#Silk or Satin FX
3 messages in this thread
I've been trying to get a decent "billowing silk or satin" effect with
LightWave. Often-seen effect looks like a shiny flag waving, with specular
highlights (somewhat similar to the cape animation at the end of "Lois and
Clark"). I've tried unsuccessfully to emulate this effect properly in LightWave
with multiple combinations of displacement maps, bump maps and several surface
combinations. I can get close, but the effect is too regular (even with
multiple wave sources) or the specular highlights are wrong.
I'm out of ideas so if you think you have the answer to the LightWave settings,
I can give it a try.
Stumped, (I hate that!)
Trent/ReAnimators
Trent,
I am about to blurt out an untried idea, but I think my ego can take the hit if
it don't work…
You might try applying nine bones – three sets of three in vertical columns- to
your rectangle of fabric.
Animate the really big, sweeping billows with the movement of bones and then
apply the smaller fractal displacement map along with an enveloped velocity for
the smaller secondary ripples. (oops, forgot that you can't envelope
velocities yet… well, if you wanted speed variations, you could clone the
whole thing, bones and all, and use a different velocity on the clone for
morphing purposes… pain in the butt solution, though)
Lemme know if I'm blowin' in the wind, or just full of same.
Sean Hannon
Ad Rats – Stamford, CT
Thanks Sean. I have tried some bone configurations, though I didn't mention
that it's a full screen BG effect, so there's some loss of impact by not seeing
the edges of the mesh.
Basically, I found that I needed to enhance the look of a displacement mapped
poly mesh, so that the seeing the warping effect was not totally dependant on
the diffusion and specular settings.
So, I've settled for a displacement mesh, and diffusion mapped an image of some
fabric that looks appropriate, plus a few bones for some irregularity. It's a
four second loop, and seem to work pretty good.
I noticed that the client had an example of the effect, and it was clearly
slo-mo film footage of some fabric, so I told them it'll cost extra to get that
effect exactly. I have a feeling they'll like what I've done! :->
As well the animation in the foreground is fairly complex, so I should be able
to sell them on a more understated effect. It's cranking out now, with
shadow-mapping on the foreground objects. (Whoa! Long render times!)
Thanks for your help!
Cheers!
Trent/ReAnimators