For those who only need a copy path feature (PC, freeware): http://www.wolosoft.com/de/copypath/
try copyPath ;-) Matthias ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc Michael" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Bernie @ VRgrafix" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 1:37 AM Subject: Re[2]: How to map the 4 channels of a bitmap directly to the Color and the Scope channel? > Hello Bernie, > > on Samstag, 15. September 2007, 13:33:32, you wrote: > > > I typically name my textures like this: > > > B_texture.jpg - Bump > > D_texture.jpg - Diffuse (colour) > > A_texture.jpg - Alpha (scope or fade) > > > So in the material now - you simply copy and paste the path (whatever > > the texture was that you just browsed the path to and is now selected in > > the colour field) into the scope path dialog, then just change the D_ to > > A_ and thats it ! (This is my methodology and I find it completely > > painless) > > Yes, good technique. Something similar I've also used. But I would > never use JPG files as textures. Simply because JPG adds noise to the > image. Normally not visible not visible by simple looking at the image > on the screen, but when heavy calculation are done on the image are > done in VSL, the noise could be emphasised, and therefore visible in > the final rendering. > > > You can even copy and paste the path directly from Dir Opus as well. > > Ah, a DirOpus user like myself. Nothing beats DirOpus, it's a must > have! :-) > > >> BTW: I would never ever use Gif files in combination with RS3D! > > ? I use them all the time to good effect. > > > Have a look here: > > > http://www.vrgrafix.com.au/Gallery.html?&tx_gooffotoboek_pi1[srcdir]=48-Kambah > > > Note the word "signage" ? Thats simply a GIF file with transparency. > > Mhh, I don't know, but I see lots of noise. For example in this image: > > http://www.vrgrafix.com.au/fileadmin/user_upload/Gallery/48-Kambah/VR_10-09-2007_View3.jpg > > It doesn't look like JPG artifacts. Haven't you used AntiAliasing? > > >> doesn't provide a true alpha channel. They only provide a 1 Bit mask. > > correct. But in an on/ off affair such as this example, as long as the > > image has a high enough resolution this is not an issue. > > The problem is that the transparency information of a GIF file isn't > an apha channel! That's why it is called Fade inside RS3D. The fade > channel of a GIF file defines where the transparency is, but a alpha > channel like the alpha channel of a PNG file defines where the colours > are. So, to map the fade channel of a GIF image to the scope channel > inside RS3D I have to add an Operation object with 1-p1 to convert the > fade channel to an alpha channel. Theoretically this would raise the > rendering time. Ok, practically not really measurable I think. :-) > > > Also GIF images are great for large rez images (3-5k) such as B+W site > > Ok, here begins now the hard part. For the last days, I've sit down > and thought "What's the best image size and colour depth when used as > a texture?" I haven't found a text which describes this. I've only > found some rule of thumb like "Use image resolution twice as big as > your final rendering resolution". But no description why I should use > this rule of thumb! So, I sit down and worked it out. I digged deeply > in the field of signal processing and such alike. It's not final > yet, but in the next days I will post another message which will > explain my work. Please wait for it. > > > overlays etc. (Small file sizes = faster render times) > > I don't think that the size of the texture file on disk has anything > to do with rendering time. Simply because RS3D has to decode the file > to access the information inside. And the decoded format is every time > the same. > -- > Best wishes, > Marc Michael > >
