Heres something different

[Richardo P]

Ok So heres a little project

I want to make an object in 3d Max, say for example a self portrait. BUT as i make it, i want to record, the progression of the object from a single plane to a self portrait face. I dont want to record, it as a video tutorial would, i.e all the view ports, all the mouse movements etc, i want to record, just the movement of all the planes, the additions of planes and just the object creation from a fixed view in the perspective view.

So heres how i think i can do it.

Make sure i have enough frames to create the entire object.
Set up a camera in the correct render position (so it will always be able to view all that is created.)
Start creating the object, make like 5 planes, position them correctly
Go to the next frame
create 5 more position them correctly
repeat untill done

Then render all frames in the correct format?



Would this work? Its quite an important project as its for my fine art degree. All help suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Wilco]

I dont have 3DSMax but I think it has some quite good scripting options. It may be possible to write a script to render the scene from a viewpoint say every 5 minutes, But I'd have to have a look to find out, might be an option tho.

 

[mindless_moder]

are u trying to make a video that looks like the model is being contructed?

wel theres different ways of doing this i gues i would first ask some maxscript coders how to do it using maxscript because that would be the most practicle way .

or you could break up (detach) parts of it and use animated opacity with a bit of post proocesing to make it work.

 

[IchI]

The ideas has already been done, they are called Zscripts and work with zBrush. You could never get it to work with 3dsmax because it would proberly take too much coding and also the fact that its so easily customised differently.

Your best just making a video.

 

[Mikademius]

I can not see how that would work since the polygon does not depend on the timenode unless animated. If you create a polygon at frame one, go to the next frame and create another one the last polygon will still be visible at frame one. You could key the visibility of each polygon, but that would be really timeconsuming.
And to script it yourself would also be very timeconsuming. I have an idea of how I would have solved it in maya, but once again... time. I recon you don't have like several months to pull this off so I would look for alternatives. And then again. You would probably spend most of the time tweeking the faces... And to then again go back and forth if they are animated... I wouldn't go there. If you have MUCH patience you could key the visibility of the faces AFTER you have finished the model. If you are economic with your polycount it might not take so much time after all.

 

[Richardo P]

Thanks every one

The project is for my Fine Art Degree. at the moment all my worjk is about how computers can represent the real world, thats a very simple description and doesnt cover all the aspects of my work atm but it ull do

I was thinking of key frameing it in, but maybe 5 or so faces at a time. I'm currently making a self potrait face, first time modeling anything so complicated. Once that is complete i will be able have a good guess at how many polys faces verts etc im gonna have in the new model and should be able to divide it between how ever many frames i decide i am gonna use. So i will know exactly how much to do in a frame.

I do have alot of time to do this, basically ive got 2 years, but i want to do it the most efficiant way possible obviously. I really cant use max script as im hopless with script.


The other option which i liked was the opacity one, so in theory it could work like this:


I make the model as usual
Once the model is finished i give it a transparent texture
Then i select 5 or so faces, give it a texture id, then a different texture
Go to the next key frame
Repeat
Repeat


Is that what you meant mindless_moder and Mikademius ?


Ichi is this Z brush a new program a pluggin or what?

thanks again every one

 

[Mikademius]

That's actually a very interesting assignment. I like it
The idea with the transparency will work. It will look smoother too. Although smooth transitions doesn't remind us about the computer's ways of building things since it switches switches (funny) from 0-1 and 1-0. That's why I suggested keying the visibility. Maybe you can experiment with both. Maybe add a fast keyed transparency. I'd also keep the head mid-poly. That again will resemble a computer generated look. Good luck

z-brush is a standalone program

 

[Richardo P]

thanks,

i hope the project turns out interesting as well, now i just need to find out the correct file, frame, xxx, yyy and zzz format i need to make the animation in so it is editable on Final Cut pro on the MAC.

tutors advise on that one is needed tho.