Cromer Pier - Re-Issued

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Comments

  • WilmapWilmap Posts: 2,917
    edited December 1969

    @TheSavage64

    Thanks for the info re the Lifeboat, unfortunately I cannot access the website as it is not yet available in the UK.

  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    How very strange, I am in the UK and the link works fine for me.
    If you have Google Sketchup (a great and completely free 3D design application with literally millions of free models), just go to the Google 3D warehouse and type RNLI Lifeboat into the search field.
    If you dont have Sketchup, you can still access the Google 3D Warehouse by searching '3D warehouse' in Google.

    Hope this helps.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited August 2012

    THere are a couple of really good looking lefeboats here as well, but without creating an account there I can't see how much they would cost.

    http://www.3dvia.com/

    http://www.3dvia.com/search/?search[query]=rnli+lifeboat

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • WilmapWilmap Posts: 2,917
    edited December 1969

    I signed out of Google and then went to the 3D Warehouse website again and I managed to get on this time. Very strange! Will have to remember to log out next time I want to go there.

  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited August 2012

    Simon - that was a good idea to create moonlight and a moon. Can I suggest that you also put illumination inside the two front bay windows (below the cupolas) and perhaps a hidden overhead light in the entrance? I don't want to direct you, but you appear to be having a good time.
    .
    Cho, that's a good model, and - no - I don't know how much it costs either. If this interest keeps up, I shall have to bring my projected Tyne class lifeboat to the head of the queue!
    .
    If anyone is still using Poser or DS for the sea, please note that "seastate_BUMP.jpg" is another tile. It should be repeated 6 or 7 times along the length of the beach, but only once or twice from the beach to the offside. It works by creating waves that exist only part-way along the beach before being replaced.
    .
    It is a great pity that Poser is a bit short in this department. An allied defect is that it will import only one .jpg, so that (eg) if a texture and a bump were both exported, Poser imports only the last one encountered and puts it in the texture slot. This can create some very odd effects. One could perhaps draw attention to this in the ReadMe, but I gain the impression that very few actually read ReadMe's. Currently, my thinking is that some tiling information might be incorporated in the texture name, as for example "T-decking-8x6.jpg", where the T draws attention to the fact that it is a tile and "8x6" tells you to repeat it 8 times across and 6 times down. That might work, but I guess that a lot of folks would miss the point. Any ideas?

    Post edited by skipper25 on
  • SimonJMSimonJM Posts: 5,983
    edited December 1969

    skipper25 said:
    Simon - that was a good idea to create moonlight and a moon. Can I suggest that you also put illumination inside the two front bay windows (below the cupolas) and perhaps a hidden overhead light in the entrance? I don't want to direct you, but you appear to be having a good time.

    By all means suggest away! I was thinking about slipping a light or two in the shelters up the length of the pier too, but cannot recall if they had them or not.

  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    No, I can't remember either. But WTH, put them in if the fancy takes you. I seem to recall that there were lights over the theatre entrances, and indeed they would be essential for folks coming out on a dark evening. Keep it up - you're doing great.

  • edited December 1969

    Just wanted to tell Dave Savage that the Cromer Pier Management should hire him to do their promo work. Those are great images on the postcards! I finally finished another scene on the Pier (had Grandma duties this weekend). Nothing spectacular but the only way my husband and I will ever get to the Cromer Pier!

    Time_Out_at_Cromer_Pier.jpg
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  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited August 2012

    Well done, Teri; thank you. The render is lovely and the poses are so natural. Did you use Poser or DS? I'll take time off to check the deck shelter - it looks as though there is a reversed normal there. (Don't worry about it - I'll check my original first.)

    Post edited by skipper25 on
  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited August 2012

    I found the cause of what appeared to be a reversed normal in my original model of the deck shelter and it turned out to be particularly difficult to correct. It is a bit of a mystery how it occurred but - there - that's what it is all about.

    I won't upload the edit just yet, but will wait a few more days to see if anything else crops up. While waiting, I will add a little match-boarding texture to improve the appearance of the shelter, especially on the inside. It demonstrates the value of folks putting aside reluctance and posting their renders - in the end, all benefit, so "thank you" to everyone.

