may be
experiencing a side-effect of reducing the data from 24bit to 8bit.
— James — MAP —
This "artifact" persists no matter what the output format or other settings.
Further, it seems to appear and move rapidly between frames, as the camera pans
across the road surface. However, it propogates from the top of the road
surface toward the bottom in a raster-like fashion, regardless of the camera's
orientation relative to the asphalt map (for me ruling out some sort of virtual
interference pattern caused by the pseudo-bumps in the material, which I assume
wouldn't happen anyway). At this rate, I will have soon torn out all my hair,
and will have to start on my co-workers'.
Further, can you please suggest where to browse for IPAS routines of various
sorts, or obtain catalogues/promotional materials? I must make a case for the
expense to my employer.
-R
<<Further, can you please suggest where to browse for IPAS routines of various
sorts, or obtain catalogues/promotional materials? I must make a case for the
expense to my employer.>>
Download IPAS.TXT and MMRG5-.TXT
Brian has your answer for for the IPAS/Promo stuff.
As for your "artifact" problem . . .
How big is the surface you are putting this map on? I have occasionally had
problems with large planes made from long, skinny polys. For example, a camera
placed close to a huge, flat circle with sometimes have problems. If your map
is applied to a large object, you might try tessellating it to have more polys.
Otherwise, there is a possibility that your 3DS.EXE is corrupted. You might
try reinstalling it. Many people backup a clean copy of the 3DS.EXE file to a
floppy so that when it gets corrupted they do not have to reinstall the whole
thing.
Something else just occurred to me. If the surface has any shinyness, you may
be seeing the reflection of the light source propogating across the surface as
the camera moves. However, I have never seen this cause a raster-like effect
(unless anti-aliasing was OFF and pixel size was set to 1.0).
It is really hard to "see" what is going on from where I am. <g> How big are
the associated files? Too big to upload?? If not, I would be glad to look at
it for you.
— James — MAP —
The frames of my corrupted animation are only 30K or so apiece, and a
very few of them would be required for you to see the effect of which
I am speaking. I shall endeavour to send them to you.
I think my surface does not have any shine to it; I shall check. I
will also try to play with the number of faces: the road is a simple
oval track with the road surface itself a single face.
Thanks for your robust reply!
Glad to help. My mailbox door is open . . .
— James — MAP —
You can find out if your problem is caused by surface shine by simply moving
your lights and re-rendering the problem frames.
– Jack
Yes, I have tried experimenting, and still it persists.
I will now spend the weekend banging my head on my monitor, to see
if that helps g.
R
Can you send me the project file and assocaited meshes via e-mail? Or are they
too big?
Richard,
I looked at the PRJ file. So far, I do not see the problem you mentioned, but
there could be several reasons why: First, I have only rendered out a couple
frames, so the problem may not be apparent on those frames. If you could
suggest a frame number to look at I will check it out. Second, I am missing a
few texture maps: WINMAP.BMP, SHRUBG.TGA, and STUCCO.TGA. I cannot say
whether having these maps would make a difference. Third, you may be using
different settings in your 3DS.SET file.
Anyway, I wish I could be more help. I will try to render out a FLC file later
to see if I can see it there.
— James — MAP —
I'm not certain I've ever seen those texture maps.. there should only be one
material in the PRJ, Asphalt, which only needs ASPHALT.CEL. I will double
check.
The effect seems to occur especially toward the end of the first forty
frames or so (which I threw in, in the most compact format I could), especially
frame 35. Do you see the effect in the rendered frames I provide?
Thanks again, btw, for your time.
Richard
I've had a similar problem just recently. I've just uploaded an example of it
called PRBLEM.GIF in the images library, if you're interested (wait for the
sysop to post it). I'm wondering if it's related to a glitch with ray-traced
shadow casting spotlights which go a bit screwy if they hit an object that is
self intersecting. The sea in the image had a bump map to simulate waves which
rendered ok in other views but went nuts in this one. The material is on a flat
plane but many of the objects I modelled penetrated the plane, rather than sat
on top of it. The heavy raster lines were introduced at rendering and I'm
wondering if this is related.
Sound similar?
Any ideas, anyone else?
BPM
I haven't seen your image, but I had a problem with ray-traced shadows
having jagged edges on the ground plane. I tesselated it a bit, so
that instead of a couple hugh triangles, it was made of many, and
that cleared up the ragged edges.
Dave
The waves glitch sounds -eerily- similar. I wonder.
-R