Bryce Animation, April 22, 1999
part 4
technoid: Is there a way of converting
a path into an object, such as rollercoaster tracks and such?
j_lehmkuhl: Aunti- you'll post to the MC
List when you post all this info on the MC website ??
tuckersaur: that would be nice
Rodney: huh? don't know,
did you try it?
AuntiAlias: you mean as an object that
can be SEEN, versus something that is simply an object path?
slareau: LOL! I did, and no.
AuntiAlias: I don't think so....
technoid: nope, just wondered, yeah
seen
tuckersaur: like the path would become
real geometry - that would be cool tho
technoid: yeah
Rodney: I don't think I've
ever run across anything in the interface that suggested that was possible...
technoid: wishful thinking
tuckersaur: nope but it is handy to save
good paths as presets
AuntiAlias: (BTW, since I inadvertantly
quit, would someone be so kind as to save the log (AS HTML) and email
it to me? susank@metacreations.com)
slareau: yeah... dreamy....
tuckersaur: sure susan!
slareau: done Aunti
Kikuchiyo has more important business elsewhere.
technoid: bbl, thanks all!
j_lehmkuhl: I'm off to see the wizard myself....
cya all laters !
tuckersaur: bye tech!
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: gdmsynth, RG digital,
oblio, Carthach (hint: type your questions so you can just hit return
when I call on you)
slareau: Oops- actually I died too- never
mind
technoid is off to save the world.
gdmsynth: Rodney, how do you compensate
for the gamma difference between Macs and PCs assuming you're using both
to render on?
j_lehmkuhl: Thanks Rodney and all.
Rodney: Susan, how do Im
save the log? i've been here since the beginning
Tom B.: [I think I got bumped] ?
tuckersaur: click on the little blue floppy
icon Rodney
AuntiAlias: option-click the green disk
to save as html
Carthach: AA: Imissed the first couple
of minutes, but I can send you what I got
gdmsynth: Can I save the log both now and
later?
AuntiAlias: that's okay. I've saved several
so far, but.... ; )
gdmsynth: I've got it all so far....
Rodney: gd, We design on
Macs and render on the PCs. What's on the monitor during the render doesn't
matter to the file that's going to disk.
AuntiAlias: RG digital, you're ON! : )
RG digital: How did you create the waterfall
towards the beginning in Planetary Traveler?
j_lehmkuhl: hehe
gdmsynth: Are the renders identical?
Hanover: I can make a suggestion on the
path deal.
sorry that was a bit late.
j_lehmkuhl is off to see the Wizard.
gdmsynth: Go for it....
RG digital: Any reason why you render on
the PC's ?
AuntiAlias: go for it.. can someone watch
the queue for a moment? I gotta do a quick lil' errand! :D
ccasady: Coffee?
gdmsynth: We're all waiting....
renato!: heh
or the result of coffe
RG digital: mmmmmm..... silence
ccasady: time to get a litle coffee...
Rodney: RG, Rob Sonner did
that in Final Effects particle systems.
gdmsynth: Wow, I've done fire but not water
in AE!
RG digital: Thanks! I thought it was non-bryce
Hanover: For creating the rollercoaster
effect, create a section of track. Duplicate several times and link each
peice to the path. Move each piece along the path until aligned correctly.
Then you can group it all.
Rodney: gd, yep. 237-115-46
RGB values are the same whether the numbers are written to an HFS disk,
a FAT disk or an NTFS disk
RG, price.
RG digital: AAhhhhhhh !!! render slaves!
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: oblio, Carthach
(hint: type your questions so you can just hit return when I call on you)
Rodney: We can get 400MHz
10Gb desktops for 1200 and just stack 'em up.
RG digital: sweet!
gdmsynth: Thanks Rodney.
RG digital: yes, thanks!!!
oblio: 2 words: Crashing Waves. is there
any way to do this? (the curl)
AuntiAlias: ANyone else got a question?
If so, type ? (but time is getting on, so winding up would be good. i'm
sure Rodney's fingers are starting to get tired!)
Tom B.: ?
Hoot: : I'ts great to see the support of
the "Heavies" online to answer questions. I'm not that great in my animations
yet, though with the B-Talk and events like tonight, I'll have better
success with my animations.
