Going with the Flow

That Other Persona

Thanks always to everyone for their help!

This time I need some ideas for illustrating a process.

I want to make a set of simple electrical power plants -- (coal/oil, hydro, wave, wind, solar, nuclear, etc.-- (for a presentation) and possibly animate the parts of each as well as the flow of heat and electricity.  I have a set of arrows for the latter, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for a more interesting looking setup that also would not require too much preparation. In preparation, I have been playing with glow channels, tweeners and various lights.

On emore thing: is there any way to have for example ten little houses with a light in each that are all controled by a single controler?

Another use for this would be illustrating the engine room on a spaceship.  Glowing lights, charging, energy zaps, etc.

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Headwax

this could help with the light controller

and also in controlling otrher things  not sure http://fenric.com/wordpress/product-help-and-tips/carrara-enhanced-remote-control/

 

Headwax

also I'd look at this http://www.digitalcarversguild.com/plugin.php?ProductId=22

 

especially proximity shader might help you slowly change a shader to reveal eg a glowing wire relative to the proximity of the obj that is controlling the shader

Proximity

How about a shader that knows where other objects are? Proximity can detect the approach of a specified object or objects. This allows for all sorts of reactive shader effects, great for animations!!

Proximity lets a shader detect and react when another object is close by. It returns a value- 1 or white, when the object referenced is close by. Note that the preview window does not give much information as the whole scene is not available.

• Object to reference - This is the object whose proximity to the point being shaded will affect the shader value. The closer the point to the object, the whiter (closer to 1) the value returned.
• Single checkbox - If this box is checked, the first object in the scene that exactly matches Object to reference will be used for the distance calculations. If it is NOT checked, ANY object in the scene whose beginning matches the Object to reference will influence the proximity shader. For example, if the Object to reference is Sphere, and single is not checked, Sphere 1, Sphere w34234 and Spheretacular will all be included in the distance calculation. Whichever object is closest will determine the value.
• Distance to begin fade - Distance from the center of the Object to Reference to the specified point on the object being shaded that the shader starts to return a value other than black (0). For example, if you set a DTBF of 20 units, and your object is 25 units away, you will get nothing (0, black) back from the shader. When you get inside that 20 units, the shader returns the percentage of how close you are. . . so at a distance of 10 units, you will get a .5, or 50% gray. At a distance of 5 you will get .75. If the two points co-incide, you will get a 1, or full white. Shaders are called for each point on the surface of an object. . .so if the DTBF is 10 units, and your object is 20 units long, the front of it could be returning a 1 while the back of it is still returning a 0, since the front could be 0 distance from the center of the object being approached, while the back is still 20 units away.
• Check in Axes - If a box is checked, then that axis is used in distance calculation. If it is not checked, the axis is disregarded.
• Offset - Offset is subtracted from the distance. Since the distance can be measured from the center of the object, a large object might not cause the desired results. Offset gives a simple way to make an adjustment to the distance.
• Use randomize shader checkbox - Enables the Randomize shader.
• Randomize strength - Sets the strength of the random effect. Large numbers make it more difficult for the value to get to white.
• Randomize Shader - A way to add some extra control to the transition region. Try turbulence or noise.
• Shaded Object Mode radio buttons - These buttons determine which part of the shaded object is used for the distance calculation: Surface Point- each point is checked individually. This means that the object could be partially affected. Center Point- the center of the object controls the shading for the whole object. A single value will be returned for the entire object. Hot Point- same as center, but the user can move the hotpoint to gain more control.

 

 

also "location"

 

Location

Location was designed for doing cutaways- making a section of an object transparent in order to see internals, but it has many applications beyond that. It is a basic location aware shader bulding block. It can be set to global or local space, and can handle all three axes.

Location lets a shader react to where it is in global (or local) space with control over all three axes. Originally designed for making easy cut-away views.

