#IPAS
22 messages in this thread
In the past, and still today I've been kind of surprised that there has not
been *more* procedural texture IPAS routines developed – a la the PIXAR & VALIS
shaders for Renderman. I was just curious why this was so, and if any work is
in progress ?
Also, I was wondering if the Yost's or anyone are working on IPAS3 versions of
routines such as from the Yost Particles System IPAS2 disk ? I don't mean fixes
(no problems w/ this myself), but similar/additional particle-oriented routines
enhanced with some of the IPAS3 power as I understand it from lurking on this
this forum (such as the ability to "see" the particles in wireframe, etc..)
Just Curious,
Bill
Bill,
<< what IPAS's are coming down the line..>>
Gary Yost has mentioned here on ASOFT that the possible
routines are SCATTER.PXP – particle system arraying tool,
DEFORM.PXP – free form deformation tool, VAPOR.AXP –
all-pupose particle system (smoke,gas,steam..sensual),
FIRE.AXP – read 3d fire, SPATH.KXP – velocity editing,
KEYMAN.KXP – keyframe librarian, DISPLACE.PXP – bitmap
displacement, SIMPLIFY.PXP – loss-less or lossy object
simplification.. a possible animation/modelling language,
Others have mentioned more…
The fun is around the corner.
jonas[adesk]
As Jonas said, our new flame.axp and vapor.axp particle systems are both being
implemented with interactive IPAS3 features. Much easier to use than the first
batch.
– G
I just bought your particle system IPAS because in the mailer that
came with 3D-Studio said it could do fire, but ive havent been able
to make it happen yet. The booklet that came with it only mentions
3D version 2.01. Did I get a older version? I just got it
yesterday. If not, would it be possible for you to give me an
example to work with? say a candle flame or some such thing.
Also a Tech. question if I may? I use a SummaSketch Plus tablet with
3-D studio and at least once if not more times the table will lock up
while using 3-D studio, if I exit and come back in its back but its
most anoying. Im using a non pached 3D exe and have tried reloading
it several times but it still happens.
The IPAS Boutique catalog that I'm currently shipping doesn't mention fire…
the only particle systems on Disk#4 are rain, snow, disintegrate, spurt,
explode and fireworks. The little white card that comes with 3DS does say that
fire is one of the things we're working on, and if you're on my mailing list,
you'll get a notice about our fire particle system in the 2nd half of April.
For now, the best way for you to do fire would be to use the animated
rotoscoped bitmaps on the CD-ROM that comes with r3.
Re your Summa question, which driver are you using… the internal or ADI
driver? If you're using the internal driver (or an older ADI driver), you
should probably switch to Summa's latest ADI driver. One of the tablet experts
here on the forum can probably point you to that.
– G
Yes I am using the internal driver for the summa, but I will try the external
driver that I downloaded from
summa.
I will return the card to get on the mailing list, I assumed since they were
bullet grouped on the card that
each group was a set. My mistake.
Thanks
Kenneth W. George
>> One of the tablet experts here on the forum can probably point you to
>> that.
I've been away from this issue for a while now, but I believe the latest ADI
driver from Summa is v4.2, which was designed for AutoCAD. I believe that 3DS
requires an ADI v4.1 driver because of certain tablet modes. If you call
Summagraphics (1-800-SAY-SUMMA – I think) they should be able to provide the
correct version.
Steve McGuinness 73144,2412 is a Summa employee who occassionally joins this
forum and can give you more info. Also Dan Haney (I think) from LCS
Telegraphics has written many tablet drivers and has a real handle on the
technical problems related to the tablets.
With the correct ADI driver, cursor motion works correctly and lockups
disappear. Rotation and scale commands work a little differently than mouse
mode, but that is intentional, to eliminate wildly spinning objects that
occurred in R2. If you can't get it to work properly, set up your tablet in
mouse emulation mode and use 3DS in mouse mode.
PS: The Valis folks _were_ working on a set of sxp's last year. I'm not sure
what the status of that is. I'm surprised that there aren't more of them out
their either… especially since they're the easiest type of ipas routine to
write. Perhaps they're not challenging enough?
– G
>>since they're the easiest type of ipas routine to write.
I've been thinking of trying to port the procedural textures built in to PoV
Ray to SXPs. There's a lot of them there, and many are very good. The source
code to PoV ray is circulated, and I have a copy of it. I wonder if someone
with Metaware or Watcom/Pharlap (since I have neither) could develop a dialog
box very easily? The code is copyrighted freeware, I don't know about the
legality. I bet if the PoV team (here on CI$ in Graphdev) were asked nicely and
given credit, they'd allow a HUGE set of freeware IPAS SXPs to exist. They have
all kinds of stone, marble, wood, fractal-looking stuff, circles, hexagons,
leopard spots, stripes and checkers, etc, each with color gradients that blend
any number of colors across the texture's range. Could be very cool…
Jim
Hi Mike White Sundog Pro…@Schreiber.com We've tried this POV are 2d
textures and will not work and as far as I understand SXP are the
hardest to write out of all the routines….
>>We've tried this POV are 2d textures
>> and will not work and as far as I understand
I don't think that is true. They certainly render as true procedural
3D textures.
>>SXP are the hardest to write out of all the routines….
That's not what Gary said in a previous post… But I wouldn't know. Yet.
Jim
There should'nt be any legalitys it's not possible since ther not 3d
textures and the language is basic enough for pov textures to wrie
them your self…Besudes we concoured the SXP rhelm if you have'nt
seen what were coming out please inquire and i'll give a reply. R.J.
my programmer is the best at fractal textures his algorythms are the
purest and acess 16.8 color's and as fare as i know Yoast does'nt.
