martin Posted January 19, 2009 Posted January 19, 2009 Paul, try the Hair "jitter" feature in Multipass. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 19, 2009 Author Posted January 19, 2009 Jitter is already at 30%. I'll try turning it up. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 22, 2009 Author Posted January 22, 2009 I have done a number of test renders with different jitter settings which I will compile for comparison. Still fiddling with the hair and not quite getting what I am looking for yet. I will be adding a map to drive the hair colour. Haven't painted the new textures yet either but have tweaked the model a little: PictureView_A00_pass3_jit30_noskinshader_e.mov Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted January 22, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted January 22, 2009 the hair just seems way too bright for gray hair. Quote
*A:M User* Shelton Posted January 22, 2009 *A:M User* Posted January 22, 2009 Paul Very nice model. Great Job! Steve Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 24, 2009 Author Posted January 24, 2009 the hair just seems way too bright for gray hair. Agreed. I am trying everything but I'm still not getting soft grey and white hair. Very nice model. Great Job! Thanks, Shelton. -------------- Edit: (Removed this movie to conserve a little space) Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted January 24, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted January 24, 2009 perhaps the muhair shader is just too shiny for old-person gray hair. Quote
Fuchur Posted January 24, 2009 Posted January 24, 2009 perhaps the muhair shader is just too shiny for old-person gray hair. (You might want to play with the "transparency" over length-property... The new A:M avatare for 15 has something like that applied to its fury cloth. It looks blurred and very soft. Dont know if that can help you there.) Sorry, didnt read all posts before... *Fuchur* PS: Nice character... like him much! Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 24, 2009 Author Posted January 24, 2009 I couldn't get transparency along length to work in A:M 15e, Fuchur. Thanks for the thumbs up. I think that I might be getting somewhere with Muh Hair. Slow but sur.....not too sure. I found Kevin's, (Cosmonaught), description of the Muh Hair properties and realised that I had the secondary highlight wiping out the primary highlight. After some experimenting with MuHair I hope to get closer to finding a flexible workflow for hair. Sometimes I would just like to capture a slightly enhanced version of hair as it appears in the realtime view though. This is muHair after tweaking the speculars a bit. Also reduced the amount of taper in the hair so it is now thinner overall. Increased the number of passes to 5. Somehow I think that really soft fluffy hair with a good range of shades is going to require lots of passes. FaceTest_A00p.mov Oh. Jitter doesn't appear to be working or maybe it requires more passes before it becomes apparent. Quote
largento Posted January 24, 2009 Posted January 24, 2009 The hair looks pretty good, Paul... and the model looks GREAT! Now you can have Clint tell the Academy what he thinks about them snubbing Gran Torino. :-) Quote
Kelley Posted January 24, 2009 Posted January 24, 2009 You might not be getting exactly what you want, but what you've got is really good. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 25, 2009 Author Posted January 25, 2009 Thanks, guys. This is just a little spriticle effect that I put together as an example in another thread: SpriteTest_A00l.mov Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 27, 2009 Author Posted January 27, 2009 A little update on my particle experiments: (Removed these two examples and posted a slightly better version in my next post) Quote
steve392 Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Oh thats good , your gonna have to show us how to do that Paul ,its magic Quote
johnl3d Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Nice, Paul - between your and Vern's postings, it looks like I can retire. Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted January 27, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted January 27, 2009 Very impressive result! I see a movie in this... "Attack of the 50 Foot Flower Man" Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 27, 2009 Author Posted January 27, 2009 Steve, you know what the Magic Circle would say about that! Johnl3d, you can never retire! We all need you for inspiration. Keep tinkering! Thanks, Stian! Robert, I may throw together a 50 ft flower man, just for you, but this effect has inspired me to try something else. Oh dear. Yet another project... I've taken those other two movies down and replaced them with this slightly better version, which includes sound: Kick_comp_A00a_12fps_7.mov Quote
steve392 Posted January 27, 2009 Posted January 27, 2009 Ha ha ha thats graet ,sound makes a differance I must say Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 31, 2009 Author Posted January 31, 2009 Just more particle testing: Quote
steve392 Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 This one looks good ,but looks like she needs some yorkshire pudding down her,.Is that from a normal charector or a skelleton Paul ? Quote
martin Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 That's a great experiment, Paul! I'm thinking "story" as I watch it... (My measure of an animation's appeal.) Quote
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted January 31, 2009 Hash Fellow Posted January 31, 2009 That would be a great character in the land of Oz. Quote
