[Xelion]

Setekh how do you integrate ships into your render; (in 3d program)
1. Do you render each ship separately and then position it in PhotoShop6 using the blending modes?
2. Or do you render all ships in one scene?

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Max
Flash Developer
Ps6 Beginner

[Carl]

if you render them individually, they won't cast shadows on each other or reflect each other, so you have to render the whole image.

[Kamikaze]

 You don't have to do you? It's only for the picky perfectionists

[mikhael]

 

Originally posted by Kamikaze:
You don't have to do you? It's only for the picky perfectionists  

I wouldn't say that. I'd say it was just for the overall look. You could fake those shadows but it always looks false somehow. Nothing beats properly raytraced shadows for that sense of veracity.

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--Mik
http://www.404error.com
ruhkferret on ICQ/AIM

[Kamikaze]

sarcasm...

[Shrike]

 

Originally posted by mikhael:
I wouldn't say that. I'd say it was just for the overall look. You could fake those shadows but it always looks false somehow. Nothing beats properly raytraced shadows for that sense of veracity.

And nothing beats raytraced shadows for rendering time either.... *sight*

[Ace]

The few times I have done renders, I do the shadows and lighting myself in Photoshop. Has a softer more film like quality and I can generally "by eye" work out the shadows to look fine.

TS5 in it's lighting is too rough, especially on low poly models. (I've had to blend out edges of shadows, etc. to get a smooth look)

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Ace
Staff member FreeSpace Watch
 http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/

[Sandwich]

 

Originally posted by Ace:
TS5 in it's lighting is too rough, especially on low poly models. (I've had to blend out edges of shadows, etc. to get a smooth look)

Just modify the light that's casting the shadows so that it has a softer edge.  

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[NeoHunter]

If you are going to render everything, then how do you put in the background of stars and nebula?

The only trick I know is to make a picture of the background and then place it on a thin box then position the camera to cover the background but not beyond it.

I thought there was a way to do it in another better way. I seem to have forgotten.

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[Starwing]

You can set a background image in TS. Even TS1 does that. I usually render all objects in one scene (except the latest pic, made a render of the ships and set it as background for the window). I used a trick to soften shadows in TS1 (reytraced shadows in TS1 were incredible bad). I just set another light with shadows turned off and very low intensity that lightened the black spots TS1 used to call shadows a little bit and made them look much more realistic.

[This message has been edited by Starwing (edited 01-05-2002).]

[Fineus]

FYI Max, Setekhs busy trying to cope with the bush fires in Australia at the moment - so don't be put off if you don't get a reply from him  

I seem to recall Setekh came up with a way to make shadows whilst still rendering each ship individually, and to render them he uses a custom made engine called Spire (not commercially available... yet  )