I was considering doing an animation for the IRTC about a month ago.  It
turns out I haven't even had time to start it so I guess I'll have to wait
until the next round.  What I was wondering though (since we're on this
subject at the moment) is:

Can you use 3D Studio MAX (don't worry, I own the commercial version, so
there're no probs with edu.)?  MAX primarily uses a scanline renderer and
automatically switches to it's raytracer when necessary (like when it hits a
reflective sphere).  Now, for the scene to be "legal" do you have to use
raytracing on everything?  This isn't much of a problem really, it's easy
enough to make MAX use a raytracer (or raytracing plug-in such as RadioRay,
a raytracer built for MAX) it's just that it is much slower.

The other thing I've been wondering about is:

Can you use MAX's motion blur?  It's motion blur is internal in the
renderer, but applies the effect afterwards to the objects.  It is
incorporated in such a way that it kind of post-processes the image, but it
gets its OMD (Object Motion Data) directly from the renderer, whether it be
raytraced or scanlined.  It is part of the package, it is not an image
filter and not part of MAX's Video Post (like a DLO or FLT MAX plug-in) and
it is part of the rendering engine and the modelling environment.  Is this
seen as post-processing?  The reason I ask is that when you compress things
to MPEG it greatly helps if the objects are motion blurred because the edges
are smooth and compress well (so the temporal quality ratio doesn't hae to
be as high, which results in a smaller file size).

Thanks.


--
Lance.

---
For the latest MAX plug-ins, images and much more, go to:
The Zone - http://come.to/the.zone

Post a reply to this message

Lance Birch wrote:
> 
> I was considering doing an animation for the IRTC about a month ago.  It
> turns out I haven't even had time to start it so I guess I'll have to wait
> until the next round.  What I was wondering though (since we're on this
> subject at the moment) is:
> 
> Can you use 3D Studio MAX (don't worry, I own the commercial version, so
> there're no probs with edu.)?  MAX primarily uses a scanline renderer and
> automatically switches to it's raytracer when necessary (like when it hits a
> reflective sphere).  Now, for the scene to be "legal" do you have to use
> raytracing on everything?  This isn't much of a problem really, it's easy
> enough to make MAX use a raytracer (or raytracing plug-in such as RadioRay,
> a raytracer built for MAX) it's just that it is much slower.
> 
> The other thing I've been wondering about is:
> 
> Can you use MAX's motion blur?  It's motion blur is internal in the
> renderer, but applies the effect afterwards to the objects.  It is
> incorporated in such a way that it kind of post-processes the image, but it
> gets its OMD (Object Motion Data) directly from the renderer, whether it be
> raytraced or scanlined.  It is part of the package, it is not an image
> filter and not part of MAX's Video Post (like a DLO or FLT MAX plug-in) and
> it is part of the rendering engine and the modelling environment.  Is this
> seen as post-processing?  The reason I ask is that when you compress things
> to MPEG it greatly helps if the objects are motion blurred because the edges
> are smooth and compress well (so the temporal quality ratio doesn't hae to
> be as high, which results in a smaller file size).

Max is perfectly ok for IRTC use and, in fact, quite common.  The rules
do *not* require a ray tracer, only a 3d rendering system.  Scanline,
pure radiosity and other 3d renderers are perfectly ok.  The idea is to
get a rendered image, not one drawn with a paint program.  As to the
internal motion blur of Max, that is ok too.  In any case, the animation
contest, *unlike the stills contest*, does allow some postprocessing
(although it may cost you "elegance" points with some judges).  Check
the rules at http://www.irtc.org.

Jerry Anning
cle### [at] dholcom

Post a reply to this message

On Mon, 7 Dec 1998 22:32:28 -0800, "Chris Jeppesen"
<chr### [at] digiquillcom> wrote:
>Doug n' Dinsdale wrote in message <364FF2DA.B4E60860@networx.net.au>...
>Can't you model it directly as an object? I am working on a still that has
>motion blur, and
>it is done by using multiple transparent copies of an object. Sure it takes
>longer to render,
>but it is completeley POV (no patches even) and doesn't require any extra
>software
>
>Chris Jeppesen

I have achieved quite good results with motion blurring, both for
stills and animations. My latest anim was a 1:1000000000000 Mandelbrot
zoom with radial blur... it's cool. The idea is to render *a lot* of
frames and average them using an average pigment. For the M-set anim I
have rendered 1500 frames 160x120 no AA / png (<500 bytes/frame!).
This was really fast. Then I rendered a 300-frame anim, and each frame
was an average of 50 frames back. I can post the source if there's
interest. BTW just an hour ago I sent a mail to the IRTC admins asking
if this is legal... I'll wait and see.

Peter

Post a reply to this message