Admin Rodney Posted January 31, 2009 Admin Posted January 31, 2009 That is outstanding Paul. I'd call that a very successful test. I like where you are going with this. File the following in its proper place as I'm sure you already know it: That last walk seems to be more of a heavy set manly walk than that of a woman. That aspect may work against the lightness of the particles effect and character based interests in some instances (not necessarily in this test). As its rather hard to tell the gender of the character at this point in testing thats not going to be a problem but it may be more of a factor as you settle into specific characters. Would the acting and personality have to be a bit more stereotypical? Perhaps. The more diverse you want to make these characters the more importnant that aspect. Apologies where I'm just stating the obvious. Quote
TheSpleen Posted January 31, 2009 Posted January 31, 2009 impressive A wood nymph perhaps? Guardian of the forest? Quote
Paul Forwood Posted January 31, 2009 Author Posted January 31, 2009 Is that from a normal charector or a skelleton Paul ? Not sure what you mean, Steve. This is one of my faerie models. The skeleton will be formed by the gnarled and twisted trunk and braches. It will be quite surreal. That's a great experiment, Paul! Thanks! I'm thinking "story" as I watch it... (My measure of an animation's appeal.) These are just tests, Martin. The story is just outlined at the moment, (just some notes and 16 thumbnail sketches so far), and will not be revealed until I have an animatic at the very least. I'm imagining it as a 20 - 25 minute short but it could end up being much shorter. With the way I jump from project to project it may be a while in coming. That would be a great character in the land of Oz. Indeed, but not this time. That last walk seems to be more of a heavy set manly walk than that of a woman. Agreed. The walk can't be finalised until the character's size and weight have been fully established. At the moment she can go either direction. Eventually each character will have motion suited to their physical makeup and their personality. (That's the plan anyway). A wood nymph perhaps? Yes. Sort of. She is a supporting actress. One of several who will enhance some of the scenes but at the moment she is primarily a test model for a number of effects. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 2, 2009 Author Posted February 2, 2009 I tried a render with a volumetric light and found that it doesn't play well with this model. One for A:M Reports I guess. Particles, Volumetric light and Fog: Particles and Volumetric light: (movie removed to conserve space) The back faces of the transparent body seem to be reacting with the volumetric light, showing up as visible geometry and acting like a filter on the scene immediately behind. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 2, 2009 Author Posted February 2, 2009 Getting back to Clint for a minute, here is a test in A:M 14c where I tried the skin shader for the first time: Shortlegs_A00B.mov Quote
steve392 Posted February 2, 2009 Posted February 2, 2009 I think that looks good ,the light gives a nice shadow and the geometry looks good like that ,sorta differant but wierd.The skinn shader is very good ,I have to try it out ,you can still see all the bump (face lines) so thats working better than I would have thought .This guy is looking real good now Quote
KenH Posted February 2, 2009 Posted February 2, 2009 That old guy has a really distinctive face. I like it. How are the flowers falling off the Plant character done? Hand animated or automated? Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 2, 2009 Author Posted February 2, 2009 Thanks, Steve and Ken. How are the flowers falling off the Plant character done? Hand animated or automated? Particle emitters with very low velocity and emission rates. Sprite's gravitational effect set low, to suit. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 5, 2009 Author Posted February 5, 2009 I have no idea what is happening here, in A:M15e: Somehow I managed to get a volumetric light to work with a transparent surface but I get these dark streaks appearing for no apparent reason. There is nothing that could be casting a shadow above the balls. I have tried everything that I can think of to get volumetrics to work with transparent objects in this other project but without success. I'm still getting the white-out. I'm wondering if this might be caused by groups, higher up the tree, which share the same patches as the group that has been set to 100% transparent. I doesn't make sense but I will try stripping out all the groups except for the Transparency group and see if that has any effect. Quote
KenH Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 I wonder what flipping the patches would do? Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 5, 2009 Author Posted February 5, 2009 I wonder what flipping the patches would do? I stripped out all groups except for a bark colour group and the skin/particle emitter. Same story. I then tried your suggestion, Ken, and flipped the normals: No change and, of course, the particles are forced into the body shape, which is not really what I want. I guess I'll have to forget about creating any moody lighting or leave it until sometime in the future. Quote
KenH Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 If you strip down the model to just an arm or something and post the project file here, perhaps someone might be able to tweak something. I'd be interested in having a look anyway. Quote
