#pants are too short
7 messages in this thread
martin,
i've located the x-crossed palm trees, i've walked twelve paces in the
direction of the setting sun, i've dug down exactly five feet, three inches,
i've found the brass spangled oak chest, and i'm seated in front of the
treasure with only one thing missing…..the key!
how, beside trial and error and two thousand microadjustments to u and v
offsets and scales do you manage to get the "letter opacity maps" to fit
EXACTLY into the holes? i spent the entire morning sliding a wee bit to the
left, and then to the right, and then a tad wider, then down, then narrower,
then, then, then…..thinking all the while, "boy, i bet martin has some little
trick that does this in about two seconds flat and wouldn't he just be laughing
himself silly to watch this oafish attempt to thread the needle.
well?
is there a simpler way to do this other than trial(s) and error(s)?
with baited breath,
michael
Mick,
firstly, it's best to use my CI$ ID# – I almost missed this message completely
and you would have suffered alone.
>> how, beside trial and error and two thousand microadjustments to u and v
offsets and scales do you manage to get the "letter opacity maps" to fit
EXACTLY into the holes? <<
A trick I've used is to set up the opacity flic as a background and turn on the
background in the top view – or whatever view you do surface/mapping. Now move
the _geometry_ into place over the top of the background using the viewport
zoom and pan icons. You can now do a surface/mapping/region fit around the
outside of the background bitmap. Make sure in the info menu/system options
that background preserve ratio is YES. Also, note that you should probably
allow a little overlap in your opacity map (see the one I included) but not too
much because it will encroach on the neighbouring letters. Good luck and let me
know if it helps.
martin,
thanks for all the good information. i've still got little visible seams but i
think i'll bite the bullet and repaint the opacity maps. unfortunately, my
letters "10 YEARS" are in a semi-circle which makes the mapping adjustments
just a bit more tricky to see but i will use your technique to achieve better
results.
sorry about the CIS id thing. I have your name, company and # in my directory
and thought it would automatically add the # after i typed your
name…..obviously, i was incorrect.
i'm still encouraged i can pull off this effect…..many slips between the cup
and lip!
thanks,
michael
Michael,
>> i'm still encouraged i can pull off this effect.. <<
I hope it all works out. Sometimes some repaint is necessary – that's why I use
Animator Pro – you can shell out quickly and make adjustments or have it
running on a machine next too the 3ds station.
martin,
amazingly enough, it's all done and looks rather spiffy although i used
spurting sparks instead of flame (it's cutting through a gold ingot and i
couldn't get flame.axp to remember its secodary data motion) thanks for the
support, tips, and encouragement.
michael
>>making map fit…
Michael, I'm afraid I missed the first part of this discussion, so I may be way
out of line or way behind here. When I have geometry I need to make a map to
fit, I generally create the foundation of the map by rendering a ortho view of
the geometry from within 3DS. (I think with white self-illuminating material
applied to get just black & white) This bitmap is then loaded into a paint
program to invert, edit, paint, etc. I think this is pretty standard technique
so I apologize if you're already tried it.
I once needed to opacity map letters precisely around the perimiter border of a
disc-shaped object. Rather than 1st trying to make a map and make it fit, I
found it easier to create temporary text objects in the shaper, bend and place
them to fit, then render an opacity map.
JKJ
JKJ,
>> Rather than 1st trying to make a map and make it fit, I found it easier to
create temporary text objects in the shaper, bend and place them to fit, then
render an opacity map. <<
this is basically what I do. Then for an animated opacity map just paint out a
bit at at time and insert a new frame in animator pro. It's repetitive but
works. Or you can have 3ds use an animated stand-in paint brush which will
guide you as to where the real brush should be in time.