Tinkering with Alpha Masks

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tahnoak
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

Post by tahnoak »

Thanks spacekdet. I'm not a workspace side user (only because I never really used it that much) but maybe it's time I expanded my horizons and took off the training wheels :)

I will give it a look=see.
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tahnoak
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

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Throwin an updated Screenie for your viewing pleasure (or displeasure) :D

I know some things I need to work on:

1) Step on middle building is too low
2) Corners still too sharp (I have not addressed that yet)
3) try and add some blowing snow
4) dirty up the stairs and bottoms of the stone walls with some splashed snow
5) Put some more little detailed stuff.
Attachments
Building14.jpg
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Dragneye
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

Post by Dragneye »

Thank you guys for posting detailed pics. Helps all levels in learning the new/old buttons in tS.
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tahnoak
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

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Finis wrote:CP2: Wiggledy is good. You can add imperfections that make things look more convincing. Good for making rocks too.

CP2: With Displacedatplace don't make the Z scale too big. Instead use the TS scale tool to stretch the object in the Z direction if you want it taller. You can edit a copy of your input image so it works better with the plug-in. Blur or smoothing it often helps. The object it makes might not have the same rotation as the texture picture so be sure you match them by turning the texture map.

Banding: What did you change since the earlier picture without banding? I see that the doors in the previous picture where lighter. Now one is banded and the left one is dark.

The bands are aligned with the door and have precise edges so it is almost certainly a texture problem. A likely suspect is the repeat factor on the texture or some layer of it. Maybe you used a banded image for alpha map transparency by mistake.

Well tS did it's normal trick on me when I tried to do an undo it changed the textures on half of my objects so I had to back and fix the textures on the doors. Maybe I missed something on going back.
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Finis
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

Post by Finis »

I save my scenes to two files. The main one and a _bak one. Then I save the main scene before major work or use of known buggy tools or procedures. _bak gets an occasional save and at landmark events. I'll also make separate, sometimes temporary, working scenes to work on certain objects or do experiments.

For a big or complicated project I'll eventually make a _prod scene (production) which starts new and has only the finished objects in it. Its purpose is to set up a scene to produce the final render. Object and camera positions, lighting, and minor texture adjustments would be changed here.

I'll also save major objects to .obj files for disaster reload and use in other projects.
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Tommy
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

Post by Tommy »

Thank you tahnoak for posting your problems with alpha masks.
I'am learning a lot. I'm not so far in working with alpha masks as you but I will get into it someday. In the last picture with the snow on the ground it's for me the snow looks as clouds above the ground. I like the snow more from the picture you posted sat. dec. 05 2009 11.52. For me it's snow which has fallen and has melted for a time.
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tahnoak
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

Post by tahnoak »

Finis wrote:I save my scenes to two files. The main one and a _bak one. Then I save the main scene before major work or use of known buggy tools or procedures. _bak gets an occasional save and at landmark events. I'll also make separate, sometimes temporary, working scenes to work on certain objects or do experiments.

For a big or complicated project I'll eventually make a _prod scene (production) which starts new and has only the finished objects in it. Its purpose is to set up a scene to produce the final render. Object and camera positions, lighting, and minor texture adjustments would be changed here.

I'll also save major objects to .obj files for disaster reload and use in other projects.

Finis...great idea. I will have to start implementing some of that. I try to make backups before any major work or even save the scene as a revision of the main one (Scene1a, etc..).
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tahnoak
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

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Tommy wrote:Thank you tahnoak for posting your problems with alpha masks.
I'am learning a lot. I'm not so far in working with alpha masks as you but I will get into it someday. In the last picture with the snow on the ground it's for me the snow looks as clouds above the ground. I like the snow more from the picture you posted sat. dec. 05 2009 11.52. For me it's snow which has fallen and has melted for a time.
Tommy...no problem. Thanks for the support. I am torn on the snow on the ground. I really liked the first one with some dirt showing through but I am pretty fond of this one as well. I need to tweak it some. I like the depth that it provides. I felt the first one wa a bit too flat. I am also going to try and make a mask using GIMP to simulate wagon tracks through the snow, that should be interesting. Wish me luck!
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

Post by Finis »

You could use CP2 or the workspace tool Spacekdet told about to make your choice of snow not flat with a slightly sculpted ground.
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tahnoak
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Re: Tinkering with Alpha Masks

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Finis wrote:You could use CP2 or the workspace tool Spacekdet told about to make your choice of snow not flat with a slightly sculpted ground.
Finis...yep, I will probably do that. i am going to try and tackle some "low hanging fruit" first and then the harder stuff later.

Here are a couple of updated Screenies.

Things to do:

1) fix the sharpness of the walls
2) work on the ground cover (wheel tracks)
3) Add some more little details.

What I have added in this version is the following;
1) Shudders on the main window in the scene
2) Small shudders on the smaller windows
3) Some snow splash on the stone face near the ground
4) dirt/bird mess on the wood of the building
Attachments
Building17_Close.jpg
Building17.jpg
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