Admin Rodney Posted February 5, 2009 Admin Posted February 5, 2009 If you strip down the model to just an arm or something and post the project file here, perhaps someone might be able to tweak something. I'd be interested in having a look anyway. I'd be very interested as well. If there is no other solution the thought that comes to mind would be to test a completely transparent patch image applied to all of the body mesh. That should vanish the mesh for you. I'm not sure what elements are there that might confict with that method however. Having a small test project would tell us. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 6, 2009 Author Posted February 6, 2009 There are still a few glitches present in volumetrics: (movie removed to conserve space) Note the black triangle where the volumetric lights cross and the way that it affects the particle hair that is infront of it. There is also some very unnatural distortion of the ground plane texture occuring but that doesn't seem to be related to the volumetrics. (Visible in the other images also.) Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 6, 2009 Author Posted February 6, 2009 Aha! I suddenly realised that the only place that the black triangle occured was where the lights crossed one another, infront of an empty background, (Alpha). I added a skydome and the problem went away. Transparency is working well too. Now if I can just find out what is causing the black streaks I will be a happy bunny. Maybe volumetrics need many passes. The following example uses just 3: BallTest_B00__NoFog_dome.mov Quote
steve392 Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 Thats looking a lot better Paul and I don't see any streeks anywhere Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 6, 2009 Author Posted February 6, 2009 Thanks, guys! After a whole load of tests I finally managed to get this transparent model to work with a volumetric light, apart from the streaks. I gradually deleted all groups and eventually all decals and materials too. After that I could create new groups and add materials and hopefully everything is working now, as far as I can tell. I'll see what happens when I add the other groups, materials, lights and fog. So the rule of thumb for A:M15e users, at the moment, is: When importing models from earlier versions of A:M be prepared to start afresh with your mapping. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 6, 2009 Author Posted February 6, 2009 Volumetric lights are working well with my transparent geometry now but there are still a few things that I need to understand, such as... (movie removed to conserve space) ... those streaks! There must be some way of controlling the streaks. Some simple volumetric tests should shed some light. Do volumetric lights actually have some kind of mass? Those particles look as if they have become stuck on the light beam. Strange! Quote
animas3D Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 When you mean "streaks" are you talking about that black stuff in the middle of the beam such as in the last image, or are you talking about the darker areas of the volumetrics that emanate from the character after being hit by the light? If you are talking about the latter, I think those "streaks" are natural shadows caused by the model within the volumetric rays. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 7, 2009 Author Posted February 7, 2009 Well of course I'm talking about the dark, grainy streaks that run down the whole length of the light beam/cone. Those other soft streaks of light and shade is what I am after. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 7, 2009 Author Posted February 7, 2009 Is it a bug? I'm not sure yet but I vaguely recall a post on the subject from way back so I'll see if I can find that. Quote
KenH Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 The black streaks look suspiciously like they are occurring in the hotspot of the light. Do they still appear if you widen/shrink that middle part of the light? Or do you have shadow softness on? PS He's got a tad too many flowers falling off him now. I think they should be subtle.....something to look out for. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 7, 2009 Author Posted February 7, 2009 The black streaks look suspiciously like they are occurring in the hotspot of the light. Do they still appear if you widen/shrink that middle part of the light? Or do you have shadow softness on? That is what I am testing at the moment, Ken, in a new project, but I am getting perfect cones with none of those black streaks: LightTest_A00b.mov There are three lights in a closed box and none of them are displaying the problem so this is a good place to start adding things in until something breaks. He's got a tad too many flowers falling off him now. Yes. I wanted plenty of particles visible for this test just so I had plenty of examples of how the flowers/petals would behave all along the path. Just as well or I might not have known that particles can become suspended on the surface of a volumetric light cone. These tests may not look very pretty but they answer alot of questions for me so that I can better judge what will be possible, or not. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 7, 2009 Author Posted February 7, 2009 I have been testing A:M 15e's volumetrics pretty intensively today and I haven't been able to reproduce those destructive streaks to any significant degree, just a few black specks in the core of the light beam. . I have yet to introduce a model from A:M 14 so maybe that will turn out to be the trigger. The black areas, that appear when two volumetric lights overlap, always occur when there is no background behind them so it must just be the alpha mix from the two lights. I will do a proper render, with alpha, and try compositing the results with a background. Quote
Paul Forwood Posted February 8, 2009 Author Posted February 8, 2009 An example of the testing that I have been doing: Aligned15deg_Box_Hair_Sprites_LR_angle_gobos_.mov This includes most of the ingredients that I thought might have been causing the problem. The troublesome black particles are less obvious but they are still there if you look closely. Quote
jakerupert Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 I vaguely recall, that this has something to do with a percentage setting somewhere at the shadows casting of the lights. You will have to increase that. Sorry, can`t look into that closer at the moment, since I donT have AM with me right now. But maybe somebody else can tell you it`s exact location. Quote
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