#Cookiecut Mapping
6 messages in this thread
Steven,
I am having a difficult time trying to get the cookiecut mapping to work in
Animation: Master. I think I understand the concept, but I don't have a clue as
to how the program executes the mapping. If I understand the example in the
manual, if I map a maple leaf onto a square patch using the cookiecut function,
when the square renders, it should knock out all of the square except where the
image of the leaf is. I use CorelDraw! 5.0 to design all my maps and it works
perfectly except for the cookiecuts. It seems to me that it would be just as
easy to create a 100% transparent object and then paste a leaf onto the square,
or create a transparency map of a white leaf on a black background. If you
could give me a step-by-step example of how the folks at Hash go about using
this function, it would be a big help. Also, I have noticed that some ray
tracers have a brightness function for creating highly polished and reflective
metals. Since Animation: Master does not have that choice in its attributes, is
there another way to achieve the same effect without resorting to an
environment map? If you were to set the attributes of a sphere in Animation:
Master, and set the same attributes for a sphere in the POV Ray Tracer using
the brightness setting, and then render them, I think you could see what I
mean. Thanks for your time.
Michael S. Flynn
>>>If I understand the example in the manual, if I map a maple leaf onto a
square patch using the cookiecut function, when the square renders, it should
knock out all of the square except where the image of the leaf is. I use
CorelDraw! 5.0 to design all my maps and it works perfectly except for the
cookiecuts.
Michael,
Although I don't have full understanding of *what* A:M considers as "background
color" (Steve still didn't get back to me on that), I think I can give you a
temporary advice…
When you create bitmpas in Corel, it is most likely that there will be a 1 or 2
pixel wide white frame around your intended image (it might be partial, on one
or two sides only) — just enough to confuse A:M as to what is the bacground
color in your file… The solution is to open the bitmap in PhotoPaint (or
other image editing S.W.) and clean up or crop the edges. It always fixes my
problems..
Pawel
I think it has been said here a few times now – white (255,255,255) is the
background color as far as A:M is concerned. It works for me every time.
-Kevin
>>> white (255,255,255) is the background color as far as A:M is concerned. It
works for me every time.
Kevin,
White is just a default… I often use white in my cookecut as a part of the
image. I prefer to use black (0,0,0), especially when the cookiecut has some
Mirror values and behind it is a semi-transparent object with a bit of Mirror
as well. (did you ever try to put an irregular, opaque decal on a glass
bottle?)… What I run into is that the white cookie cut does more harm than
the black. I might be wrong (that the color makes any difference), this has
been a long time ago when I made this determination — you know how it is,
every workaround takes so much time and you are just glad when things finally
work.
In any case; *most* of the time the background color is what comes out from the
frame. What throws me out is the fact that once it was not the case, one of
five colors in the image was picked and it was a simple flat dot in the middle.
Go figure!
Btw. Did you ever try to use 8-bit image files?
Pawel
Pawel-
>>you know how it is, every workaround takes so much time and you are just
>>glad when things finally work.
<big nod>
>>Did you ever try to use 8-bit image files?
I use 8-bit almost all the time now. It cuts down on disk space and (
possibly) render time.
Perhaps I've just been lucky, but whether I use 8-bit or 24-bit images, white
is always the background color chosen by A:M. I haven't had the opportunity to
add a decal to transparent objects, so I don't know the side effects, but I
would assume the decaled area would be as transparent as the object it's on (in
which case, I'd add a transparency map along with the image map).
-Kevin
Kevin,
>>>I haven't had the opportunity to add a decal to transparent objects, so I
don't know the side effects, but I would assume the decaled area would be as
transparent as the object it's on.
What I've been doing (to avoid transparency on decals) is to create separate
object that is a hair above the transparent surface and that object get the
cookecut decal. Unfortunately transparent object with some Mirror values pick
up some of the ambience from supposedly cookiecut areas floating above… The
8-bit image map might be just the PC platform problem… the color are totally
messed up… (Maybe I have to play more with it, maybe it is just Corel or
PhotoShop… When I have some time I will try PhotoStyler)
Pawel