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Software Discussion
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3D Studio Max
Teapot into dust - shadow question
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Master_Blaster 43 posts15 Feb 2007Hy there. I am in some difficulty here. I m making some tests to improve my particle handling. One of the tests includes transforming a teapot into dust. For this i m using a PF Source, a Drag and a wind force. On the material part i have a multy sub obj material with 2 ids : a gradient ramp and a red diffuse with an animated opacity map made again from a gradient ramp to animate the dissapearing of the teapot while it transforms into dust.
My problem: Why does the teapot stil have shadow when it s dissapearing and how can i change this.
PS: this is not the most relevant frame i could post but the thing is that the teapot shadow is always there. -
15 Feb 2007hmmmm... interesting problem. Tyson or Cam probably know the exact issue going on here, but I'm guessing the gradient ramp is in your opacity channel on the texture, right?
may want to try using ray traced shadows, if you're not. shadow maps don't handle texture opacities, i believe.
just some ideas, i'm not really too sure. someone else will know better than me, if my suggestion doesn't work. -
Master_Blaster 43 posts15 Feb 2007Man....i m starting to really like this place. Thanks a lot hype you were right.
BTW..how s it at R&H ? Do you need and environment artist
. Just kidding....i think you must be really proud to be there. -
Master_Blaster 43 posts15 Feb 2007
So the shadow problem is done...but the down part is that ray traced shadows calculate the particles like 10 times slower. And that sux. -
quinn paynter 356 posts15 Feb 2007Well alot of people do this same effect ^__^ One of the best places to see it done is at Allan Mckay's webpage. The guys a particle GENIOUS! and is nice enough to have tutorials for this effect and many others. -
Master_Blaster 43 posts15 Feb 2007
Man...i love the type of artist that is better than good at what he does but still makes time to teach others. This guy is going to help me big time. Thanx!
Oh...and yea..i know this effect is more than overdone...but i m not trying to be original here....just learning basics...after i handle well the basic principles i ll be able (i hope) to make some perosnal stuff. I m just getting drawn with the amount of cool stuff particles can do all i need is time to learn. -
15 Feb 2007yeah, rendering raytraced shadows takes long... whatever you do, don't put a skylight (or global illumination) in that teapot scene! hahahaha... it'll take months to render!
and yep, Allan is a particle master. You should also check out Krakatoa. It's a cool new thing for Max to do sweet particle things.There's a guy named Brendan something who's got alot of PFlow tutorials on his site... anyone remember his name?
R&H is horrible. twice a day I get unchained from my desk and am allowed a small sip of water and a stale crust of bread. I only have one eye left, since they use hyper-UV monitors from the early 60's, and sometimes the hay bale I'm forced to sit on really itches. And, of course, with my hands chained, I can't scratch...
just kidding, this is the best job ever! -
Master_Blaster 43 posts15 Feb 2007Glad that it also worked with advanced ray traced shadow and it s fast rendering.
Well...i couldn t google anything on Brendan and i m sure that krakatoa will bring me the volcano so maybe some direct links?
Anyway...i m done with this one.Neeeeext..... -
15 Feb 2007
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15 Feb 2007The problem is this:
Regular shadow maps can't handle material opacity. You'll run into the same problem if you ever make a tree where the leaves are square planes with an opacity leaf map. The tree will look great, but the shadow will be a tree trunk covered in little squares
The fix, yep...hype wins the prize!...is to switch to raytrace or area shadows. It'll take longer, yes....but you can't achieve the effect you want without them.
NOTE: if you switch to an advanced raytracing renderer (like Vray or Mental Ray), there will be almost NO difference in rendering time between raytrace and normal shadows. That's because the scanline renderer is not optimized for raytracing...so things like raytrace shadows can kill it.
Just give it a try....set Mental Ray as the renderer, and then render a scene with regular (and then raytrace) shadows....you'll be amazed at the speed! -
16 Feb 2007
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