    If you have renders that contain small errors like this; if you want to save them for the future yet do not want the drag of setting it all up again, then why not use a little post-render touch-up in a paint prog? Personally I see nothing at all wrong with this and we are not in a competition where purists may scream "foul!" We are all learning and having fun along the way.

    Post edited by skipper25 on
  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    Well I think I've figured out what was causing the strange shadow effect on the pier decking that I mentioned last week.
    I was going through all the 'grouped' sections and where possible swapping out the UV for Bryce procedural textures and when I got to the decking section, it wouldn't map properly because it's seeing the poly shapes not as a flat surface for some reason.

    When I get a minute, I'm going to have a look at the various different mapping options to see if one of them works properly as sometimes changing from World Space to Object space will have the desired effect (though I know in this case it won't because that's only one I tried).

    Top picture; Pier with Bryce procedural deck texture (deck raised for illustrative purposes.
    Bottom picture; wire frame of above.

    Re-Texture-Wireframe.jpg
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    Cromer-ReTexture-Effort.jpg
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  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    Why isn't this thread resizing the pictures?

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    It is, but there is a tweak they have to do with the resizing. It is not working quite right yet, They are aware, and will be working on it, to sort it out. You may notice that we are leaving the images, as long as they don't break formatting too much, and giving them a chance to sort it out. Only landscape style images are affected, so hopefully it will be a simple tweak. Portrait style images are resizing to clickable thumbnails quite well, as you cna see in threads in the Art Studio you have posted to.

  • edited December 1969

    Thanks Skipper. I intended to do a little cut-and-paste post work but by the time I got around to posting, I'd forgotten. A three-year-old and his 17-month-old sister can make you forget your name!

    To answer your question, I use Poser 7. I also must confess to using JustLastKnight's free poses as starting points for M4V4, then modified them to fit my needs. For F4 i used a canned pose that came with his character package. Between JLK and Ironman13 I can usually find a pose that gets close to what I'm looking for. I admit it, I'm lazy.

    I'll be on the lookout for the big update once everyone has played with the model for a while. Thanks again for all the work.

  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Well whatever - you've got some natural and unforced poses there. BTW, I like the DD-size guy seen through the window!

    Dave - you've got me there. Is this some Bryce thing? I can take a long close look at the original decking but to be honest, I do not expect to spot anything new. We'll see.

  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited August 2012

    OK - I have rebuilt the deck shelters except for the roof. Not only do they look better, but I can guarantee that there are NO reverse normals. Best of all, they are more efficient than the old ones. (I just love it when that happens - it proves that I am getting better!!!) Edit version later.

    Now to take a long hard look at the decking......

    Shelter.jpg
    800 x 403 - 30K
    Post edited by skipper25 on
  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    skipper25 said:
    Dave - you've got me there. Is this some Bryce thing? I can take a long close look at the original decking but to be honest, I do not expect to spot anything new. We'll see.

    Yes, it's either Bryce or the Poser .obj export, it's not the model that's at fault.
    It does the same with the pavement in front of the pier, you can just about see the shadow effect on the first pic.

    I tried all the different mapping options and none of those fixed it, I then tried to create a boolean by placing a negative block in it and converting the whole deck onto a Bryce mesh hoping that may fix it (it has to be a boolean before it will convert to mesh), but that didn't work either.

    One other thing I can try is to look at the export options in Poser to see if checking any of the other boxes helps.
    If not, I'll maybe redraw the deck in Bryce, it shouldn't be too difficult having your original one there to use as a template. Then Bryce will see the shapes as rectangles instead of triangles and should be able to map the textures on as such.

  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I double-checked the model and it is definitely flat - all points on the surface are at y=7.790 (to three places of decimals). I think Poser would export it correctly. An alternative might be to divide it into several sub-areas - that can make a difference in shading.

  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I regret that a stupid viral attack at ShareCG has compelled me to withdraw this model. The good folks at ShareCG are working on it of course, and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. In the mean time, I will incorporate two or three amendments to the model, ready to upload when the coast is clear. (Coast is clear... Geddit? Oh, never mind.)

