brute force

to refer later on.

http://forums.cgarchitect.com/72600-brute-force-when.html#

http://www.ronenbekerman.com/making-of-tomczak-house/

vrayLightMtl

vray materials: Apparently glass/transparent materials only work in blend when used as a base.

vray light materials limitations: The direct illumination options currently only work properly if the VRayLightMtl material is the only material applied on the object. They will not work if the material is part of a complex material like a Multi/sub-object material or a VRayBlendMtl material. This restriction will probably be removed in a future release

tested it out by applying a black and white map in to opacity input. but it didn't work. my results was ended up with a completely white vrayLightMtl.(something like surfaceshader)
however it works when i placed the same exact map in to both diffuse and opacity slot. Transparency/Opacity works.

When direct illumination was switched on, opacity map got broken again. ><
Not sure if it's some bug in for vrayLightMtl or not..

substance map explanation

https://forum.allegorithmic.com/index.php?topic=3243.0 : explanation of maps function.

http://polycount.com/discussion/155524/pbr-basecolor-metallic-to-vray-3-2-corona-redshift-arnold-converter : examples of how you go from substance to vray or any other renderers or software.

https://support.allegorithmic.com/documentation/display/SPDOC/Creating+export+presets
: how some maps are calculated in substance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePnLTuzRAbg : allegorithimic tutorial on how to bake textures.

note to self. always plan before you do anything so that it would be easier for you to make changes instead of wasting precious time.

http://polycount.com/discussion/56014/how-the-f-do-i-model-this-reply-for-help-with-specific-shapes/p34 : interesting forum posts and discussion on how to model stuff with good topology. *warning long post ahead

substance painter to vray

just started learning substance today, great experience in figuring out how to texture stuff in PBR instantly and real time hahaha.
Found a simple tutorial to remind myself on how to transfer to maya vray in the future hahah.
http://www.darrenwallace3d.com/2015/10/substance-painter-to-vray-tutorial.html

*IMPT https://support.allegorithmic.com/documentation/display/SPDOC/V-Ray+for+Maya

Maya Dynamics - Foliage air dynamics simple lattice-based setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKibBWv0tQc

explanation for vray linear workflow,and my own to-do-list HAHA

http://www.hanhanxue.com/v-ray-for-maya-linear-workflow-guide/

https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VRAY3MAYA/Texture+Attributes

http://www.ashishdani.com/2013/06/23/tutorial-linear-workflow-with-maya-and-vray/

explanation about maya vray linear workflow and when to use texture gamma correction? for me to refer




leaf tut:  http://vray.info/tutorials/leafmaterial/

https://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials/creating-plants-in-maya-mental-ray


sorry guys hahah this is for my own references for my work haha


how i should go about testing and creating environment for the forest or with the assets that i have:

-lining up all the assets that i have

-hdri light with afternoon,blue sky to test plants and rocks and other assets.
(proper lighting setup and  )

-layout for the environment, and framing of the shot

-lighting

-----scripts to manage assets maya TO SEARCH


https://vimeo.com/34741214 : this is really prettyyyy

https://80.lv/articles/billy-lundevall-creating-content-for-megascans/

http://simonbarle.com/Work/ForestEdge/ForestEdge.jpg

https://80.lv/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Megascans_Forest.jpg

PBR references to refer to for tutorial and explanation

https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?398687-Meet-Poliigon-the-next-logical-step-in-Texture-library-evolution

http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice

http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-theory

http://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-practice

https://www.fxguide.com/featured/monsters-university-rendering-physically-based-monsters/

untiy specular vs mettalic
https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/StandardShaderMetallicVsSpecular.html

for me to refer

What is Sampling?

https://support.solidangle.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=24119706

Volume

https://support.solidangle.com/display/AFMUG/Volume

VBR versus CBR encoding

http://help.encoding.com/knowledge-base/article/what-is-the-difference-between-cbr-and-vbr-encoding/

vray passes composite tutorial

http://www.stevenolver.com/tutorial-advanced-vray-render-elements-compositing-after-effects/

THIS! is reaally useful in compositing mannnnn :DDDD

a read on converting images from 32bits to 16 bits in PS

https://corona-renderer.com/forum/index.php?topic=7174.0

vray clipper and vray dirt issue

Hi guys i have this very odd problem that I've been facing with Vray clipper and vray dirt. This is a simple test setup I have here, by using vray clipper mesh to clip cube A. In my clipper settings I excluded cube B. however in my vray dirt render, the clipped surfaces of the cubes gets rendered out black. Even cube B, which should be excluded by the clipper got affected as well. Not sure if this is a known limitation with regards to vray clipper and vray dirt. Wondering if anybody have a solution to this problem? Been going around looking for solutions but I couldn't really find any. ><

Im using Maya 2016, vray demo ver. 3.4
In my setup I'm only using a domelight, with no GI.

simple setup

beauty render

vray dirt render

                                     

been a while..