Give us a call at 714-839-2384 if interested in SunDog Routines
Imagine FADER " " FRACTAL TEXTURES " " REALIST ROCKS "
"FRACTAL BOUQET
THESE ALSO ARE GOING TO BE RELEASED THROUGH SCHREIBER IN A FEW WEEKS
ON CD ROM ALSO THESE ARE THE FASTEST SXP AXP IXP YOU CAN FIND !
>>THESE ALSO ARE GOING TO BE RELEASED
>> THROUGH SCHREIBER IN A FEW WEEKS ON CD ROM
I'm on the list for that. I'll check 'em out when they come.
>>ALSO THESE ARE THE FASTEST SXP AXP IXP YOU CAN FIND !
That's great. I've avoided SXPs alot because they're so much slower than
maps.
Jim
I don't know anything about the PoV textures… perhaps some other
folks here on the forum do, tho.
Thanks for your reply.
>>I don't know anything about the PoV textures…
I'm looking into it. If I succeed, I'm sure you'll see something. <G>
Jim
Great! Wish you a great deal of luck w/it. Don't forget about being able to
layer as per the stones.inc files ;-).
John Stetzer
JWS
>>Great! Wish you a great deal of luck w/it.
>>Don't forget about being able to layer as
>>per the stones.inc files ;-).
Oh, S***! I'm just starting to learn C, and I've already got a
wishlist going for R2 of my product!
Seriously, if they work, you'd layer by using the 2 textures
currently available in the materials editor. More than that, and
you'll have to create two 'skins' of the object with layered
materials on each with transparency in all but the lowest skin's
bottom texture. That would get you to 4 layers without too much
trouble, wouldn't it?
Have you ever layered more than 2 textures at a time in POV?
I'm working on it already. I'm currently studying the code to POV's
textures and the documentation to IPAS 2's SDK. If I can get it to
compile (or someone with the compilers will try my code out for me),
I'm thinking I'd make it freeware for 3DS users like PoV is. That
would probably keep me in good stead with the original PoV ray team,
too (whom I have not discussed this idea with yet).
Jim
>>>>Oh, S***!
JJJJJJJust kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :^)
>>>>That would get you to 4 layers without too much trouble, wouldn't it?
Don't see why not.
>>>>Have you ever layered more than 2 textures at a time in POV?
Yes. The most I've layered was four textures when I was trying to make
somthing similar to the texture on the burled-wood teapot (sort of a
green marble laid over a medium wood texture, if you haven't seen
it). I tend to average about three layers when trying to make a
decent map. Got a preset scene for texture; play around till I get
something I like, make the picture, take it into CA Cricket Paint to
blend the edges, and voila! a good lookin', tile-able map.
Good luck on the attempt. It's real nice to know that I wasn't the only one who
liked using POV's textures. Look forward to (hopefully) seeing some pics when
your done:^).
John Stetzer
JWS
>>Got a preset scene for texture; play around till
>> I get something I like, make the picture, take
>> it into CA Cricket Paint to blend the edges, and
>> voila! a good lookin', tile-able map.
So you use this to create maps for 3DS?
This sounds like a good technique. Tell me though,
how do you go about tweaking a square to make it
tile seamlessly… is there a trick to it?
Also – I'd like to encourage you to send your texture
maps to John Foust at Syndesis for inclusion on the
next 3D Rom… Good, tilable maps are rare. You'd
get a free CD if he uses any of them.
Good luck on the attempt. It's real nice to know that
I wasn't the only one who liked using POV's textures.
Look forward to (hopefully) seeing some pics when
your done:^).
I'm afraid it may take some time. The cost of the compilers
and other stuff is pretty prohibitive. I think I'll try to find
a programmer that already has them, and then do all the
work on setting up the code, and then ask the other guy
to compile it. Not sure how I'd debug it, tho, without
taking up too much of the programmer's time. I'm going
to keep trying, though.
Jim
>>>This sounds like a good technique. Tell me though,
>>>how do you go about tweaking a square to make it
>>>tile seamlessly… is there a trick to it?
No tricks, just software…
When I was a student, picked up Cricket Paint ('cause of a special CA offer, it
was an almost affordable(for a student that is 😉 at $92). Its most useful
feature for me (and probably for other 3d'ers) is one called barrel shift. With
it, you can shift the canvas N, NE, E, SE, etc. so you can see the edge. Then,
you'd use the smear tool w/a high transparency (10% opacity seems to work
quickly and easily for me), and blend away the edge.
As a paint package, is has some neat features, but is hampered IMO with a
cludgy logic. The barrel shift function has kept it on my harddrive, no doubt.
>>>Also – I'd like to encourage you to send your texture
>>>maps to John Foust at Syndesis for inclusion on the
>>>next 3D Rom… Good, tilable maps are rare. You'd
>>>get a free CD if he uses any of them.
Thanks for the suggestion. Would you believe I've never thought of such a
thing?? Again,
luck w/the attempt. Let us know how it turns out.
John Stetzer
JWS
>>and blend away the edge.
Excellent! That's a terrific approach to an old problem. I can't wait to try
it. I hope everyone else is reading…
>>Thanks for the suggestion. Would you
>>believe I've never thought of such a thing?? Again,
>>luck w/the attempt. Let us know how it turns out.
Thanks. I'll keep you posted. Keep in touch.
Jim
Gary described one of their new IPAS set as including a "sensual" new
smoke/steam/mist/etc routine and a particle fire routine. He offered no real
specifics, but most of their new stuff sounds as though there'll at least be
some previewing option in the dialog.
Dave