Matter
Matter
Matter
Contents
C H A P T E R O N E
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
What’s a Surface? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
C H A P T E R T W O
Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Creating a Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Editing Lights Interactively with LightMaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Creating Lighting Effects with FxDirector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Including or Excluding Objects from a Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Creating Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Using Light Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Creating Caustic and Global Illumination Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
C H A P T E R T H R E E
Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Defining a Material. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Defining Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Reflectivity, Transparency, and Refraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Previewing a Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Creating Static Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Creating a Hierarchy for Material Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Copying Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Sharing Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Assigning Materials to Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Animating Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Using Material Shaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
C H A P T E R F O U R
2D Textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Picture and 2D Texture Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
C H A P T E R F I V E
Painting and Editing 2D Textures and Vertex Colours . . .
159
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Editing UV Textures on Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
Working with Vertex Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
C H A P T E R S I X
3D Textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
Creating 3D Textures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191
Editing the Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
Blending the Texture with the Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
Transforming the Texture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202
Copying 3D Textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203
Associating and Disassociating Textures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204
Assigning Textures to Polygons Locally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205
Using 3D Texture Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
C H A P T E R S E V E N
Atmosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Creating Depth-fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Controlling the Global Ambience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Creating Fog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Creating 3D Smoke with the FxDirector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
C H A P T E R E I G H T
Creating and Reducing Colour Palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Creating a Palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Colour Reduction Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Generating a Colour-reduced Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Introduction
Introduction
An important part of the process of creating a 3D image in
SOFTIMAGE|3D is the lighting of the scene, the material definition of
the object’s surface, and any textures that are added to complete the
definition. These are the tools designed to accomplish all these tasks:
Light
A basic element you will work with is light. Lights affect the way all
objects’ surfaces appear in the scene. You can dramatically change the
nature and mood of your scene by changing light types, as well as
their parameters.
For more information on light, see Light on page 13.
Materials
Material definition is achieved by applying material properties to the
object’s surface. These are properties such as colour, the shading
modes, reflectivity, transparency, and refraction.
For more information on material, see Material on page 59.
2D and 3D Textures
In addition to material, you can also add texture to an object to
enhance its appearance. If you add a new texture without selecting a
material, SOFTIMAGE|3D automatically assigns a default material.
Applying textures to your objects can give them an increased sense of
realism. Textures can be used to create an endless variety of colour
patterns, surface roughness, transparency, and reflectivity.
The 3D textures are solid procedural textures can be used to create an
infinite variety of effects starting with three basic pattern types:
wood, marble, or clouds.
2D textures are created using source picture files, which you can then
manipulate. There are a number of mapping effects available with 2D
textures to give you a great amount of flexibility.
For more information on 3D textures, see 3D Textures on page 187;
for information on 2D textures, see 2D Textures on page 93.
Atmosphere
You can add atmospheric effects such as fog, illumination, and
depth-fading to your scene. These effects work in conjunction with
the currently selected lights that are in the scene.
For more information on atmosphere, see Atmosphere on page 209.
Colour Reduction
For various reasons, including output to a lower-resolution platform,
you can create a reduced palette that is representative of the colours
present in the image.
For more information on reducing colours, see Creating and
Reducing Colour Palettes on page 223.
What’s a Surface?
An object is defined by points in space that are connected together to
create a surface of polygons or patches. This is the surface that
receives all material and texture attributes. For the purpose of
rendering, SOFTIMAGE|3D divides a surface into triangles, which is
a process known as tessellation.
Each triangle is a planar surface with its front face oriented in one
direction. The orientation of this surface is shown by a vector
(direction line) called a normal, located on the points (vertices) of each
triangle. Since a polygon has only one side visible to the camera, the
normal always needs to be oriented in the direction of the camera to
make that surface visible (you can, however, make all surfaces visible to
the camera – see the Render menu command for more information).
When the surface has been defined using a combination of lights,
materials, and textures, the rendering process calculates all these
attributes to create a final image. SOFTIMAGE|3D calculates the
relation between the orientation of normals and the light source to
determine the surface attributes of each triangle.
Light
Introduction
A basic element you will work with is light. Lights affect the way all
objects’ surfaces appear in the scene. You can dramatically change the
nature and mood of your scene by changing light types, as well as
their parameters.
You should always define material and texture attributes after defining
your light sources since parameters associated with light (such as
falloff, colour, and shadow) affect the surface attributes of the object.
Types of Light
There are four kinds of light sources you will use in your scenes. If
you render an object without defining a light source, the software
automatically creates a light. The default light is a white point light
positioned at 100, 100, 100, and does not cast shadows.
The types of light sources include an infinite light, a point light, a
spotlight, and the sun.
• Infinite lighting sets a light source that is infinitely far from objects
in the scene. There is no position associated with the light, only a
direction. Since the light is infinitely far away, all objects are lit at
the same angle.
• Point lighting sets an omnidirectional light. Light rays travel in all
directions from the position of the light. This type of light is similar
to a light bulb where there are light rays emanating in all directions
from a single position. Depending on the position of objects in
relation to the light, the light hits them at different angles.
camera’s interest: the spot light always points in its direction. This is
useful for animating an object with a spot light following it: just
constrain the spot’s interest to that object and the spot light follows.
• Sun lighting is an infinite light whose direction vector is derived
from a physical simulation based on the latitude and longitude of
the scene location and the specified time, date, month, and year.
All of these lights and their parameters can be animated. For more
information on light parameters, see the Light > Define command
on page 1060 in the Reference Guide.
Helpful Tools
There are two viewing modes that can assist you while defining
lights: the Shade view mode in most windows, and the Light mode in
the Schematic window.
Creating a Light
The process of creating a default light is very simple: choose Light >
Define, click Ok, and accept the default parameters.
To create a more specific light, choose the Light > Define command
to define all settings for your new light.
The following example shows how to put a light in a scene.
1. Create or select any scene that has no light defined.
2. Choose the Light > Define command.
3. The Create Light dialog box is displayed.
4. Choose a light type: Point, Spot, Infinite, or Sun and click Ok.
5. Move the light around to see how it illuminates the objects in the
scene. If you chose a Point or Spot light type, position it
according to the objects in your scene. Move the Spot light’s
interest around and watch the spot light follow it.
6. To get an approximate indication of the spot light’s angle, choose
Show > Cone.
7. If you want to go back and edit the light’s parameters, select the
light and choose Light > Edit. The same dialog box is displayed as
when you created the light and you can set all parameters, except
the light’s type (Spot, Point, etc.).
Tip:
Tip Light > Define always creates a new light, but Light > Edit
lets you edit an existing light.
You can also click the Palette button to create, save, or use your own
defined colours. See Selecting Palette Entries on page 228 for more
information on using the palette.
5. Click Ok to save the parameters.
In HLS, the hue refers to the colours red, green, and blue; the
lightness is the amount of white mixed in a colour, such as the
difference between a pure red and pink. The saturation is the
intensity or purity of the colour such as the difference between a pure
red and a dusty rose.
In HSV the colour model defines the hue and saturation, like the HLS
model. Value is almost identical to lightness, as in HLS, however, a
Value of 1 represents a pure colour, while for Lightness it is white.
0 0 0
12
Falloff
Start and End Falloff values are shown. (Used a point light, umbra = 0; top of
staircase is 5 units from the light, bottom is 12 units).
Cone
Spread
Follow these steps to adjust the cone and spread angle of a spot light:
1. Choose the Light > Define command and choose a Spot light type.
2. Change the values for the Cone angle. Use 10 for this example,
but play around with them
3. Change the Spread angle to 30 for this example, but vary its value
to see how it behaves in relation to the Cone Angle.
4. Click Ok to accept the values and exit the Create Light dialog
box.
5. Make sure that the camera is placed above the light in the
Perspective window.
6. Choose Preview > All to see the cone and spread angles of the
spot light.
2. Click on a light in the list box to select it. To select more than
one, press Shift while clicking.
- The Lights Selected text box displays the number of lights
currently selected.
- If the selected light is a point or a spot, its Start and End Falloff
values are displayed for the corresponding options.
- If the selected light is a spot, its Cone and Spread Angle values are
also displayed for the appropriate options.
- If more than one light is selected, the values displayed are those of
the last light selected. If both point and spot lights are selected,
the values displayed are those of the last spot light selected.
In the Wireframe view mode, the cone(s) of the selected and
unselected spot lights are displayed, if you had chosen the Show >
Cones and Show > Cones (Unselected) menu commands.
3. To hide or display selected lights, click Toggle Visibility.
4. To view the scene from the light’s perspective, click Light Point
of View.
- If the selected light is not a spot, the camera is simply
repositioned to the light position.
- If you select another light in the list, click Camera Point of View
again to update the camera view.
- To reset the camera to its last position, click Camera Point of View.
5. As you edit the values for each option, the values for all selected
spot and/or point lights are updated and the results displayed in
the window views.
Note: Verify your selection before editing because all selected
Note
lights are updated to the values you set.
If you selected a sun or infinite light and try to edit the point and
spot options, a message is displayed warning you that at least one
spot or point light must be selected.
6. If you modify the Start Falloff and End Falloff values, the cones
of the selected lights are interactively updated in any window in
the Wireframe view mode.
- If you modify the Cone Angle and Spread Angle values for a
selected spot light, the circles representing these are updated in the
Perspective window view to show the effect of your modifications.
- If you are in Camera Point of View mode, the camera focus is
updated to include the cone angle plus the spread angle. As you
edit these values, the camera zooms in or out as required.
Note: The visibility of the cone and spread angle circles depends
Note on the End Falloff value: if the falloff ends before the object,
the circles are totally visible; if it ends behind a shaded
object, all or part of the circles are obscured by the object.
Types of Effects
There are a number of effects from which you can select in the Effects
area of the FxDirector dialog box. Selecting an effect switches the
Property tab to show only the options available for that effect.
All types of effects work for both point and spot lights. You can scale
the resulting effect icons, but it does not affect the effects themselves.
• Volume is a volumetric lighting effect. The light illuminates the
surrounding atmosphere. This effect is visible in reflections and
through transparent objects.
Note: These effects are created using a volume shader attached to
Note
the scene atmosphere. The volume effects also take the
current depth fading options (Atmosphere > Depth Fading
in the Matter module). See page 32 for more details about
using Depth Fading with FxDirector.
- Shards simulates shards of light in the atmosphere (like light
filtering through treetops).
• Flare simulates a lens flare that occurs when a light source is visible
from the lens.
• Glow simulates an atmospheric glow around the light. This effect is
much faster than the Volume effect on point lights, but is not
reflected or refracted.
• Star simulates a star filter on the lens.
• Projector simulates a transparency in front of the light. The picture
that is used for the transparency may be an animated sequence (the
current frame is used for the picture file frame number). The
Projector effect also changes the colour of the illuminated
atmosphere if the Volume effect is selected.
Halo Light
1. Choose Get > Primitive > Cube (scale it a bit).
2. Create a raytraced point light and place it in the lower-left corner.
3. Choose the Light > FxDirector command. The FxDirector dialog
box appears.
Sun Flare
To create this effect, apply the following parameters to a point light:
Editing Lights
The Edit Light button in the FxDirector opens the Edit Light dialog
box for the current light so that you can edit its properties.
Creating Shadows
If you want your scene to have a more realistic look, you can create
shadows that appear to be cast by the objects in your scene. Shadows
serve two purposes: they create more realism in your scene, and they
create a sense of depth.
To create a shadow, you need a main light source, an object (or
objects) in the light’s path, and an object or surface onto which a
shadow is cast.
Shadows are affected by several attributes in a scene. Its colour and
values are affected by the light’s umbra value, the material’s ambiance
and colour, the texture’s binding factor with the material, and the
global ambiance setting. For example, if any of these values are set to
0,0,0, the object’s shadow is completely black.
There are several ways to create shadows:
• Create a depth map.
• Create raytraced shadows.
• Create soft shadows.
• Use area lights to create soft shadows.
• Create shadows from objects that are not visible.
area type.
Getting Started
The tutorial Getting Started with Photon Director included in the
Online Library shows you how to apply and control caustic and global
illumination effects. Once you’ve loaded the CD, choose the Tutorial
from the Web link, and then choose Lighting > Getting Started with
Photon Director.
What Photons Do
The more photons you throw into a scene, the more refined the effect
will be. Unlike most other SOFTIMAGE|3D settings, where ranges
often go from 0 to 1, when working with photons you’ll be specifying
high numbers: 1000, 10,000, 100,000, 500,000 or more. This seems to
befit the sci-fi nature of photons! However, the more photons there
are in the scene, the longer it takes to render.
