robcat2075

Tomorrow at Noon?

You're sure the surface properties of both those sections are the same? And neither one has some other material still on it from some previous experiment?

Can you bring this problem to Live Answer Time?

I would be eager for anyone to research Bullet and report back, i know so little about it. It apparently is in wide use in a game engine so there must be discussions of it somewhere.

How about these pins?

Anyone with lots of free time.. I'd be curious to know if any of these schemes are productive... depth map from stereo photos I dimly recall reading that some of the digital cameras used for motion pictures now are recording a depth map channel which allows them to create and alter the 3D in post rather than have to get it right on the set with a dual camera rig.

Could getting the depth map be as simple as finding a file with "*_depth.png" on your phone? If that is what we are saving for our CG creations, that must be what the phone is saving as a file also?

The photo snapshot versions that we see on Facebook are done with the new cell phones that have two camera lenses. Internally it is taking a conventional stereo photo but then creating a depth map from that to apply the photo to. The process must be pretty smart since not every pixel of one view is going to have an easily identifiable counter part in the other. i wonder if there is a way to get that depth map? For displacement mapping purposes. There are some tutorials on the web for creating depth maps from stereo photos but I haven't investigated it.

Let me get a few desperately late projects behind me and I'll be able to take a close look at some solutions for you. 🙂

That' works well! Here's a link to Matt's Page... https://www.facebook.com/matt.campbell.5203?__tn__=%2CdlC-R&eid=ARCVQm9OHeHsTgouzsYpmxphjpTiGQIyi6rSTMfSP647hHTaGznBrim92pmUtq8tz-oeXtDgII-W8FAA&hc_ref=ARRVRNLv9ZZDKXXnPMhz9Fja_WOjOPGmlaHEn3osliFdSGYVyQpID6A34-Nau6tbwIs

I just meant strategy in the most forward-looking terms. You don't have to have it all figured out yet. 🙂

strategy... a plan for getting something done.

I like the diagonal look. It will probably be necessary to pursue separate strategies for near and far to get favorable results with either.

It looks more like tiles than cobble stones

Do you have some pictures from Venice of these stones and streets?

"Reference" would be any pictures you are using as examples and models to follow

👍 There is probably a Material solution we can pursue to get a less striped appearance. However, at this distance and scale, representing the individual stones may not be what we need. What do you have for reference for those areas?

And there was much rejoicing.

I'll also note that you do need to have a solid modeled background in your image. Even one just big patch to cover the background will be enough. The default camera background is not able to create a proper depth map result.

Here is a clear process, using the OpenEXR format. Note that the screen capture compression makes the grayscale depth buffer look very banded. The actual render will be smooth. Note, also, that my choice of only 640x640 for resolution was a weak one. Although the final image is seen rather small on Facebook, a higher resolution depth map seems to make the Facebook 3D process work better and make fewer mistakes about near v. far. Thank you , Matt for finding this new FaceBook feature!

You got an email with an activation code, right? You'll need that. Delete the master0.lic file from your AM program folder, then run A:M. This should make A:M ask for your activation code. Enter it and you ought to be up and running. If not, come back and ask more questions. if you have other A:M installation, like previous versions, copy the new master0.lic file that just got created to those other AM folders and they will be enabled on your sub also.

Edit: see better A:M process in next post If you know how to extract the depth map from an OpenEXR render and scale it into a PNG you are on your way already. A perhaps more intuitive way is to temporarily set all the objects in your shot to full 100% ambient intensity white, no specularity. Set your camera background to black, turn fog ON, and set the fog near and far distances to contain the nearest and farthest objects in your scene. You should get a grayscale image approximation of a depth map.

I think you should be able to just decal your models and have it come over... According to Fuchur's page on the .x exporters it includes decals in the export, so i would presume that if you are not getting decals there must be something going wrong between the .x and .egg stages?

Great review!