Messages

16

General CG Discussion / Re: best mouse for 3ds MAX

« on: 2018-11-29, 22:51:26 »

If the space mouse works for you well in Max - great, I really think it's a cool gadget. Because of my tendonitis problems I ordered  a space mouse and tested it in Maya( just before starting in a new studio). Drivers are a nightmare. Yould could alter a locked and keyed camera- which is actually impossible in Maya- when accidently using the spacemouse in the camera viewport. The studio would have kicked me out the next day if I had brought this malicious thing into their production. Sadly they don't give a f*. This error is reported in their forums for years and they didn't answer me, when I contacted them.

Since the space mouse wasn't working for me, I'm using a contour shuttle pro(https://www.contourdesign.com/product/shuttlepro-v2/) / razor tartarus( https://support.razer.com/gaming-keyboards/razer-tartarus-chroma) - depends on the task. My problem was pain during clicking, so mapping mouse clicks to these devices helped me alot.

17

[Max] General Discussion / Re: Image file format and RAM consumption

« on: 2018-11-15, 21:50:57 »

I'm awfully sorry that I can't be more specific. But years(15+) ago I went the path of using greyscale-single-channel images to limit texture size in ram, but I ended up in all kind of weird, hard to track down errors. In Max and if I remember correctly in Maya as well. It's like there are kinds of scenarios developers don't expect the user to plug a single-channel-image in. I wouldn't use that technique in complex projects.

18

General CG Discussion / Re: What's the verdict on 3ds Max 2019?

« on: 2018-08-23, 19:27:58 »

Royal Render can be used for free up to a limit of 4 rendernodes. I had a hard time getting it to work with Corona, but it works.

19

General CG Discussion / Re: Sky backgrounds- what do you use?

« on: 2018-03-16, 23:08:19 »

Oh thank you so much, sir! Looks like gold to me!

20

General CG Discussion / Sky backgrounds- what do you use?

« on: 2018-03-16, 17:48:45 »

I am working on some vfx for a live-action short and there a some shots, in which the sky should be replaced for a more dramatic one. There is a reshoot planned, but it is doubtful that this will be successful. If the weather isn't right on this particular day it will be no good at all.
Is there a collection of sky images(preferable movies) for sale you recommend? Of course I know of this company called Google, but the problem is there a millions of hits, but there is caveat in every single item I could find. Either it's not the mood the director wants, or resolution is not good enough or it is useless timelapse and so on

Do you know of recommendable stock footage bundle with -let's say- a few hundreds of sky images or movies in high resolution(4k and above)? I am so desperate I really think of rendering those clouds....

21

[Max] I need help! / Re: renewing license doesn't work for me

« on: 2018-02-27, 17:07:46 »

Thanks, Maru. Marcin helped me out of this! Many thanks.

22

[Max] I need help! / [solved] renewing license doesn't work for me

« on: 2018-02-27, 13:11:55 »

From time to time I have to revisit some older projects and have to renew my license. Last time I did this I ran into a licensing issue. Support was able to help me out- apparently I gave a different email when purchasing so the combination email:pw wouldn't match.

I carefully watched what email I would type in now. But it's the same thing. I can't get a license
I apologize for opening this thread, because I also submitted a ticket to the support. The reason why I am so impatient is that the deadline is approaching. Maybe other users went through the same thing and can point me in the right direction.

thanks a million

23

Off-Topic / Re: Intel 5..30% slowdown due to security bug fix..

« on: 2018-01-04, 23:22:49 »

I would love to hear some insights from the devs and other users. Regarding rendering and daily 3d/video work. I have to admit: right now, I am bit frightened. I spent 1000,-€ on a beefy Intel CPU for my current WS and I just can't stand the idea, that after the update: Hey, it's 30% slower, but now it's safe!

24

Hardware / Re: recommendation for XL case

« on: 2017-12-20, 10:32:54 »

it's for an ASRock Rack EP2C602-4L/D16. Actually my first 'big' build, so I'm quite new to the materia. It is specified as ssi eeb.

25

[Max] Resolved Feature Requests / Re: Integration of Cryptomatte

« on: 2017-12-19, 11:11:58 »

+1

26

Hardware / recommendation for XL case

« on: 2017-12-19, 10:49:30 »

A call to the hardware gurus:
I would have loved to order the fractal design define XL R2, but it is currently not available(til mid/end January)
Any alternative worth the money?
thank you

27

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona masks RGB no clean edges why?

« on: 2017-12-05, 17:28:41 »

@Dan. Sorry man. I just saw your render against a nonblack BG and immediately thought of a premultiplying issue. Users complaining 'can't get rid of this fringe' do usually something wrong with the alpha.

I am not able to do some tests, because I have no active license at the moment. But as I understood Frood: At the moment you can't have a tree with 'sprite' mapped leaves and get a working RE mask for that? Is that right?

I can't be sure how it would work in Corona, and I didn't tried it for the last few years, but in the past I used to export passes with tga and uncheck "Pre-multipled Alpha". In every viewer like XnView the picture would look strange, but in Photoshop and After Effects the edges would look just like it should. In AE I think you need to right click the image and select Interpret Alpha and select Unmultiplied or something.



Another benefit - if you leave "Compress" checked - that's lossless (meaning identical to uncompressed) but very fast compression - so good for playback.
 So Compress ON , Pre-multipled Alpha OFF

It is about to know what you're target application expects: pre or unpremultplied. And you usually can tell your software how to treat the imported footage as well.

28

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona masks RGB no clean edges why?

« on: 2017-12-05, 13:23:06 »

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_compositing
or do a bit of googeling 'premultiplied alpha'. I know it is a bit of pain in the ass, but beneficial once you get your head around it.

Can you check the bitmaps you are using for the leaves? Maybe the problem with the alpha is there.

29

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona masks RGB no clean edges why?

« on: 2017-12-05, 12:22:00 »

You don't have to rerender. You render your beauty with a clean alpha(on black!) and then you add your sky/bg plate in post.

30

[Max] I need help! / Re: Corona masks RGB no clean edges why?

« on: 2017-12-05, 11:54:23 »

I would recommend to use Mask RE, not the RGB-solution, because you might get in trouble when objects overlap. But from the last screenshot I see that you're not rendering on a black BG?
BG always have to be black, otherwise you will get fringes in the edges.