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General => Terragen Animation => Topic started by: Hannes on November 21, 2016, 03:53:15 AM

Title: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on November 21, 2016, 03:53:15 AM
Here is another crowd test. Four different object sequences (basically the same model) with different accessories. Two different walking loops. Several populations with offset loops.
The flags and the fire mesh are preanimated. For the torches' fire I created two planes masked with an image (opacity-) map for the basic fire shape plus an animated power fractal for additional masking. Bloom and starburst are on.
It's barely visible, but the grass is animated too.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Dune on November 21, 2016, 05:00:55 AM
That is SOOOO cool!  :o
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: DocCharly65 on November 21, 2016, 05:11:19 AM
I knew some day there would come another part of LotR  :)  ;)

You're a genius Hannes.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Kadri on November 21, 2016, 06:08:20 AM

Looks great.
This was the problematic scene with lights in fog probably from the other thread.
Which method did you use for the flames Hannes?
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on November 21, 2016, 06:21:20 AM
Quote from: Kadri on November 21, 2016, 06:08:20 AM

Looks great.
This was the problematic scene with lights in fog probably from the other thread.
Which method did you use for the flames Hannes?

Thanks, guys!
Yes, that was the scene.
Like I wrote above I used two preanimated planes, assigned an image map to the opacity slot (see attached image), that's broken up by an animated PF.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on November 21, 2016, 06:23:15 AM
That's the flame setup in Max.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Kadri on November 21, 2016, 06:38:32 AM

Thanks Hannes. It works nicely.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: archonforest on November 21, 2016, 07:01:03 AM
Awesome!
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Rumburak on November 21, 2016, 07:28:35 AM
That's really impressive.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: KyL on November 21, 2016, 08:44:49 AM
awesome!
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: j meyer on November 21, 2016, 11:36:05 AM
Yea, verily yea.  8)
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Oshyan on November 21, 2016, 11:00:53 PM
Wow, this works remarkably well! The chain mail is maybe a bit too sparkly though, must be brand new. ;)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on November 22, 2016, 02:31:00 AM
Quote from: Oshyan on November 21, 2016, 11:00:53 PM
Wow, this works remarkably well! The chain mail is maybe a bit too sparkly though, must be brand new. ;)

- Oshyan

Yes, or freshly oiled. ;D Thanks!!!!!!
By the way, this particular sparkling reminded me of snow sparkling, that some of us desperately tried to achieve some time ago.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: otakar on November 23, 2016, 06:10:35 PM
Wow, incredibly cool!
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: cyphyr on November 29, 2016, 04:54:35 AM
Really very good.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: DannyG on November 30, 2016, 08:17:58 AM
Excellent work
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: dorianvan on December 01, 2016, 12:29:25 PM
Looking cool. You mentioned that you have grass animated. I wish I could see it to see what you mean; bending down in like waves in an ocean? Anyway, how many people are there? Does it greatly slow the rendering, the more people. Do you think this walking animation could work for say a pop of a million from high above.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on December 01, 2016, 01:02:31 PM
Quote from: dorianvan on December 01, 2016, 12:29:25 PM
Looking cool. You mentioned that you have grass animated. I wish I could see it to see what you mean; bending down in like waves in an ocean? Anyway, how many people are there? Does it greatly slow the rendering, the more people. Do you think this walking animation could work for say a pop of a million from high above.

Thanks, guys!
Dorian, I'll see, if I can make a small crop animation of the grass without the fog in bright sunlight. I just displaced it with an animated PF.
I don't know how many people there are, but I can say that TG is pretty good in rendering vast loads of instances. I never tried it so far, but I'm sure, rendering a million of these guys would work. Worth a try when I have time!
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: KyL on December 02, 2016, 11:43:53 AM
Could you render a 2K frame of that?

really curious to see it at full quality!
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on December 03, 2016, 06:42:10 AM
Quote from: KyL on December 02, 2016, 11:43:53 AM
Could you render a 2K frame of that?

really curious to see it at full quality!

Here it is.

