31
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Siplified shadow workaround for complex objects
« on: February 02, 2016, 08:02:44 pm »
I have been looking at curvy3d, it looks to compliment Anim8or nicely.
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32
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Siplified shadow workaround for complex objects
« on: February 02, 2016, 07:41:13 pm »
I was also pondering creating pngs to simply lay flat as fake shadows. That could look bad though on variable terrain areas. I get the concept of baking textures but have not got into that. I avoid uv mapping like the plague and have been looking into maybe purchasing a program to help me out with it, something in real time and under $100.
33
General Anim8or Forum / Re: tWEAK v0.2 - Anim8or Radial Menu and ToolKit
« on: February 02, 2016, 07:34:08 pm »
radial menu with basic tools programmable or not would be sweet.
34
General Anim8or Forum / Siplified shadow workaround for complex objects
« on: February 02, 2016, 07:21:49 pm »
My next project involves a large environment with lots of pngs used as "cheats" for large objects-that are problematic- they don't cast shadows. Another problem (that I also had in Worm hole) was with very complex objects like the robot I had to turn the shadow off, but everything else pretty much worked fine with shadows ON in the scene.... This got me thinking of a workaround, preferably I could use a second simplified object (like a stick figure) and parent it to the robot and set it to cast shadows FOR the robot, that is assuming that a hidden abject could cast shadows.... but it can't, nor can "clear" objects. This could STILL work if everything was slightly smaller then the parent object thus remaining hidden...Yet i can't do that for the PNG objects.
Any ideas?
P.S. art simply crashes in the scene with all the PNG's.... When referring to lights volume is much quicker then ray traced, which I require with all that I need to do, and I noticed it renders shadows more completely (such as logs inside a fireplace also casting instead of being skipped) then ray traced. I will also probably end up doing allot of image sequence compositing when possible due to the complexity of scenes....don't know if that info helps.
Any ideas?
P.S. art simply crashes in the scene with all the PNG's.... When referring to lights volume is much quicker then ray traced, which I require with all that I need to do, and I noticed it renders shadows more completely (such as logs inside a fireplace also casting instead of being skipped) then ray traced. I will also probably end up doing allot of image sequence compositing when possible due to the complexity of scenes....don't know if that info helps.
35
Ongoing Anim8or Development / Re: Topo Tool
« on: January 31, 2016, 10:58:58 pm »
I always use mirror after I complete one side of the model, but I notice it must be aligned on a particular plane.... Even as a broken tool it is still super valuable.
36
Finished Works and Works in Progress / Precise topo map
« on: January 28, 2016, 07:18:03 pm »
I wanted to share this because it was useful and took some development. You can do as I describe here for precision or use your spray can in your paint program to produce a quick topo map but it is much less precise..
I made the topographicalgrayscale.JPG WITHOUT the BLENDING to start out with. (I lost that version).... It was more impressive BUT the blended version is what is important. Making the topo map with solid shapes layer by layer will give a precise version of what you have in mind. Use a paint program to pixelate your final version then take another pass using fragment blur to create a JPG image that can then be used in 3dPAYSAGE to create your custom topo map. (leave roads on a seperate layer so they don't blend) The gray scale image here can help you determine the levels of gray in 3dpaysage.
I would have provided the final 3d model but it is just as easy as uploading this JPG I provided to 3dpaysage and set the perimeters to 200 by 200!
I made the topographicalgrayscale.JPG WITHOUT the BLENDING to start out with. (I lost that version).... It was more impressive BUT the blended version is what is important. Making the topo map with solid shapes layer by layer will give a precise version of what you have in mind. Use a paint program to pixelate your final version then take another pass using fragment blur to create a JPG image that can then be used in 3dPAYSAGE to create your custom topo map. (leave roads on a seperate layer so they don't blend) The gray scale image here can help you determine the levels of gray in 3dpaysage.
I would have provided the final 3d model but it is just as easy as uploading this JPG I provided to 3dpaysage and set the perimeters to 200 by 200!
37
Ongoing Anim8or Development / Re: Normal Maps
« on: January 28, 2016, 06:56:48 pm »
New toys, thanks Steve.
38
Finished Works and Works in Progress / Re: Anim8or in AGS game
« on: January 26, 2016, 09:54:33 am »
That was bazaar, gave me a laugh...... caffeine 
39
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Easy 360 degree horizons, oceans, cities. Here is a quick way of doing it all.
« on: January 25, 2016, 11:38:58 pm »
CaptaindrewI, use the cirus-fs8.png image for your clouds, it's one of my favorite cloud textures right now! 
... tip; if you make your own and use a standard sphere, you must use the "side" of the sphere or your going to have distortion.... to solve this (and it looks better anyway) choose the "geodesic" dome option instead.
... tip; if you make your own and use a standard sphere, you must use the "side" of the sphere or your going to have distortion.... to solve this (and it looks better anyway) choose the "geodesic" dome option instead.
40
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Easy 360 degree horizons, oceans, cities. Here is a quick way of doing it all.
