Posts Tagged ‘Rendered’

Tree on Sky Line rendered in Vue 6 Infinite

After a couple of e-mail requests I’ve posted an explanation of how I made last weeks WW – Creating the Inventor’s Work Bench. I’ll do the same for today’s picture later this week.

My thanks to Bruno Memain for the wonderful atmosphere used in today’s picture.

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The picture originally intended for last night’s post about Creating a Bifurcated Lava Flow in Vue Infinite was waiting for me when I got up this morning. Rendered in Vue 6 Infinite and resized for uploading to the web.

I got a sneak peak at Brady Mac’s new Toon shading tutorial for Poser and Vue this week. It’s a very simple and effective way of bringing the two applications together to produce a different type of image. The picture above is the first one I made following the tutorial after a few quick test pictures to see how it worked. I’ve used Daz’s Aiko 3 and Stonemason’s The Ministry. Aiko was textured in Poser and brought into Vue following Brady’s tutorial. The Ministry and Aiko were both lit in Vue using eight spot lights. I used the Interior atmosphere that ships with Vue 6. Rendering of the final image took about two hours and I then did a few minor retouches to correct a minor problem with spill from one of the lights. I did no retouching of the figures at all.

Well after much fiddling I’ve produced my first complete dynamic cloth garment for Poser. Originally shaped in Virtual Fashion I textured it in Deep Paint 3D and Paint Shop Pro before taking it into Poser where I ran a simple cloth simulation so it has a bit more of a drape to it. Finally rendered in Vue 6. Modelled after garments that appear in The 13th Warrior and other films of a similar period. According to one Wikipedia entry, along with various clones of that article on other sites, is called a Gurgel but I can’t find any other reference to it by that name but for now it will do. Its been a long time since I modelled and textured anything in this kind of process and it reminded me how greatful I am that there is so much good content at reasonable prices these days. Tomorrow I’m going to tackle the somewhat more complex texturing of the shirt and trousers to go with it.

A render using atmospheres and plants from Linda Daireaux’s Incredibly Lush Tropical Paradise. The ecosystem covering the island is a modified version of one that came in the pack. I moved the palms into a separate layer with altitude dependant distribution because they didn’t look right when they were breaking the lines of the mountains at the peaks. All done in Vue 6 Infinite with no post work.

A third snowflake made in XFrog and rendered in Vue 6 Infinite.

Another snowflake made in XFrog and rendered in Vue 6 Infinite.

A snowflake made in XFrog and rendered in Vue 6 Infinite.

Download: objsequenceloader0_2_4.zip (4k Zip Archive of 2 files)

Instructions for version 0.2.4

Tested using Vue 5 Infinite 5.11-02 and Vue 6 Pre Release build 288741

What is it?

The object sequence loader is a script that loads a sequence of 3d model files in a format Vue can import (obj, vob, 3ds, lwo, shd, cob and some other formats)

How does it work?

It first loads the objects into the scene. These are then hidden (usually beneath the ground but you can change where they are kept) and then switched into a visible area for each frame you render. By creating an animation, the Python script will automatically switch these objects in and out to give you an animation.

Note: These do not appear as keyframed animations unless you have "auto keyframing" turned on and have rendered the complete sequence of steps that make up the animation.

What version of Vue does it work with?

The script will work with Vue 5 Infinite and Vue 6 Infinite. Vue 6′s improved importing and real world units provide significant improvements to the results of using the object sequence importer.

What other programmes does it work with?

It has been tested with objects exported from RealFlow 3, RealFlow 4 and XFrog 3.5 Full. It should work with any programme that can make a set of 3d models in a format that Vue can import.

What are the limitations?

This is an early development which is currently limited to standalone animations.

Mini Previews and HyperVue are not supported. The Python script necessitates animation sequences in order to correctly switch the objects between frames.

Object files can consume a lot of memory, so it is best to initially experiment with simple sequences of small object files to learn how to use the script.

How do I prepare the sequence?

Take your 3D objects and place them in a directory.