Heyhey, it's been a while since i updated this blog. everything's been going fine. in fact! great at my workplace. I've been too busy to update on whatever I've learnt in the past few months. on a summary, I've learnt how to do lighting for products, prepping rendering files, as well as learning proper workflows, learning how to explain and a lil bit of troubleshooting for the overseas freelancers? HAHAHA . But so far everything has been fine and fun!

learning to use vray for quite a bit of time now. still awed and inspired by the different results and look that we can achieve using CG. freaking awesome hahaha.
Today we'll just speak a little bit about how to do lighting for products.

What I've learnt is that "Whenever we do lighting for products, the aim we're trying to achieve is to enhance whatever features the product has." So take a watch as an example.. When we're lighting a watch, It would be nice to see nice falloff and highlights on the watch. Maybe some on the strap, some on the interior of the watch and some on the outer rim. like the example below. See that soft gradient on the small metal bits on those spots where the numerals are supposed to be? *screams internally THATS SO AWESOME AHHAHAH*
*picture taken from http://www.bladerender.com/

And finding the angle where the reflection of the light hits in to the camera is the key/main/most important point to note while lighting. HIGHLIGHTS EVERYWHEREEEE !!!!
anyway with regards to lighting in product videos. render time might be a considerable point to take note of so the number of lights cant be ridiculously too much hahahha.

thats all for today i guess haha!!  good day!

still loving this (maya toon shader)

http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/making-of-half-past-seven-astronauts/


accompanied with maya toon shader tutorial :)
http://www.cgmeetup.net/home/maya-toon-shading-tutorial/

looping animation in maya with cycle

https://kakes3d.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/looping-and-copying-keyframes-in-maya/

cycling with offset/ cycle animation after viewing infinity.
totally forgot about this. how silly xD

does maya field work with bullet plugin in maya?

i was doing this simple testing for a slightly stylised dynamics. was working with bullet plugin in maya 2016, and everything was working relatively fine however until when i tried to use maya fields together with the bullet plugin, everything seems to bugged up. no idea whats happening.

- Created maya gravity field with active bullet rigid bodies selected, "GRAVITY" node doesn't seem to connected to the ACTIVE RIGID BODY SOLVER geometry (in dynamics relationship editor). even though it's working.

-Connected "GRAVITY" node to ACTIVE RIGID BODY SOLVER geometry in dynamics relationship editor. and the geometries all falls through the plane(which is set as a static rigid body)

maya is being so annoying now. like dynamics and simulations are cool,but.... *sighs

UPDATE: i realised that maya fields and bullet does work together. It might be due to the fact that I used rigid sets for my cubes. thus when i was connecting GRAVITY to the cubes, they created a rigid body node for the cubes which grouped and turned them into a single rigid object? (like what you see in the video)

which means that rigid sets and maya fields don't work well with one another? :0

http://www.gridmarkets.com/johnny-farmfield.html

velvet shaders

https://sites.google.com/site/piggypigmonologue/shaders-writing

dynamics rigid bodies tutorial

beginning to love digital tutors tutorials. - http://blog.digitaltutors.com/introductory-look-at-the-bullet-physics-engine-in-maya-2016/

Autodesk Maya Dynamics Tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxNXEKwLJ-8 , another basic setup for simple dynamics

houdini perlin noise

calculation for perlin noise doesn't work the same way as other noises provided in the turbulence noise parameters. checked point normals of all noises to double check.

fixing renders in nuke

when compositing, there are times where you'll have problems in your renders like flickering issues . , re-rendering is time consuming and expensive. that's when you have to learn how to fix those problems in your post production which is nuke. (or any other software) some solutions like rotopainting/painting,  cornerpin might be really useful when you need it :D

Alembic cache in maya

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-332E42EB-148B-4AFC-8F8C-B912470609C6-htm.html

more information about alembic cache in maya.

used for exporting geos, rig, cameras and etc.

Heard of many comparision between using fbx or alembic cache.
this website explains more about the differences between alembic cache and fbx file format.

http://www.quadernii.com/2012/12/fbxcollada-vs-alembic-2/

more explanation

http://lesterbanks.com/2013/10/exporting-alembic-from-autodesk-maya/

maya notes.

learnt how to export shader network a few days ago. so as to import it to other files.
File > export selected network in hypershade.

renders in v-ray frame buffer, able to export exr. files.

exporting ma. files to after effects for compositing (exporting camera data)

Great tutorial with explanation : http://blog.digitaltutors.com/importing-maya-camera-locators-effects-2d-3d-integration/

Exporting camera data in maya to after effects so as to add 2d objects in  to 3d space in after effects.

