Re: look at this!
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~phlosoft/photon/ Strictly speaking, it's photon mapping with a Java applet. It's nearly as powerful (and in some cases even more so) as a native application. Right . As the author mentions , it's 75 lines of code (code included right on that web page) for the photon mapping part . When I think of Photon mapping I remember back to the 'WinOsi' raytracer page (very old now) http://www.winosi.onlinehome.de/ They still have a very cool realtime demo , but in the form of a 52KB downloadable executable . Ton's of fun and uses all 4 cores , giving amazing frame rates , even with high AA etc . http://www.winosi.onlinehome.de/Ravi.htm (no Gi however) The Winosi raytracer with photon mapping is still available for free download (140KB) . http://www.winosi.onlinehome.de/Downloads_WinOSi.htm garry
look at this!
Hi folks, this is very frustrating! global illumination in a website... http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~phlosoft/photon/ gunnar
Re: look at this!
On 17/03/2008, Gunnar Radeloff [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi folks, this is very frustrating! global illumination in a website... http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~phlosoft/photon/ gunnar great!! amazing! thanks for the link
Re: look at this!
Strictly speaking, it's photon mapping with a Java applet. It's nearly as powerful (and in some cases even more so) as a native application. On 17/03/2008, Gunnar Radeloff [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi folks, this is very frustrating! global illumination in a website... http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~phlosoft/photon/ gunnar
OpenGL Extensions Viewer free app - read on, worth a look!
Hi Guys, OpenGL Extensions Viewer free app: www.realtech-vr.com/glview/index.html Go to downloads and grab the ogl extensions viewer - useful tool to see/troubleshoot your OGL capabilities of your video card - very extensive, A very extensive list of details of all extensions available on your system, which OpenGL functions are implemented and more. A core feature set check also shows how well OpenGL version 1.2 to 2.1 are implemented on your system. Some may find it useful, Aidan
RE: Reproduce lighting and rendering look
Very nice images Matthew! I'm still working on my lightcycle (from the movie TRON) reproduction (modeling is complete (I hope)), but now I'm trying to reproduce the extreme lighting in specific parts for the movie. Original reference images here: http://digitalstratum.com/images/tron/screenshots/hover_1.png http://digitalstratum.com/images/tron/screenshots/jet_wall_1.png Regards, Robert
Re: Reproduce lighting and rendering look
Sweet! I'll be messing with that as soon as I get home! Thanks! Matthew On Wed, July 26, 2006 10:36 am, Matthias Kappenberg wrote: Maybe this is helpy. Matthias - Original Message - From: Carl Schultz [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 11:20 PM Subject: Re: Reproduce lighting and rendering look Matthew Hagerty wrote: Note too much talk on the forum lately so I figured it would be a good time to ask more impossible questions. :-) I'm still working on my lightcycle (from the movie TRON) reproduction (modeling is complete (I hope)), but now I'm trying to reproduce the extreme lighting in specific parts for the movie. Original reference images here: http://digitalstratum.com/images/tron/screenshots/hover_1.png http://digitalstratum.com/images/tron/screenshots/jet_wall_1.png The shadows and dark areas are sharp and absolute. I can't really tell where the light(s) would be placed. I've tried everything from very far away, to right up close. With and without ambient light, with no flashlight color, etc.. Also keep in mind that the game grid is very large compared to the lightcycles, and seemly somewhat flat in features. I'm a rank amateur at 3D, but I (mis)spent several years in my youth as a lighting cameraman, and this is my take on how to get this effect: use a *single* light source at infinity (i.e. all rays parallel) nearly directly overhead, displaced toward the camera by maybe 30 degrees - you'll have to play with this one a bit - maybe 20 degrees is enough. Use this image as a guide: http://www.tron-sector.com/gallery/show.aspx?id=2555 and move the light until the shadows cast on the blue part by the protrusions are about the same length. That's it - no ambient, no flashlight. Less is more. HTH Carl Schultz
Re: Reproduce lighting and rendering look
Matthew Hagerty wrote: Note too much talk on the forum lately so I figured it would be a good time to ask more impossible questions. :-) I'm still working on my lightcycle (from the movie TRON) reproduction (modeling is complete (I hope)), but now I'm trying to reproduce the extreme lighting in specific parts for the movie. Original reference images here: http://digitalstratum.com/images/tron/screenshots/hover_1.png http://digitalstratum.com/images/tron/screenshots/jet_wall_1.png The shadows and dark areas are sharp and absolute. I can't really tell where the light(s) would be placed. I've tried everything from very far away, to right up close. With and without ambient light, with no flashlight color, etc.. Also keep in mind that the game grid is very large compared to the lightcycles, and seemly somewhat flat in features. I'm a rank amateur at 3D, but I (mis)spent several years in my youth as a lighting cameraman, and this is my take on how to get this effect: use a *single* light source at infinity (i.e. all rays parallel) nearly directly overhead, displaced toward the camera by maybe 30 degrees - you'll have to play with this one a bit - maybe 20 degrees is enough. Use this image as a guide: http://www.tron-sector.com/gallery/show.aspx?id=2555 and move the light until the shadows cast on the blue part by the protrusions are about the same length. That's it - no ambient, no flashlight. Less is more. HTH Carl Schultz
