arran - jan/feb - Page 8 - Simply Maya User Community

# 106 29-01-2007 , 08:42 AM

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tweetytunes: Awsome, thats a really easy way to do it!

There is also another way to do it, via the connection editor. But you have to go through the hypershade to do it. It's really easy to do, and the connection editor is a snap to work. The whole process is like 4 or 5 clicks of the mouse. Really easy stuff.

Arran: My directions are comming from maya 6.5 so it doesn't hurt to try both methods. Not all of the mental ray nodes are preset so it's good practice to learn how to apply them manually like I have shown.

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# 107 29-01-2007 , 09:23 AM

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Looks like I satrted something!

I create the occlusion look using the technique that THX uses, the layer version that tweetytunes mentioned seems to come out a but washed out whenever I try that method.

If it looks blotchey your best off upping the number of samples in the occlusion node untill it comes smoother, I usualy go 64, 128, 256 etc (dont really ever go over this value)

Theres lots of other ways to do an occlusion render, light domes, GI joe, lots of spotlights etc, I even remember a hack (highley advanced workaround) that you set your material to black, up the reflectivity to 100% with a totaly white reflection map, render it with raytracing on 1 bounce, thats if your 3d package dosent have a ambient option in it!

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 108 29-01-2007 , 11:26 AM

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Thanks for all of the help everyone - user added image

THX1138 - I am pretty sure I had it plugged in to the correct place. As I said, everytime I rendered, the materials that I had attached the occlusion node to came out black until I started playing with the max distance which was set at 0 as the default. I am using 7, but I have 6.5 on my other computer so I may give it a shot on there. Thanks for all of your help - I'll keep playing with it and experimenting.
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tweetytunes - cheers - I'll give that a shot too. Glad to see you are still working on medusa - she is looking pretty cool.

gster - ha ha - thank you for all of your help and starting this mini topic - rendering is defianately an area I need to do a lot of work on so I am glad for all of the advice.
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# 109 29-01-2007 , 03:47 PM

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Cheers arran, glad your ok with having a mini thread going on!!

I love the rendering process (the settings of materials and geettin the render looking right, not the sitting arround waiting!), I kind of have to stop myself jumping forward!!

Got to be honest and say that your model is my fav at the moment (even over mine!!) when you started it I was a bit like "how's he gonna do it! Its a mad model to do!" but your really getting it spot b*****ks on!

Swine!!

Cheers

Steve

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 110 29-01-2007 , 11:29 PM

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Originally posted by arran:
THX1138 - I am pretty sure I had it plugged in to the correct place. As I said, everytime I rendered, the materials that I had attached the occlusion node to came out black until I started playing with the max distance which was set at 0 as the default. I am using 7, but I have 6.5 on my other computer so I may give it a shot on there. Thanks for all of your help - I'll keep playing with it and experimenting.

Originally Posted by

Wow, that is intresting. I get really good results with my maya 6.5, with my max distance set at .0 .Mabe it's something with Maya 7. Anyway, keep experimenting and you will get it all worked out! I'm glad I was able to help you out.

I cant say that I have a favorite model at this time. There are a few that I really like, but it's really hard to decide. The work from all the competitors gets better every challenge. I guess I'm more for originality in this challenge. Thats why I chose my mech for this challenge. It's something that has never been created before. It's one thing to copy, but it's different to actually design something from scratch, then make it. You never know, Mike may go for originality when he judges the entries.

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# 111 30-01-2007 , 08:23 AM

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Originally posted by gster123
Swine!!

Originally Posted by

Ha Ha! That made me laugh!! cheers! user added image

THX1138 - Fair enough mate - I think your mech is looking really cool. Personally though, I think that 'originality' is a bit overratted, which is not to say that I don't think that there are new and exciting things happening everyday, but usually something that seems new and original, I think, is often the result of developements in technology or medium and the confluence of previous ideas...

I messed around some more with the occlusion settings - increasing the max distance to 600 and having a play with the samples setting as gster suggested. I also tried tweetytunes method, though it came out pretty white - I'm sure that can be adjusted though. Thanks again for everyones help!

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# 112 30-01-2007 , 09:05 AM

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Originally posted by arran:
but usually something that seems new and original, I think, is often the result of developements in technology or medium and the confluence of previous ideas...

Originally Posted by

Thats so true, originality is overrated when you have people standing on someone elses shoulder to improve on something else. You could not have said that any better. user added image

I should have use the word "imagination" instead. user added image

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# 113 30-01-2007 , 02:26 PM

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Haha I try to lock myself in a dark room with no forms of reference or inspiration so that anything I come up with can be completely original...of course until it goes outside that room.

This model is looking really great and have been watching quietly for some time user added image

In quiet appreciation that is and not some weird stalking sort of way...

Also good to read the occlusion info as I also didn't know how to perform that effect without FinalGather or the like. But looking at that method that Tweetytunes suggested, I think it is so white because it is meant as a render pass so it basically isn't any good for whole renders. It would be like rendering one layer.

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# 114 30-01-2007 , 03:13 PM

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I still get better results using the mental ray node, over the layers method, esoecially when compositing.

Arran - Your right, whatever your doing etc your pretty much "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants"

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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# 115 30-01-2007 , 03:41 PM

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Arran - the occlusion render is looking much better now man. I'm sure you can see it's still a teeny bit grainy on the floor, but I'm sure thats just because you didn't wanna double up the samples again and wait longer.

As for the distance value... that's odd. A max distance of 0 should equal inifity so by entering any other value, technically you should get less joy rather than fixing it. When it renders black after applying the surface shader, it's usually because you've not rendered in MR. You sure you had it on at the start? I say this because if you've tried the way tweety said, it sets up the same stuff with default values right? And that would mean the distance back to 0, samples back to 16. I reckon you'd find if you went back and tried again it would work with 0 for distance. If not, it must be another bug. :/

By the way this is the winner for me at the moment, really looking better every time i look. I really like the detail on the stick, and there's quite a few nice touches in other places too. Competition is heating up though, keep going dude. Whats next?

Game art WIP - Speeder Bike
Game art WIP - Speeder Bike Rider
Game art WIP - Ornathopter!

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# 116 31-01-2007 , 04:24 PM

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thanks a lot guys. user added image

petrol - I was definately doing the occlusion render with mental ray. However, I did try doing a render on my copy of 6.5 and it worked fine with the max distance on 0, so it's either a bug or something that they changed in 7.

At the moment I am working on his robe and trying to decide what to have him carry - probably a big jug of booze.

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# 117 31-01-2007 , 05:05 PM

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Thats looking real good man! Thats quite a pair he's got there! lol

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# 118 04-02-2007 , 03:46 AM

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I've added a gourd, a belt and some hairy things to his necklace. I also rebuilt his robe and trousers.

About to start building the blend shape, though I am not sure whether I need to keep his teeth as a seperate object so I am trying to work that out.

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