Rodney: The setup right now
is a G3 400 at Bill Ellsworths and a G3 350 for me for scriopting. 3 Dell
610 dual400 NT machines and 6 Quantex 400 Mhz win98 machines.
RG digital: Someone asked this on the KPT
list and Ken Musgrave said that it is way too complicated geometry and
that it would take way too long to render....
Rodney: 100 btx ethernet
connecting them over TCP/IP
Hoot disappears in a blinding flash of smoke.
Pegasus has left the building.
RG digital: I wish I had a render farm......
AuntiAlias: QUEUE LIST: oblio, Carthach,
Tom B. (hint: type your questions so you can just hit return when I call
on you)
Rodney: Moving water... the
Holy Grail of Brycing.
Pegasus materializes from thin air.
RG digital: mmmmm.........3d vegetables!
AuntiAlias: "Bryce of the Round Table and
the Quest for Moving Water"
renato!: lol
Hanover: Crashing waves should still be
considered a limitation at this point.
renato!: ni!
AuntiAlias: I guess that was all on moving
water?
if so....
Carthach!
Carthach: I've tried to find information
on Looping a short sequence in a larger animation. Example, a blinking
light 1 sec On, the 1 sec Off. The animation is about a minute and didn't
want to have to add key frames every couple of seconds. Is it possible?
How?
Suddenly Clay appears.
Rodney: Actually... you might
be able to do it with a morphing terrain and a negative cylinder booleaning
the undercut for the leading edge...
oblio: hey....that could work....with some
work
Rodney: Cart... i end up
copying and pasting matrix every few time slices...
AuntiAlias: what, it'd take some work?!
; P
Hanover: Yeah, i have tried similar techniques,
but have really got nothing I consider acceptable....
;}
A lot of work.
AuntiAlias: re: Carthach's question: there
was something that Robert mentioned earlier in the AML... it might apply,
Carthach.... we'll see when looking at the log (will be up tomorrow)
Carthach: Do the Animated objects not work
independently with the overall anim?
Tried the AML, couldn't get it to work
AuntiAlias: some tips posted earlier, may
open doors for you. ; )
Tom B!!
Rodney: Shameless plug for
log downloads, Aunti?
Tom B.: When rendering a lightburst with
volumetric properties, will I get a shorter render-time if I use volume
visible on the light,
or will turning on volumetric world produce the same
result. Is there any way to speed up an animation that uses volumetric
light?
Hanover: ouch
;}
Rodney: Anything will be
faster than turning on volumetric world.
Clay: LOL
Tom B.: OK!?!
Rodney: Volumetric world
produces a very different effect
Tom B.: As long as there's hope.
AuntiAlias: there still has to be one feature
in Bryce that will make a render become an overnight thing! there just
HAS to!
Rodney: If you get what you
want with visible light or volumetric light or any other trick... be happy
Clay: render a holy scene maybe heheheh
AA
Tom B.: Sounds good, thanks.
AuntiAlias: k...
that's the end of the queue, I believe! : )
tuckersaur: gotta go now guys - its been
great!
slareau: FREE FOR ALL!!!!!!!!!!
AuntiAlias: any final comments, Rodney?
Hanover?
anyone?
Cricket: LOL Steve!
AuntiAlias: Thanks, ROdney!!
Rodney: What, Not a single
question about the test animations?
tuckersaur: they work fine
Hanover: ?
Carthach: Rodney, AA... Thanks a bunch
AuntiAlias: http://www5.metacreations.com/products/bryce4/talk/events.cfm
Clay: you guys have been great!
AuntiAlias: to get to the test animations
Hanover!
slareau: Ok, why does this chat window
BARF when I tried to look at the Quicktime movies???
Rodney: Gee... and we tried
to pick out things that would be cool to dissect...
Hanover: What about the test animations!?
Actually, i was curous about an early reply to a question though.
slareau: Rodney- the mothership in these
clips is cool- a morph to shrome? Hard to tell at this small size.
Rodney: because you're using
tube technology, Steve
slareau: LOL!
Fletch saunters in.
Hanover: When you were discussing test
animations, is there a reason you suggest doing sequenced animations rather
then using the preview render function in Bryce 4?
kyle is off to save the world.
slareau: My C=64 resents that comment!
tuckersaur: can't wait to try Robert's
easter egg - thanks everyone!
