Author Topic: Edge/Corner Map (like Rounded Corners but as a map)  (Read 13586 times)

2015-04-13, 22:29:42
Reply #15

pokoy

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I only had a brief look but was very happy so far.

Curvature Map
The map itself is pretty self-explanatory and has a bunch of controls for adjusting the angles, offset + gain (basically allowing contrast changes), using different colors/maps for any of the topology curvature types (concave-flat-convex), a section for breaking them up using a map for distortion (disabled in the demo) and controls for smoothing the map so it's accaptable for lower poly geometry (disabled in the demo) - really good stuff!
And you can do what I've been asking for in this thread in the first place - painting a gradient where inverted AO fails, this works on everything that has a hard edge (sm group boundaries too) as long as the mesh resolution isn't too lowres. This is great for blending a map on edges to achieve a worn edges look for example. Another plus is that there's no sampling involved so it gets noise free pretty fast and doesn't come with the pitfalls of inverted AO (different results for different sampling settings, pitch-black occlusion in certain areas with thin double-sided geometry or lots of details etc.)
One thing that's different of course that it will work only per-object since it doesn't involve any ray calculations to produce effects based on object proximity. You can still mix both to achieve this or use AO in the curvature map itself, although I didn't try that.

Tension Map
Didn't look into it, will have a closer the next days. I guess this will show changes based on animation, not useful for stills I guess but useful for anything that blends maps based on topology changes in time: wrinkles, holes, color changes.

There are some minor issues with IR which I have reported, but I'm sure they (or Ondra) can resolve them.

2015-04-15, 23:11:31
Reply #16

boomerlabs

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Hi Folks,

Thanks to all for their interest in GeoMaps.  We are aware of some IR challenges are working through them.  Stay tuned.

Thanks,

Matt Kaustinen
Boomer Labs, LLC
www.boomerlabs.com

2015-04-22, 20:14:21
Reply #17

romullus

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For those who has max 2016, there's curvature to vert color modifier created with new MCG. While it's nowhere near to geomaps offered possibilities, but still better than nothing.
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2015-04-23, 10:23:12
Reply #18

Ludvik Koutny

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I think Ondra would be able to pump out simple curvature map. But curvature map won't do what rounded corners detection does, so it will probably have to be multiple maps. For example, you won't get curvature map working on a simple box in order to do some edge wearing effect.

2015-04-23, 10:59:37
Reply #19

romullus

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You're right.

I think this topic diverged too far from request in first post. So if there's still need for edge map, than it's better to start a new request and leave this topic where it is.
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2015-04-23, 11:10:12
Reply #20

pokoy

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You're right.

I think this topic diverged too far from request in first post. So if there's still need for edge map, than it's better to start a new request and leave this topic where it is.

I posted the original request two times already, it's been misunderstood and moved to 'resolved requests' almost immediately without waiting for an explanation on how it should work.
If somebody feels like it needs to be requested again, please do, I won't.

2015-04-23, 12:10:29
Reply #21

Ludvik Koutny

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I will try to convince Ondra. It would be really useful to make weathering effects without the usual disadvantages of doing it using AO map.

2015-04-30, 19:13:49
Reply #22

Ondra

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The curvature plugin already supports (or will soon) Corona, so this should not be an issue (there is a thread for it on the forum somewhere...)
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2015-04-30, 19:23:52
Reply #23

pokoy

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The curvature plugin already supports (or will soon) Corona, so this should not be an issue (there is a thread for it on the forum somewhere...)

Yes, it supports Corona and works fine.

It's still not working the same way as the original request, as it needs a reasonably well subdivided mesh and is not as straight forward like the algorithm that drives the rounded corners option of the Corona Material. On some tests it looked like a mixture of inverted AO and Curvature Map will work for most cases, but a dedicated map would still be the best option... Some of the cases I was hoping it would help were not working as I imagined, but I'm still very happy with the Curvature Map.