Changes to Rendering
When rendering a scene with these effects active, mental ray goes
through two processes. First it calculates the Photon Map, then
normal rendering takes over to calculate regular direct illumination.
The image below shows a rendered image that combines direct and
indirect illumination.
The image below shows the same scene rendered without any
photon-director setting (direct illumination only).
The first noticeable effect is the caustic light on the floor near the fish
bowl (A) produced by the variations in intensity of the photons fired
through the glass/water refraction (B). Also noticeable is the
reflections of the glass. Global Illumination is a more subtle effect
(C), as it is caused by the illumination emanating from the chair (D),
which is red in the rendered image.
• For caustic effects, use only Phong or Blinn materials, as the caustic
effect is driven by the object’s specularity.
• Objects that cast global illumination or create caustics cannot be
black (in other words, the object’s diffuse colour cannot be RGB
0,0,0). Purely black objects will absorb photons, so you won’t create
an effect.
• Some materials seem more difficult to balance in a final global-
illumination rendering. An object’s ability to transmit light is
related to its diffuse value. Objects with the usual material/diffuse
values rendered with global illumination may look more saturated
when hit by direct light (particularly point lights). Lowering the
diffuse intensity will greatly help manage the colour saturation
balance between direct and indirect illumination. Use the
Luminance of the HLS colour slider in the Material dialog box to
change the intensity value quickly.
• Caustics are actually the reflection of an object’s specularity. You
should adjust the object’s specularity, not its reflectivity, to control
the appearance of caustics.
• Caustics are also influenced by the caustic-casting object
refractivity. No refraction (a setting of 1.0) produces caustics that
are very subtle. Settings higher than 1 create a “focusing” effect
(mental images recommends settings of 1.33 or 1.50 for this).
Settings lower than 1 greatly diffuse the effect.
• The object that receives the caustic effect cannot be black, for the
same reasons described above.
2. Select Objects from the list at the top of the dialog box. A list of
the objects in the scene appears.
3. Select an object in the list. If your objects are in a hierarchy, you
can navigate through the hierarchy using the arrow buttons on
the left side of the dialog box. The up arrow goes directly to the
root of the hierarchy, and the left and right buttons move up and
down the hierarchy. You can propagate values from parents to
children, which is described below.
4. Click the Add Props button.
5. Select whether the object receives global illumination or caustics,
transmits, or both. Don’t make all objects receivers and
transmitters—you’ll needlessly increase rendering time. See
Analyzing Your Scene on page 45 for more information.
6. Repeat these steps for the other objects in the scene you want to
be affected by these effects.
Tip There are two things you can do to speed up assigning these
properties. You can propagate the properties from parent to
children (this is described in the next step). You can also
create groups of models (and lights) to which you apply
global property settings—see page 57 for more information
about creating and using groups.
7. If the model is part of a hierarchy, the values you set for an object can
be copied to the object’s children by clicking the Propagate button.
8. Select Lights from the list at the top of the dialog.
pill—the photon will have the same power on all objects in the
scene, illuminating them equally regardless of where they are in
the scene. Needless to say, this will produce very saturated
lighting. The closer this parameter is set to 0, the more energy a
photon retains as it travels and bounces through your scene.
mental images recommends that you use values less than 1
carefully.
12. Click the Render Settings button, and check the Caustics and
Global Illumination boxes. These boxes let you see the effect
when you preview and render the effect.
the photon map affects a given point in space, the raytracer consults
the Photon Map to determine which photons are nearby (within a
given radius—see page 55) and determines, based on energy level of
every photon within the radius, the photon contribution to the total
lighting in the scene. Only one map is created regardless of the
number of lights.
Quality Parameters
You can also apply a filter with a step value to control the sharpness
of the caustic. According to mental images, if you change the default
Filter type (Box) to Cone and set the Constant value to 1.1, caustic
effects may look sharper but noisier. The larger the Constant value,
the blurrier the caustic effect will be.
You can also set Accuracy and an accuracy Radius for global
illumination. These parameters behave the same way as the caustic
Accuracy parameters. If global illumination effects look grainy,
increase the accuracy parameter. The default is 200. Note that higher
numbers (2000) will make the effect smoother but will increase
rendering time as well.
Creating Groups
In large scenes, you’ll find it more convenient to create settings for
groups of objects rather than setting them for each object. For
example, you may want to set up a group for lights causing caustic
effects, another for all the caustic transmitters, and so on.
Tip If your models are in a hierarchy, you can also propagate the
values you set from parents to their children—see page 50.
1. Switch to either the Model or Light view and then click the New
Group button.
2. Type a name for the group and click OK.
3. Select the object you want to put in a group and click the Add to
Group button.
4. Select the group from the list and click OK.
5. If you need to assign different settings to an object in a group,
select it and then click the Remove From Group button.
Material
Introduction
Material definition in SOFTIMAGE|3D is achieved by applying material
properties to the object’s surface. Material properties include such things
as colour, the shading model, transparency, reflectivity, refraction, and
shaders. All these attributes are discussed in this chapter.
Lighting plays a key role in material definition because the
interaction between material properties and the light source creates
the visual characteristics of the object. Create your light sources
before the material for the best results.
After you apply a material, you can then apply 2D texture maps
and/or 3D solid procedural textures to create patterns of colour,
surface roughness, reflectivity, transparency, and other effects.
Helpful Tools
There are two viewing modes that can assist you while defining
materials: the Shade view mode in most windows, and the Matter
mode in the Schematic window.
Defining a Material
All material attributes can be defined in the Material Editor dialog
box that is displayed when you choose the Material menu command
in the Matter module.
Colour and shading models can be defined for a material. Reflectivity
can be incorporated in an object’s material definition, as well as
transparency, which permits the transmission of light rays through
material. When transparency is incorporated in an object’s material
definition, you can also define the refractive index. Refraction is the
bending of light rays as they pass from one medium to another, such
as from air through glass or water.
Static blur can be used to make a spherical object appear fuzzy, out of
focus or glowing. You can also apply different shaders to be used with
the mental ray renderer for special effects that are calculated during
the rendering process.
Note: Some features in this chapter require the mental ray
Note
renderer, which is not a part of the SOFTIMAGE|3D GT
package, but may be purchased separately.
After you apply a material, you can then apply 2D texture maps
and/or 3D solid procedural textures to create patterns of colour,
surface roughness, reflectivity, transparency, and other effects. The
material attributes you select here have an influence on how these
textures appear, especially if you choose to blend the texture with the
material. For more information on 3D textures, see 3D Textures on
page 187; for information on 2D textures, see 2D Textures on page 93.
To define an object’s material in SOFTIMAGE|3D, follow these
basic steps:
1. Select an object.
2. Choose the Material menu command in the Matter module.
Selecting a Material
To select a material from the database, follow this procedure:
1. Select an object.
2. Choose the Material menu command.
3. In the Material Editor dialog box, click Select beside the Material
text box.
4. Use the browser that is displayed to go into the directory in which
SI_Materials is located. Double-click SI_Materials to bring up the
various choices available within the SOFTIMAGE materials library.
5. Double-click the METALS chapter, for example. A list is displayed
consisting of several different types of metal. Click Options and
select Use Icons. This displays a sample image of each metal type
making it easier for you to pick the one that you want.
6. Click copper01.1-0, for example, to select it, then click Load. The
specific colours and parameters of the copper metal are loaded
into the Material Editor.
7. Click Preview to view the results, then click Ok to assign the
material to your object.
Constant
The Constant shading model ignores the orientation of surface
normals and instead considers them to be pointing directly toward
an infinite light source. All the object’s surface triangles are
considered to have the same orientation and be the same distance
from the light.
The result when using the Constant shading model is an object
whose surface appears to have no shading at all, like a paper cut-out.
This can be useful when you want to add static blur to an object so
that there is no specular or ambient light. It also provides good
support for textures because there are no attributes to interfere with
the texture’s definitions.
Lambert
The Lambert shading model deals with the intensity of reflected
light. It interpolates between normals of adjacent surface triangles so
that the shading changes progressively, creating a matte surface with
no specular highlights. The diffuse and ambient illumination areas
are used to define the surface.
Phong
The Phong shading model is the default shading model used by
SOFTIMAGE|3D. This model uses ambient, diffuse, and specular
areas of illumination.
The Phong shading model reads the surface normals’ orientation and
interpolates between them to create an appearance of smooth shading.
It also processes the relation between normals, the light, and the
camera’s point of view to create a specular highlight. The result is a
smoothly shaded object with diffuse and ambient areas of illumination
on its surface, and a specular highlight so that the object appears shiny
like a billiard ball. Reflectivity, transparency, refraction, and texture can
be applied to an object shaded with Phong.
Blinn
The Blinn shading model uses four areas of illumination: diffuse,
specular, refractive index, and eccentricity This shading model
produces results that are virtually identical to the Phong shading
model except that the shape of the specular highlight reflects the
actual lighting more accurately when there is a high angle of
incidence between the camera and the light, which is useful for rough
or sharp edges. The specular highlight also appears brighter.
Reflectivity, transparency, refraction, and texture can be applied to
an object shaded with Blinn.
Shadow Object
The Shadow Object shading model is used exclusively with lights for
casting shadows. The object itself is not visible when rendered, only
its shadow appears. Other material and textural definition effects
such as transparency, colour mapping, and transparency mapping
can be used in conjunction with Shadow Object shading to cast
complex patterns of light and shadow in the scene (the object is not
visible to the camera). For more information on how to create a
shadow object, see Creating Shadow Objects on page 40.
Areas of Illumination
Depending on the shading model you select, different areas of
illumination are visible on an object’s surface. The areas of
illumination are ambient, diffuse, and specular.
Specular
Diffuse
Ambient
The diffuse area is considered the “main” area affected by the light,
the ambient area is the area in shadow, and the specular area is the
highlight created when light hits the object’s surface.
• A Constant-shaded surface has only a diffuse area of illumination.
• A Lambert-shaded surface has areas of diffuse and ambient
illumination.
• A Phong or Blinn-shaded surface has areas of diffuse, ambient, and
specular illumination. The size of the highlight (specular area) can
be varied using the Specular Decay option in the Material Editor
dialog box.
Tip:
Tip The colour and brightness of the scene’s ambient light can
be changed using the Atmosphere > Ambience command.
Defining Colours
When you define the colour of an object’s material, you should
define the colours and textures for your objects under the default
white light since coloured light sources affect their appearance. Then
colour your light source to achieve the final look of the scene.
The additive colour system is used to define colours for object
materials (or lights); this is the system used by the renderer to calculate
colours. You can toggle between three different colour representation
models: RGB (red, green, and blue – the default), HLS (hue, lightness,
and saturation), and HSV (hue, saturation, and value).
The RGB colour model defines colour as light, rather than as
pigment. The primary hues from which all colours are derived are
red, green, and blue. These three hues mixed together at their highest
values (1) make white, while absence of all hues (0) is black. When
you create a colour, you must define the values of each red, green,
and blue component to get exactly the desired hue. Numerical values
for RGB range from 0 to 1 with a value of 1 being full saturation.
In HLS, the hue refers to the colours red, green, and blue; the
lightness is the amount of white mixed in a colour, such as the
difference between a pure red and pink. The saturation is the
intensity or purity of the colour such as the difference between a pure
red and a dusty rose.
In HSV the colour model defines the hue and saturation, like the
HLS model. Value is almost identical to lightness, as in HLS,
however, a Value of 1 represents a pure colour, while for Lightness it
is white. In both systems, 0 is black.
5. Drag the colour sliders to see how the colour changes in the
triangle. You can also see the effects on the sphere in the display box
to have an idea of what it will look like on a 3D object in your scene.
You can also type in numeric values from 0 to 1 in the text boxes
of the sliders or use the arrow buttons beside the text boxes.
Tip:
Tip You can take a colour from one area of illumination in the
Colour mixing triangle and copy it to another. Select the area
to which you want to copy the colour, then middle or right-
click the box associated with the colour you want to copy.
You can also change the Ambient and Specular colours the same way
as for the Diffuse, but they have a different effect on your object, as
you can see on the sphere in the display box.