Re: Look-at look at models on realsoft.info site
studio wrote: George : http://tinyurl.com/c2zh6 is a link to a model section on Realsoft.info that has 1 or 2 'eye's look-at' built into the model . Yes I've seen it all thanks. Trouble with prebuilt projects is you don't necessarily get to understand how everything works. (well boneheads like me don't, anyway). What I was after, and am gradually pieceing together, is what the axes and points of the tool are, and how to input them etc. Will try to write it up when the pennies drop far enough. George
Re: Look-at
H i George, I know my email had a lot of stuff that was hard to sort through, but try re-reading this part and walking through it. Like all lattice mapping, the relationship of the objects before mapping is important. George Jenner wrote: I've studied that and Matthias' site and it still doesn't answer everything. My goal was to have a camera slide through a scene with simple planes with tree textures on it, with the the trees turning to stay facing the camera(but only rotating on the vertical axis). The attached file has one simple set up (Rect-1 always faces cam-1), and another setup with a camera and its target mapped to separate curves (Rect-2 and Cam-2, slide the animation time slider). The key for me was how to draw the axis for the Look-at object. In this case, the axis needs to be drawn in a vertical direction. The relationship of the axis you draw with the plane defines the angle relationship between them forever. You might consider making a construction line first to trace. I started by going into a front view creating a vertical plane centered on the origin (for the tree). While it's still selected, click the Look-at button on the construction tab. Now you're prompted to draw an axis. Go to the side view and draw it some distance away from the plane in the upward y direction. Now you can select this Look-at object and go the Spec tab and deselect Pitching and Banking. Now try moving the Look-at object around and watch the plane turn to face it. Try moving it up, and see that the plane doesn't tilt up or spin. Play with the Pitching and Banking settings to see how it affects the plane's behavior. Now you can drop the Look-at obect in a camera, or in a level, and it will continue to work. The Look-at object should be moved to the camera position point, as well as placed inside the camera in the select window so it stay with the camera. If you want to change the camera you want the planes to face, drag the Look-atobject in the select window from one camera to another, and move the Look-at object to the new camera in the view window. It is also possible to set up several Look-at relationships initially, then drop the different Look-ats to different cameras, and simply turn off the Look-at's Construction enabled on the Spec tab for the cameras that are not your current camera. If you need a WHOLE BUNCH of trees to follow the camera, stack them all up on top of each other and select them before mapping to the Look-at object. They can be instances, too! Chris Mungenast
Re: Look-at
standley and mungenast wrote: Hi George, You must have missed the back-and-forth Matthias and I had a couple months back. I'll paste some of the discussion below...plus some of the related files. Must have or I'd remember everything :-) Thanks for the file. I've studied that and Matthias' site and it still doesn't answer everything. I get inconsistent results if the look at is a long way from the objects. I'll keep looking at it, so to speak. What's interesting is that the look at object has several parts. It does seem that the objects look at the centre of the line. But you can use the end points of the line to rotate the objects as well. That is you can rotate the objects by rotating the look-at object, as well as by displacing it. Thanks George Good luck. It does work, but you need to know the setup. Chris Mungenast George Jenner wrote: Hi Can anyone understand how the look at constructor works? When you enter the look at object you get to enter two points which draw a line on the screen. - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005 7:29 AM Subject: Re: Look-at question - Updated! Hi Matthias and all Matthias, thanks so much for all your work! I hope others will learn as much as I did from your tutes. I have explored your files and played with Look-at construction objects a bit more, and made (for me) a bit of a discovery which I thought I would clarify for anyone it might help. My goal was to have a camera slide through a scene with simple planes with tree textures on it, with the the trees turning to stay facing the camera(but only rotating on the vertical axis). The attached file has one simple set up (Rect-1 always faces cam-1), and another setup with a camera and its target mapped to separate curves (Rect-2 and Cam-2, slide the animation time slider). Thanks Stefan for the help on this path part! The key for me was how to draw the axis for the Look-at object. In this case, the axis