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BryceTalk Open Mic Night
July 29, 01999
Part 3 of 5
1 2 3 4 5

BryceTalk Open Mic Night, July 29, 01999
Part 3

MetaJohn: OK Gig whats up?

Gigabyte: I wasn't worrying about the waterfalll...so that's not wat I'm asking about

Has anyone done scenes like that?

Lise: No

Gigabyte: half above water and half below

Clay: no

Meta AuntiAlias: hmmm

I remember seeing one of those, from a while back

Gigabyte: I can't get the water to look right...

MetaJohn: There have been tutorials on this about 6 months ago

Wintermute: giga: what you need to do is this:

MetaJohn: Anyone know where?

Gigabyte: and still be transparent enuf to see the bottom

Meta AuntiAlias: go for it, wintermute... wanna hear these solutions! :D :D :D :D

Wintermute: set your haze to fairly dense, but only as tall as the "underwater" part

Gigabyte: you mean the fog?

Wintermute: set it to some color other than white (like greenish to give the color of underwater

fog or haze should work

Clay: use haze

Gigabyte: the haze doesn't have height controlls

Wintermute: then create a surface water plane with high transparency

Clay: yes it does

Gigabyte: uh huh...

it does?

Wintermute: and place it at the top of the haze area

Gigabyte: k

Clay: base height

Wintermute: make sure it's very transparent, so your light will go thru it

Gigabyte: is that in the sky fog palet?

>clay<

Wintermute: you can make it reflective too, and it'll still look "right" for water

Meta AuntiAlias: I"m also tryuing a quick thing with a slab and a booleaned cube to cut out a vertical slice from the infinite slab

Clay: skylab

Gigabyte: ahhh

Meta AuntiAlias: (trying that right now)

Gigabyte: k

I've messed with that too

alright winter

I'll try that...

thanks:)

MetaJohn: Thanx Doc!

Clay: haze tends to produce a little better results for water

Meta AuntiAlias: so far, it's not working yet.. but.. well.. I got a chat to help run!

Gigabyte: k

thanx everyone:)

Clay: :-)

Wintermute: (the boolean slab thing won't work, I've tried it)

Meta AuntiAlias: aaah, am sorta seeing the limits of it now.. it's kinda funky! : )

Gigabyte: yup

demjohn: i thought anything but lights and pics would boolean

Meta AuntiAlias: done?

Gigabyte: I'll try the haxe thing

yup

next

Meta AuntiAlias: reflash!

Clay: hmmm gonna have to try that too

Reflash: Is there a way to equalize the grayscale on several DEM terrains ?? For example...I have 2 DEM tiles next to each other...the shades of gray for the same REAL elevations are different..therefore, the heights are different....and its too hot here !! AND

Clay: type a ?

Meta AuntiAlias: what platform are you?

Reflash: PC

Clay: oh my bad

Meta AuntiAlias: er, Clay... psssh! it *is* Reflash's turn! :D

; )

Reflash: type a??

MetaJohn: ignore that Flash

Meta AuntiAlias: don't worry about that, reflash. a misunderstanding

well, I can help you with the one about its being too hot here!

air conditioning!

: )

uh... where's

Reflash: i bought b4 instead

Meta AuntiAlias: "here" ?

Reflash: wisconsin

MetaJohn: Flash can you email that to me?

Reflash: sure...where to

MetaJohn: I will pass it on to our DEM expert

jfeld@metacreations.com

Wintermute: Reflash: make sure the DEM's are of the same type

Reflash: ok...ill type it up

Meta AuntiAlias: who you callin' a Dem expert?! ; )

Wintermute: for instance, usually USGS releases several "resolutions" of DEMs

demjohn: reflash: use a dem reader program, and make sure the max/min elevations are the same (min=smallest min. from all the terrains, and max=largest max from all the terrains) before you convert them to images, then patch'em in photoshop, and import the image in

to b4

MetaJohn: Sam Crotini

Reflash: they are 7.5min

Meta AuntiAlias: lol.. never mind, John.. : )

demjohn: reflash: where are you in wisconsin? i'm on the north side of milwaukee 8)

MetaJohn: If they are from contiguous areas they should be of the same value

Reflash: Madison

Wintermute: I'll be in Milwaukee next week :)

Reflash: they are right next to each other..one looks much lighter overall

MetaJohn: Not sure hwy they should vary

demjohn: reflash: cool! i've been there many times

MetaJohn: why

demjohn: winter: really? where r u now? we should hang out

Meta AuntiAlias: John, I was just reading the info that came with DemView, the app that Ken Badertscher wrote for Bryec 1... (Mac only)

Reflash: i'' put on my site...you can check them out later

Meta AuntiAlias: it equalizes multiple DEMS

Hrast: ?