Reflectivity
You can define an object’s material to be reflective using the
Reflectivity slider in the Material Editor dialog box. To render a
reflective object, SOFTIMAGE|3D uses raytracing, which traces the
paths of light rays as they bounce from one surface to another. For
more information on raytracing, see Raytracing on page 46 of the
Rendering User’s Guide.
You can define an object’s reflectivity Reflectivity values range from 0
to 1: a value of 1 represents complete reflectivity, giving the object a
completely mirrored surface.
Transparency
Transparency can be incorporated in an object’s material definition.
This permits the transmission of light rays through material. When
an object material is partially transparent, part of its colour is derived
from the material, and part is derived from the background.
You can define an object’s transparency using the Transparency
slider in the Material Editor dialog box. Transparency values range
from 0 to 1, with a value of 1 making the object completely
transparent so that you do not see it at all. For a transparent material
such as glass, a value of 0.9 is more convincing.
Note: As with reflectivity, transparency affects the visibility of an
Note
object’s other material attributes. You can compensate for
this by increasing their values, such as resetting a specular
highlight that was around 1 on an opaque object up to 10.
Refraction
When transparency is incorporated in an object’s material definition,
you can also define the refraction value. Refraction is the bending of
light rays as they pass from one medium to another, such as from air
through glass or water.
You can set the refraction using the Refractive Index slider in the
Material Editor dialog box. The default value is 1, which represents
the density of air. This value allows light rays to pass straight through
a transparent material without deviation or distortion. If you
increase this value above 1, distortion results: the higher the index
value, the more distortion. If you decrease the index below the
default value of 1, an inverse wide-angle effect results.
Note: When you use refraction, you may need to increase the
Note Raytracing depth in the Render Setup dialog box (refer to
the Render menu command); however, the use of refraction
and increased raytracing depth may increase rendering time.
Example
In the following example, you will create a scene with three spheres,
each sphere using one of the previously-mentioned properties.
1. Select an object.
2. Choose Polygon> Automatic Colourize to give the object a
checkered pattern. This object helps demonstrate the properties
that you will be setting.
3. Choose Get > Primitive > Sphere and create a sphere with a
radius of 2.
4. Choose Duplicate > Immediate and create three identical spheres.
Each sphere will represent a different property. The first sphere will
be reflective, the second sphere transparent, and the third sphere
refractive.
5. Select the first sphere and choose the Material menu command.
6. Select the Phong shading model.
7. Set the Reflectivity slider to 0.50 with a slight Specular Delay of
20.00. Click Ok to apply these settings.
8. Select the second sphere and choose Material again.
9. Select a glass material from the database browser.
10.Set the Transparency to 0.9 and Specular Decay to 300. Click Ok
to apply these settings.
11.Select the third sphere and choose Material again.
12.Select a glass material from the database browser.
13.Set the Specular Decay to 145, Transparency to 0.50, and the
Refractive Index to 1.9. Click Ok to apply these settings.
14.Choose Preview > All to see each of these different properties for
each of the spheres.
Previewing a Material
When previewing a material, the default renderer is set to the
SOFTIMAGE renderer, however, if you want to preview material,
volume, or shadow shaders with the mental ray renderer, you must
change the Preview Renderer to be mental ray.
Note: The mental ray renderer is not a part of the standard
Note
SOFTIMAGE|3D GT package, but may be purchased
separately.
Materials and textures can be previewed using the hardware renderer
as is used in the Shade view mode. If you are planning to output your
scene as geometry textures for rendering on another platform, such
as a Games console, the Shade view is quite accurate. However,
previewing with the SOFTIMAGE or mental ray renderer produces a
more accurate result for a final scene that will be rendered with either
of these renderers.
You can perform a preview from within the Material Editor dialog
box. This lets you try out different material attributes, see them
immediately, then edit them, and continue in this manner.
Follow these steps to set up for using the previewer in this manner:
1. Choose Preview > Setup. Select SOFTIMAGE|3D or mental ray as
the Preview Renderer depending on which renderer you want to
use for your final render. Click Exit.
2. Select an object.
3. Choose the Material menu command. The Material Editor dialog
box is displayed.
4. Set the material parameters as you like.
5. Click the Preview button in the Material dialog box.
6. Middle-click to close the preview window.
Continue editing the parameters and previewing within this dialog box.
There are two parameters associated with static blur: Blur Width and
Blur Decay. Blur decay controls the rate at which an object becomes
transparent. As the decay value increases, the object becomes
transparent from its centre more quickly. Blur decay causes the
object to become smaller as the decay is increased. To offset this
effect, you can increase the blur width, which enlarges the object.
Static blur is used to create such things as fog around on object, or
glowing halo-type effects. Motion blur, on the other hand, is used on
moving objects to create the illusion of speed. For information on
using motion blur, see Blurring a Moving Object on page 52 of the
Rendering User’s Guide.
You have created two branches (with two null parents), but they are
not linked. You need to create another null which will be the parent
of the two other branches.
1. Deselect all objects.
2. Choose Parent again and pick the two nulls as children.
As before, a new null is automatically created as the parent.
3. Optionally, move the new null above the others in the middle of
the table.
Copying Materials
You can copy the material definition from a specified object or
polygon to another object or polygon.
The Mat_Oper > Copy Mat command lets you apply the same
material to more than one object. This is advantageous if you want to
select a particular material, modify some of its attributes, then copy
it to more than one object. It saves you from having to select the
material and set its parameters for each object you want to apply the
material to.
Tip:
Tip When you duplicate an object that has a material applied, its
material is also duplicated.
1. Select the destination object or polygon (using the Polygon menu
commands) for the material.
2. Choose the Mat_Oper > Copy Mat command in the Matter module.
3. Pick the source object (or polygon material selection) from which
the material is to be copied.
Both objects (or polygon groups) flash to confirm that the material
was copied.
Note: If you want to copy a specific local material from a polygon
Note
mesh object, first make sure that it is the current material.
You can do this by choosing the Polygon > Next, Previous,
or Current commands in the Matter module.
For more information on polygons, see Polygon (Matter Module) on
page 1293 of the Reference Guide.
Sharing Materials
The Mat_Oper > Optimize All command optimizes the use of saved
materials in a scene by merging those that are identical and sharing
them between the models. This allows you to dispose of duplicate
materials and save disk space.
The Mat_Oper > Optimize Selected command optimizes the use of
selected saved materials in a scene by merging those that are similar
and sharing them between the models.
Operations must be performed using the Schematic window in the
Matter mode.
1. Open a Schematic window and select its Matter mode.
2. Select the materials to be merged. Materials are represented as
blue parallelograms in the Schematic window.
3. Choose the Mat_Oper > Optimize Selected or All command.
The number of materials merged is displayed in the status bar.
Example
If you have several objects, such as a basket of tennis balls, and you
want them all to be the same, there is a quick way to do this:
1. Choose or create an object (such as a tennis ball).
Polygon mesh object with Model with selected Result of darker material
global material. polygons. applied to selected
polygons.
You can create any pattern you want by repeating the procedure for each
new material desired and assigning it to any polygon on the object.
Animating Materials
You can animate all material attributes in SOFTIMAGE|3D.
Animating parameters for material is actually very simple. It uses the
technique of keyframe animation and the subsequent editing of
function curves (see Function Curves on page 22 and Editing an
Animation on page 41 of the Animating User’s Guide).
The following demonstrates a simple procedure for material animation.
1. Select an object, then move to a frame of the sequence using the
time line pointer.
2. Choose the Material command to open the Material Editor dialog
box, and set the material parameters as desired.
3. Click the Key button at the bottom of the dialog box.
SOFTIMAGE|3D automatically generates function curves for all of
the material parameters defined.
4. Keeping the dialog box open, move to the next desired keyframe
using the time line pointer and click Key again.
You can repeat this for as many keyframes as desired. You do not
have to enter them in any specific order. If you move between two
keyframes, you will notice that parameter values are interpolated
between the keys.
If you want to modify the material animation, you can select the
FcrvSelect > Material command in the Motion module to display
specific material parameter function curves in the Fcurve window for
the current material on the currently selected node and then use the
FcrvEdit menu commands to edit them. Depending on the
parameter selected, there will be one, two, or three function curves.
When there are three curves, such as for RGB, they are coded red,
green, and blue for easy manipulation.
Translucent Shader
The Translucent mental ray shader allows you to create translucent
effects. Using this shader, you can backlight objects and create diffuse
lighting effects to create things such as frosted glass and rice-paper
screens.
This shader illuminates pixels that are not visible to camera (a light
usually illuminates triangles that are facing the camera). You can
apply the shader to opaque or semi-transparent models (which you
set in the Material editor). You can also map translucency using the
Transparency mapping option in the 2D Texture File dialog box.
Try It Yourself
In this example, you’ll compare lights behind two grids: one grid uses
the shader, the other doesn’t.
1. Create a grid.
2. Duplicate the grid and move it beside the first grid.
3. Create a point light and put it directly under the first grid.
4. Duplicate the light and put it directly under the second grid.
5. Make sure that the preview renderer is set to mental ray
(Preview > Setup).
6. Select the first grid and choose the Material command.
7. Select the Material Shader option. Using the browser that appears,
select the Translucent shader in the Shader_lib\Matter directory.
8. Preview the effect using Preview > All.
2D Textures
Introduction
After you add material to an object, you can also add texture to
enhance its appearance. Applying textures to your objects can give
them an increased sense of realism. 2D textures can be used to create
an endless variety of colour patterns, surface roughness,
transparency, and reflectivity. Textures can also be used in
combination with shadow-casting lights to create complex patterns
of coloured light and shadow on other objects in a scene. All texture
parameters can be animated.
Textures can be applied to the object’s global material, which is the
material that covers the entire surface, or it can be applied to a local
material (or groups of polygons). Remember that an object’s
material attributes, such as its shading model, colour, reflectivity, and
transparency may affect the way your textures appear on the object’s
surface. It’s a good idea to select your basic material parameters first,
then create your 2D textures, all in relation to your lighting.
A 2D texture is similar to a piece of wrapping paper (a picture) being
wrapped around an object. To use a 2D texture, you start with a
picture (.pic) file. These can be picture files from SOFTIMAGE 3D,
imported scanned photos, or imported picture files.
You can then use the picture to create a 2D texture, such as by adding
transparency or bump mapping. This lets you use the same picture file
with different 2D texture files that have different parameter settings.
Two tools which will help you work with 2D textures are:
• The TXT (texture) manipulation mode, which lets you control the
2D texture support. For more information, see Manipulation Modes
on page 32 in the Reference Guide.
• The Matter mode in the Schematic window, which lets you view
relationships between objects, textures, and materials. For more
information, see Mode on page 25 in the Reference Guide.
Previewing a Texture
To preview a texture from within the 2D Texture File dialog box, click
the Preview button in this dialog box. This is a handy way to change
parameters and view them immediately without having to exit the
2D Texture File dialog box.
The preview from within this dialog box is affected by the renderer
you have selected in the Preview Setup dialog box. To check or
change the renderer, choose Preview > Setup. Select mental ray or
SOFTIMAGE as the Preview Renderer and click Exit. The renderer
type is especially important if you want to view the results of using
2D texture shaders with the mental ray renderer.
Note: The mental ray renderer is not a part of the standard
Note
SOFTIMAGE|3D GT package, but may be purchased
separately.
Textures can also be previewed using the hardware renderer used in
the Shade view, which gives you a quick approximation of materials
and textures used (if selected in the Shade view Setup dialog box). If
you are planning to output your scene as geometry textures for
rendering on another platform, such as a Games console, the Shade
view may be the most accurate.
z x
Above: Cube (left) with xyz orientation and picture file (right).
Below (left to right): Resulting projection with XY, XZ and YZ mapping methods.
y y
x z x z
x
Picture file used
When mapped spherically, the picture file surrounds the object and
covers the entire surface with some distortion.
Picture file
z x used
UV Mapping
UV mapping is the most versatile mapping method, and can be used
on patch or NURBS surface objects (for polygon mesh objects, see
UV Mapping for Polygons on page 104). It behaves like a rubber skin
stretched over the object surface. The points of the object correspond
exactly to a particular coordinate point on the object. This lets you
map a texture accurately to the object’s geometry. Even when you
deform an object, its texture follows the object’s geometry.
z x
Converting to UV Mapping
To convert to UV mapping:
1. Select the object and apply a 2D texture.
2. Choose the Txt_Oper > Info UV Coord command in the Matter
module. Click Ok in the dialog box.