needs to be drawn in a vertical direction. The relationship of the axis you draw with the plane defines the angle relationship between them forever. You might consider making a construction line first to trace. I started by going into a front view creating a vertical plane centered on the origin (for the tree). While it's still selected, click the Look-at button on the construction tab. Now you're prompted to draw an axis. Go to the side view and draw it some distance away from the plane in the upward y direction. Now you can select this Look-at object and go the Spec tab and deselect Pitching and Banking. Now try moving the Look-at object around and watch the plane turn to face it. Try moving it up, and see that the plane doesn't tilt up or spin. Play with the Pitching and Banking settings to see how it affects the plane's behavior. Now you can drop the Look-at obect in a camera, or in a level, and it will continue to work. The Look-at object should be moved to the camera position point, as well as placed inside the camera in the select window so it stay with the camera. If you want to change the camera you want the planes to face, drag the Look-at object in the select window from one camera to another, and move the Look-at object to the new camera in the view window. It is also possible to set up several Look-at relationships initially, then drop the different Look-ats to different cameras, and simply turn off the Look-at's Construction enabled on the Spec tab for the cameras that are not your current camera. If you need a WHOLE BUNCH of trees to follow the camera, stack them all up on top of each other and select them before mapping to the Look-at object. They can be instances, too! As with all things Real, the options are only limited by your imagination once you get the hang of it. ;o) Thanks again, Matthias and Stefan. Chris Mungenast Matthias Kappenberg wrote: Hi Chris, isn't it easier to simply select the plane and the camera then choose Tools--Lattice Mapping--Map Object and there check in dropdown menu Look at point. Accept the tool. Then open the Properties Window of the plane and uncheck Translate in the Map tab for this lattice. Hold pitch or bank via script. Switch camera in edit mode and move the cam-position point to see what happens. Move the focus point and look again. See attached file. To switch on and off the look at simply open the choreography window and set the lattice of the plane to zero (0), you can animate this (But only between on = value 0 or off = 0. BTW: Have a look at your scene, the one frame behind bug is in you
Re: Look-at question - Updated!
Thanks List Great discussion. Thanks again for all your great solutions! Chris Mungenast and Matthias, and all. This Look at discussion hasnt been the only quality thread lately. And if those snow landscapes get any better ... skiing mid-summer. Thanks and thanks Neil Cooke - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 5:34 PM Subject: Re: Look-at question - Updated! Very interesting, Matthias. I had not noticed the dropdown menu Look at point on the Map Object tool. I was suspecting that scripting might help for constraining the pitch, but do not know rpl or javascript. Thanks a bunch for that! That trick might work to keep the camera from spinning as well. So that's the one frame hehind bug. What causes that? I think I got rid of it by mapping the whole camera to the camera path curve then the aim point to the target path curve. One thing I notice about your file, though, is that I cannot reposition planes 2 and 3. I wonder why. Not ideal if you need to edit a tree's location. Of course, my set up is harder to add trees to. You would have to add another construction object the camera for each new batch of trees you add. Great discussion. Thanks again for all your great solutions! Chris Mungenast Matthias Kappenberg wrote: Hi Chris, isn't it easier to simply select the plane and the camera then choose Tools--Lattice Mapping--Map Object and there check in dropdown menu Look at point. Accept the tool. Then open the Properties Window of the plane and uncheck Translate in the Map tab for this lattice. Hold pitch or bank via script. Switch camera in edit mode and move the cam-position point to see what happens. Move the focus point and look again. See attached file. To switch on and off the look at simply open the choreography window and set the lattice of the plane to zero (0), you can animate this (But only between on = value 0 or off = 0. BTW: Have a look at your scene, the one frame behind bug is in you anim. Play the anim, stop at a random frame (47 or 52 or ) then click on the frame slider, the camera is jumping then a little bit to the correct position ;-) Matthias - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005 7:29 AM Subject: Re: Look-at question - Updated! Hi Matthias and all Matthias, thanks so much for all your work! I hope others will learn as much as I did from your tutes. I have explored your files and played with Look-at construction objects a bit more, and made (for me) a bit of a discovery which I thought I would clarify for anyone it might help. My goal was to have a camera slide through a scene with simple planes with tree textures on it, with the the trees turning to stay facing the camera(but only rotating on the vertical axis). The attached file has one simple set up (Rect-1 always faces cam-1), and another setup with a camera and its target mapped to separate curves (Rect-2 and Cam-2, slide the