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BryceTalk 3D Model Import/Export
June 29, 1999
Part 3 of 5
1 2 3 4 5

BryceTalk 3D Model Import/Export, June 24, 1999
part 3

AuntiAlias: !Wolfie, you're !next!! ; )

Yojimbo: The Map must compensate for the distortion however

AuntiAlias: !

gdmsynth: Well we created a side view image and so its supposed to be planner mapped

gdmsynth: the main problem was text on the side of the object.

It was mirrored onto the other side so we wanted to use another map.

Yojimbo: If it's a round object you must reorient your model to your mapping method

AuntiAlias: tuckersaur.. don't know if you've caught enough of this to have anything to say re: decalling for image map on both sides of a single imported round-ish object....

gdmsynth: ?yojimbo

Yojimbo: hmm

I'm not sure decalling would work without distortion on a round object

Lombreglia: Aunti, it's off-topic, but... when's the pub date for the new book?

PJF88: gdmsyth: http://www.petersharpe.com/Tutorial24.htm Maybe it will help. (Sorry Aunti)

gdmsynth: spherical mapping wacked the texture around because the mesh was imported as dxf with no uv cords

Rivak: heh, bad question lomb

AuntiAlias: If you have a tip about object importing, please type !; if you have a question, type ?

Yojimbo: ahh

I see

tuckersaur: roundish object - like a sphere?

Lombreglia: Whoops. Didn't know that. Wanted to buy it.

gdmsynth: we ended up using obj side but we still have the mirrored text problem...

Yojimbo: I'm out of ideas then

Clem: t

gdmsynth: well its not a sphere is a alien ship with wings... more complex!

tuckersaur: yeah decaling will royally distort on a sphere type shape - unless you design it for a sphere and use spherical mapping.

dawn: ?

AuntiAlias: hmmm... I see that this topic, and solving this question, could easily take all night.....

so...

Rivak: i don't think she's done writing it lomb

AuntiAlias: if gdmsynth doesn't mind, let's move on.....

gdmsynth: ok move on..

AuntiAlias: oh and Lomb, dont' have a pub date at the moment for you...

Clem: Is there any way you could import the thing into a 3d paint program then import the whole thing into B4?

AuntiAlias: can talk about that at another time, not when we've got a discussion underway ; )

Wolfie, you have a comment about DEM elevations?

PJF88: See you down the pub Susan, you're buying!

AuntiAlias: if so, sing it out!!

Wolfie: y

tuckersaur: DEMS yes!

Wolfie: k

AuntiAlias: queue: AuntiAlias, dawn (did I miss anyone?)

Wolfie: the specs at http://rmmcweb.cr.usgs.gov/public/nmpstds/acrodocs/dem/2DEM0198.PDF state that the min and max elev are containd between 739 and 786 (02e3-0312h) at the top of the file

QQQQ: Y

AuntiAlias: Excellent!! thanks, Wolfie!!!

Wolfie: np

AuntiAlias: Quest, there is your answer!!

Okay...

Quest: thanx all!

AuntiAlias: dcb_ can't be with us but passed along this tip:

Wolfie: how to read it and what to do with it, havn't a clue as yet

AuntiAlias: direct quote:

dcb_: im doing a tutorial..and i can dodge all error messages by editing the lws

but i cant get the materials

have to do it myself...but thats ok..i can..

many cant

..here is my tip for the croud

crowd...g

dcb_: open the lws in a word program..like notepad..change all the file locations to the actual location of the file..like change newtek/object/babylon5/starfury.lwo...to c:/mydocuments/starfury.lwo.....you can now open the lws..no error messages

does that make sense?

i cant find the map indicator in the lws..or i could do it all there

AuntiAlias: But as to interpreting it...

dcb_: maybe someone will know where the map indicator is

dcb_: have em email me

dcb_: debbieb_@yahoo.com

er..

AuntiAlias: that's debbieb_@yahoo.com

AuntiAlias: so.. for those of you using lightwave, hope that's of interest...

done

Dawn!

you're ON!

dawn: having trouble importing .dxf files from my CAD program, bryce starts doing its import thing-then nothing appears in the scene...

Danny: Hmmm

DigiVI: are we still on importing or can we talkabout texturing imported objects...

AuntiAlias: what's your CAD program?

Rivak: nothing appears dawn?

tuckersaur: sounds like your program might be leaving off the headers.

DigiVI: A

Danny: Dawn...........What version of AutoCad ?

dawn: cheesy one from Expert software

probably my answer!

AuntiAlias: is it that nothing appears or that somethign stops during the import?

Baument: are you exporting lines or solids?

