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Using video on a splat or plane

Mosk the ScribeMosk the Scribe Posts: 888
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

Is there a way in C8.5 Pro to use a video (or an image sequence) to texture a plane or a splat?

If so, could someone describe how to do it?

Thanks

Comments

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,182
    edited December 1969

    yes apply as texture map
    in image import dialogue (open as png jpg etc) choose the arrow on side for image series or use an uncompressed avi if codec supported
    make sure your plane is uv planar mapped, the default primitive is.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Mosk the Scribe said:
    Is there a way in C8.5 Pro to use a video (or an image sequence) to texture a plane or a splat?

    If so, could someone describe how to do it?

    Thanks

    Is this a real world video that you want on a splat or billboard, and if so, is it supposed to have an alpha channel such as a green or blue screened actor?

    I only ask, because there may be an extra few steps that you would need to do in your video editor.

    My preferred method would for a billboard would be to insert a plane primitive in the Assembly room. Make it the same aspect as the video, then go to the texture room and create a new master texture.

    In the color channel, select Texrue Map. You can then navigate to your movie file or image sequence. If there is already an alpha channel in the video, then it will appear correctly in the shader. No need to mess with the alpha channel in the shader.

    If it's an actor in front of a green or blue screen and you want to knock it out and have it appear transparent, then you'll need a solid black and white mask of your video for the shader's alpha channel. That's something you would generate in your video editor and may be higher end feature.

    Sometimes it's hard to light a 2D plane evenly, so I usually add the same movie file to the glow channel that I added to the color channel.

    You'll also more than likely want to turn off the Highlight and Shininess channels.

    When you have your shader set up, apply it to your plane.

    The screen shots show a 2D animated title I made. It already has an embedded alpha channel, so I didn't need to add it into the shader.

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  • Mosk the ScribeMosk the Scribe Posts: 888
    edited December 1969

    Hey, thanks for those replies.

    I'd actually just found the trick about the drop down arrow in the texture box, which is what I was missing - and did a quick test which worked fine.

    In my case, I'm trying to salvage a complex scene which I can't open any more by putting someof the already rendered content on a splat or a plane in front of a building where it took place so I can capture all the camera angle changes.

    Have to run - thanks

  • Mosk the ScribeMosk the Scribe Posts: 888
    edited December 1969

    And Evil Producer - thanks for that detailed reply. I'm copying that into my Carrara notes for later use.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    I've only messed with the Splat a couple times, but for its pluses, I think it's automagically at the correct aspect. I think it also points at the camera automatically.

    To me, the negatives outweigh the pluses: it seems to make the image tiny in comparison to the bounding box, if the splat is not selected, you can't see the bounding box, if you use the full shaded preview, you can't see the image, plus I seem to recall on the old forum there was a thread about splats and they seemed to have some shadow artifact or something. Brian (RIP) demonstrated it with replicated splats creating a forest of 2D trees.

    Billboards on the other hand are the size you make them, you can choose the point at modifier and keep it pointed at the camera, and you can see the image in the shaded preview.

    I'll post a couple screen caps. One shows the billboard and splat in the same frame rendered using the spot render tool. Notice how tiny the lettering is on the right? That's the splat. The other image is the assembly room view using the shaded preview with the splat bounding box selected. It's the same camera angle and distance as the spot render image. Compare how tiny the image is, compared to the size of the bounding box.

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  • Mosk the ScribeMosk the Scribe Posts: 888
    edited December 1969

    And Wendy -
    Have you posted some stuff about iClone or am I mixing that up?
    If so, I just opened another Carrara thread asking for some input on iClone5Pro plus Animator 2 from Reallusion - can get both for about $120 - and was wondering about integration with DAZ and Carrara and speed of production; usability of Daz characters and props - or do you need the $100+ pipeline to bring all that in?

    Thanks for any input

  • Mosk the ScribeMosk the Scribe Posts: 888
    edited December 1969

    I'll have to play with both when I have more time - for now, a plane will do just fine for my salvage operation. Thanks for the help.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,182
    edited December 1969

    yes you need 3dxchange 5 pro at least and the facial animation file very useful for Genesis, makes it very easy via studio.
    Pipeline is very good if going back into Carrara 8.5pro though facial animation on Daz figures does not port back.
    Any boned animation does esp iClone figures with boned faces.
    I can via pipeline get stuff into Carrara I cannot via studio though!
    I use iClone5 a lot actually esp for Genesis which gives me such grief in Carrara to the point I hardly bother now unless via iClone for cut scenes.
    I do use Carrara a lot otherwise just not with Genesis but need C8.5 for the fixed FBX import mostly.

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