animation time slider). Thanks Stefan for the help on this path part! The key for me was how to draw the axis for the Look-at object. In this case, the axis needs to be drawn in a vertical direction. The relationship of the axis you draw with the plane defines the angle relationship between them forever. You might consider making a construction line first to trace. I started by going into a front view creating a vertical plane centered on the origin (for the tree). While it's still selected, click the Look-at button on the construction tab. Now you're prompted to draw an axis. Go to the side view and draw it some distance away from the plane in the upward y direction. Now you can select this Look-at object and go the Spec tab and deselect Pitching and Banking. Now try moving the Look-at object around and watch the plane turn to face it. Try moving it up, and see that the plane doesn't tilt up or spin. Play with the Pitching and Banking settings to see how it affects the plane's behavior. Now you can drop the Look-at obect in a camera, or in a level, and it will continue to work. The Look-at object should be moved to the camera position point, as well as placed inside the camera in the select window so it stay with the camera. If you want to change the camera you want the planes to face, drag the Look-at object in the select window from one camera to another, and move the Look-at object to the new camera in the view window. It is also possible to set up several Look-at relationships initially, then drop the different Look-ats to different cameras, and simply turn off the Look-at's Construction enabled on the Spec tab for the cameras that are not your current camera. If you need a WHOLE BUNCH of trees to follow the camera, stack them all up on top of each other
Re: Look-at question - Updated!
Hi Chris, (don't know, if my first mail was going on air, so here again) to reposition the planes 2 and 3 simply open the Windows-- Choreography Window and delete the translation chor which is inside the lattice1-level of the planes. Then it should be possible to move the planes ;-) I'll add a tutorial on my site later. It's a very simple task to add more planes, too. See attached image (make sure you've deleted the translation from the lattice before duplicating, if not you must delete it from both original and duplicate). (Don't know, if you know the next step) To assign a plane to another camera: create the second camera. Select the plane and the camera choose Tools -- Lattice Mapping -- Reconnect. Hope this is helpy, Matthias - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 5:34 AM Subject: Re: Look-at question - Updated! Very interesting, Matthias. I had not noticed the dropdown menu Look at point on the Map Object tool. I was suspecting that scripting might help for constraining the pitch, but do not know rpl or javascript. Thanks a bunch for that! That trick might work to keep the camera from spinning as well. So that's the one frame hehind bug. What causes that? I think I got rid of it by mapping the whole camera to the camera path curve then the aim point to the target path curve. One thing I notice about your file, though, is that I cannot reposition planes 2 and 3. I wonder why. Not ideal if you need to edit a tree's location. Of course, my set up is harder to add trees to. You would have to add another construction object the camera for each new batch of trees you add. Great discussion. Thanks again for all your great solutions! Chris Mungenast Matthias Kappenberg wrote: Hi Chris, isn't it easier to simply select the plane and the camera then choose Tools--Lattice Mapping--Map Object and there check in dropdown menu Look at point. Accept the tool. Then open the Properties Window of the plane and uncheck Translate in the Map tab for this lattice. Hold pitch or bank via script. Switch camera in edit mode and move the cam-position point to see what happens. Move the focus point and look again. See attached file. To switch on and off the look at simply open the choreography window and set the lattice of the plane to zero (0), you can animate this (But only between on = value 0 or off = 0. BTW: Have a look at your scene, the one frame behind bug is in you anim. Play the anim, stop at a random frame (47 or 52 or ) then click on the frame slider, the camera is jumping then a little bit to the correct position ;-) Matthias - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005 7:29 AM Subject: Re: Look-at question - Updated! Hi Matthias and all Matthias, thanks so much for all your work! I hope others will learn as much as I did from your tutes. I have explored your files and played with Look-at construction objects a bit more, and made (for me) a bit of a discovery which I thought I would clarify for anyone it might help. My goal was to have a camera slide through a scene with simple planes with tree textures on it, with the the trees turning to stay facing the camera(but only rotating on the vertical axis). The attached file has one simple set up (Rect-1 always faces cam-1), and another setup with a camera and its target mapped to separate curves (Rect-2 and Cam-2, slide the animation time slider). Thanks Stefan for the help on this path part! The key for me was how to draw the axis for the Look-at object. In this case, the axis needs to be drawn in a vertical direction. The relationship of the axis you draw with the plane defines the angle relationship between them forever. You might consider making a