DigiVI: could be one of 3 problems i know of:

too small

too large

tuckersaur: Or - it needs the headers to verify and begin the import

DigiVI: you didn;t convert the obj to a mesh before you exported from autocad

Danny: Orrrrrrrr Its not a solid

dawn: lines--don't know of a way to make it a solid in the program--just got it

DigiVI: i agree with danny

Baument: lines have no height

Rodney: Dawn, try command-A (or control-A if you're struggling with Windows) and see if an attribute box appears.

DigiVI: this seems to be the common problem

Rodney: I've loaded several DXFs that were so tiny I had to zoom in many times to get a wireframe

tuckersaur: LOL

Rivak: me too

Danny: Dawn.......To be truthful, I really have no clue without looking at the file first

dawn: ok thanks--i'll kepp peeking through there and see what i can find

AuntiAlias: you got lots of leads here, tho! :D :D

Danny: You can send me the file if you would like

Baument: depending on your cad program, your lines are exporting with no height, try extruding them or adding thickness and see what happens

Danny: Thats what it sounds like

dawn: okie doke..lemme go see

Baument: before exporting that is

AuntiAlias: Okay... I guess we got no more queue for imports.. but a question abaout texturing imported objects.....

DigiVI: yes

!

Rodney: Either way, if you're exporting lines only Bryce really doesn't have anything to render.

Wolfie: perhaps resort to AutoCad..it works fine with Bryce

ctaylor: ?

Baument: exactly

dawn: heheh

Danny: Or Truespace

AuntiAlias: Digi, go for it

DigiVI: I imported an object from strata and i rendered out a side view from strata to make a texture map with

AuntiAlias: then ctaylor will follow.. then we'll move on to exporting :D

dawn: maybe someone will leave it in my christmas stocking

DigiVI: when I applied it was obj side it really got screwed up....

ctaylor: ? about exporting

DigiVI: My maps were croped properly and looked fine untill i applied it to my obj. It should have fit 1:1

tuckersaur: Bryce has big trouble with decals on meshes digi Even with OBJ.

DigiVI: so whats the best way to deal with this....

MetaJohn: Suan it is being taken care of

Baument: try different types of mapping ie parametric, para scaled etc...and also try adjusting the rotation of the texture

AuntiAlias: Anyone got suggestions for Digi? If so, type A

Baument: sorry sue, A, see above

PJF88: The obj must have UV coordinates for an image map to apply correctly.

poserbryce: hi aunti!

PJF88: Doh!

tuckersaur: Decals work great for bryce primitives and some terrains, but other files coming in are tough to map. It sees the mesh underneath and cant make sense of it.

DigiVI: i did what baument said but it was no help

poserbryce: aunti, don't worry, i won't graval (crossing my fingers)

DigiVI: the best i got was the jet i posted earlier... but by ssp version looks sooo much better!

tuckersaur: You need to play a lot with distorting the decal in bryce to try and make it work - using the x y z golden tools.

DigiVI: I did that too.... but it still did not map correctly

AuntiAlias: Queue: ctaylor -- if you have comment/tip/ about Bryce exporting, please type !; if you have a question about Bryce exporting, please type ?

gdmsynth: ?

PJF88: Just get the damn thing UV'd. Use UV mapper if Strata doesn't apply them.

tuckersaur: yeah - that's what I mean - sometimes it does - and sometimes it doesn't

DigiVI: I rendered the left view in ssp in orthro and croped it too the edge....

so i should be able to decal map it one to one with obj side ... right?

tuckersaur: You did everything right - its the b4 mapper that's letting you down : (

DigiVI: so how do you do this....

Rodney: It sounds like you render in SSP to me

knog: ?

tuckersaur: could do it like we did in the old days...

AuntiAlias: queue: ctaylor, gdmsynth, knog .......if you have comment/tip/ about Bryce exporting, please type !; if you have a question about Bryce exporting, please type ?

Danny: BRB Sending a model to fletch

ctaylor: is it mine?

DigiVI: yes rodney

tuckersaur: make primitve 'stickers' that your maps go on and set them to NO shadows.

JeffP: delurk to prevent bump...

AuntiAlias: digi, are you done with that question?

DigiVI: sort of its ok.. move on......

AuntiAlias: : ) JeffP (yeah, if you have to smile or something to prevent BryceTalk from bumping you, do it!)

AuntiAlias: ctaylor, please go for it!

tuckersaur: meaning flat planes - the stickers.

ctaylor: Is there anyway to export objects other than terrains?

PJF88: Yes

ctaylor: how?

tuckersaur: easter egg

AuntiAlias: PJF, please continue! :D

PJF88: select object, click on E box

Press Ctrl -D

taonow: I just got here, can will still ask import questions?

