Maya for 3D Printing - Rapid Prototyping
In this course we're going to look at something a little different, creating technically accurate 3D printed parts.
# 31 07-12-2011 , 12:11 AM
NextDesign's Avatar
Technical Director
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,988

Hmm so the reason to not use jpg would be because it adds compression to the images? (slight fuzz when zoomed in)

That and no alpha channel. Take a look here for some information about it's compression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG#Co..._and_artifacts


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
# 32 07-12-2011 , 12:27 AM
David's Avatar
SM Tea Boy
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Prague
Posts: 3,228
GIF is always an option lol. I don't believe you can embed a depth pass in a tga pretty much all formats have pluses and minuses go with what your comp software likes. I like to use exr https://www.openexr.com/ when I'm rendering out passes in MR. Otherwise just use any of maya's lossless formats user added image

Do yourself a big big favor and get some compositing software.

Dave user added image


From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"
# 33 07-12-2011 , 12:39 AM
SilverFeather's Avatar
Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 520

GIF is always an option lol. I don't believe you can embed a depth pass in a tga pretty much all formats have pluses and minuses go with what your comp software likes. I like to use exr https://www.openexr.com/ when I'm rendering out passes in MR. Otherwise just use any of maya's lossless formats user added image

Do yourself a big big favor and get some compositing software.

Dave user added image

I'll render to PNG since the Vdub can't read TIFF and there is no TGA option in my MR...
If I'd use After Effects, what good will it do though? Can it mix different videos into a single one? Can it add text over image such as subtitles?
(seems I am in need of a mixer, Video Pad just doesn't work right).

And Vdub seems to work fine with PNG. Is PNG a good or bad choice?

# 34 07-12-2011 , 01:22 AM
SilverFeather's Avatar
Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 520
Suppose I want to move my file to another computer or I want to clean up my PC and install Windows again, what are the things that I must carry along with the file? Just the whole project folder? Or are those things in the My Documents / Maya folder needed too?

# 35 07-12-2011 , 01:33 AM
EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,374

If I'd use After Effects, what good will it do though? Can it mix different videos into a single one? Can it add text over image such as subtitles?
(seems I am in need of a mixer, Video Pad just doesn't work right).

And Vdub seems to work fine with PNG. Is PNG a good or bad choice?

It'll do lots of good. Yes, yes, yes. And it can very easily solve your background problem (png might give you bgkd/transparency problems).

Just taking the project folder should be fine, provided you've got all your textures and ref and everything in it. If you want to reinstall window, make sure you take your prefs and scripts (in my docs/maya/version)

# 36 07-12-2011 , 02:07 AM
SilverFeather's Avatar
Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 520

It'll do lots of good. Yes, yes, yes. And it can very easily solve your background problem (png might give you bgkd/transparency problems).

Just taking the project folder should be fine, provided you've got all your textures and ref and everything in it. If you want to reinstall window, make sure you take your prefs and scripts (in my docs/maya/version)

Right now I've tested with PNG and no problems so far. Now, does it make any difference between the JPEG compiled video:
Maya Better Solar System Test.avi - YouTube

And the PNG video?
Maya Solar System Test Better Image.avi - YouTube

Thanks, just needed to know, or in case I wanted to send team mates files to render frames same time, would speed up rendering.


Last edited by Miss_Nova; 07-12-2011 at 02:43 AM. Reason: please don't mention pirated software
# 37 07-12-2011 , 03:59 AM
NextDesign's Avatar
Technical Director
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,988
No, it will not make any difference from the PNG, as PNG is a lossless format (ie. no compression)

The video looks good, but the rings on Saturn pulse.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
# 38 07-12-2011 , 12:48 PM
SilverFeather's Avatar
Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 520

No, it will not make any difference from the PNG, as PNG is a lossless format (ie. no compression)

The video looks good, but the rings on Saturn pulse.

Yeah I can't figure out why they pulse though. It's a torus with transparency and glow. Unless some other planet or debris around the sun is causing this flickering since it seems to depend on light. How could I fix it?
It seems like the asteroids are causing it every time they enter the screen, but why? They do have some glow on them too, maybe that's interfering.
And that's Jupiter (it's said that it has a faint ring around it), this is Saturn in the scene:

Attached Thumbnails

Last edited by SilverFeather; 07-12-2011 at 01:05 PM.
# 39 07-12-2011 , 01:37 PM
SilverFeather's Avatar
Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 520
I think I fixed it. Seems like the glow on the asteroids was adding up to the ring's glow. Used incandescence on them instead, let's see how this turns out now.

Done.
Pulse fixed.
One moon might need fixing in animation. It seems to slow down near frame 300...
Fixed the moon animation too.
Removed the shadow of the ring.
Maya Solar System Test (Final) - YouTube


Last edited by SilverFeather; 08-12-2011 at 12:48 AM.
# 40 07-12-2011 , 06:55 PM
NextDesign's Avatar
Technical Director
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,988
Looking good. The camera motion is a bit chaotic though.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
# 41 07-12-2011 , 07:05 PM
SilverFeather's Avatar
Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 520

Looking good. The camera motion is a bit chaotic though.

It's intended to be like that, as it is viewed through the camera of some free-moving space ship exploring the area. In the next scenes it will be moving from one planet to the other, moving from left to right until it gets a focus on other planets/moons, not sure if I can keyframe zooming in/out, it should work since transparency can be recorded.
There will also be an object colliding with the camera's lens near the end of the final video, so I wonder if broken glass can be made in Adobe After Effects...

# 42 07-12-2011 , 08:19 PM
NextDesign's Avatar
Technical Director
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,988
Of course it can be done in After effects. It's not a simple piece of software. It's used extremely heavily in VFX and feature films.

If you want to animate zooming, key the focal length of the camera.


Imagination is more important than knowledge.
# 43 07-12-2011 , 08:47 PM
SilverFeather's Avatar
Noober than noob
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 520

Of course it can be done in After effects. It's not a simple piece of software. It's used extremely heavily in VFX and feature films.

If you want to animate zooming, key the focal length of the camera.

I know how to zoom, wasn't sure it can be keyed just like transparency and other things.
If so, I can make it look as if the robotic camera's zooming to analyze stuff such as moons (which are very detailed and exist around every planet that has them in reality, you can spot even those 4 small moons of Jupiter in that vid going on the ring).

At some point I considered exaggerating by adding even more stars in the background, but I think one star cluster's already enough. The scene's too huge as it is.

Hmm, I finally figured out how to eliminate the ring shadow from Jupiter (shadow attenuation from Raytracing). It was annoying me. Time to remake the scene and this will be final aspect of it.


Last edited by SilverFeather; 07-12-2011 at 11:27 PM.
Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads