new project - Page 14 - Simply Maya User Community

# 196 18-07-2008 , 06:03 AM

19 year Veteran
Join Date: Sep 2002

Location: U.S.A.

Posts: 2,140

Been watching this one for a long time. Great progress arran! user added image

Just curious about one detail. Why are the chains so big? Wouldn't they be a little too heavy to carry. Just curious thats all.

Quote

# 197 18-07-2008 , 09:31 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

mate im having no problem getting very heavy shadows in mental ray preview mode.., im wondering if your shadows are receiving bounce light (if thats what its called) from some illumination.., maybe global because its so uniform.., no gradient.., whats your lighting set up..,

im just looking into mental ray myself.., and wondering how much time it takes to get a grip on it.., its a monster??

no rush.., something you might think about??

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 198 18-07-2008 , 04:46 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posts: 3,708

hey - thanks a lot. user added image

THX1138 - yeah - i might make the chains smaller as a couple of people have mentioned it now, though, i really wanted him to look overwhelmed with the chain - i mean, the whole point is that it's his punishment and i wanted it to be kind of over the top. hmmm - i'll try playing with the size.

mirek - thanks - i think the problem was just that i was using a spot that was too wide - once i changed it to a directional light it started to work better. at the moment i think i have three spots and a directional light handling shadows. i've also got final gather turned on as well.

arran3D

arran3D blog

Quote

# 199 19-07-2008 , 03:19 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

are they light linked.., are they sorted to different geometry so to speak??

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 200 19-07-2008 , 05:56 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

go to the mental ray tab in the directional light.., turn on 'use shadow maps'.., bring the resolution down to 512 (the higher the resolution the darker the shadow..., bring the samples down.., if these work at all.., keep test rendering using samples.

make sure you are using ray trace or you will not get a drop off.

if it does work.., you will get some grain.., but if it works.., we/you can work on getting rid of the grain.

dont know my friend.., worth a try.., its a master piece of a model user added image

not sure if you will get dop off yet.., im still working on that. (for my own sake too.., live and learn and all that !!)

if you are too busy doing other things.., no probs mate user added image

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 201 20-07-2008 , 02:57 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posts: 3,708

hmm - i don't know mirek - i seem to be getting different results. the image below shows a render comparing ray trace shadows with shadow maps (the area outlined in red). shadow maps only seem to make the form shadows darker, not the cast shadows.

Attached Thumbnails

Click image for larger version

Name: marley57.jpg
Views: 173
Size: 154.0 KB
ID: 39564

arran3D

arran3D blog

Quote

# 202 20-07-2008 , 05:11 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

i agree..,

OK.., next, did you bring the samples down in the lights mental ray tab??

changing the light angle (directional light mental ray tab) should give you soft fall off too.

also turn off 'cast shaows ' on the ground plane render AE stats.., this is an extra calculation and can cause grain.

are you using depth map or ray trace ?

try depth map (mental ray tab.., cast shadows on) for now with some softness for the edges.., just see what happens.., because when 'cast shadows' is on in the metal ray tab you ARE using depth map shadows.., try taking 'settings from maya and your depth map shadows options will open.., but for the mental ray settings for depth map.

try more resolution and experiment with the samples (30?)

just a little softness

man, youd think something like this would be easy??

arron im not just making this up.., i doing mental ray tuts atm.., hours of them.., so believe me i respect your time.., we all have so little of it.

i agree, cast shadows in this situation is the way to go..,

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 203 20-07-2008 , 02:33 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2004

Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Posts: 1,318

Just to inform you of the difference of shadow maps and raytraced shadows. Shadow maps are much quicker than raytraced shadows because they "fake it".

Shadow map: A simple shadow is rendered as an image. The resolution is the resolution of this image. Then one can for instance blur this image to get a soft shadow. If you want accuracy use raytraced shadows, however these take much more render time. Or one can first use raytraced shadows to see how it "should look like" and then fiddle with the shadow map settings to get it as close, to speed up the render times.

That's it from me, I'll be here all week, good night!

Quote

# 204 20-07-2008 , 04:05 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posts: 3,708

hey dj - been a while - thanks for the info. user added image

arran3D

arran3D blog

Quote

# 205 20-07-2008 , 11:53 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

but how can he make them darker.., i dont want to bug arron with my wonderings and experiments.., im just trying to help but not doing a good job of it.., i was hoping someone had the answer.., im thinking theres too much illumination in the scene?? but thats just a guess!!!

in the tuts they use the word 'occlude' rather than fake.., but yes.., thats what they say too.., user added image

just a line of site from the illumination.., why draw shows for two objects IF one is already IN the shadow of the other.., no bouncing of photons.., ect..,

one could say everything is fake in maya user added image

its a fake world in there.., or.., is the fake world out here user added image

im guessing out here.., and this is all a dream.

too deep for this time of day (or anytime user added image

)

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 206 21-07-2008 , 02:19 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posts: 3,708

Originally posted by mirek03

one could say everything is fake in maya its a fake world in there.., or.., is the fake world out here im guessing out here.., and this is all a dream.

too deep for this time of day (or anytime )

Originally Posted by

mirek - step...away...from...the...crack...pipe.... user added image

just kidding mate - and you're certainly not bugging me - i appreciate your help. i'm crap when it comes to experimenting so i'm glad when people suggest things to try - even if it doesn't solve the problem.

btw, glad to see you in on the challenge. user added image

arran3D

arran3D blog

Quote

# 207 21-07-2008 , 03:11 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2006

Location: Australia

Posts: 2,752

stepped away from it years ago mate .., at least 10-15 years, wasn't my THING at all.., i prefer to 'relax'.., but i think it left an impression user added image

PARANOIA!!!!?????

no, really mate, hard for me to understand whats going on sometimes.., im still living in the 70s i think when all was love and bliss and LSD.., and caring for each other, mainly caring for each other.., (maybe it was me dreaming and the world has always been like this.., unis' that churn out robots instead of thinking people that challenge, in a healthy way, the status quo.)

but this is not a chat line, sooo..,

cheers mate, thanks for the kind words.., appreciated user added image

im going away for a few days but im still going to continue with my experiments on the laptop.

best for you and your work.., hope it gets sorted soon.., you know mood wise i wonder if a little fog would look good.., looks like a steamy back lane he's in??? just a thought user added image

take it easy and life will be easy

Quote

# 208 26-07-2008 , 02:02 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posts: 3,708

hey - here are some renders done over the last few days. think i'm at a stopping point with this - at least for now - i need to work on something else.

Attached Thumbnails