AuntiAlias: sure, taonow.. I'll add you to the queue!

PJF88: Doesn't work for Bryce primitives.

Will work for stones, and imported objects.

AuntiAlias: queue: gdmsynth, knog, taonow If you have a tip/technique for Bryce export, please type !... If you have a question, please type ?

3d~?~elf: !

ctaylor: so you couldn't model something and export it

PJF88: Model it?

In Bryce?

tuckersaur: yeah - its kind of a beta easter egg thing - just partially implemented

cboswell: ?

Sky Pilot: In TE yu can

ctaylor: well... :)

taonow: Have you already covered the best file formats for Ray Dream models?

AuntiAlias: and, of course, you can do that same thing with symlats-- export

PJF88: True Auntie

Rodney: If you're modeling in Bryce Primitives what could you possibly be exporting to that has less capabilities?

PJF88: lol

AuntiAlias: queue: ctaylor, gdmsynth, knog, taonow, 3D elf, cboswell

DigiVI: lol

ctaylor: I'm done

AuntiAlias: oops, ctalyor has the floor...

Sky Pilot: Good point Rosy!

AuntiAlias: gdmsynth, go for it!

gdmsynth: How can I map a PICT file onto a terrain without it getting distored? Even with an almost flat terrain, slight bumps will cause distortion. Even Hi Rez picts have this problem. Any way to prepare the pict for the terrain bump map?

Wolfie: not less capabilites but to be able to access something you already did n bryce in something else

3d~?~elf: (u beat me, susan, drop my !)

QQQQ: JUST LISTENING

tuckersaur: give us an example of what you're mapping gdm.

gdmsynth: Say even just a sand pict onto a terrain.

AuntiAlias: queue: knog, taonow, cboswell

gdm, what are you using as mapping currently?

tuckersaur: are you using parametric mapping?

AuntiAlias: lol, what tuckersaur said ; )

gdmsynth: Not parametric

tuckersaur: Try object top

or parametric

gdmsynth: Yes, I'm using obj top.

but slight variations in terrain cause distortion.

Rodney: How big are your terrains?

gdmsynth: Same problem with world top.

cboswell: !Remove me from queue.

tuckersaur: That's strange - have you tried tiling the map of the sand?

gdmsynth: I'm trying to keep the terrain small to match the PICT resoltuion.

Sky Pilot: Have you tried parametric?

tuckersaur: Set the controls so it will tile - oh so you don't want repeats - but you said it sand right?

gdmsynth: Tiling is not a problem. The distortion of the terrain shape is. The pict is flat the terrain isn't.

Wolfie: that is going to happen and is supposed to happen..imagine stretching clingwrap over the top of a head of lettuce..it gets distorted due to the shape you are forceing it to assume

AuntiAlias: gdm, do you have a picture of current state of pict-mapped-to-terrain on the web for us to look at?

Rodney: I've had OK luck up to about 2000x2000 Bryce units and a 4000x4000 image

johnsell: Aunti, may i enter the cue?

gdmsynth: Sand with objects. (just an example).

gdmsynth: Sorry. No web site.

tuckersaur: Yeah - gdm I've done this before with a forest floor pict I made and it DID not distort - something is wrong

gdmsynth: Are you using slight terrain height variations?

Do you have a sample?

Rodney: Also, the 2000x2000 terrain was only 200 units tall... maybe compressing vertically will help?

AuntiAlias: sure, johnsell.. if you have a tip/technique for Object Exporting, please type "!" ... if you have a question, please type "?"

tuckersaur: My picts were 512 and 1024 - you're pict might be too small and it is image distorting and blurring.

johnsell: ?

AuntiAlias: queue: knog, taonow, johnsell

gdmsynth: I'm wondering if there is a way to prepare the PICT for the terrain variations...say in Photoshop or something.

tuckersaur: you should have at LEAST a 512 pict if you're not tiling

Rodney: GDM, can you upload to my ftp and then send us the link?

tuckersaur: I usually Tile with 512's

AuntiAlias: gdm, does that give you some ideas? change the pict size........

gdmsynth: Actually, I don't have a file example now. But I've run across this prob.

Rodney: Your terrain is hi res? 1024?

gdmsynth: Does terrain res affect it?

Rosy: ?

Rodney: Yes

gdmsynth: Hmmm. I'll experiment.

AuntiAlias: okay... well, you got some additional ideas....... let's move on. : )

tuckersaur: more height points at hi-res

>>>> Next up: Texture Maps on Terrains — how not to distort?

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