construction line first to trace. I started by going into a front view creating a vertical plane centered on the origin (for the tree). While it's still selected, click the Look-at button on the construction tab. Now you're prompted to draw an axis. Go to the side view and draw it some distance away from the plane in the upward y direction. Now you can select this Look-at object and go the Spec tab and deselect Pitching and Banking. Now try moving the Look-at object around and watch the plane turn to face it. Try moving it up, and see that the plane doesn't tilt up or spin. Play with the Pitching and Banking settings to see how it affects the plane's behavior. Now you can drop the Look-at obect in a camera, or in a level, and it will continue to work. The Look-at object should be moved to the camera position point, as well as placed inside the camera in the select window so it stay
Re: Look-at question - Updated!
Hi Chris, to reposition the planes 2 and 3 simply open the Windows-- Choreography Window and delete the translation chor which is inside the lattice1-level of the planes. Then it should be possible to move the planes ;-) I'll add a tutorial on my site later. It's a very simple task to add more planes, too. Matthias - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2005 5:34 AM Subject: Re: Look-at question - Updated! Very interesting, Matthias. I had not noticed the dropdown menu Look at point on the Map Object tool. I was suspecting that scripting might help for constraining the pitch, but do not know rpl or javascript. Thanks a bunch for that! That trick might work to keep the camera from spinning as well. So that's the one frame hehind bug. What causes that? I think I got rid of it by mapping the whole camera to the camera path curve then the aim point to the target path curve. One thing I notice about your file, though, is that I cannot reposition planes 2 and 3. I wonder why. Not ideal if you need to edit a tree's location. Of course, my set up is harder to add trees to. You would have to add another construction object the camera for each new batch of trees you add. Great discussion. Thanks again for all your great solutions! Chris Mungenast Matthias Kappenberg wrote: Hi Chris, isn't it easier to simply select the plane and the camera then choose Tools--Lattice Mapping--Map Object and there check in dropdown menu Look at point. Accept the tool. Then open the Properties Window of the plane and uncheck Translate in the Map tab for this lattice. Hold pitch or bank via script. Switch camera in edit mode and move the cam-position point to see what happens. Move the focus point and look again. See attached file. To switch on and off the look at simply open the choreography window and set the lattice of the plane to zero (0), you can animate this (But only between on = value 0 or off = 0. BTW: Have a look at your scene, the one frame behind bug is in you anim. Play the anim, stop at a random frame (47 or 52 or ) then click on the frame slider, the camera is jumping then a little bit to the correct position ;-) Matthias - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005 7:29 AM Subject: Re: Look-at question - Updated! Hi Matthias and all Matthias, thanks so much for all your work! I hope others will learn as much as I did from your tutes. I have explored your files and played with Look-at construction objects a bit more, and made (for me) a bit of a discovery which I thought I would clarify for anyone it might help. My goal was to have a camera slide through a scene with simple planes with tree textures on it, with the the trees turning to stay facing the camera(but only rotating on the vertical axis). The attached file has one simple set up (Rect-1 always faces cam-1), and another setup with a camera and its target mapped to separate curves (Rect-2 and Cam-2, slide the animation time slider). Thanks Stefan for the help on this path part! The key for me was how to draw the axis for the Look-at object. In this case, the axis needs to be drawn in a vertical direction. The relationship of the axis you draw with the plane defines the angle relationship between them forever. You might consider making a construction line first to trace. I started by going into a front view creating a vertical plane centered on the origin (for the tree). While it's still selected, click the Look-at button on the construction tab. Now you're prompted to draw an axis. Go to the side view and draw it some distance away from the plane in the upward y direction. Now you can select this Look-at object and go the Spec tab and deselect Pitching and Banking. Now try moving the Look-at object around and watch the plane turn to face it. Try moving it up, and see that the plane doesn't tilt up or spin. Play with the Pitching and Banking settings to see how it affects the plane's behavior. Now you can drop the Look-at obect in a camera, or in a level, and it will continue to work. The Look-at object should be moved to the camera position point, as well as placed inside the camera in the select window so it stay with the camera. If you want to change the camera you want the planes to face, drag the Look-at object in the select window from one camera to another, and move the Look-at object to the new camera in the view window. It is also possible to set up several Look-at relationships initially, then drop the different Look-ats to different cameras, and simply turn off the Look-at's Construction
Re: Look-at question - Updated!