• X, Y, Z Axis checkboxes - These checkboxes control which axes are included in the calculations.
• Range boxes - The values in these boxes define the range of the transition. Between the values, the shader will run from 0 to 1. Outside the values, the shader will be 1 or 0.
• Greater and Lesser radio buttons - This setting determines where the shader will go to zero. If it is set to Greater, then any coordinate larger than the largest value in the Range boxes will return a 0.
• And and Or Mode radio buttons - These buttons determine how the cuts on the various axes are combined. In AND mode, in order for a point to return a 1, all three axis controls must individually return a 1. In OR mode, only a single axis control need return a 1 in order for the whole shader to return a 1.
• Global and Local radio buttons - Controls whether Global or Local corrdinate space is used for the axis checks.
• Use randomize shader checkbox - Enables the Randomize shader.
• Randomize strength - Sets the strength of the random effect. Large numbers make it more difficult for the value to get to white.
• Randomize Shader - A way to add some extra control to the transition region. Try turbulence or noise.

Dartanbeck

Master Light - Select the lights > Edit > Master Light - See image for more

Headwax

Dartanbeck said:

Master Light - Select the lights > Edit > Master Light - See image for more

that's too easy Dart, we want something that makes us work :)

 

Dartanbeck

I've picked up on a cool way to use Howler to add lightning to animations, which also works for other electrifying effects as well. Here's the tutorial I got the idea from:

Here's my first try at the effect (animated backdrop is also included in Woodlands)

 

Dartanbeck

head wax said:

Dartanbeck said:

Master Light - Select the lights > Edit > Master Light - See image for more

that's too easy Dart, we want something that makes us work :)

 

I never use Master Light. I prefer to go into each house and control the lights separately - but that's me. 

That Other Persona

Thanks!

Headwax: I have several of the DCG plugins, but had skipped that one for whatever reason.  Probably the shader tree was too complicated for me at the time; only recently have I started grasping it.

 

Master light.  Who wudda thunk?  Not me, for sure.

 

Off to play around.

 

Dartanbeck

Howler Lightning!

Dartanbeck

Another cool trick if you have a bunch of houses with glass windows and possibly people (or something else) walking around inside, or whatever is to give their interior walls a separate shader for each house and give them a gradient in the glow channel to simulate light without actually using a light. Then we can also make use of a subtle touch from the Aura post effect - something that I use a lot. I often like glass window because of the shininess and reflections they can add to the scene. Instead of forcing Carrara to shoot light rays through that glass, I'll glow the walls and ceiling, possibily even the floor depending on the angle, being careful not to over do it.

That Other Persona

Picked up Shoestring Shaders... Proximity works like a charm.  Now to figure out how to apply it!  Several others are interesting, too.  Also grabbed Terrain Tools.  What fun!  No if my carpal tunnel would stop acting up... Progress is quite literally painfully slow this week...

 

Any tutorials/explanations on using some of these?  I'm trying out Location to get a cutaway, but ... where to start?  I'm getting a white box.. Oh, turned a few things to None (Reflection , etc) and all is good. . . maybe.  

 

Headwax

great news you can give is a tut when you figure it out :)

 

try this site http://www.des-web.net/html/shoestring_shaders.html

Headwax

looks like @McGuiver might be able to give hints too?

Dartanbeck

Something I picked up on watching those Clone Wars behind the scene videos - In looking for a better wat to simulate a body being electrified, the render department came up with a way to use the Toon shader to make the hot blue glowing lines. Got me to wondering about trying some of that with Carrara! LOL

Yeah, I'd really like to round out my DCG collection. Terrain Tools is top on my want list. I've always wondered if those intersection effects would work on various different things. It would be a cool way to animate a star fighter leaving the mother ship through a magnetic energy shield - giving a bright glow as it passes through. But it's also really neat to be able to hollow out an oject that's placed into a plane. The example used is a boat in water, but I bet it would be useful for all manner of things.

That Other Persona

Head Wax: Me, a tut?  That could be like asking Homer Simpson to write a tut on running a power plant! I'll try to come up with something.

In the meantime, here is a quick image of the Proximity shader from DCG (in the Shoestring Shaders pack).  The blocks on the left have the Proximity shader set to Surface Point while those on the right use Center Point.  All the blocks on the respective sides have the same shader.  Those on the right have the offset increased slightly (increases the influence range).  The surfaces on the left are being affected, whereas the blocks on the right are treated as a whole.  Strength changes with range.  Both sets are being influenced by the sphere.

