Biomechanoid

[Shinobi]

hmmm..

seems funny to me that no 3d program has a feature where it adpatively subdivedes the mesh to fit the requirements of a displacenment map in the rendering process (so all you viewprot work stays smooth)

 

[clarky003]

well Fenric in 2 hours ive learnt how to Use diplacement mapping properly , which was fun,, heres 2 test pics

 

[The Dark Elf]

hmmm..

seems funny to me that no 3d program has a feature where it adpatively subdivedes the mesh to fit the requirements of a displacenment map in the rendering process (so all you viewprot work stays smooth)

what you talking about? Softimage, Maya, Lightwave and Houdini all do that (though in the case of Lightwave, its subd not NURBS as it ain't got NURBS) and I'm pretty sure MAX can do it too.

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clarky: muuuuuch nicer but PLEASE sort the lighting out! :E

 

[clarky003]

i just edited it and added another with better lighting,, (the lighting is dark because for some reason,, I get a Doom 3 feeling with your creature )

edit: and its still subdivided polygons,, im just lucky ive got a decent computer and was able to optimise.

 

[The Dark Elf]

i just edited it and added another with better lighting,, (the lighting is dark because for some reason,, I get a Doom 3 feeling with your creature )

edit: and its still subdivided polygons,, im just lucky ive got a decent computer and was able to optimise.

yeah now i can see it a bit better, there's really not the amount of displacement I was talking about. I showed you that godzilla model as an example of the sort of thing I'm talking about.

Well I've decided its going into the game somewhere, so its now on the list of things I'll be modeling when the time comes, and I'll post up those pics so you can see what I meant.

 

[clarky003]

I tried alot more displacement on a previous, render, (which i didnt post) but it really was dreadful, so much so that the balance is fine. and too much can completely mishape the look.., so i toned down to a minimum for rendering sakes aswell. but to the trained eye the difference is clearly visible.

 

[The Dark Elf]

I tried alot more displacement on a previous, render, (which i didnt post) but it really was dreadful,

Thats why I said beforehand to use NURBS instead of polygons remember

 

[Shinobi]

what you talking about? Softimage, Maya, Lightwave and Houdini all do that (though in the case of Lightwave, its subd not NURBS as it ain't got NURBS) and I'm pretty sure MAX can do it too.

oh really? crap.,... my max teacher told me I'd have to subdivide the mesh then render it (which brings the computer to it's knees), maybe it's a max thing or maybe he just didn't realise

I'll have to mess around with maya and find out how to do that

 

[The Dark Elf]

oh really? crap.,... my max teacher told me I'd have to subdivide the mesh then render it (which brings the computer to it's knees), maybe it's a max thing or maybe he just didn't realise

I'll have to mess around with maya and find out how to do that

MAX these days is pretty good (even though I'm not a fan of it) so I'd be very surprised if the display model had to have the same subdivision as at rendertime. The others all let you go crazy on the subd levels, both display and render independantly of the other. Comes in incredibly handy for doing displacement map terrains. Work with a relativly low display model that you can move around in realtime, render it with stupidly high detail

With NURBS many will keep the display version without any displacement visible atall, just very high render settings. Which leaves you with fewer control points in the NURBS object for animating, less chance of messing up and its all very speedy.

 

[Shinobi]

they probably do have that implemented,, we only have max 5 at our school I think maybe one of the workstations has max 6, but I havent played with it

 

[IchI]

Clarky, how long have you been modelling and skinning because you are quiet talented? But yet you didn;t know how to smooth groups?

 

[simon]

it looks smooth to me

 

[GOoch]

yup i cant fault it.

 

[clarky003]

Clarky, how long have you been modelling and skinning because you are quiet talented? But yet you didn;t know how to smooth groups?

I really dont do much that envolves smooth groups, so i never got round to learning it. Im sure its helpful, and will learn it soon, but im in no rush. afterall ive only been doing this for 3 years.

 

[IchI]

owwww. that explains a lot then. I could teach your smooth groups in litrally 60seconds. Add me to your msn and I weill tell u or show you [email protected]

 

[clarky003]

thanks Ichi, , ill add you when I can. if anyone wants to add me for any help watsoever in modelling, its [email protected], ... catch me if you can, im not on that often. best bet is to email :thumbs: and unless your a buddy, any spam sent via email will be ignored

 

[IchI]

I always just leave msn idle all the time. Why don't you? Its the same with IRC as well. It only uses like 500kb of ram and thats like nothing. You should just do what I do and just have windows automatically startup all your communication programs when you boot up your computer. This way it's very easy to communicate with people and get the latest news.

 

[clarky003]

k well dude our comp is a hot house for torrent downloads, most of the day, and there are four seperate different profiles on our XP pro ,and theres usually atleast 2 active, and my dad screws if Im doing anthing internet related at that time.. so Ill see what I can do..

 

[IchI]

LOL, my family just bought 4 computers. Its easier

 

[st0lve]

Ichi, not everyone can afford 4 cpus

 

[Lupus]

Fenric why is it nurbs are better to use for normal mapping? I don't really know much about them yet. From what I can tell they seem to be sort of surfaces generated between curved lines, to give a smooth organic look. Are nurbs basically used to to create the shape you want then you convert it to polygons? That is what they have done in a coupe of the tutorials I have read through. Just curious

 

[Brian Damage]

[robot voice] Non-Uniform Rational B Splines [/robot voice]

Aren't they just a method of modelling that uses formulae to work out a surface based upon a load of Bezier curves?

 

[clarky003]

so you like generate a mesh by defining points in space,..?

(place dots and position them in a curve and the software joins and draws a hull mesh)

 

[Brian Damage]

We need Fenric's definition. That usually helps.

And what's all that "displacement" stuff?

 

[clarky003]

it virtually models the map surface into polygons which make it appear more bump mapped (except its changes the actually surface geometry), so basically you can have a mesh totally low detailed, have a really high detailed map, and Displace it to make the mesh look awsome.

 

[Brian Damage]

So it adds polygon details onto a low poly mesh... like a bump map that actually alters the geometry of the model, right?

 

[simon]

give us a nice tutorial about that, sounds intresting

 

[clarky003]

right Brian. exactamundo.. Simon.. I had a look and cant find a Tutorial on the net, although there is one that comes with 3d studio.

 

[simon]

thx clarky, will check it out one day

 

[Shinobi]

[robot voice] Non-Uniform Rational B Splines [/robot voice]

Aren't they just a method of modelling that uses formulae to work out a surface based upon a load of Bezier curves?

pretty much,, that's why you can view the same model in multiple "resolutions" (try pressing 1,2, and 3 while having a nurbs sphere selected in maya)

the more accurate the math the more detailed the object,, this allows you to set everything to low resolution and have an easier time navigating your viewports

also I think the reason fenric was saying people should convert to nurbs then calculate the displacement map is because since nurbs don't have faces in the way polygons do and is converted polygons before rendering, the nurbs surface will subdivide perfectly to match the displacement map and it won't chug like hell when navigating the viewport and tweaking the scene

I will now sit here and wait for fenric to tell me I'm totally wrong

 

[wbcheater]

you still workin on it, i dont think i got to see a final result..