Very interesting, Matthias. I had not noticed the dropdown menu Look at point on the Map Object tool. I was suspecting that scripting might help for constraining the pitch, but do not know rpl or javascript. Thanks a bunch for that! That trick might work to keep the camera from spinning as well. So that's the one frame hehind bug. What causes that? I think I got rid of it by mapping the whole camera to the camera path curve then the aim point to the target path curve. One thing I notice about your file, though, is that I cannot reposition planes 2 and 3. I wonder why. Not ideal if you need to edit a tree's location. Of course, my set up is harder to add trees to. You would have to add another construction object the camera for each new batch of trees you add. Great discussion. Thanks again for all your great solutions! Chris Mungenast Matthias Kappenberg wrote: Hi Chris, isn't it easier to simply select the plane and the camera then choose Tools--Lattice Mapping--Map Object and there check in dropdown menu Look at point. Accept the tool. Then open the Properties Window of the plane and uncheck Translate in the Map tab for this lattice. Hold pitch or bank via script. Switch camera in edit mode and move the cam-position point to see what happens. Move the focus point and look again. See attached file. To switch on and off the look at simply open the choreography window and set the lattice of the plane to zero (0), you can animate this (But only between on = value 0 or off = 0. BTW: Have a look at your scene, the one frame behind bug is in you anim. Play the anim, stop at a random frame (47 or 52 or ) then click on the frame slider, the camera is jumping then a little bit to the correct position ;-) Matthias - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005 7:29 AM Subject: Re: Look-at question - Updated! Hi Matthias and all Matthias, thanks so much for all your work! I hope others will learn as much as I did from your tutes. I have explored your files and played with Look-at construction objects a bit more, and made (for me) a bit of a discovery which I thought I would clarify for anyone it might help. My goal was to have a camera slide through a scene with simple planes with tree textures on it, with the the trees turning to stay facing the camera(but only rotating on the vertical axis). The attached file has one simple set up (Rect-1 always faces cam-1), and another setup with a camera and its target mapped to separate curves (Rect-2 and Cam-2, slide the animation time slider). Thanks Stefan for the help on this path part! The key for me was how to draw the axis for the Look-at object. In this case, the axis needs to be drawn in a vertical direction. The relationship of the axis you draw with the plane defines the angle relationship between them forever. You might consider making a construction line first to trace. I started by going into a front view creating a vertical plane centered on the origin (for the tree). While it's still selected, click the Look-at button on the construction tab. Now you're prompted to draw an axis. Go to the side view and draw it some distance away from the plane in the upward y direction. Now you can select this Look-at object and go the Spec tab and deselect Pitching and Banking. Now try moving the Look-at object around and watch the plane turn to face it. Try moving it up, and see that the plane doesn't tilt up or spin. Play with the Pitching and Banking settings to see how it affects the plane's behavior. Now you can drop the Look-at obect in a camera, or in a level, and it will continue to work. The Look-at object should be moved to the camera position point, as well as placed inside the camera in the select window so it stay with the camera. If you want to change the camera you want the planes to face, drag the Look-at object in the select window from one camera to another, and move the Look-at object to the new camera in the view window. It is also possible to set up several Look-at relationships initially, then drop the different Look-ats to different cameras, and simply turn off the Look-at's Construction enabled on the Spec tab for the cameras that are not your current camera. If you need a WHOLE BUNCH of trees to follow the camera, stack them all up on top of each other and select them before mapping to the Look-at object. They can be instances, too! As with all things Real, the options are only limited by your imagination once you get the hang of it. ;o) Thanks again, Matthias and Stefan. Chris Mungenast Name: cam-with-planes-001.zip cam-with-planes-001.zipType: Zip