How can I add a movie?

 

That Other Persona

And here's one for Dart using the Terrain Tools - Intersect.  An asteroid crashing into a planet.  A simple blue sphere with the intersect set for the plane, which has the default lava shader.  I added a little bump to the channel with the intersect to show the asteroid beginning to crumple.  There is also a plane light just above the lava set to shine on the sphere only.

Also Terrain Tools - Cutout for the boat.  Same object used for both boats, one using Cutout.

Dartanbeck

Very cool, indeed! I can see that I'll be needing both of those kits!

That Other Persona

A little more fun with intersect.  The surf and beach shaders only work with the terrain primitive, so the shoreline isn't great but it will do.  The sea is just a plane, not infinite, and I used the natural sky for the first time, so it isn't great.  Now to add lava and billowing smoke and a BBQ on the beach...

Headwax

nice work :)

FifthElement

That Other Persona said:

In the meantime, here is a quick image of the Proximity shader from DCG (in the Shoestring Shaders pack).

Does it work with displacement ? Can you animate displacement of one object in relation to proximity of another ?

Sparrowhawke3D have some free shaders which are similar (not the same) and they misbehave when used with displacement and chrash Carrara ocassionally 

That Other Persona

I have never worked with displacement; I am still rather new to all of this.

Right now I have a Multi Channel Mixer, 2 sources, and the Proximity in the Blender switching between the 2 sources.  

How would I set up a simple displacement to animate?  I can give it a go.

Dartanbeck

That Other Persona said:

A little more fun with intersect.  The surf and beach shaders only work with the terrain primitive, so the shoreline isn't great but it will do. 

Right but I thought that's why he included the "Intersect" shader, for use with any intersecting items. I was hoping that this would allow me to use it with the Ocean primitive and other things.

That Other Persona

I was thinking about the surf as part of the shore and didn't have any transparency set to the plane acting as water; the vertex model for the island had Intersect set for the plane.  

Here is a quick scene with a sphere interesecting an ocean.  Duplicated and moved.

Headwax

How would I set up a simple displacement to animate?  I can give it a go.

 

use a grey scale avi perhaps

spheres look good

Dartanbeck

Does look really cool! Thanks for the demo!

Dartanbeck

Do you want the displacement itself to animate, or just an animated displacement? The Lava Lake in Badlands has a lava shader with displacement added to an Ocean primitive, so it animates without having to do anything extra. The standard lava shader in the displacement section of the Shaders browser could do that for you - just apply it to an ocean - or anything that moves, for that matter. 

That Other Persona

In the displacement channel I created 2 sources of bricks with different grout levels and a proximity blender.  This is what came out as a sphere crashed through the wall.

This was my first time trying the dsiplacement channel; I have no idea why it looks like a layer of bricks is collapsing yet an inner layer is remaining.  Something is happening; possibly someone more capable than myself could actually get something to work.

BTW, no crash.  But, the displacement was not animating on its own, just reacting to the sphere.

FifthElement

What I tried some time ago was this:

Bunch of balls falling down on flat surface (all are vertex objects) with physics sim on (bullet) and as they get closer to the surface surface itself is displaced more towards them (kind of like metaball effect).

It seams that it would be a very chaotic system (probably interesting to see how it would develop), but plugin just would not cooperate, lol 

Mistara

Dartanbeck said:

Howler Lightning!

 

there a carrara render badge?

That Other Persona

I think that is a DartCarrara Badge!

That Other Persona

Here is a simple use of Intersect.  Yes, I like crashing spheres into things.

Create new project and insert a sphere and a plane.  Color the plane.  Select the sphere and open its texture room.  Change the top shader to multichannel mixer.  Change source 2 to a multi channel.  Select a color for source 1 and another for source 2.  

On the Blender drop down menu, go to Terrain Tools -> Intersect and a window will open.  For this test, just double check that the Interact With blue button is set to All but the listed, otherwise nothing will happen.  In the shader tree, under Blender, choose something for noise; I went with Fractal Noise, 3rd one over.

Go back to the Assemble room and duplicate the sphere.  Move one into the plane.  Render.  Two minutes start to finish, or less!