Blue Max: ----> ? <----

Meta AuntiAlias: taht's why I asked what your platform is...

Meta AuntiAlias: People waiting in line for da open microphone: Wintermute, graygost, Hrast, Bluemax

(It's Open Mic night in BryceTalk.. what's on your mind? Bryce, Meta-related... to get in line and stand up to da microphone, please type "?" or "!")

MetaJohn: Never seen the need before

Blue Max: Do you know if there are any bugs with the Object Import command for .cob files? I'm having trouble converting TrueSpace files.

demjohn: AA: unfortunately (as far as i know) DEMView can only use a 256x256 piece of the DEM for a terrain...not too hi-res

Wintermute: I think the DEM file type is such that it makes all the values relative to the max and min height in the file

Blue Max: WhoopS! Sorry

Meta AuntiAlias: yeah, Wintermute.. true

MetaJohn: That is tru Winter

Meta AuntiAlias: so if your high point is in tile A and your low point is in Tile B

teh scale will be thrown off

MetaJohn: Makes sense

Meta AuntiAlias: that's why the need to equalize the two

Wintermute: so even if the two are in proximity, the max height may be different, thus giving a different "range"

MetaJohn: I guess I've just been lucky

Meta AuntiAlias: so the common gray value scale works for both

Reflash: i have a lake that isnt on one half

Meta AuntiAlias: I do want to have a BryceTalk event devoted only to DEMs...

Reflash: because the height is different

Meta AuntiAlias: (if you've done a lot of DEM good ; ) ... let me know! I need guest experts!)

Wintermute: Here's the deal, Reflash: are you SURE you need them to align exactly? It may be possible to work with what you've got and not get so precise, dpending on the angles etc

Reflash: well, its a lake area...i was doing a relief map with flythru

demjohn: related question for anyone: how come adjacent 7.5min SDTS DEMs don't line up properly in b4,even when they're equalized?

Reflash: if you're on yopur jetsky, you hit this big walll right in the middle ;)

Wintermute: so just scale it so it's pretty close

or get a DEM that has the lake all in one file :)

if it's possible

demjohn: reflash: it could be a dam in the lake

Reflash: good idea:)

if you wan john i will still email

demjohn: winter: the 1deg DEMs solve that problem, but they don't have nearly the amount of detail the 7.5 min ones do for individual terrain features

MetaJohn: please

Meta AuntiAlias: (demjohn, is the d]

oops is the dem in your name for DEMs?)

demjohn: AA: it certainly is 8) i pretty much only make terrains from DEMs or SDTSs

Meta AuntiAlias: reflash, all done for the moment?

Reflash: im done, i guess...when is RWB$ due out ??

MetaJohn: The perfect guest!

Reflash: 4

Meta AuntiAlias: ..and demjohn, if that's so, then I definitely want you to be there for the DEM chat! :D

demjohn: AA: i'm no-super expert or anything, but i have learned a few tricks with 'em

Meta AuntiAlias: please email me

susank@metacreations.com

Reflash: demjohn--whats your email

Meta AuntiAlias: re: RWB4... have no date for you at the moment. The August date posted at Amazon site is not correct, tho (sorry! I know that the anticiaption is there! Believe me, I know!)

MetaJohn: Write Auntie, write

sandman: Damn!

Clay: LOL

demjohn: AA/reflash: my email is john303@execpc.com (the 303 is for the techno music machine, and my former area code in denver)

Meta AuntiAlias: I believe that Wintermute is next...

Reflash: thnx

Wintermute: Any of you Meta people care to adress the likelihood of Bryce (or other MC products) being ported to Mac OS X consumer when it appears in less than a year?

Meta AuntiAlias: no, sandman, not damn.. dem!

MetaJohn: I think that we will have a solution in due course

Meta AuntiAlias: :::::tosses the ball to John::::

sandman: errr... drat!

MetaJohn: Vague enough?

Wintermute: hrm.....

demjohn: metaJ: sufficiently vague for my purposes 8)

Clay: is'nt it OS 9 now instead of X?

Wintermute: no

MetaJohn: We are working closely with Apple, but X is still a moving target for us

Wintermute: OS 9 is the OS 8 evolution

Meta AuntiAlias: oh, you want it vaguer?