Re: Look at question
Hi Chris, Here's a link to a short-tut and two files: http://www.matthias-kappenberg.de/index.php?id=106 more or less pictures, for the non arabic speaking people ;-) any critic is welcome, Matthias - Original Message - From: mungenast and standley [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: user-list@light.realsoft3d.com Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 5:47 AM Subject: Re: Look at question Hi all, For the life of me, I can't seem to get the look-at construction object to work. The readme and the reference manual are sketchy at best on this topic. I've tried setting up a camera and a test plane in a desired orientation, then selecting the plane, then selecting the camera, then applying the look-at construction object. I then move the look-at object into the camera. I've tried it a bunch of different ways, but the movement is always quirky. Stefan, I even tried dropping the camera to a level and popping the look-at in that with the camera, to no avail. One thing I don't quite get is that the handle for the look-at oject comes in at some weird location (not center of plane, not station point of camera, not 0,0,0). I can't move it without freaking everything out. I'm sure there's something obvious here I haven't stumbled upon. Any hints? Thanks in advance. Chris
Re: Look at question
Hi Chris.. I am not at all sure of what you really want to be able to do... So abit more info on what you want to do, would be appreciated..! I really dont use this Look at Constructor.. didnt get friendly with it hehe.. It seems to have some quirks n flips, which may just be lack of understanding it, due to short on the docs for how it supposed to work and more on differerent tuts on its different areas of use(it points out that you can use it for having trees facing camera... but not how..) Like how to make rectangles easily always face camera, without flipping n so=).. (for fast clipmapped trees/ppl or so.) (I have my own working way, using my old workflow with Lattice mapping in combo with Lattice Paste them as instances over a surface) Matthias had some solid advice and prj files there for you...which works for some types of stuff... (Depending what it was you were after.. that is..) Though I got nasty flips if I had my 'LookAt' in the exact position of the Object that would be bound to it.. (so I move it abit away, then MultiSelect Object+'LookAt' and In 'Controlbar' click on 'Bind' Tool Button...) It also seems very sensitive on Levelstructure... can be very confusing to get things to work, when objects are in deeper Levels.. hmm Take Care Best Regards Stefan Gustafsson ( Beg-inner ) A Proud Owner and User of Real3D and Realsoft3D.. Hi all, For the life of me, I can't seem to get the look-at construction object to work. The readme and the reference manual are sketchy at best on this topic. I've tried setting up a camera and a test plane in a desired orientation, then selecting the plane, then selecting the camera, then applying the look-at construction object. I then move the look-at object into the camera. I've tried it a bunch of different ways, but the movement is always quirky. Stefan, I even tried dropping the camera to a level and popping the look-at in that with the camera, to no avail. One thing I don't quite get is that the handle for the look-at oject comes in at some weird location (not center of plane, not station point of camera, not 0,0,0). I can't move it without freaking everything out. I'm sure there's something obvious here I haven't stumbled upon. Any hints? Thanks in advance. Chris
Re: Look at question
Hi all, For the life of me, I can't seem to get the look-at construction object to work. The readme and the reference manual are sketchy at best on this topic. I've tried setting up a camera and a test plane in a desired orientation, then selecting the plane, then selecting the camera, then applying the look-at construction object. I then move the look-at object into the camera. I've tried it a bunch of different ways, but the movement is always quirky. Stefan, I even tried dropping the camera to a level and popping the look-at in that with the camera, to no avail. One thing I don't quite get is that the handle for the look-at oject comes in at some weird location (not center of plane, not station point of camera, not 0,0,0). I can't move it without freaking everything out. I'm sure there's something obvious here I haven't stumbled upon. Any hints? Thanks in advance. Chris