** for compositing rendered image and elements that you want to add inside after effects.

1. 2 types of file format that can support camera data.

Discreet RLA/RPF (RLA, RPF; 16 bpc; imports camera data)
Maya camera data (MA)

2. adding locators in your scene. (eg. for the floor, areas where you wanna add additional elements like text in AE)

3. renaming them to null objects. (eg. null_floor_01 , null_text_01)  

-as the amount of locators increased it would be confusing so best to stick with a consistent naming convention for null objects.

4. baking camera animation (edit > keys > bake simulation)

** (locators can be set according to orientation of object if needed.. for comping)

5. Cleaning up maya file by deleting all the other objects except for the nulls and camera, then save as another.

6. done! import to AE

quads on sphere, modeling

removing triangles from sphere and replacing them with quads

solution 1:  animation -> sculpt deformer on cube.

solution 2: create sphere. delete triangles.  -> look at the number on edges, create plane with equivalent amount of edges. scale it in and put it at the top of sphere, where the hole is.
select vertices --> average vertices (average them out evenly)

Basic proper topology for modelling.

Learnt a lot from my colleague today, including shortcuts in maya, the different tools used for modeling and a super handy quad draw tool  >v<
I regret not practicing as much as I could when I was still in school... gotta buck up! I'm glad I had such helpful colleagues too!

MAYA notes

* TEXTURE  RESOLUTION in maya _ better to match this with your bitmap resolution (Displacement)

* DISPLACEMENT is affected by SCALE too.

* progressive rendering - able to set the max render time
eg. (if max render time value is set to 1, render will stop after 1 min. )

* Boolean doesn't work well with UV sets.

* Explore maya shortcuts. aids in being more efficient

* When batch rendering in vray, rmb to switch to animation in render settings.

Note to self

Ever since I started working in a company then I realised how important this production workflow is. Being in school, I've seen this a couple of times and had also been taught with regards to this but never once had I tried to follow this workflow properly. Many regrets that I've had ever since I started working (which isn't that long ago ;v;), so here's some notes to myself as well as any others who'll be looking at this blog.

Whenever we do 3D projects, Workflow will be roughly be the same as what we did in school for our final year project. Just one point to note is that 3D tests/ R&D are very important as they will tell you whether your project is feasible or not.

Tests doesn't have to be as complicated as your project but

- test the limits of the software = go high res instead of low res to see how much your computer/software will be able to take it.

- make sure that the test is complete!! try to simulate many aspects of the project in the test.

- don't see tools only for specific usage (eg. vray clipper for cross section only) NOPE!!try to use the tools to get the result that you want. (common mistakes made by students)

- don't spend too much time fixating on the rendering/ modelling if you're facing any problems. Try to give yourself a time limit. After 2-3 hours (set the time yourself >v< , be smart about it though), if you cant think of any solutions it'll probably be best to go ask some questions on the web. *People are normally really friendly, be detailed in how you ask your questions too. :D

- do try to visualize your end result while you do your tests. What are you trying to achieve.

-Start simple, change settings one at a time. when troubleshooting for maya

-

Render for metallic material using vray maya.

Grant Warwick - Lesson 4a
*For this post all examples would be referenced to the green dirty, rusty metal shown in lesson 4a of grant warwick*

Amazing lesson that I've learnt from this guy. Taught me how to reconstruct a material starting from the larger details like diffuse and reflection falloff. although the reflection falloff is only in 3ds Max, but there're other ways to achieve it in Maya too.

FALLOFF in maya - http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php?t-9777.html
* similar to x-ray effect in maya. need to check it out too.

Falloff map for reflection is used to control how the specular/highlight appear in our eyes at different glancing angle. Basically, it's the falloff for the reflectivity on the material.
** need to study more about different glancing material at different angle.

For example metal which normally has different layers of specularity, layers of metal material (coat) will be added to each other using vray blend material of course, with difference specularity falloff (reflection falloff)


BLINN & PHONG - plastics or chrome?
WARD - metallic items?

Vray 3.3 has this new shader called GGX, which handles the specularity of the metal much more accurately.


Anyway, after getting down larger details like diffuse and reflection falloff, will then be able to proceed on to bump maps, then eg. rust and dust... Rust and base metal are totally different materials so when attempting to create rust effect, please blend them together using vrayblendmtl instead of trying to combine them together inside the base metal material.

simple mindmap to show workflow

using procedural textures like solid fractal and layered textures help to make the pattern more irregular and randomized.
EG. under solid fractal texture's colour 1&2. able to input more procedural texture too. texture in texture?