Rodney: Susan, is there an
option to download the larger sizes for folks with slow connections but
lots of patience?
AuntiAlias: I'm still getting it together
to make small, medium and large versions
Fletch: I think i've figured out my proplem
with skinning poser figures...
AuntiAlias: ran outta time
so.
it will go there eventually
but
also has directiosn for the way to force a higher rez
render
what's there now is single movie size/rate
but there will be 2 or 3
Rodney: Hanover.... you can't
really see much beyound gross motion with that preview and I don't know
that it can be saved for later viewing or sending to other members of
the tream
gdmsynth: Wish the nano preview could be
enlarged for the same reason!
Jamie has finally arrived.
Clay: hi
Fletch: for some reason it only works with
the "people" not with the "people 2hi or 2lo" files
Hanover: Ok, in a team environment it makes
sense. I am not used to that. I pretty much have to do the whole thing
myself.... ;}
AuntiAlias: it's probably the first one
you use... then, when you get to the point of doing a *real* test render,
you render an animation as Rodney described
Rodney: In my situation,
the three people working on this are in California, Montana, and Maryland.
Carthach: Gotta go gang... Thabnks again
for all the help... AA: Did yo uneed the "Save"?
AuntiAlias: it = render anim preview
thanks, Carthach, I think that several folks did the
save for me. : )
tuckersaur slinks out.
Carthach: Ok, see y'all later
slareau: l8tr
Fletch slinks out.
Carthach is off to see the Wizard.
Rodney: Another bit of trivia...
the numbers in these tests refer to the version. Meridian 21 was the one
that worked after the 20 tests that we didn't like.
Clay: heheh cool!
RG digital: cool
slareau: I'm up to waterfall 48!
AuntiAlias: except that the meridian 21
number didn't make it into the final movies posted there
slareau: Argh!
gdmsynth: How much final footage do you
end up scraping?
Hanover: Don't worry steve, I have hit
upwards of 80
Rodney: Oh. I didn't see
the movies 'cause I don't have QT3 on my internet machine.
RG digital: ..How bout outtakes like a
bug's life....
slareau: LOL!
Those were a scream!
Rodney: gd, on PT it was
about 75% waste. On IC we're running much leaner, about 10% waste because
we do a LOT of tests before rendering the actual frames.
slareau: yikes... that's sickening....
RG digital: Dang!
gdmsynth: Sheesh! We've done that with
real video (100:1) but with animation, and slow machines....
Clay has left the building.
RG digital: That's months of wastes CPU
cycles!!
AuntiAlias: "Experience is a great teacher,
but she sends in terrific bills"
slareau: <- still has traiing wheels
on his CPU cycle
Rodney: Yeah, it'sa a bitch
to have something render for 3 weeks and then see an artifact that never
showed up at the lower res.
renato!: lol
I feel your pain
RG digital: I hate that!!!
gdmsynth: So that's why you are rending
at 1080x840?
Rodney: Glendale Light and
Power sends us Christmas cards, though.
binkydognose has finally arrived.
Hanover: hehe
AuntiAlias: rodney, truly?
slareau: BINKSTER!
binkydognose: Howky!
Rodney: No, just a joke
binkydognose: howdy... I mean
slareau: LOL!
Rodney: 1080x810.
slareau: I liked howky!
binkydognose: hehehe!
gdmsynth: But it eliminates the artifacts
right?
AuntiAlias: someone asked earlier about
QTVR... here's something to help to get on the list: quicktime-vr-info@public.lists.apple.com
slareau: Aunti- is it ever going to be
possible to change the handles used here? I goofed up and want to change
it!
Rodney: I just hope we get
it delivered by September so it can be given to every good Brycer for
Christmas.
Cricket: to Nekkid?
gdmsynth: I'll buy it. ;-)
Advanced discounts?
slareau: LOL! No... get your mind out of
the gutter pal!
AuntiAlias: email me @ metatalk@metacreations.com
okay?
Rodney: Temporal noise is
much reduced. Eliminates is a pretty strong word.
gdmsynth: Gottcha!
JeffP is off to see the Wizard.
AuntiAlias: er, that email note was to
slareau
Jamie: we figured <g>
Rodney: Another thing that
helps is to render at 24fps and do a 3:2 pull down
gdmsynth: Time to go...Rodney and Susan,
thank you both for hosting this wonderful session. It has been immensely
helpful.