Clay: ahhhhh

Wintermute: whereas OS X is revolutionary

demjohn: AA: if possible ;)

Wintermute: that's overly vague for my taste

MetaJohn: X beta tester have already found some issue that we are aware of

Wintermute: MetaJ: have you seen my plan for Metacreation world 3D domination?

Clay: shoot straight John

Meta AuntiAlias: er... you got me there, Wintermute. sorry. My bad

MetaJohn: No Winter

Meta AuntiAlias: JOhn, talk to me offline about that

MetaJohn: What do you want Clay

Clay: you said it was a moving target, shoot straight:-)

MetaJohn: lol

we nad sometimes we hit

and

Clay: heheh

MetaJohn: We will try and have a solution as close to release as possible, but it will happen in the middle

of Bryce 5 developmenyt

development

Clay: mmmmmm...BR5

demjohn: i'll be back in like 5-15 minutes

graygost: Bryce 5 !! I'm still learning 4!!

camel: Due out when?

Meta AuntiAlias: if we're ready to move on........graygost is next..

MetaJohn: What did you think, we would never do another version?

Clay: LOL!!!

Gigabyte: ....worked great everyone...thanxabunch:)

graygost: Ok, you ready for my Q?

MetaJohn: Got to keep those engineers busy!

Meta AuntiAlias: uh, I see that I have perfect timing, looking like I'm supposed to cover up a discussion about future products...

nope.. just wanting to move on to the next one and keep emceeing the open mic night! :D

MetaJohn: done!

Meta AuntiAlias: lol

graygost!

Clay: heheh

Meta AuntiAlias: you are on!

People waiting in line for da open microphone: Hrast, Bluemax

(It's Open Mic night in BryceTalk.. what's on your mind? Bryce, Meta-related... to get in line and stand up to da microphone, please type "?" or "!")

graygost: Ok I am trying to create alpha channels on 2d pics in photoshop to export to bryce

but they wont work for some reason

all the pics are transparent in bryce???

Clay: when saving them as a pict with an alpha, don'y use the compression scheme

the 32 bit one

Clay: that way as a pict it saves the Alpha channel

graygost: ?? Im not sure I bunderstand

Meta AuntiAlias: invert the alpha channel

graygost: I tried that aunt

Meta AuntiAlias: in the pictures editor.. (assuming that the wrong parts of the image are transparent)

Wintermute: Graygost: are you using a PC?

Meta AuntiAlias: next.. do you have blend transparency selected as the shading mode?

graygost: Noi

no

Wintermute: make sure you save the file as a type that allows an alpha channel

PICT is the easiest

graygost: yes, pc

Meta AuntiAlias: if you have a refraction where the transparency is supposed to be, it's because you don't have blend transparency...

Wintermute: but on PC you may need to use a different file type

Meta AuntiAlias: then try to use TIF

graygost: I have been using psd

Meta AuntiAlias: RGB + Alpha channel works in TIF file format

graygost: ok

Clay: a pict file won't save the alpha channel unless the 32 bit compression is set to off

when you save it

graygost: I thought it was perfect, but when I sent it to bryce the darker parts of the pic looked whitish

Wintermute: Clay: are you CERTAIN about that? I believe it'll work with compression

Meta AuntiAlias: well, if gray's been using PSD, then the compression is a moot point in this case....

Clay: I'm pretty sure mute

Meta AuntiAlias: you sure you have only 1 alpha channel?

graygost: yup

Clay: is the image flattend?

graygost: I tried with two also

Meta AuntiAlias: and, is your image in Photoshop, in a background layer, or is it something like Layer 0?

graygost: yup clay

Wintermute: PS won't allow more than one alpha channel to be saved in any other format than Photoshop native

Clay: right

graygost: Layer 0

Meta AuntiAlias: that's not flat

Clay: background

graygost: ohh

Meta AuntiAlias: if it's flat, will say Background

well, that's a new one! : )

graygost: right

Clay: Whee

Meta AuntiAlias: : )

Hrast!!!

Wintermute: How many channels are you using in your image?

graygost: rgb

Wintermute: you only have rgb?

Clay: hence the 32 bit compression weirdo clay was talkin about :-)

graygost: well for the original

Meta AuntiAlias: I think we got this one solved, now.. you done, graygost?

graygost: just alpha 1 for the second image

Yup thanks for your help everyone

>>>> Next up: Images for Texture Get Cropped—Why?

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