- If the texture scaling (in U) is 1.0, the texture is converted directly
to a wrapped UV map.
- If the texture scaling (in U) is less than 1.0, then a dialog box
appears stating that the texture projection is scaled and asks you
whether or not you want to preserve the gap.
3. Select Yes to save the image containing the projection gap
information. This opens a browser in which you specify the path
to save the file.
Select No to convert the texture without saving any information.
In either case, the resulting UV texture is not wrapped.
Note: You can also convert textures to UV mapping from the Paint
Note
dialog box in the Matter module by using the Convert to UV
button (see Bottle Tutorial on page 172).
You can view the results of each option by selecting the On Material
view mode.
• Without Mask uniformly blends the picture file with the object’s
current material. The ratio of picture to material visibility is
controlled using the Overall Blending slider.
• Alpha Channel Mask uses the alpha channel (transparency) of the
picture file as a blending factor. The picture file is blended with the
object’s current material according to the different alpha channel
values of the picture pixels. Where the alpha channel value is high
(white), the colour of the picture file is visible; where the alpha
channel value is low (black), the object’s current material is visible.
Note: A scanned picture imported into the SOFTIMAGE 3D file
Note
format may not have an alpha channel, but can be added by
using the alpha standalone program. Refer to the
Standalones HTML file on the On-line Documentation CD.
• RGB Intensity Mask uses the RGB colour intensity of the picture
file as a blending factor. The picture file is blended with the object’s
current material according to the different RGB intensity values of
the picture pixels. Where the RGB intensity is high (white), the
colour of the picture file is visible; on low intensity pixels (black),
the object’s current material is visible.
Displaying Textures
To view the actual texture on a selected object or on all objects in the
Shade view in any window, select the SETUP option in a window
title bar with the Shade view mode selected. In the dialog box that is
displayed, select the Enable Hardware Texture option. To see
repeated (tiled) textures, select the Texture Repeat - Grid option.
The Txt_Edit commands in Matter module let you see how the
texture is displayed on an object. To use any of these commands, you
must first have the TXT (texture) manipulation mode selected.
• The Txt_Edit > 2D Global command displays a graphic
representation of a globally applied 2D texture.
• The Txt_Edit > 2D Local command displays a graphic
representation of the current locally applied 2D texture. Choose the
Polygon > Preview/Next Material command to move among lists
of materials applied at the polygon level.
• The Txt_Edit > Previous command displays the 2D texture file
applied to the object’s surface before the current one, and the
Txt_Edit > Next command displays the 2D texture file applied after
the current one. If more than one 2D texture is applied to the object
or the selected polygon area, you can use the Txt_Edit > Previous
or Txt_Edit > Next commands to display them. The file name of
the texture is displayed in the status line at the bottom of the screen.
If you lose track of which texture is currently being displayed,
choose the Texture > 2D Global/Local command to open the
dialog box for the current texture.
• The Txt_Edit > Align Txt command allows you to realign 2D
texture to one or more selected polygons of the object to which the
texture is applied.
Using Scale and Offset, you can quickly adjust the size and placement
of the tiled texture map from within the 2D Texture File dialog box.
The following example illustrates how to apply a texture on an object
and then scale the texture so that it looks like a label on a soup can:
1. Choose Get > Primitive > Cylinder to create a soup can. Scale it
so that it is approximately 1.8 on all axes.
2. Choose the 2D > Texture (Global or Local) command. Click the
Select button beside Picture Filename and select any picture file.
3. Select Cylindrical as the Mapping Method.
4. Set the Scale to 0.5 and 0.5 in u and v. The Scale option allows you to
reduce the texture so that it covers only a portion of the object’s
surface, or enlarge it so that only a portion of the texture map is visible.
5. Set the Offset to 0.75 and 0.25 in u and v. The Offset option
allows you to position a texture map on the surface plane.
6. Click Preview to see the cylinder with the texture applied to look
like a label.
Tiling a Texture
The Repeats option in the 2D Texture File dialog box allows you to
repeat a picture file to create a wallpaper-like pattern. When a picture
file is repeated, its edges should be absolutely symmetrical or else you
will see seams. A solution to this is to carefully retouch its edges
selecting the Paint button in the 2D Texture File dialog box (see
Painting on the Image on page 164).
For example, select a picture file and select a Tiling pattern. Set the
Repeats value to 3 in both u and v and click Preview to see what it
looks like with the texture repeated three times.
To view the actual texture on a selected object or on all objects in the
Shade view in any window, select the SETUP option in a window
title bar with the Shade view mode selected. In the dialog box that is
displayed, select the Enable Hardware Texture option. To see
repeated (tiled) textures, select the Texture Repeat - Grid option.
Copying UV Textures
When the UV Editing option is selected, you can share UV texture
information by copying the UV texture coordinates from one
polygon to another.
The Copy UV option is available only when one polygon is selected
as editable.
1. Select one active UV outline in the 3D Projection view.
2. Click Copy UV.
3. Click on any other polygon to copy UV texture coordinates.
4. Repeat step 3 as many times as desired.
5. Right- click to exit the “copy” mode.
These two options affect the mapping effect you choose: colours,
bump mapping (roughness), displacement mapping, reflectivity
mapping, and transparency mapping.
The Alpha Channel uses the alpha channel of the picture file to
create transparency, reflectivity, or roughness effects on the object.
The different alpha channel values of the picture pixels are used to
define the various effects.
The RGB Intensity uses the RGB colour intensity of the picture file
to create transparency, reflectivity, and roughness effects. The
different RGB intensity values of the picture pixels are used to define
the various effects. This is the default setting.
Transparency Mapping
A texture map can be used to define areas of transparency on your
object. SOFTIMAGE 3D uses the alpha channel or RGB intensity of the
picture file pixels and applied a factor to map a pattern of varying
degrees of transparency on the object’s material. The factor is
determined by the value set with the Transparency slider. For example,
a transparency value of 1 in combination with pure white picture file
pixels would create an actual hole in the object’s material. Selecting the
Black/White option above the Transparency slider causes each
completely black and white pixel in an object to become transparent.
Transparency mapping can be used to create many kinds of effects,
such as the translucent pattern on a Chinese teapot, holes in an
ornate Christmas tree ball, or coloured patterns of a cast shadow
(when combined with shadow-casting light). The overall
transparency of the map can also be blended with the object’s
material by using the associated blending sliders.
The transparency assigned to the material itself does not affect the
texture map’s transparency factor.
Transparency
Dome with texture of happy faces, no transparency (above left).
Texture transparency set to 100% (above right).
Reflectivity
With texture reflectivity, white areas of texture become transparent (below left).
Negative reflection value: black areas become reflective (below right).
Example
The following example shows the results from using an alpha
channel with transparency mapping.
1. Create or select a cylinder.
2. Choose the Material menu command and apply a bright colour,
such as red, so that the mapping effects are obvious.
3. Choose the Texture > 2D (Global or Local) command and apply
a texture to the cylinder (try and find one that has lot of black
and white areas).
4. Make sure that Material On is selected so you can see what is
happening. Set the Transparency slider to -1 so the black
disappears.
5. Click the Paint button and choose Alpha only in the Paint dialog
box that appears.
6. Using the Pen, write your name on the texture. Click Accept to
save the picture and to return to the 2D Texture dialog box.
7. Select Alpha Channel as the Map Component.
You can see your name appear on the texture in the Display Box.
Reflectivity Mapping
Reflectivity mapping can be used to create varying patterns of
reflectivity on an object. When reflectivity is applied as a texture
map, SOFTIMAGE 3D reads the alpha channel or RBG intensity of
the picture file pixels and applies a reflectivity factor which is
determined by the value set with the Reflectivity slider in the 2D
Texture dialog box. For example, a reflectivity value of 1 applied in
combination with pure white picture file pixels creates a mirror on
the corresponding area of the object’s material. Overall reflectivity
can also be blended with the object’s material by using the associated
blending sliders.
The reflectivity assigned to the material itself does not affect the
texture map’s reflectivity factor.
Bump Mapping
You can simulate complex rough surfaces using bump mapping, or
surface normal perturbation, to create the appearance of surface
roughness on your object. Use the alpha channel or RGB intensity of
the picture file’s pixels to “perturb” the object’s surface normals to
simulate a relief pattern.
The apparent height or depth of the relief can be controlled using the
Roughness slider in the 2D Texture dialog box; the values range from
20 to -20. Since bump mapping does not use the RGB colour of the
picture file to calculate roughness, values set for blending purposes
do not affect the appearance of roughness. However, a picture file
can be used to map both colour and roughness in the same texture
file setup.
Note: Since bump mapping uses the picture file’s alpha channel or
Note
RGB intensity, the relief effect may be easier to predict if the
picture is black and white (grey scale).
For good results within bump mapping, start with a low Overall
Blending value, such as 0 or 0.1 and gradually increase it to see the
effect of blending the texture with the material.
Displacement Mapping
Displacement mapping is available only with the mental ray
renderer. Unlike regular bump mapping which only creates the
illusion of depth, displacement mapping actually moves the object’s
vertices so that during the rendering, the object’s geometry is altered
to create a bumpy surface. Since displacement mapping only alters
the object’s geometry in the renderer and not the actual object in the
scene, you can create highly complex object’s without having to
actually model them.
Displacement mapping
(mental ray renderer)
Displacement mapping affects the geometry
of the object during the rendering process.
Objects edges are visibly raised, and the
texture casts shadows.
Example
The following example illustrates how to create displacement
mapping using a NURBS or Patch grid.
1. Choose Get ¹ Primitive ¹ Grid and use the default values.
2. Choose the Material menu cell and select the Lambert shading
model.
3. Select Preview ¹ Setup and choose mental ray as the preview
renderer.
4. Choose Texture ¹ 2D Global.
5. Assign a global 2D texture to your grid by clicking Select beside
the Picture Filename text box. In the browser, go to the
/SI_Materials/PICTURES/BUMPS chapter and select the bump1
file. Click Load.
6. Select UV coordinates as the Mapping Method.
7. Select Alpha Channel Mask from the Blending menu.
8. Use 0 for both the Ambient and Diffuse blending values so that
When you use this option, the texture map can be used, but the
raytraced reflection rays take precedence. This means that if a
reflection ray hits another object in the scene, that ray is used to
compute the reflection component for the original object
intersection point. However, if the computed reflection ray doesn’t
hit an object in the scene, the reflection map is used. So, if there is a
reflection from an object(s) in the scene, use it; otherwise, use the
reflection map to get a reflection.
The Non-Raytraced Reflection Map option lets you see the reflection
map on the reflective object, but does not use the raytracing process.
It is an efficient way to simulate reflective objects: since the
raytracing is disabled, surrounding objects are not reflected.
The reflection map for non-retraced reflection maps is actually a
“fake”: there is no reflection ray or object intersection, but instead a
faked environment that tricks the renderer into believing that the
secondary ray hit something in the scene. This leads to a rapid and
easy simulation of reflection.
The following example illustrates how to put a non-raytraced
reflection map on an object. In this instance, the object has already
been created and exists in the Viewpoint directory found in the
Databases folder of CD #2. You will find this image and put the
reflection map on the object.
1. Choose Get > Element.
2. Go into the Viewpoint directory.
3. Choose the porsche82. image as the model.
4. Go into the Material dialog box and apply a chrome material to
the object.
5. Set the Spectral Decay and Reflectivity to 100%.
6. Choose the Texture > 2D Global command and select the Non-
raytraced reflection map from the Mapping Method menu.
7. Click the Preview button to preview the scene.
Using RenderMap
Note: This effect works with 2D local textures applied to polygon
Note
mesh, patch, and NURBS models.
Parameters
Rendering Options
• Shadow activates shadow computation. If deselected, no shadow
computation occurs, even if some lights are retracing shadows and some
models in the scene have their Shadow option active in the Render Setup
dialog box (accessed by choosing the Info > Selection command).
• Verbose prints status messages on the status message line and into the
status message file about mental ray scene translation and rendering.
Texture Options
• Replace Texture saves the resulting image on disk under the name
specified in the Output Picture Name text box. The new image
replaces the current picture that is being used by the texture, and
the material shading model is set to Constant to eliminate any light
contribution to the rendered texture map. If this option is not
selected, it does not modify the original texture map.
Copying Textures
The Txt_Oper > Copy All and Copy Selection commands in the
Matter module allow you to copy all or selected the textures from a
specified object or polygon to another object or polygon.
