Beer glass scene creation
This course contains a little bit of everything with modeling, UVing, texturing and dynamics in Maya, as well as compositing multilayered EXR's in Photoshop.
# 46 21-03-2008 , 02:32 PM
Jr.Who
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OK, I've been playing around with Maxwell, and it seems pretty easy and is fun to use! I might even try putting it on my dad's MacBook and do a network render to see how much faster it can render. Have you tried network rendering, Andreas?

I've been looking through a lot of materials at the MXM Gallery, and they look insanly good. I tried registering, but they still haven't sent me a confirmation email (feels like my ZBC experience all over again, oh joy user added image ).

If I can get this MXM account running and the UV mapping goes well, I might be finished with this a lot earlier than I originally thought.

# 47 23-03-2008 , 06:28 PM
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Here's a small update. I've been testing around with a bunch of materials, and have picked out a few, although I need to get a couple more. I'm stupid and didn't think that Maxwell use images for the things I wanted, so I have to UV map everything now. I got the table done pretty fast, just need to finish the chair, the board, and the pieces.

I need to find a grass MXM that doesn't have such an ugly repetitiveness in it. This render took about an hour without anything smoothed, so I'm getting afraid of how long the real ones in HD will take. :eeek2:

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# 48 24-03-2008 , 06:19 AM
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Looks nice. The grass is with displacements I guess? Create a much larger image to rid of the repetitiveness. Also to get it more realistic don't use a complete flat plane, since that means that all grass will point eactly upwards, make the plane slightly irregular so that the grass point to different angles.

# 49 24-03-2008 , 06:26 AM
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Originally posted by DJbLAZER
Looks nice. The grass is with displacements I guess? Create a much larger image to rid of the repetitiveness. Also to get it more realistic don't use a complete flat plane, since that means that all grass will point eactly upwards, make the plane slightly irregular so that the grass point to different angles.

Yep, this is the first displacement map that I've used. Thanks for the tip, I'll use the new soft selection thing in Extension 2 for that, as it'll work perfectly.

How would I create a larger image when I downloaded it?

# 50 24-03-2008 , 09:14 AM
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Extension 2, what's that?

Well you have to create your own displacement map in photoshop for example... probably by using the noise filter and such things.

# 51 24-03-2008 , 03:15 PM
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Originally posted by DJbLAZER
Extension 2, what's that?

Well you have to create your own displacement map in photoshop for example... probably by using the noise filter and such things.

Maya 2008 Extension 2, the update that came out a little while ago.

I think I have another MXM that might look better, so I'm gonna try that one.

# 52 25-03-2008 , 04:08 AM
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Extension 2 for maya, got a few more tools etc, only available to subscription members.


"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle
# 53 25-03-2008 , 05:54 AM
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BTW, with maxwell, more detail doesnt mean more render time. just more export time. so, the renders wont take much longer. the thing that adds time is interactions between lights and several objects. if you add objects, it adds time.


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# 54 28-03-2008 , 05:35 AM
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Originally posted by Joopson
BTW, with maxwell, more detail doesnt mean more render time. just more export time. so, the renders wont take much longer. the thing that adds time is interactions between lights and several objects. if you add objects, it adds time.

Thanks for the info, Andy! user added image

Here's a small update on the textures. I finally finished off the chairs, so now all that's left is the board and pieces. Still need to work on the grass, but at least I removed a lot of the original repetitiveness.

Updates are going to be slow, because my sister's getting married on the 12th (yes, I'm finally getting rid of her!!), so I'm leaving for NY on the 9th.

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# 55 28-03-2008 , 05:37 PM
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Have a good time man.

On the piece, I would have it all smoothed now, or use a sub d approxiamtion (if maxwell has that???), htat way you can eveluate the materials a lot easier for any fresnell fall offs that you might need to dial in etc etc

I would also set the camera in a different postion all together, a lot closer in to the chess board, even if it means loosing one of the chairs etc, at the moment it looks a little bland, make it more dynamic you see more of the grass than what you do the chess board and pieces.

I'm sure if you google chess and then look at the images you'll find some good shots to try out.


"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle
# 56 28-03-2008 , 08:55 PM
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Originally posted by gster123
Have a good time man.

On the piece, I would have it all smoothed now, or use a sub d approxiamtion (if maxwell has that???), htat way you can eveluate the materials a lot easier for any fresnell fall offs that you might need to dial in etc etc

I would also set the camera in a different postion all together, a lot closer in to the chess board, even if it means loosing one of the chairs etc, at the moment it looks a little bland, make it more dynamic you see more of the grass than what you do the chess board and pieces.

I'm sure if you google chess and then look at the images you'll find some good shots to try out.

I have it set up that way, because it's set up for both Quantel NTSC and HD 1080, so that way I don't have to move the camera around when switching the resolution. Also, remember that I have another shot for the pieces, but I haven't finished those materials, hence the reason why I didn't post a pic of it yet.

# 57 28-03-2008 , 09:04 PM
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So your doing 2 pictures, with the same lighting set up etc etc?

What do you mean its set up so thay you can render at 2 resolutions, just so that when you go to HD form NTSC you dont have to move the camera?? I would leave all that and get everything set up so its good for one camera (the HD one if thats the final output). Again I still would change the compostion, but maybe its due to the different renderings that your goingto do, if your happy with it then its up to you, just my 10p on it.

Remember if your doing a closer shot then you might have to change the lighting to get it looking nice, especially if your moving in for a different shot.


"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle
# 58 29-03-2008 , 03:06 AM
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Originally posted by gster123
So your doing 2 pictures, with the same lighting set up etc etc?

What do you mean its set up so thay you can render at 2 resolutions, just so that when you go to HD form NTSC you dont have to move the camera?? I would leave all that and get everything set up so its good for one camera (the HD one if thats the final output). Again I still would change the compostion, but maybe its due to the different renderings that your goingto do, if your happy with it then its up to you, just my 10p on it.

Remember if your doing a closer shot then you might have to change the lighting to get it looking nice, especially if your moving in for a different shot.

Yeah, unless the lighting isn't good for the other shot. Right now I'm trying to get the materials and maps right, then the lighting.

It's set up so that it doesn't cut anything off for both shots. Yes, I'm that lazy. user added image

# 59 29-03-2008 , 03:39 AM
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That is lazy, I would sitll just set it up in situ.


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# 60 29-03-2008 , 11:18 PM
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Gah, for some odd reason, none of the Maxwell apps are opening now. I opened up the console to see if there was any log messages going on, and this is all I get (repeated about 500 times):

Code:
4/4/08 10:07:23 AM [0x0-0x8d08d].com.nextlimit.mxcl[4368] Qt: internal: -108: Error ATSUMeasureTextImage text/qfontengine_mac.cpp: 466
I'm going to try to contact some dev friends of mine today to see if they can read this or the hang log, but until then, I'm not very happy about how it's acting… :angery:

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