  • SimonJMSimonJM Posts: 5,983
    edited December 1969

    skipper25 said:
    I regret that a stupid viral attack at ShareCG has compelled me to withdraw this model. The good folks at ShareCG are working on it of course, and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. In the mean time, I will incorporate two or three amendments to the model, ready to upload when the coast is clear. (Coast is clear... Geddit? Oh, never mind.)

    Terrible pun ... I like it! :)
    Well as they say, Cromer was not built in a day ;)
  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    OK - I have re-issued this model at http://www.ShareCG.com/v/64300/view/5/3D-Model/Cromer-Pier

    The re-issue mainly incorporates some greatly improved deck shelters and a repeat of the tiling tutorial that was published on these pages. Have fun and - hey! - where are the renders??

    I now intend to turn my attention to a make-over of the Bridal Suite first released a couple of years ago. It may be remembered that it is full of trapdoors, secret passages and the like - over 30 moving parts, claimed to be a record.

    Watch out for the new thread. :-)

    Promo3.jpg
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    Promo1.jpg
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  • SimonJMSimonJM Posts: 5,983
    edited August 2012

    Thirty moving parts? That's more than I think I have ... ;)

    Oh, and the link in my lights add-on as ShareCG has been updated to reflect the new link.

    Post edited by SimonJM on
  • edited August 2012

    Thanks for the rework effort. I'm off to download the updated version and see what the new shelters look like. I'll repost my scene using it so you can see the results.

    I remember the thread with the room of secrets and was wondering what ever became of it. Glad to know it still has life. Can't wait to see what improvements you come up with!

    Post edited by teriperkins_bfd4324187 on
  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    skipper25 said:
    Have fun and - hey! - where are the renders??)

    Oh yeah, sorry mate... got dragged away to do some work (I hate when that happens).

    I've also been trying (unsuccessfully) to get a good lightning effect going on in Bryce, so last night I rendered this one.
    Eventually though, I had to resort to adding the actual lightning bolt in Photoshop as the lightning models I'd made in Bryce all looked more like lightning twigs!.
    Anyways, it's very small and quite low quality rendered because it was only a test and this took over 5 hours to render because of the lights I added that are lightning up the volumetric clouds!

    Pier-Lightnin.jpg
    500 x 300 - 119K
  • Robert FreiseRobert Freise Posts: 4,448
    edited December 1969

    skipper25 said:
    Have fun and - hey! - where are the renders??)

    Oh yeah, sorry mate... got dragged away to do some work (I hate when that happens).

    I've also been trying (unsuccessfully) to get a good lightning effect going on in Bryce, so last night I rendered this one.
    Eventually though, I had to resort to adding the actual lightning bolt in Photoshop as the lightning models I'd made in Bryce all looked more like lightning twigs!.
    Anyways, it's very small and quite low quality rendered because it was only a test and this took over 5 hours to render because of the lights I added that are lightning up the volumetric clouds!

    Very nice

  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited August 2012

    Well done, Simon. It's a pity that the change was necessary.

    Dave - very dramatic. Love it. I didn't know that you could get volumetric clouds.

    Post edited by skipper25 on
  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    skipper25 said:
    Dave - very dramatic. Love it. I didn't know that you could get volumetric clouds.

    Cheers.
    Yup, Bryce does some great things with volumetrics, but the price you pay is a vastly increased render time.
    Pity the people who render animation in Bryce using volumetric clouds.
  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    Yup SKipper I agree with Dave. Volumetric clouds are great in Bryce, but then everyone does tend to know my feelings about Bryce.

    He is having so much fun with this great model in Bryce, I really must find some time to join in.

  • skipper25skipper25 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    It sounds like the sort of render that you start before going away for the weekend! Does it do volumetric water, too? I've got Bryce right here - I must dust it off when I get tired of building.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    skipper25 said:
    It sounds like the sort of render that you start before going away for the weekend! Does it do volumetric water, too? I've got Bryce right here - I must dust it off when I get tired of building.


    That can be true, the bit about the weekend render I mean. It used to be worse, especially with older pooters. I remember one render I did whuich I rendered in sections (spot rendering can be your friend in Bryce) just making sure I overlapped each section as I rendered. When I finally got a finished render I discovered a fault.

    Guess what, that render is still in my gallery with the fault, never got round to sorting it out, and now have lost the working file so can't do anything with it.
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