These commands allow you to copy the same texture to more than
one object without having to reset the parameters. This is
advantageous if you want to select a particular texture and modify
some of its attributes, then copy it to more than one object. It saves
you from having to select the texture and set the parameters each
time you want to apply it to another object. For example, if you have
four objects and only one of the object’s has a texture applied to it, if
you want the same texture applied to all of the other objects, you can
use the Txt_Oper > Copy All option.
Tip:
Tip When you duplicate an object, its texture is copied with it.
Using GC_AutoProject
1. Select the polygons to which you want to apply the texture.
2. Choose Polygon > GC_AutoProject from the Matter module.
3. Browse to the texture image you want.
4. When the GC_AutoProject dialog reappears, you’ll notice that all the
textures in the database appear. The texture you selected is highlighted.
5. Click the Apply button.
6. You can adjust the rotation of the texture on the polygons by
changing the Roll Angle.
7. You can optionally convert the projected texture to UV. Check
the Convert to UV box.
8. Click Ok.
that when you deform an object, the texture map follows its appropriate
vertex. For example, if you place a 2D texture map as a label on a jar,
map the texture’s coordinates to the jar’s vertices, and deform the jar’s
geometry by twisting it, the label moves with this deformation.
Only one set of uv texture coordinates can be stored for each vertex
used by each polygon. This means that the geometry only
“remembers” the coordinates of a single texture map. If there are
multiple “blended” uv-mapped textures on a material, the polygons
refers to the same areas of those textures.
For automatically applying texture map coordinates to a polygon
mesh object, see how to use the Polygon > Automatic Texture
command as described on page 135.
1. Select a polygon mesh object and assign a material (Material)
and a 2D global texture to it (Texture ➔ 2D Global).
2. In the 2D Texture dialog box, select one of these Mapping
Methods: XY, XZ, YZ, cylindrical, or spherical.
3. Click Ok to exit the 2D Texture dialog box.
4. Choose the Txt Oper ➔ Info UV Coord. (2D Global) command
to store the texture coordinates with the object’s vertices. You can
also use this command to manually edit the actual texture
coordinate value for the polygon mesh object’s vertices.
Note: Only polygons using the texture are affected by the
Note
operation (for example, uv-mapped polygons using
different textures keep their coordinates).
The UV Texture Coordinates dialog box appears.
If there are selected polygons on the currently selected polygon mesh
object, only the texture coordinates for those polygons are displayed
in this box.
5. To accept the default settings for the texture coordinates, click
Ok.
If you want to edit the texture coordinate’s values, follow these steps:
6. Select the Browse order: it is Polygon by default, meaning that all
the texture coordinates used by the polygon are adjacent in the
scroll box. If you select the Vertex browsing order, all the texture
coordinates at that point appear in the scroll box, one for each
polygon that shares the vertex.
With either browsing order, the scroll box displays the identifying
number of each vertex and the polygon to which it belongs.
7. Select a vertex in the scroll box for editing. In all SOFTIMAGE
3D windows, the selected vertex is highlighted in green, and the
polygon to which the vertex is associated is highlighted in pink.
8. The current values of the texture coordinate for the selected vertex are
displayed in the U and V text boxes. Enter a value in the text boxes.
9. Apply the changes to the vertex using the Modify or Modify vrtx
buttons.
10. The Cancel button undoes modifications while keeping the
dialog box open, even after selecting one of the Modify buttons.
Click Ok to accept all settings and exit the dialog box when
you’re done.
repeat the last texture used for the remaining planes, or if you
want to cycle between the ones applied.
7. Click Ok.
8. Pick the polygon mesh object to which you want to apply the textures.
A new model is created with the new textures applied.
House Tutorial
1. Load the CubicMap-House scene from the SI_EFFECTS
database.
This scene contains a simple house model with one global texture of
a brick already applied on the xy plane, repeated, and with a 0.7
blending factor.
2. Choose the Effect ¹ CubicMap command in the Model module.
Keep the default settings in the dialog box and click Ok.
3. Pick the hierarchy (HouseWalls and Roof).
4. With the new house selected, choose the Preview ¹ Selection
command in the Matter module to check the scene. Notice that
the texture is not correctly applied on the side of the model.
Middle-click to exit the window.
5. Go back to the Model module and choose the Effect ¹
CubicMap command again.
6. Set the Source Texture Type as Global and click Ok.
7. Pick the HouseWalls model using the Schematic window.
A new HouseWalls model is created with the texture of the brick
automatically and correctly applied on each of the six projection
planes.
In the Schematic window, you can see that six local materials and
textures are applied to the HouseWalls model.
8. Choose the Preview ¹ Selection command in the Matter
module to check the resulting object.
5. Click Ok.
6. Pick the model to which you want to apply the texture.
A new model is created with the texture applied according to the
parameter settings.
You can translate and scale the texture while maintaining the aspect
ratio (with Uniform Scaling activated).
4. In the Texture Projection dialog box, specify the picture file (.pic)
to be used by the Texture Projection shader in the Picture
Filename text box. You can click the Picture Filename button and
browse for the picture file you want.
5. Set the shader options to get the effect you want:
• Backfacing renders the texture on faces that would normally be
facing away from the camera position.
• Import Camera Animation copies the current camera’s position,
interest, field of view, and roll function curves into the Texture
Projection shader.
• The parameters in the Blending and Overall Blending groups
control how the texture blends with the object’s illumination and
material. These parameters are identical to the options in the 2D
Texture File dialog box: see Blending and Overall Blending on page
1408 in the SOFTIMAGE 3D Reference Guide for more information
about these options.
Try It Yourself
To quickly try this shader, follow these steps.
1. Create a patch B-spline sphere.
2. Choose the Camera > Settings command and set the camera
position to 0, 0, 10. The sphere almost fills the Perspective view.
3. Choose the Camera > Texture_Projection command in the
Matter module.
4. In the Texture Projection dialog box, click the Picture Filename
button and find the SI_Material texture FUNNIES/approved.pic.
5. Make sure mental ray is the default previewer (Preview > Setup).
6. Choose Preview > All. Notice that the picture file almost fills the
Perspective view.
7. Change the camera’s position and observe what happens to the
texture. The texture keeps its relative position on the sphere,
based on the camera’s position.
ToonAssistant
The ToonAssistant command lets you easily create a variety of special
effects that simulate cel animation, such as inking and painting.
Note: This command works only with the mental ray renderer.
Note
ToonAssistant ignores all the other renderer types when
rendering or previewing.
Defining the cel animation “look” generalizes a multitude of distinct
visual styles, resulting from differing drawing and ink-and-paint
techniques, varying materials, etc.; however, at its most basic, this
“look” contains the following signature characteristics:
• Outlining: when done with traditional methods, results from
beginning the cel with a line drawing (the ink of “ink-and-paint”)
that is filled in with solid colours.
• Solid colour contour shading: when done with traditional methods,
results from painting cels with various solid colours (the paint of
“ink-and-paint”).
To produce images containing these characteristics, computer-
assisted animation techniques such as digital ink-and-paint and
automated in-betweening (which require traditional animation
skills) have been avoided in favour of an approach that allows you to
use your own unique tools and skills to create the cel animated look.
In this way, you can rely on familiar 3D modelling and articulation
techniques to create and animate your characters.
Note: The mental ray renderer is not a part of the standard
Note
SOFTIMAGE|3D GT package, but may be purchased separately.
3. Change the values of the ink, background, and colour (see the
next section for more information). You can preview the effects
by clicking Render. This opens the mental ray preview window.
For details about all the ToonAssistant Parameters, see page 1123
of the Reference Guide.
4. When you are satisfied with the effects, you can save it as a preset
(click the Save button) or keyframe the values (click the Key button).
5. Click OK to close the dialog box and return to your scene.
Click the Help button to display the function of a parameter in the
status bar.
Here are some examples of the settings and results when using a
ToonAssistant effect:
• Ink simulates inking of cels by drawing lines at surface contours
and around the silhouette of objects.
• Paint simulates painting cels with solid colour inks. To use this
option, you must first apply a SOFTIMAGE 3D material to any
surface to be painted. Materials that already have material shaders
applied are not altered by ToonAssistant.
Animating 2D Textures
You can animate 2D textures by creating a series of picture files and
applying them to the object sequentially. There are two ways to perform
sequential animation of 2D textures: either using the Sequence option
or the Script option in the 2D Texture File dialog box.
Sequences
This option uses a sequence of previously rendered picture files as
the texture map. SOFTIMAGE 3D synchronizes the picture file frame
numbers with the corresponding texture numbers (such as a
sequence mapped onto a TV screen to simulate an actual program).
Another example is to create a shadow for smoke or a flickering
candle, or a group of moving clouds. For sequence animation, the
picture files must have the same name and frame number
corresponding to each frame of the sequence. You specify the frame
number in the Frame text box.
For example, you could use an animated sequence of a bouncing ball.
The sequence will have one name, and each frame will be numbered
sequentially.
1. Activate the Sequence option in the 2D Texture File dialog box
and enter the name of the picture sequence in the 2D Texture text
box.
Note: The texture file name you enter in the 2D Texture text box
Note
should not contain the frame number extension or the .pic
extension.
2. Map the picture sequence onto the object (scaling and
positioning the map to fit).
The frame numbers of the bouncing ball picture are synchronized
with the frame numbers of the scene to create an animated image on
the object.
A sequence of image files can be cropped in much the same manner
as a single image, but there is one important distinction: after you
manipulate the cropping rectangle that appears around the picture
file, you must click Next, Previous, Paint, or Ok to accept the
cropping values for the entire sequence. If you do not click one of
these buttons, the cropping values will apply only to the first frame of
the sequence.
Once you have accepted these new cropped values, they become the
default for any new texture you apply to your object.
Script Files
For the second method of animating a 2D texture, you create a script
file which contains a list of pictures. When the object is rendered, the
first picture on the list is mapped onto the object at frame 1, the next
picture on the list at frame 2, and so on.
Uses a list of picture files for the substitution process. The picture file
is an accessible text file created by the text editor that contains picture
file names. Each picture file name must be entered on a separate line.
You can use non-sequential files for this script, such as myfile.2,
myfile.4, myfile.8, myfile.6, etc. The script executes the picture files
in the order that they are listed in this file. The file names list all the
paths that you must go through to reach the file.
When you select the Script option, enter the script file name in the
Picture filename text box. If you use another path for the script file,
you must enter the full path name in this text box. As the sequence is
rendered, SOFTIMAGE 3D loads the picture file name on the line
corresponding to the current rendering frame. The main advantage
of using Script is that it gives you control over each individual frame
so that cycling, reversing, looping, and other effects are possible.
The example of a TV screen can be animated with Script using a
cycle of TV snow intercut with other images, giving the impression of
erratic transmission, or create a music video with different images
being flashed on the screen every second or two.
There are some important points to remember when using script files:
• You should specify the explicit path name (starting with the root
directory) pointing to the pictures.
• Make sure that name of the script file is simple: no spaces, periods,
special characters, etc. that may not let the operating system read
the file.
• If the picture is part of a sequence, the number extension must be
included. The SHOW NUMBERS option of the jot or vi text editor
is recommended to show you the correspondence of frames to the
picture it is mapping. When you are calling the script, make sure
that you are in script mode.
• It is important that the frame number (under script) is at 1, or at a
Example
Here’s an example for creating a script for IRIX systems:
1. Open a text editor. Remember to keep the name simple.
2. For the script file itself, include the absolute path to the picture file
on each line, starting at the root level. The “show numbers” option
of the jot or vi text editor is recommended to show you the
correspondence of frames to the picture it is mapping. For
example:
- (on line 1) /usr/people/user/RENDER/RENDER_PICTURES/
test.1
- (on line 2) /usr/people/user/test/RENDER_PICTURES/
test.2
- (on line 3) /usr/people/user/PICTURES/final.5
- (on line 4) /usr/tmp/picture.4
- (on line 5) /usr/people/user/RENDER/RENDER_PICTURES/
test.1
Generating Textures
The CameraUVProjection command automatically creates multiple
textures from a single image for a segmented NURBS model. You can
also use it to create seamless animated textures for scenes that
combine live-action and CG animation.
How It Works
The CameraUVProjection command projects an image from the
camera’s position to automatically create multiple UV-mapped
textures for the NURBS surfaces. Once the effect is complete, each
NURBS surface is automatically assigned its own texture. If you
project a sequence of images onto an animated model, the effect
creates animated 2D textures.