« on: January 25, 2016, 01:42:55 pm »
I developed it out of necessity because I didn't want to be limited to how I shot the beach scene in WORM HOLE.
41
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Transparent material that can receive shadows?
« on: January 25, 2016, 11:55:28 am »
If your going for a single frame of animation you could use a white object to receive the shadow, then upload that frame into a paint program and change whites to alpha. Then use that PNG image on top or your background.
I use "graytoalpha-by BoltBait" in paint.net, it says gray to alpha but you have the option to do white also.
Sorry i'm so late with this, it just now occurred to me.
I use "graytoalpha-by BoltBait" in paint.net, it says gray to alpha but you have the option to do white also.
Sorry i'm so late with this, it just now occurred to me.
43
General Anim8or Forum / Easy 360 degree horizons, oceans, cities. Here is a quick way of doing it all.
« on: January 23, 2016, 01:22:04 pm »
What you see in the "bottom view" consists of 3 bowls, the ground, sky and clouds. They are first set up as one object then copied individually and added into 3 separate objects, and later added into the scene.
Easy 360 degree horizons, oceans, cities. Here is a quick way of doing it all.
You can use your non-uniform-scale-tool to adjust depth of your ground layer uniformly- which effects your horizon lines height. You can also change the texture to sand, then add another bowl, add a water texture, make this bowl very shallow and align the top with the horizon of the ground and you have an ocean with depth. You will need to adjust the depth of your water bowl and the # of your texture tiling to give the allusion of distance.
(revised)
The sky layer is a solid color and can be left as is to produce a horizon line best for oceans as seen in "world dome". In the picture "ground layer ends stood up horizontal" the top-most points have been selected and first raised, then the Non-uniform-scale-tool used in top view to stand them up horizontal. You can then add tillable buildings/mountains/or maybe a tree line to surround your scene. If you have a fourth ocean layer made you can tile a island. Experiment with different layers and image types (png) to create these effects. Remember when using PNG on your sky or distant objects use "final" for your ALPHA mode. To do this go to your material-texture-MD menu, there you will see "Alpha Mode".
As seen in "almost no sunset", and "more sunset", using non-uniform-scale-tool to adjust the height of the sky bowl adjusts where the global shading is on the object, effecting the sunset. I will have to ask Steve if there is a better way of doing this.
I will reply here with the texture files for the Anim8or save!
Easy 360 degree horizons, oceans, cities. Here is a quick way of doing it all.
You can use your non-uniform-scale-tool to adjust depth of your ground layer uniformly- which effects your horizon lines height. You can also change the texture to sand, then add another bowl, add a water texture, make this bowl very shallow and align the top with the horizon of the ground and you have an ocean with depth. You will need to adjust the depth of your water bowl and the # of your texture tiling to give the allusion of distance.
(revised)
The sky layer is a solid color and can be left as is to produce a horizon line best for oceans as seen in "world dome". In the picture "ground layer ends stood up horizontal" the top-most points have been selected and first raised, then the Non-uniform-scale-tool used in top view to stand them up horizontal. You can then add tillable buildings/mountains/or maybe a tree line to surround your scene. If you have a fourth ocean layer made you can tile a island. Experiment with different layers and image types (png) to create these effects. Remember when using PNG on your sky or distant objects use "final" for your ALPHA mode. To do this go to your material-texture-MD menu, there you will see "Alpha Mode".
As seen in "almost no sunset", and "more sunset", using non-uniform-scale-tool to adjust the height of the sky bowl adjusts where the global shading is on the object, effecting the sunset. I will have to ask Steve if there is a better way of doing this.
I will reply here with the texture files for the Anim8or save!
44
General Anim8or Forum / Re: Moving "forward" without stopping in perspective view
« on: January 23, 2016, 11:03:56 am »
I realize what you were saying Steve and how it works now is very similar to what I described, man that got right past me.... and further considering what I described could lead to some annoying movement.
45
Finished Works and Works in Progress / Re: Here is the trailer for my short film Worm Hole!
« on: January 22, 2016, 02:26:53 pm »
When making "Worm Hole" I knew it was going to be allot of work, but I didn't want it to A; take for ever and B: look horrible. So I decided to work quickly and not spend to much time on anything (if I could help it) and believe in what I was doing. I knew even by doing that It was going to take me a long time, BUT at least when I was done I would have a grasp just how long it takes doing things at a 50/50 quality to time ratio. In the end (this is a estimate) I think I spent about 700 hours over the course of 4 months, I did allot of learning on Anim8or, and I was pretty well rounded in Anime Studio though. I know what I would do different BUT I am very happy with how Worm Hole turned out.
To put it in perspective, it would take 18 people of my ability a week to do full time..... I don't have 18 people,
but the reason I got into this was to tell stories, and Anim8or is a big part of how Worm Hole was possible. Hats off to you! Thank you!
To put it in perspective, it would take 18 people of my ability a week to do full time..... I don't have 18 people,
but the reason I got into this was to tell stories, and Anim8or is a big part of how Worm Hole was possible. Hats off to you! Thank you!