max to vizard problems

[saajaja]

Dear Reader,

I am building models in Max 2011 and exporting them to Vizard. I am following this tutorial down to the last checkbox.

Before, I was building models in Maya, exporting them to FBX, then importing them into Max, baking shadows, and exporting. There was some tweaking involved before baking, and I don't remember exactly what I was doing, but it was working. 2.jpg is the way it ended up and it was absolutely beautiful. It was exactly what I wanted. By the way, the lighting in that image is done with a single skylight.

Then I had to add some stuff to the model. I did that, rebaked all the shadows, and exported. It was a disaster. See 1.jpg for details.

So I ran a script to get rid of all textures in the Max model:
for theItem in selection do ( theItem.material = undefined )
I selected everything and then ran the script. Then I re-textured everything. This is how I did that:

1- Drag an image from Windows Explorer onto the geometry in Max that you want to texture.

2- The image is on the geometry. If it looks all stretched out, click the Modify tab, then add the UVW unwrap modifier or something, make it look right, then collapse the modifier stack.

3- If another piece of geometry needs pretty much the same texture, press M. One of the many Material Editors comes up. Select one of those gray balls, click the eyedropper, click the geometry with the texture you want to duplicate. The ball changes color. Drag the ball onto all the other geometry that you want to have the same texture. If there's a lot of it, select all the geometry first, then drag the ball onto them.

Then I baked and exported everything according to the same tutorial. The result is 1.jpg. Stuff is just randomly disappearing from opacity into transparency. Shadows are wrong, as if there's invisible geometry all over the place casting the shadows.

The lighting in the one that isn't working is the same.

Thank you for reading. Please help.

[Jeff]

The light baking article you mentioned has been updated with a new tutorial link. Take a look at that and let us know if you're still having troubles.

[saajaja]

Thanks for replying!

Using both complete map and lighting map methods, I end up with a scene that looks like 3.JPG.

I have a few questions about the new tutorial:

- The light created in the tutorial has a very low multiplier, lower than I've ever used for a key light. I usually just use a multiplier of 1, and that worked before. Why would .3 be better?

- What does the "ambient only" box do?

-The light created in the tutorial is not casting shadows. How are shadows going to be baked if they are not being cast by the light?

- In the export dialog in the tutorial, the "export lights" box is checked but "turn off lighting" is also checked. What does the "turn off lighting" box do?

-I don't have Inspector. Can I download it for free, and will it help with the debugging process?

Here is my script:
import viz
viz.go()
behgrnd = viz.add('beh-029g.IVE')
behgrnd.disable(viz.LIGHTING) # the result is still 3.JPG with this commented out

[saajaja]

I've decided to try experimenting with dynamic shadowing. I figure it will run slower, but it might be worth a shot just to have something running.

http://kb.worldviz.com/articles/210#more-210

When I run that script, I get an error 'No Module Named Shadow'
Is this feature only available in Vizard 4?


Also, in the meantime, would you please revert that tutorial back to the video? Seeing as it was working before, I have a feeling that the problem lies in the way I'm texturing the objects.

[saajaja]

It isn't working in Vizard 4 either. I get the same error.
ImportError: No module named Shadow

[sleiN13]

under the shadow demo movie there is a link to download the shadow.py module file

[saajaja]

thanks, I found it.

I tested the dynamic shadow thing on an older version of the model with baked shadows.
without.png is what it looks like without dynamic shadows
with.png is what it looks like with dynamic shadows.

here is my script
------------------------------------------
import viz
viz.go()
ground = viz.add('behJul2011.IVE')
SHADOW_RES = 256
SHADOW_POS = [0,50,0]
#Controls size of orthographic shadow projector
SHADOW_AREA = [100,100]
import Shadow
shadow = Shadow.ShadowProjector(size=SHADOW_RES,pos=SHADOW_ POS,area=SHADOW_AREA)
shadow.addCaster(ground)
shadow.addReceiver(ground)
---------------------------------------------------------

...So it looks like that won't be my quick and dirty solution.

The euler in the Shadow.py constructor is set to [0,90,0] by default. If I change

shadow = Shadow.ShadowProjector(size=SHADOW_RES,pos=SHADOW_ POS,area=SHADOW_AREA)

to

shadow = Shadow.ShadowProjector(size=SHADOW_RES,pos=SHADOW_ POS,euler=[30,90,30],area=SHADOW_AREA)

in the tutorial's example.py, nothing changes. Can dynamic shadows only be cast directly from above?

Back to the original problem with baking shadows, is there a recommended method of texturing objects in 3ds max that will work better than the way I described in my first post?

[Jeff]

You can cast shadows from different directions. The following thread has an example of this:

http://forum.worldviz.com/showthread.php?t=2725

[saajaja]

I solved the problem. The solution is in the troubleshooting section, found in this tutorial that I wrote for myself and coworkers:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3Uz...gtelEzRFE/edit

I'm really dissatisfied with the help I got here in this forum. The tutorial that is currently posted at http://kb.worldviz.com/articles/1222 is completely useless and full of errors, compared to the video that was there before, which I had to post at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYBxSO2iLJw in order to share with coworkers. The only thing wrong with that video is that it does not cover troubleshooting.

[jde]

I'm glad you found a solution -- I've been having trouble with this for years. I can't view the google document you posted because the resolution is extremely low. Would you be able to re-post a higher res version or perhaps contact me directly with the original image/document? Thanks!

[saajaja]

Yeah, Google's viewer thing is lousy. When you're viewing the document, hit CTRL-S, or click File>Download

[Jeff]

We've updated the tutorial in the baking article. Let us know if you have any issues.

[rajnishv]

Pls have a look at this post for advance baking for Vizard
Really amazing and very informative!!!!
I learnt a lot!!!
YouTube Video Link-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MOX...nnel=3dRealism