The 2D textures are stored in the PICTURES chapter of your default
database. The textures are stored as: elementname_vx.yyy.pic, where x
represents the version number of the texture and yyy represents the
frame the texture belongs to. You can reset the version number to 1 by
selecting Overwrite existing images, which is described on page 157.
The command automatically assigns a material to each of the
surfaces if you haven’t already defined one. The settings for the
material is Constant, with Diffuse settings of 1,1,1.
12. You can change the Texture Size. The default value is 1.5, and it
is the factor by which the resulting texture is multiplied. For
example, imagine that the size of the projected image is 500 x 150
and the size of the object upon which you’re projecting the image
is 100 x 100. The resulting texture will be 1.5 x 100 in both x and
y, or 150 x 150.
The multiplication factor helps you avoid pixelation, which can
occur if you render the scene with the camera closer to the object
than when the texture was first created. If you notice pixelation
on the texture, increase the Texture Size.
13. If you have already used this command, you can overwrite the
existing textures in the PICTURES chapter by selecting
Overwrite existing images.
When the command is complete, you can display the resulting
textures in the 2D Texture File dialog box and modify them using the
Paint command.
Introduction
The Paint tool, available from the Matter module, allows you to edit
a texture in various ways (such as “painting”) and modify UV texture
coordinates.
The Paint feature can also be accessed by clicking the Paint button in
the 2D Texture File dialog box.
For more information on the Paint dialog box parameters, see Paint
on page 1160 of the Reference Guide.
Note that you can orbit, zoom, and pan objects in this view using the
same Supra keys you use in the Perspective window.
Selecting a Clip
When you select the Clip Db button, the 2D Clip view displays a
scroll box representing the database of clips associated with the
selected model, as well as user-defined clips. In the Paint dialog box,
a clip is a texture file.
Each clip in the list is represented by:
• An icon, which is a snapshot of the actual picture.
• Information such as name, type (Local vs. Global), the width and
height in pixels, and whether it is in RGBA or Colour Index mode.
If you are displaying a clip, it is the current selection in the list. If you
wish to select and edit another clip:
the image is visible through the clip once the clip is pasted on top of
the actual image (over).
• Middle mouse button pastes without considering Alpha.
• Right mouse button pastes the contents of the clipboard using
Alpha contained in the image to blend with the clip, so that the clip
is visible through the image (under).
You can also paste your selection in a different image:
1. Copy or Cut an area in the 2D Clip view as described previously.
2. Choose Clip Db to change to the database list of textures.
3. Select another clip from the list and click again on Clip Db to
return to 2D Clip view.
4. In the new clip, paste the clipboard contents into a selected area
or anywhere in the image.
You can access Select and Colour Picking commands using these
Supra keys:
Most editing tools are also available in Colour Index mode, so you
can still “paint” on the image just as in RGB mode.
At any point, you can return to RGB editing mode.
Note: Be aware that if you return to RGB mode in this way, some
Note
of the colour updates you made in the colour-indexed mode
will be lost and the RGB version may look different.
To convert the Colour Indexed version of the image back to
RGB, select the CI ¹ RGB option from the Effects menu
before switching back to the RGB (true colour) version. In
this case, the resulting RGB version will be identical to the
last colour-indexed one.
Cropping a Texture
The Show Crop option in Paint dialog box lets you define the
portion of the painted picture file to be used as the texture map. This
is the offset and scaling of the object’s UV coordinates.
When you select the Show Crop option (or press the Supra key c), a
red crop box is displayed. You can then crop the picture by moving
the box’s sides or corners. You can also position the crop box
anywhere on the picture by dragging its cross-hair cursor. As you
modify the size and position of the crop box, the UV coordinates
automatically adjust to match the location and dimensions of the
newly cropped area.
Note: You cannot use another Paint tool while the Crop option is
Note
selected.
Blending Control
You can blend the colours that you are painting on an object with its
texture. The Blend slider, located beneath the RGBA sliders, allows
you to change the blending factor to values from 0 to 255. A value of
0 means that the colour is transparent on top of the texture (as
5. The clip appears in the Image area. There is a small box in the
middle of your clip, and you can move this box around to choose
any area of your clip. This area of your image appears in the
Selected Area: Before box. It updates as you move the box.
6. Click on the Effects menu and select Volume 3 (there is a choice
of three volumes of effects).
7. Select the Stained Glass painterly effect, for example, and click
the Preview button. Set your parameters. The image appears with
the Stained Glass painterly effect applied to it in the Selected Area
- After Effect box.
If you like the effect, click the Apply button to apply it to your clip.
Bottle Tutorial
1. Load the Label-Bottle scene from the SI_EFECTS database.
The scene contains a bottle model with a global texture of a logo
applied to it in the xy plane using alpha as a mask.
2. Choose the Preview ¹ Selection command in the Matter
module to check the scene. You can see that the texture is
deformed by the projection.
3. Return to the Model module and choose the Effect ¹ Label
command.
4. Set the Texture 2D to Global and the Projection as XYZ.
5. Click Ok.
6. Pick the bottle model in the Schematic window.
A new bottle model is created with the logo texture automatically
and correctly scaled.
7. Select the Texture manipulation mode (TXT) in the lower-right
corner of the display.
8. Choose a Scale menu cell and select the UNI transformation
mode above the manipulation modes.
9. Scale the texture, then translate it to position it correctly on the
bottle.
10. Choose the Preview ¹ Selection command in the Matter
module to check the result.
Example: UV Editing
The following example shows how to select polygons and do UV editing.
1. Apply a 2D local texture to a polygon object. There is a metallic
rivet texture applied to the object in the illustration below.
2. Open the Paint dialog box. To edit any UV coordinate, convert the
texture projection method to UV mapping with Convert TO UV.
3. Select the Show UV option to make selected polygons visible.
4. Select a polygon (A in the diagram) with the Supra key g. The
polygon is highlighted and its coordinates are shown on the
texture in the 2D view (B).
B
A
6. Copy the new coordinates for the destination polygons that you
want to contain the UV colours. To do this, make sure that the
polygon you want to copy from is selected, then select the
Polygon > UV option, and click Copy.
Numerical UV Editing
Using either the Add or Set button in the UV Editing area, you can
numerically edit the UV position of currently tagged polynodes (UV
handles) on an object that has a UV mapped texture.
• Set allows you to move the UV coordinates to the location that you
have specified.
• Add allows you to displace the UV coordinates by the amount that
you have specified.
• Generate vertex colour values using the Vertex Colours option and
the RenderVertexColours command (these work in conjunction
with each other). The RenderVertexColours command generates
the colour values that are stored in the vertices. Vertex Colours
interpolates the colours stored at each vertex after you have applied
a material to this polygon. See Automatically Generating Vertex
Colours on page 184 for more information.
Note: Flock animation supports both UV coordinates and vertex
Note
colours.
Non-polygonal Objects
Although non-polygonal objects do not support vertex colours, they
can use materials that use the Vertex Colour shading model. In this
case, the tessellation process (responsible for creating the geometry
used to display in the Shade view and for rendering) automatically
assigns default colour values (R, G, and B = 0.7) to each vertex of
each surface triangle, which creates a grey material.
If you assign a vertex colour shaded material on a NURBS surface, a
patch, a face, or a Meta-clay element, you will see a constant grey
shading in the Shade view mode.
To select a new colour and apply it to your polygon, follow these steps:
1. Select the 3D Paint > Vertex option.
2. Select the polynodes (press t-left mouse button) that you want to
edit. The 3D Paint > Preview option becomes available when at
least one of the polynodes is selected.
3. Select a foreground colour from the colour palette and select 3D
Paint > Preview. The 3D Paint > Set button becomes available.
This colour is now temporarily applied to the tagged polynodes.
4. Click 3D Paint > Set to apply the foreground colour permanently
to the tagged polynodes.
Note: While in Preview mode, you can use the colour palette and
Note
colour sliders to change the vertex colours, and you can also
see the interactive update in the 3D View.
Using SetVertexColour
1. Select the object you want to apply vertex colours to. Tag some
vertices if you only want to apply vertex colours to a portion of
the object.
2. Choose Mat Oper > SetVertexColour from the Matter module.
3. Choose the colour and alpha value you want.
4. Click Ok.
5.
3D Textures
Introduction
In addition to material, you can also add texture to an object to
enhance its appearance. Applying 3D textures to your objects can
give them an increased sense of realism. Textures can be used to
create an endless variety of colour patterns, surface roughness,
transparency and reflectivity. Texture can also be used in
combination with shadow-casting lights to create complex patterns
of coloured light and shadow on other objects in a scene.
3D textures are called “3D” because they are calculated as procedural
volumetric textures, but only the intersection with the object’s
surface is rendered. To imagine 3D textures, pretend that the object
that is carved from a block of marble or wood, or cloud mass. Marble
creates a pattern of superimposed layers, wood creates a pattern of
concentric cylinders, and cloud creates a pattern of cloud or sponge-
like effects.
The procedural nature of 3D textures allows them to be animated
through a surface, resulting in a wide variety of animated textural
effects, such as fire, water, etc.
y y
z x z
Other 3D textures
Marble and cloud (below left and right) are
two other procedural algorithms.
Creating 3D Textures
The 3D solid procedural textures can be used to create an infinite
variety of patterned effects. Based on three basic pattern categories
(marble, wood, and cloud), the procedural patterns can be perturbed
and deformed in a variety of ways. Using the procedural parameters
in the 3D Solid Texture dialog box, you can modify the spacing and
angle of pattern elements, increase their level of detail, or compress
and stretch them. You can also set reflectivity, transparency, and
roughness effects.
The following example illustrates how to create a 3D texture.
1. Select an object to receive the 3D texture.
2. Choose the Texture > 3D Global or Local command in the
Matter module. The 3D Solid Texture dialog box is displayed.
5. Click on Save.
6. The Save Texture3D dialog box appears. The name that you have
given the texture appears in the name area. Click on Save.
You have now created a texture file that you can store in your library
for future use.
Tip:
Tip To modify an existing 3D texture, you can also open a
Schematic window, select the Matter mode, then select the
texture symbol to display the 3D Solid Texture dialog box.
Selecting 3D Textures
After you have saved a 3D texture file, you can load it again to be
used, or change the parameters and save it under a new name.
To load a 3D texture:
1. Select an object.
1. Choose Texture > 3D (Global or Local) in the Matter module.
The 3D Solid Texture dialog box is displayed.
2. Click Select to open the database browser. It opens to the current
TEXTURES 3D chapter so that you can browse through a library
of source 3D texture files, either inside or outside the database.
3. To see the file icons for each file, click the Options button and
select the Show Icons option. This lets you easily see what the
texture is without having to load it first.
4. To load a texture file in the 3D Texture File dialog box, double-
click its file name: the browser closes and the picture is displayed
with its file name listed in the 3D Texture text box. You can
change the name of the file in this text box if you like, such as for
making edits to the parameters and saving it with a new name.
Previewing a Texture
To preview a texture from within the 3D Solid Texture dialog box,
click the Preview button in this dialog box. This is a handy way to
change parameters and view them immediately without having to
exit the dialog box.
The preview from within this dialog box is affected by the renderer
you have selected in the Preview Setup dialog box. To check or
change the renderer, choose Preview > Setup. Select mental ray or
SOFTIMAGE as the Preview Renderer and click Exit. Choose mental
ray to view the results of using 3D texture shaders.
Note: The mental ray renderer is not a part of the standard
Note
SOFTIMAGE|3D GT package, but may be purchased
separately.
Textures can also be previewed using the hardware renderer used in
the Shade view, which gives you a quick approximation of materials
and textures used (if selected in the Shade view Setup dialog box). If
you are planning to output your scene as geometry textures for
rendering on another platform, such as a Games console, the Shade
view may be the most accurate.
The texture colour map is created from the five colours you define
for each of the associated squares, and an interpolation (blending)
factor that mixes each of the colours with its neighbour. The
interpolation can be controlled by moving the black factor arrows:
the closer two colours get to each other, the more abrupt the
transition between them.
Note: The Colour Map works in the same manner for both Cloud
Note and Wood texture types.
Drag the colour sliders to see how the colour changes in the colour
boxes. You can also see the effects on the sphere in the display box to
have an idea of what it will look like on a 3D object in your scene.