Rodney: That introduces a
telecine jitter that helps camoflage the noise
gdmsynth: Why not at 29.97?
AuntiAlias: or... in order to subscribe
to the mailing list for QTVR, then do this: quicktime-vr-digest-subscribe@public.lists.apple.com
tommy has just left.
gdmsynth: What is a telecine jitter?
Rodney: People are used to
seeing film thats been transferred to video anfd they accept the look
of that jitter.
gdmsynth: Interesting!
AuntiAlias: it's a new dance that they
do at video/movie studios!
renato!: lol
the jitter bug
gdmsynth: What about Cinelook!
Rodney: PT was rendered at
24 fps just like it was film.
AuntiAlias: It dont' mean a think if it
ain't got that telecine jitter! doo-op doo-ah
slareau: Auntie- the Email is sent. Thanks!
Rodney: It's the breaking
up of the fields and reassembling them so that 1440 frames stretches ot
over a full video minute (1797 frames) that helps hide the noise.
gdmsynth: I could go on draining you with
questions but I'd better stop and disgest what's here. This has been absolutely
wonderful.
Rodney: Hasn't it? I do so
love ego-boo...
AuntiAlias: :D
Rodney: <preen preen>
Wintermute has more important business elsewhere.
RG digital: It rocks!!
slareau: Yeah, this was the first time
ANYONE has been able to answer how the heck to assign things to the motion
path.
AuntiAlias: Rodney, I was told in a message
(not here) that "Rodney really knows his stuff! puts me to shame"
so preen a lil' more, guy!
Rodney: Oh, you meant the
AML and path stuf....
AuntiAlias: steve, I talked wtih Robert
about that while I was putting together the basic tutorial for the Bryce
4 manual
Rodney: Yeah, that Bailly
guy's OK, too
slareau: No, just how ta use the blasted
thing! The maunal is totally useless.
AuntiAlias: so.. it is now documented
in the TUTORIAL
Rodney: OK, anything else?
gdmsynth: It'll take until tomorrow morning
until I can digest all of this. Can't wait to experiment tomorrow. Thanks
so much to all of you.
Rodney: You're welcome. Go
forth and amaze us.
slareau: Haha! haven't had this for more
than 2 days. Still digging through it all. But I LOVE this release. Even
told Lise I loved her after seeing the skies she did. I KNEW she was secretly
working on B4, I just KNEW IT!
RG digital: I know I have more questions,
it's just a matter of remembering them!
binkydognose: Will the transcript of all
I've missed here be posted?
AuntiAlias: I think we're into the dissolve
into noshing around the crumbs and kibbitzing stage, Rodney!
YES
slareau: Hey- that's MUY knibble! <slap>
AuntiAlias: check out (in around 24 hours
or so) the link
Pegasus is off to save the world.
AuntiAlias: http://www5.metacreations.com/products/bryce4/talk/events.cfm
gdmsynth: We should 'ave another Animation
session? No?
binkydognose: fantastic, I forgot all about
it!
AuntiAlias: yes.... we shall.. I think
that we'll go around to different topics
slareau: By all means, YES! Do this again...
AuntiAlias: NEXT WEEK:
RG digital: Have you guys tried a volumetric
world animation with a cloud scene? You can't see the sunbeams until the
animations done -but they're there!
AuntiAlias: is tips and tricks
and Q & A
RG digital: It is so cool!!!
AuntiAlias: and the people who will be
sharing your tips.. are...
Rodney: BTW, I think the
Infinity's Child QTs are gonna be an ongoing thing all summer. maybe a
new one every week or so was what you and Jan discussed, Susan?
AuntiAlias: ALL OF YOU!
so...
think of at least ONE cool thing that you dig about Bryce..
dig doing, a trick, etc.
slareau: And I want and blew my only hot
tip on the waterfall already! Whaaaa!!!!!!!!
AuntiAlias: and we'll all go around and
take turns sharing
RG digital: Do you guys have that extension
from Motorola that is supposed to speed up rendering a bit?
gdmsynth: It doesn't.