The sequence must have sequentially numbered file names. The numbering does not have to begin with 0 or 1. For example:

• 1.lwo, 2.lwo, 3.lwo, 4.lwo … … 100.lwo, 101.lwo
• Mesh010001.obj, Mesh010002.obj, Mesh010003.obj …
• Flower_blossom_00001.obj, Flower_blossom_00002.obj, Flower_blossom_00003.obj
• 5.3ds, 6.rds, 7.3ds

How do I run the Script?

Download the script and uncompress the zip file. You should now have a file called objsequenceloader0_2_4.py .

Place a copy of the script objsequenceloader0_2_4.py in the directory with the objects.

Run the Python Script and follow the options. For more help on running a script see my Vue Python for Beginners Tutorials.

The script may not work with script quick load menu in Vue after other operations have been used. For reliable run it with Run python script…

A number of options will be presented to you. Respond to each one in turn. If this is your first time using the script I would suggest using the following options:

• Group objects: Yes
• Drop on import: No
• Align on import: No

I’ll write some documentation to explain all the options soon.

I’m Using XFrog is there anything I should know?

If you are importing a sequence of objects from Xfrog you will be asked for a file name prefix. This is the part of the filename before the first 0 in the numbering sequence. So for a sequence including Flower_blossom_00001.obj use Flower_blossom_.

What Happens when I’ve Answered all the Questions?

When you have completed all of the options the script will start to load the objects.

The settings from your last object import will be used by Vue while importing the files. The loading process may take some time.

Once the script has finished loading the files a dialogue box will pop up to let you know.

The Sequence is Loaded what do I do next?

You will notice several objects in the scene:

• Imported Object Target
• Imported Object Out of Shot
• Either the individual objects or a group of objects depending on the options you selected

The Imported Object Target is where the object for a specific frame will be displayed. You can scale the objects by scaling this object. You can rotate them by rotating it. You can position them by position it. If you selected "Drop on import" make sure this is over something else in the scene so that when the object is dropped it has somewhere to land. The Imported Object Target will not appear in renders.

The Imported Object Out of Shot is where objects that don’t appear in a specific frame will be placed. It starts at a position that should be out of shot. If it isn’t you can move it. If you do move it and want to see the objects reposition render a frame and all the objects should move. The Imported Object Out of Shot object will not appear in renders.

How do I render my animation?

When you are ready to render the animation open the animation rendering panel. If you do not have any other animation in the scene you will need to tell Vue how many frames to render by selecting "Render Sequence" and entering appropriate numbers. You should then be able to render your animation.

How can I save the sequence?

If you want to save the sequence the results of using this script you must render the scenes animation before saving. This will create key frames in the scene for the objects. To perform this process quickly render a very small version of the animation with preview quality. Once this has been done delete you can delete Imported Object Target and the Imported Object Out of Shot objects. They will not have any effect on the sequence when it is reloaded.

Trouble Shooting and (In)Frequently Asked Questions

Vue Crashed while loading the objects. What can I do?

If you have too many objects in the sequence for your computer to cope with Vue may crash. If this happen try loading the sequence in smaller parts and then compiling the final animation in video editing software.

There don’t seem to be any animation paths. Is the script broken?

Earlier versions of the script created animation paths for each object. This technique has now been superseded. Instead a technique similar to a 3d flipbook is used. Each time a frame is rendered the script moves an appropriate object to be displayed and moves the others elsewhere.

I want to have two sequences in the same animation. Can I do this?

Running this script multiple times on the same scene is only possible if the earlier import has had key frames created by rendering an animation sequence. Once a second import is carried out the first import will not be editable by moving the target objects.

Can I use this with Network Rendering?

This script hasn’t been tested with network rendering. It may be possible to network render an animation created using this script by first using the technique for saving the animation. I’ve not tried this. If you try it and it works please e-mail me so I can update other users.

A pop up telling me I have "nothing to drop on". What should I do?

The problem is with the drop on import option. When using drop on import raise the height of the Imported Object Target and ensure it is dropping onto an object.

Can I change the textures of the object in Vue?

Yes.

Thanks

I’d like to thank e-on software, greenworks and Roderick Davies for their help in developing and testing this script.