You can also type in numeric values from 0 to 1 in the text boxes of
the sliders or use the arrow buttons beside the text boxes.
Alpha Values
The transparency value of the alpha channel associated with each of
the five basic colors in the Colour Map can be defined with the Alpha
slider. The interpolation between levels of transparency can be seen
in the black bar at the top of the Colour Map.
Select a colour in the 3D Solid Texture dialog box, then click Palette.
The edited colour appears in the Incoming Colour box. You can now
add this colour to the palette. The Set Foreground and Set
Background buttons allow you to transfer the edited colour to the
foreground or background entry.
Copying 3D Textures
The Txt_Oper > Copy All and Copy Selection commands in the
Matter module allow you to copy all or selected the textures from a
specified object or polygon to another object or polygon.
These commands allow you to copy the same texture to more than
one object without having to reset the parameters. This is
advantageous if you want to select a particular texture and modify
some of its attributes, then copy it to more than one object. It saves
you from having to select the texture and set the parameters each
time you want to apply it to another object. For example, if you have
four objects and only one of the object’s has a texture applied to it, if
you want the same texture applied to all of the other objects, you can
use the Txt_Oper > Copy All option.
Tip:
Tip When you duplicate an object, its texture is copied with it.
Example
The following example incorporates a 3D texture shader onto your
object by applying a wood shader. The wood shader is very similar to
the Wood texture type, but the wood shader contains more
parameters which can be manipulated for greater flexibility. The
following example shows you how to create a plank of wood.
1. Choose Get > Primitive > Cube. Change the length to 4 and click
Ok.
2. Scale the object to these values: x = 0.45, y = 0.14, and z = 2.75.
3. Choose the Material menu command and apply a basic colour to
your object.
4. Select Blinn as the Shading Model and click Ok.
5. Choose Preview > Setup and choose mental ray renderer as the
previewing type.
6. Choose Texture > 3D Global.
7. Select the Shader option in the mental ray area of the 3D Solid
Texture (global) dialog box. User the browser to go to the
/Shader_Lib/Matter directory. Select 3D_Wood and then click
Load.
8. Click the Edit button to open the OZ-Wood dialog box.
9. Select the Auto option in the Preview area and click Refresh to
open the Shaderball Preview.
10. Reduce the Grain Bias value to 0.2 and increase the grain size.
Select both the Wobbly Structure and Turbulence options.
Manipulate the other variables until you achieve the desired
results. Check the results of your modifications in the Shader Ball
Preview.
Tip:
Tip Click the About button to get more information on the
various parameters of the shader.
11. When you are satisfied with the results, click Save. In the Save
Texture 3D_Shaders dialog box, name your shader and click
Save.
12. Click Ok to exit the OZ_Wood dialog box.
13. Increase the Specular value to 1.0 so that the texture is visible in
the specular area of illumination. This gives the plank a more
realistic wood-like appearance.
14. Click the Preview button in the 3D Solid Texture dialog box to
view the wood shader applied to your plank.
15. Click Ok to accept the parameters of the 3D texture and exit the
dialog box.
Note: If the properties of the wood shader are not proportional to
Note
the size of the plank of wood; manipulate the overall Scaling
values in the 3D Texture dialog box on all three axes. Try
starting with a value of about 2.0
Atmosphere
Introduction
The Atmosphere menu commands in the Matter module let you add
atmospheric effects such as fog, illumination, and depth-fading to
your scene.
Depth Fading allows you to realistically simulate depth-fading by
creating a fog-like effect over the entire image.
You can also define atmospheric (volume) shaders when rendering
with mental ray. Volume shaders using the Depth Fading command
are the same as volume shaders you can access from the Material
menu command, except that these shaders are associated with the
space between all objects in the scene.
Note: The mental ray renderer is not a part of the standard
Note
SOFTIMAGE|3D GT package, but may be purchased
separately.
Ambience controls the ambient illumination of all objects in a scene.
Similar to depth fading, Layer Fog allows you to apply a fog effect to
any model containing visible triangles without affecting the
background of a scene.
For more information on the Atmosphere commands, see the
Atmosphere commands starting on page 143 of the Reference Guide.
Creating Depth-fading
The Atmosphere > Depth-Fading command allows you to
realistically simulate depth-fading by creating a fog-like effect over
the entire image. Depth-fading can also be animated.
Depth-fading is like a hollow sphere of fog centered around the
camera. The distances measured are in units from the camera.
The Start Distance is the distance that defines the inner-most part of
the hollow sphere where there is no fog. If the distance to an object is
less than the Start Distance, then there is no fog between the camera
and the object (the object is inside the hollow of the sphere).
The End Distance is the distance from the camera where opacity
stops accumulating. Beyond the stop distance from the camera, the
fog doesn’t get any thicker.
Between the start and end distances of the fog, opacity is added
linearly with distance. There is less fog closer to the start and more
toward the end.
For example, let’s say that the start distance is 50 units, the end
distance is 100 units, and the maximum opacity of the fog is 100%.
There are three objects in the scene: the first object is 25 units, the
second is 75 units, and the third is 106 units from the camera.
Using these conditions, the amount of fog is as follows:
• First object – distance to object is less than the start distance and
there is no fog.
• Second object –
- k = distance into the fog (position of start distance) 75 - 50 = 25
(fog bounds)
- m = end distance (75) - start distance (25) = 50.
- linear interpolation k/m = 25/50 = 0.5
This means that the object is 50% of the distance between the start
and the end distance. Therefore, the opacity of the fog for the second
object is 50% of the maximum.
• Third object – the distance to the object is greater than the end
distance and there is 100% fog.
Example
The following example illustrates how to create depth-fading effects:
1. Show the camera in one of the parallel projection windows
(Camera > Show Camera).
2. Choose the Info > Distance command to get the distance between
the camera and the object or point at which you want fading to
end.
3. Middle-click near the camera and then your object. To use the
object’s centre as a reference point, press the Shift key and then
pick the object.
4. The points are highlighted and a yellow line is drawn between the
camera and the object’s centre. The distance (in SOFTIMAGE
units) between the two is displayed in the status line at the
bottom of the display. Take note of this number.
See page 1013 in the Reference Guide for more information on
using this command.
5. Choose the Atmosphere > Depth-Fading command. The Depth-
fading Setup dialog box is displayed.
6. Select the Depth fading option to activate depth-fading.
7. Enter the Starting and Ending Distances from the values you
figured out with the Info > Distance command.
8. Set the Transparency and factors for the fog. This controls the
maximum transparency of the fog beyond the ending distance.
The value ranges from 0 (opaque) to 1 (transparent).
9. Define the colour of the fog using the colour sliders or the
colour Palette.
10. If you want to use a volume shader with the mental ray renderer,
select the Shader option in the mental ray area to choose a shader
from the database (see Volume Shaders on page 215).
11. To animate the values, click Key to set the parameters for a
specific keyframe, move the time line pointer to another frame,
change the parameters and click Key again. Continue this process
to create as many keyframes as you like.
12. Click Ok to confirm the settings and exit the dialog box.
Volume Shaders
A shader lets you create special effects during the rendering process
when using the mental ray renderer. The main reason for using
shaders is the complete flexibility and openness available to you to
create and manipulate shaders to meet your specific needs.
Note: The mental ray renderer is not a part of the standard
Note
SOFTIMAGE|3D GT package, but may be purchased
separately.
If you are rendering with mental ray, you can select a volume shader
using the options in the mental ray area of the Depth-fading dialog
box. When you select the Shader option, the browser is displayed in
which you can choose and activate a texture shader for one or more
selected objects.
Atmosphere (volume) shaders are used to modify rays as they pass
through an object. Volume shaders allow you to easily simulate
effects such as cloud, smoke, and fire. The volume shaders you access
from the Depth-fading dialog box are the same as volume shaders
you can access from the Material menu command, except that the
depth-fading volume shaders are associated with the space between
all objects in the scene.
The following example illustrates how to apply the volume shader:
1. Choose Get > Primitive > Cube and accept the default settings.
Get another cube by choosing Duplicate > Immediate.
2. With the second cube selected, translate it in the Top window by
0.5 units in positive x and 0.5 units in negative z. Then in the
Front window, translate the same cube by 0.5 units in positive y.
3. Add a light to your scene by choosing Light > Define. Select Spot
as the Light Type. Click Ok to exit the Create Light dialog box.
4. Choose Show > Cone to make the cone of light visible.
5. Translate the spot light and its interest so that the cone falls
directly across the object. Edit the cone angle if necessary by
choosing Light > Edit.
6. Select the cube and choose the Material menu command. In the
Material Editor dialog box, change the Transparency value to 1.0
to make the cube totally transparent.
7. Choose Atmosphere > Depth Fading.
8. In the mental ray area of the dialog box, select the Shader option.
In the browser, go to the Shader_Lib directory, select the
March_Fractal shader, and click Load.
9. Click in the Shader text box and click Edit.
10. In the March_Fractal Shader dialog box, select the Shaderball
option.
11. In the Scattering area, click the Select button beside the Lights
text box. Select the spot light and click Ok.
12. Change the colour of the Ambience and Absorption to light grey.
13. Select the Volumic Density option and enter a density value of
0.1.
14. Click the Select button next to the Transformation Model text
box. Select the object you named “fogArea” and click Ok.
15. Select the Proximity option and change the Fractal size to 2.0.
16. Click Ok to exit the dialog box.
17. Click Ok to accept the depth-fading parameters.
18. Choose Preview > Setup and choose mental ray renderer as the
previewing type.
19. Choose Preview > All to view the final result.
Creating Fog
The Atmosphere > Layer Fog command allows you to apply a fog
effect to all models containing visible triangles. Layer fog is very
similar to the depth-fading effect, except that you can also set base
and thickness values for the fog.
The layer fog is constrained between the top and bottom distances,
which are values in the y-axis. Below the bottom and above the top,
there is no fog. If a ray passes through the fog, it is interpolated
linearly, as in depth-fading.
The fog effect is “distance-attenuated” so that objects near the
starting distance are less affected by the layer fog effect than objects
that are farther away. The fog’s attenuation changes according to its
height, and all parameters can be animated.
The base of the fog sets the starting distance, in grid units, from the
xz plane. For example, setting the base to 0 activates the effect
directly on the xz plane. Setting the base at -2 activates the layer fog
at two units below the xz plane.
In conjunction with the base, the thickness sets the distance from the
base setting in the y-plane. Thickness is also measured in grid units.
For example, setting the thickness at 6 deactivates the layer fog at six
units from the specified Base setting.
The layer fog effect is also attenuated according to its height,
appearing the most dense at the midway point between the base and
thickness settings, and gradually weakening toward its edges.
Here are the basic steps to follow for creating a layer fog effect:
1. Show the camera in one of the parallel projection windows
(Camera > Show Camera).
2. Choose the Info > Distance command to get the distance
between the camera and the object or point at which you want
fog to end.
3. Middle-click near the camera and then your object. To use the
object’s centre as a reference point, press the Shift key and then
pick the object.
4. The points are highlighted and a yellow line is drawn between the
camera and the object’s centre. The distance (in SOFTIMAGE
units) between the two is displayed in the status line at the
bottom of the display. Take note of this number.
See page 1013 in the Reference Guide for more information on
using this command.
5. Choose the Atmosphere > Layer Fog command. The Layer Fog
dialog box is displayed.
6. Click the Layer Fog option to activate it.
7. Enter the Starting and Ending distance settings in the
appropriate text boxes using the values that you figured out with
the Info > Distance command.
8. Enter the Base setting and then the Thickness setting in relation
to the base.
9. Enter the Density setting for the fog with values ranging from 0
(transparent) to 1 (opaque).
10. Define the fog’s colour using the colour sliders or the Palette (for
more information on either of these.
11. To animate the values, click Key to set the fog for a specific
keyframe, move the time line pointer to another frame, change
the fog parameters and click Key again. Continue this process to
create as many keyframes as you like. For more information on
keyframing, see the Animating User’s Guide.
12. Click Ok to confirm the settings and exit the dialog box.
Activating 3D Smoke
1. Make sure that the preview renderer is set to mental ray (Preview
> Setup).
2. Choose the Light > FxDirector command.
3. In the FxDirector dialog box, choose Volume Smoke (Global)
from the top menu.
4. Select Ray Marching (3D Smoke).
5. Preview or render the effect using mental ray to see the effect.
Introduction
You can create a new colour palette that is representative of the
colours present in a scene. You can then generate a colour-indexed
image that approximates the original image through the use of the
colours contained in this colour palette.