Hanover: Steve, use the wifes cooking to
create textures tip! ;}
AuntiAlias: Yes, ROdney, I'm gonna show
you how and what it was I was doing to make them... and then YOU can continue
the tradition of creating the movies to display! ; )
gdmsynth: I got about a 0.1% increase which
I don't count.
Rodney: RG, I think it only
worked with the 601-604 chips.
gdmsynth: Buy an acceleator card. 466 is
possible on a G3/266.
slareau: LOL! You know, I'm STILL getting
fan mail from that sweet potato texture! Cracks me up!
RG digital: yea, it wasn't much, but it
was enough for a long animation, just a little
binkydognose: LOL
Hanover: hehe
RG digital: I have an 8600/300 604e
Rodney: Dunno, Susan, sounds
like work to me...
slareau: Rodney- wanna cool asteroid texture?
Seen the sweet potato texture yet? You'll dig it, I'm sure!
AuntiAlias: yeah, precisely my point!
gdmsynth: Anyone using IDE for storage?
The IBM 22G is real fast and cheap $510. The Maxtor 20G is cheaper $399
but slower.
Rodney: Hmmm.... did you
put it in the Bryce folder? It certainly sped my renders up
gdmsynth: No I put it in the extensions.
The MotoLib ext right?
RG digital: I put it in my extensions folder
yep
Rodney: gd, I've got the
ProMax bundle that sticks 4 16Gb IBM's inside the case.
gdmsynth: I'm using a G3/400 and it didn't
affect Bryce Render times.
AuntiAlias: that would make a good thing
to follow up in next week's Q & A... (MathLibMoTo)
with da engineers
Rodney: RG, take itboiut
of the extensions and put it in the Bryce folder if it's the same one
I used.
gdmsynth: What about altivec!
RG digital: okay. the LibMoto right?
gdmsynth: Yes. Anyone get faster rendering
with it?
Rodney: Yeah, it conflicted
with practically everything when loaded on startup. Bryce will use it
if it's in the same folder as the app.
RG digital: I'll let you know when I test
some different times...
gdmsynth: Hmmmm. I have it in my system
ext folder but it doesn't conflict nor speed up. How can you use an extension
in the Bryce folder?
Rodney: Of course, I was
on a 100 and a 120Mhz computer when I used MathLib. Maybe the faster processor
obviates the performance boost?
gdmsynth: Bryce Plug-ins...now there's
an idea!
slareau: Rodney- bookmark this and check
it out. http://www.hilltopdesign.com/brycematerial/spud.html
oblio slinks out.
gdmsynth: Could be. At least that's what
it seemed.
Rodney: Steve, I saw the
potato long ago.
gd, try it and see.
Worst case, it doesn;t do anything.
gdmsynth: I'll try your idea. Anything
if it works!
AuntiAlias: gdmsynth, just put the extension
in your Bryce application folder.
Frosty wants to play too.
gdmsynth: My wife left with the rest of
the family to a restaurant.....
Rodney: OK, I'm off to do
the "life" thing I read about today if there's no more questions.
gdmsynth: How weird!
renato!: lol
thank you so much Rodney
RG digital: Thank you Rodney!!! You da
man!
gdmsynth: Thank you so much its been such
a pleasure!
Rodney: And susan be de ma'am!
RG digital: This has been terrific!
yep!
gdmsynth: And you too Susan, (where's my
book I ordered two months ago....;-)
renato!: yes, thank you susan
for being the hostess with the mostest
slareau: I still wanna see the motheship
covered in spud juice! LOL!
Rodney: Y'all have fun and
do some really hairy animation stuff.
gdmsynth: LOL!
RG digital: otay
AuntiAlias: Hye, Rodney!!!
THANKS!! :D :D :D
Rodney: Steve, wait'll you
see the crystal worms.... they're way more *your* speed...
AuntiAlias: oops, Hey, not Hye
slareau: Are they Nekkid? <snicker>
Suddenly Mindcrime appears.
Rodney: bye
slareau: later..
RG digital: later
Rodney has just left.
RG digital: mmmmm.....mirrored spheres!
AuntiAlias: Rodney has left the building!
slareau: mmmmmmmmmm left......
gdmsynth: Bye all
slareau: later
RG digital: I'm about to follow! Thanks
for your help tonight, Aunti
AuntiAlias: yeah. one more time saving
this log, and I'll be off to render mirrored spheres!
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