Video Distortion in Horizontal Lines

[RC Flyboy]

I am having trouble rendering a video with horizontal lines (siding) on a building.

 

The horizontal lines appear to swim across the building as the camera moves towards it. I’m not sure what you would call it, Aliasing? Video Noise? Once the camera gets within about 5 to 8 feet of the building, it suddenly stops – (actually it drops to a reasonable level). I have tried changing the focal point & depth of field – see below.

 

I’m planning to do a virtual walk thru of several buildings. The camera is constrained to a path for its movement relative to the buildings.

 

The building is a simple rectangle with decals applied to it. The decals are bitmap images that have horizontal lines to represent the siding.

 

Some of the things I have tried so far (with little or no effect).

 

1. Changed the multiple light sources to a single source (sun).

2. Tried different ambient light setting on the camera

3. Changed the opacity of the decal to 100%.

4. I have tried multi-pass renderings.

5. I have tried rendering with some “blur”

6. Changed the focal point of the camera to remain on the building as the camera moves towards it.

7. I have changed the depth of field, and rendered with it both on and off

8. I have changed the approach angle of the camera’s movement towards the building to nearly perpendicular.

 

I'm using version 12q Yeti

 

I’m a new user, and so far I’m really amazed with the capabilities of the AM software. It is a bit daunting starting out though, because there are so many features, and ways of doing things. I tried searching for a similar thread for this issue, but have not been able to find one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Thanks.

[robcat2075]

I’m not sure what you would call it, Aliasing?

Yes. Even real world video has this trouble. Long, thin, nearly horizontal lines are a worst case for anti-aliasing to solve. In real-life you can defocus the camera a bit to soften the lines, but that's harder to do in CG.

 

Post a pic.

 

I'm using version 12q Yeti

Any reason not to use 12t? Won't change the aliasing, but it has more bugs fixed.

[ddustin]

I am having trouble rendering a video with horizontal lines (siding) on a building.

 

The horizontal lines appear to swim across the building as the camera moves towards it. I’m not sure what you would call it, Aliasing? Video Noise? Once the camera gets within about 5 to 8 feet of the building, it suddenly stops – (actually it drops to a reasonable level). I have tried changing the focal point & depth of field – see below.

 

I’m planning to do a virtual walk thru of several buildings. The camera is constrained to a path for its movement relative to the buildings.

 

The building is a simple rectangle with decals applied to it. The decals are bitmap images that have horizontal lines to represent the siding.

 

Some of the things I have tried so far (with little or no effect).

 

1. Changed the multiple light sources to a single source (sun).

2. Tried different ambient light setting on the camera

3. Changed the opacity of the decal to 100%.

4. I have tried multi-pass renderings.

5. I have tried rendering with some “blur”

6. Changed the focal point of the camera to remain on the building as the camera moves towards it.

7. I have changed the depth of field, and rendered with it both on and off

8. I have changed the approach angle of the camera’s movement towards the building to nearly perpendicular.

 

I'm using version 12q Yeti

 

I’m a new user, and so far I’m really amazed with the capabilities of the AM software. It is a bit daunting starting out though, because there are so many features, and ways of doing things. I tried searching for a similar thread for this issue, but have not been able to find one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

Funny I just made a material for building siding as well.

 

The only method I know of getting rid of those lines is to crank the multipass up really high (like 32 passes).

Have you tried making a bump map of the image as well? That may give you some differentiation on the surface.

 

Reply if you need instructions on how to make/add/use a bump map.

 

David

[John Bigboote]

You could try field rendering, if the end target is video NTSC playback.

 

Maybe make the siding larger so the lines are more spread-out...?

[RC Flyboy]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I tried to post a video clip with my original message. Is that not possible? It said “unsupported format” – I was posting an .AVI file.

 

I’ll attempt to post a .jpg with this reply

 

I played with using a material. It looked O.K. on the front and back, but the sides were messed up. I guess the material treats the object as a solid – instead of being applied to each face. It seemed to really slow down the render times also. And I don’t think I ever rendered any videos from it – just images.

 

I have not tried using a bump map yet. This model will wind up being 8 to 10 buildings and other objects, with a fence all of the way around it. So, I was thinking that simple primitives with decals would keep the model from becoming too complex.

 

I’ll let my computer chew on a 32 pass render tonight, and see how that works.

 

Are there any video compression formats that work better or worse than others? I don’t mean to start a “Which is better Chevy or Ford” debate . I just think I’m missing something simple here.

 

Robocat - I just haven’t upgraded yet – I’ll do that before I try the 32 pass render.

 

Thanks again

[attachmentid=15424]

[RC Flyboy]

John – I just saw your reply after I posted my last. Right now this project is for my own amusement. I’ve only been using AM for about a month now, and I’m just messing around.

 

This will be a model of Buster Keaton’s movie studio from the 1920’s .Charlie Chaplin also filmed his “Mutual” shorts here before building his own studio. It may someday be posted on some web sites, but I really have no plans for it.

 

Could you tell me some more about “field rendering” I’m not familiar with that.

[RC Flyboy]

I ran a 16 pass (4x4) render with 20% blur. It looks pretty good now. Thanks again for all of the help

[robcat2075]

solution... stucco!