This feature is particularly useful is you want to convert true colour
images in a format (colour-index) that is supported on a personal
computer or games console.
To reduce the palette, choose the C_Reduction menu command in
the Tools module. In the dialog box that appears, you can load an
image and from it, create:
• A corresponding colour palette from the image.
• A colour-indexed image or sequence which best approximates the
original, but uses fewer colours from a colour palette.
Alternately, instead of creating a new colour palette, you can load an
image, then load an existing palette, and use it to generate a colour-
reduced image.
By editing the palette, you can alter the colours of the generated
image. Change some of the generation parameters and repeat the
process, generating new palettes and versions of the colour-reduced
image until you are satisfied with the results.
You also can apply colour reduction to a sequence of images and to
all textures applied to models in a database. You can save palettes for
reuse, as well as saving the colour-reduced images in various formats.
When generating a colour-indexed image, the system considers how
many pixels in the original image use each RGB colour. When the
number is relatively low, such a colour is grouped with others with
similarly limited use. This allows these colours to be combined to
make a a single colour index in the generated palette, according to
the generation method specified in the dialog box.
If no entries are selected in the palette, all the entries are replaced
(unless they are locked). Otherwise, the palette generation is done for
the selected entries only.
For more information on the parameters in the dialog box for colour
reduction, see C_Reduction on page 280 in the Reference Guide.
Creating a Palette
In the Paint or Palette dialog boxes, you can create and modify
palettes. This can be useful for creating specific palettes to be applied
consistently to a group of materials or textures.
The Paint dialog box can be accessed by choosing the Paint menu
command or clicking the Paint button in the 2D Texture File dialog box.
The Palette dialog box is accessed by clicking the Palette button in any of
these dialog boxes: the Material, 3D Solid Texture, or the Depth Fading
dialog boxes. The Palette dialog box, as shown below, has the same
parameters as are available in the Palette area in the Paint dialog box.
For more information on the Paint and Palette dialog box
parameters, see Paint on page 1160 of the Reference Guide.
The options located in the Pal. Oper. menu in the Paint dialog box
allow you to create and edit a palette, as well as apply the current
palette to the source image with or without dithering. By selecting
the Generate option, you can generate a new palette based on the
number of colours that best represent your image.
The following demonstrates some of the colour palette features:
1. Select the Generate button in the Pal. Oper. menu. This action opens
a dialog box in which you can specify palette generation parameters.
2. Indicate that you want 32 entries in the new palette. Once you click
OK, the new palette is created with the number of entries
indicated.
3. Select Colour Index in the menu under the 2D Clip view window
(on the left side of the dialog box) to go into Colour Index mode.
4. Select the second row of the palette by pressing the Shift key.
Then click on Edit > Copy.
5. Deselect the entries that are currently selected by pressing the
Shift key and the right mouse button. Click on Edit > Paste
Before. There are now 48 entries in the palette. (All the entries in
the first row are not indexed– see the Nb of Pixels when selecting
these entries).
6. Select Pal. Oper > Optimize. The Optimize feature acts as internal
management. It ensures that there is only one entry for each colour
in the image. If there are several entries in the palette that are
identical, by selecting Optimize, all the pixels that are using this
colour now refer to the first entry of this redundant colour. This
means that all the entries in the second row are now indexed.
7. Click the Pal Oper > Cleanup button. The Cleanup button
removes all entries not being referenced by the image (the third
row of entries).
8. You now have a new palette that is representative of the entries in
your image and have cleaned up the palette to save space.
Note: The Optimize and Cleanup features also work on sets of
Note
selected entries.
To delete one or multiple entries, select the entry or entries that you
want to cut and select Cut from the Edit menu.
Creating a Gradation
You can do a gradation on the palette by following these steps:
1. Make a selection in the palette by holding down the Shift key and
selecting with the left mouse button.
Note: If no selection is made, the entire palette is considered to be
Note
selected, so the whole palette changes.
5. Your selections are cut or copied to the palette clipboard and can
now be pasted in the same palette or a different palette.
6. Select either the Paste Before and Paste After options, as
described below, to paste the palette entry or entries where you
want them.
When pasting clipboard contents, the following rules apply:
Paste Before
• If you choose Paste Before and no entry is selected, it inserts the
entries of the copy buffer before the foreground entry, moving all
the other entries forward.
• If you have made a selection, it replaces the entries of the selection
with the entries in the copy buffer until the end of the selection of
the copy buffer is encountered.
Paste After
• If no entry is selected, it inserts the entries of the copy buffer after
the foreground entry, moving all the other entries forward.
• If you have made a selection, it replaces the entries of the selection
with the entries in the copy buffer until the end of the selection of
the copy buffer is encountered.
Note: Palette clipboard operations can be applied between
Note
different textures in the clip database. For example, you can
copy entries from the current texture, go into the clip
database, select another texture, and paste the entries in the
new texture palette.
Editing
When you modify individual palette entries, the only pixels in the
colour-indexed image which change colour are those which reference
these modified entries. For example, if 1500 pixels reference a palette
entry which was green and you change it to red, these 1500 pixels are
now red. The result may be quite different if you apply the modified
palette – see Regenerating the Image below.
Cluster-based Method
The cluster-based methods build an RGB cube of colour based on the
colours in the image. They subdivide the cube into increasingly
smaller ones until there are as many cubes as necessary to create the
number of colours specified for the new palette.
From the final RGB cubes:
• The Variance-based method cuts across all the RGB cubes’ axes (at
a position where the variance among the colours in the axis is
minimal). This allows it to determine a colour palette based on a
better representation of the colours in the cubes.
• The Median-based method (the old method) cuts across a single
axis of the RGB cubes’ axes (along the median of the colour
population). It cuts across the axis that contains the most colours
and determines the new palette from there.
The image is displayed in the display area below the Load button.
Notice the number of colours at the top of the Original Picture Area.
This indicates the number of colours that exists in image.
5. Select the Generate option from in the Pal. Oper. menu. The
Palette Parameters dialog box appears in which you can enter the
number of colours and bits per colour channel, as well as the
method: neural network, median, average, and pixel average.
6. Click either the Apply Dithering or Apply Undithering button to
display the resulting colour-indexed image in the display area to
the right of the original image.
When you select either option, a browser is displayed in which you enter
the prefix for the resulting images, and select an output image type.
7. The corresponding colour palette is shown in the palette display.
Resizing an Image
You can resize a single image. To do so, load the image in the Colour
Reduction dialog box and click the Resize button. In the Resize
Image dialog box, set the new size of the image (in pixels).
Bilinear interpolation is automatically selected, which creates new
pixels by weighting the colours in four adjacent pixels of the source
image. This smooths out the artifacts that are introduced by the
resizing process. Click the Save button above the Display Area to save
the resized image
A C
Adding an alpha channel 106 Caustics 43
Alpha channel how calculated 44
adding 106 photons 44
mapping, 2D textures 115 Clips
mask 106, 200 colour-indexed 172
alpha standalone program 106 creating 167
Ambient illumination cutting and pasting 166
area 68 editing 164
blending with 2D textures 107 see also Painting
blending with 3D textures 201 selecting 163
global 217 Cloud 3D texture pattern 196
Angle on 3D texture 198 Colours
Animating 3D texture 196
2D textures 152, 153 colour-indexed clip 172
materials 86 HLS model 69
Area lights 36 HSV model 69
Assigning light 18
material 69
2D textures to polygons 135
painting 165
3D textures to polygons 205
palette 70
local material to polygons 84
reduced image 234
Associating
regenerating 232
3D textures 204
saving 239
materials 82
RGB model 69
Atmosphere
Cone angle 21
ambient illumination 217 Constant shading model 66
depth fading 212 Copying
fog 218 2D textures 131
volume shaders 215 Puzzle custom effect 132
B 3D textures 203
materials 81
Blending palette entries 229
alpha channel mask 106, 200 UV textures on polygons 113
material and 2D textures 106, 107 Creating
material and 3D textures 200, 201 3D textures 191
RGB intensity mask 107, 200 clips 167
Blinn shading model 67 fog 218
Blur, static 76 light 18
Bump mapping 119, 121 palettes 226
displacement 120 shadows 34
BumpMap custom effect 121 CubicMap custom effect 138
Custom effects E
applying 2D textures 139
Editing
assigning textures to polygons 138
bump mapping 121 3D texture 196
copying 2D textures 132 clips 164
deforming a model for mapping 105 palette modes 227
Custom shader ball 208 polygon material 85
Cutting UV textures on polygons 173
clips 166 Excluding objects from light 33
palette entries 229 F
Cylindrical mapping method 103
Falloff, light 19
D Files
Defining 2D texture 98
colours 69 deleting 100
material 61 3D texture 192
definition 42, 43 deleting 195
Deformation picture 96
bump mapping 121 script 153
displacement mapping 120 Fog 218
model for mapping 105 G
surface 120
Deleting GC_AutoProject command
2D texture files 100 using 136
3D texture files 195 Generating
Depth fading colour-indexed clip 172
simulating 212 colour-reduced images 234
volume shaders 215 Global ambience 217
Depth map 34 Global Illumination 42
Diffuse illumination Global illumination 44
area 68 photons 44
blending with 2D textures 107 Gradation in palette 229
blending with 3D textures 201 Grouping polygons 85
Disassociating
3D textures 204
H
materials 82 Hierarchies for material definition 78
Displaying HLS colour model 69
2D texture support and projection 110 how calculated 44
2D textures 109 HSV colour model 69
Distance
depth fading 212 I
fog effect 218 Illumination 68
light’s effect 19 ambient 217
reflectivity 72 Painting
refraction 73 2D textures 161
selecting 65 colour indexed clips 172
setting 83 colours 165
shaders 88 creating a clip 167
shading models 66 cutting and pasting a clip 166
sharing 82 editing a clip 164
static blur 76 Painterly Effects 170
transparency 73 selecting a clip 163
Material Editor 63 Palette 70, 197
Matter mode, Schematic window 62 background colours 165
mental ray colour-indexed clip 172
area lights 38 copying entries 229
mental ray renderer creating 226
2D texture shaders 141 cutting entries 229
3D texture shaders 206 editing modes 227
area lights 36 foreground colours 165
custom shader ball 208 gradation 229
displacement mapping 120 loading 231
light shaders 41 locking entries 231
material shaders 88 pasting entries 229
saving 231, 239
reflection mapping 124
selecting entries 228
secondary rays 124
swapping groups 230
shadow objects 40
Pasting
volume shaders 215
clips 166
Modifying
palette entries 229
polygon groupings 85
Pattern, 3D texture 196
see also Editing or Changing
Penumbra area, shadows 36
N Phong shading model 67
Photon Director 45, 50
Non-raytraced reflection mapping 123 Photon Map 53
Normals 11 Photons 44
Picture files 96
O
loading 96
Objects script file 153
material definition 61 sequential animation 152
surfaces 11 Pixel interpolation 130
Offsetting 2D textures 111 Planes, mapping 102
Optimizing materials 82 Point light 15
Polygons
P assigning 2D textures 135
Painterly Effects 170 assigning 3D textures 205
creating 34 U
depth map 34
Umbra intensity, shadows 36
object 40, 67
Unwrap custom effect 105
penumbra area 35
UV mapping method 104
raytraced 35 polygons 136
soft 35 UV textures
umbra intensity 35 on polygons 113, 173
Sharing materials 82
Simulation of depth fading 212 V
Spacing on 3D texture 198 Vertex Colours
Specular illumination automatically applying 183
area 68 Vertices, mapping 2D textures 136
blending with 2D textures 107 View modes, shade 17, 62
blending with 3D textures 201 Viewing
Spherical mapping method 103 2D texture information 100
Spot light 15 3D texture information 194
cone and spread angles 21 animation 87
Spread angle 21 Volume shaders 215
Static blur 76
W
Strength on 3D texture 198
Support, 2D texture 110 Wood 3D texture pattern 196
transforming 112 X
Surfaces
material 61 XY mapping method 102
XZ mapping method 102
normals 11
Swapping palette groups 230 Y
T YZ mapping method 102
Textures
2D, see 2D textures
3D, see 3D textures
Tiling 2D textures 113
Transforming
2D texture support 112
2D textures 111
3D textures 202
Translating
2D textures 111
3D textures 202
Transparency 73
mapping 116