Gerry

Here's a first draft of the final movie, and at 16 passes the banding is still evident in the opening closeup. I've got a little "roughness" in all the other surfaces of the laptop and didn't put it on the top surface of the cover because it was too distracting. But I may go back to that and just lower the settings. John, I haven't looked at the shadow bias settings but I will now. Edit: I'm also putting up the prj file in case you want to play around with it. Plus you get a free laptop model!

The only thing I keep coming back to is "Tralfamodore", the alien planet in "Slaughterhouse Five". But I know that's not it.

I've been thinking for two days but nothing comes to me!

...and that's a really good New Year's Resolution!

Killi - these are some nice jet models! The animations you're posting seem to go by really quick. I realize this is part of a longer sequence but it would be nice to see either this shot slowed down a bit, or maybe a wireframe of a bit more of the scene. If you work out the trajectory of the plane through the scene in a believable way, then all the smoke effects, backgrounds, explosions and stuff will fall into place I bet!

I think my one light source was at too oblique an angle to the surface. I shifted the light up slightly and the banding was still visible but it now vanishes with successive passes. Using 16 passes solved the problem. thanks for your input gentlemen. Gerry

Hi Matt - Yeah, I used anywhere from 4 to 25 passes. This image was just one pass to really emphasize the effect but I can't get it to go away completely. The odd thing was that as I watched the render, some passes would smooth out the surface but the banding would be reintroduced on the next pass, fading in and out on each pass. I have one rim (spot) light, white at 100%. The cone is pretty wide because of the way the scene has to be lit. It was at a fairly oblique angle for this shot and I moved it up, which helped a little. There's also a fill light behind the camera and pointing away, because I dragged it there to get it out of the way, but then I found it's filling the shadows just enough so I left it there. Z-buffered shadow: Don't know. I'm at home now so I can't check but I will tomorrow. No material, just a surface color, as well as ambience and specularity. The white text is a decal with an alpha channel. Yeah, the banding is definitely perpendicular to the light source. I think that's a clue. Light intensity is 100% I'll post a chor setup tomorrow. and thanks for the look!

This is the model of the laptop I've tweaked and I'm working on animating a tutorial about pixels. This is a plain rectangular shape colored flat gray, with one light on it. As you can see, I've got a pretty severe banding problem. Compounding this is 1) I wasn't having this problem yesterday, and 2) It seems to be getting worse in the course of the day. Earlier today, my renders would start with the banding, then it would smooth out by the end of 16 passes. Now, even with 25 passes it's still somewhat visible. Any suggestions are welcome. Gerry

Thanks, Tralf (can I call you Tralf?) but my boss already signed off on the one I modified. It actually came out pretty nice. I'll post something tomorrow.

I've been authorized to pay for a model. So if anyone knows of a laptop model anywhere, let me know. I'm modifying the one out of the library, but I like to present some options on something like this.

that's the first place I looked and didn't see one. I'll poke around there again. EDIT: Dang! There's a laptop in the library but it has no keyboard detail!! Maybe I can decal it.

I'm looking for a free model of a generic laptop computer (patches, not polys). I'll model it if need be but just trying to save a few steps. Thanks for any help! Gerry

I'm still planning on it. Mike, post an update if you can. Also, I might train down instead of drive, just for a change of pace. Let me know what subway stop you're at. Gerry

The fire looks good, but if you're after a modern look (I think it's been said above somewhere) you ought to try removing the moulding/mantelpiece from the top of the fireplace. It would give it a cleaner look I think.

Wow.

Nice work, Soltek! Great movement and character, and the voice is perfect. Welcome to the forum!

Hi Dennis- yep, I've got it on my calendar. Now if only this awful weather would let up... Gerry

That's very cool, Ross. But I want to see someone flying off into space! I guess that wouldn't fit in with your friend's marketing plans, though.

thanks for looking Luuk!

I've removed that line, Luuk. Here's a link for the alternate version. If you have a second to watch this again and let me know if the error messages are the same I'd really appreciate it! http://www.mooneyart.com/visualex/visualexholiday_qtalt.html Thanks, Gerry

Best of luck, Keith. Stop back soon! Gerry

Thanks for your comments, Luuk, but wouldn't deleting that line disable other browsers? I can never remember whether it's the or tag that IE needs, but don't I need both to accommodate all browsers? btw, there are various error messages or alerts that folks get depending on their browser/platform combo. And I also don't need all three versions to play on all computers, just trying to make sure everyone can see at least one!

thanks Dhar. I assume you get an Activex alert, you click on it and the animation plays? I've seen that before and I think it has to do with your browser prefs. As long as the animation plays without too many clicks or hurdles I'm happy. thanks for checking it out for me! I played your "St. James Infirmary" for my wife last night and she really liked it. Gerry

I've finished compressing and posting the final animation. What I've done is create three versions, Flash, QT and .wmv, and put in links so it's easy to click from one to the other. Below is the link to the QT version. If you're so inclined and have a few minutes can you check these out and let me know how they play, what browser and platform you're on, and any klunky behavior or error messages you might get. Thanks, and a GENERIC HOLIDAY GREETING TO ALL! http://www.mooneyart.com/visualex/visualexholiday_qt.html

Really nice, Mike! I love the look of the render, and a nice fun all-purpose character. And...what IS the green thing he's jumping in?