Dorian, I'm rendering a small animation of the grass at the moment. I'll post it as soon as possible.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on December 03, 2016, 07:26:06 AM
Here is a low res grass animation of the original file. It's not perfectly natural (somehow looks more like underwater weed), but since it's barely noticeable in the Dogs Of War clip, it's OK for me.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: dorianvan on December 03, 2016, 08:00:12 AM
Wow, that's very interesting. It looks like the individual grasses are waving/undulating. How does that work?! All in TG? I remember the tree (with the birds scene) moving that you did, but I think you imported the animation from Max. Thank you for the render!
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Dune on December 03, 2016, 08:56:50 AM
Hey Hannes, how did you do the warrior sequence? And how many objects are they?
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on December 03, 2016, 09:52:09 AM
Quote from: dorianvan on December 03, 2016, 08:00:12 AM
Wow, that's very interesting. It looks like the individual grasses are waving/undulating. How does that work?! All in TG? I remember the tree (with the birds scene) moving that you did, but I think you imported the animation from Max. Thank you for the render!

Thanks! This is just object displacing with an animated PF.

Quote from: Dune on December 03, 2016, 08:56:50 AM
Hey Hannes, how did you do the warrior sequence? And how many objects are they?

This one here? Not quite sure what you're asking.
There are thirteen populations with roughly sixty instances each, which makes roundabout 780 objects. Plus the grass patches.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Dune on December 03, 2016, 10:08:11 AM
So you have 13 poses, each next pose having a leg or arm changed? No 13 going into 1 again, etc...?
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: dorianvan on December 03, 2016, 11:05:47 AM
Quote from: Hannes on December 03, 2016, 09:52:09 AM
Thanks! This is just object displacing with an animated PF.

I'll have to give it a try if I can, thanks.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: KyL on December 03, 2016, 11:20:02 AM
This looks really good!
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on December 03, 2016, 01:22:58 PM
Quote from: Dune on December 03, 2016, 10:08:11 AM
So you have 13 poses, each next pose having a leg or arm changed? No 13 going into 1 again, etc...?

Ah, that's what you mean. No, Ulco, there are four different object sequences I created in Max using motion capture walking loops. Two different ones with the sword in their right hand, one with a torch and one with the flag. I used different loop offsets of the same sequences to create a total of thirteen populations. Plus an additional one for the smoke, which is an object I assigned a transparent material with a PF to, which was YOUR idea when I was looking for a solution for rotating propellers during the NWDA road side contest  :).
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Kadri on December 03, 2016, 01:40:15 PM

The HD frame looks great Hannes :)
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Dune on December 04, 2016, 02:49:14 AM
Thanks Hannes, totally clear now.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: bobbystahr on December 07, 2016, 11:29:25 AM
Wow on the grass, 'nuff saif. animated PFs eh, cool thinking.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: dorianvan on December 15, 2016, 08:16:51 AM
Hannes, I was wondering about a few things on this animation. Did you use any other program for the people other than 3d Max, such as Poser, to dress/animate? Also, when rendering, I'm curious about your GI settings. And anything special in the Advanced tab? Thanks.
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on December 15, 2016, 10:07:42 AM
Quote from: dorianvan on December 15, 2016, 08:16:51 AM
Hannes, I was wondering about a few things on this animation. Did you use any other program for the people other than 3d Max, such as Poser, to dress/animate? Also, when rendering, I'm curious about your GI settings. And anything special in the Advanced tab? Thanks.

Hi Dorian, it was just 3ds max. I'm not a great Poser fan, so whenever it's possible I use other apps.
The GI settings are almost default. GI cache detail and quality 2/2, occlusion weight (GISD) 1.5. I wrote a GI cache file to get rid of the GI flickering.
The sunlight has a blueish color, set to a strength of 3.5, and the environment light has a value of 1.8 in "Strength on surfaces".
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: dorianvan on December 15, 2016, 11:38:40 AM
Thanks. I like the flexibility of clothing that poser offers, with max it's what you see is what you get, unless I'm mistaken. Great result for such low settings though.
Did you write a file for every frame?
Did you use the default of 5 for blending?
For the walk cycle, did you use a preset or make your own?
What I meant by the Advanced tab was really the Render subdiv settings tab? Any changes from the default there?
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: Hannes on December 15, 2016, 12:01:51 PM
Quote from: dorianvan on December 15, 2016, 11:38:40 AM
Thanks. I like the flexibility of clothing that poser offers, with max it's what you see is what you get, unless I'm mistaken. Great result for such low settings though.

There's cloth simulation in Max, but also a modifier named Skin wrap, which can be used to conform things to the body.

Did you write a file for every frame?

Every 5th frame.

Did you use the default of 5 for blending?

Yes.

For the walk cycle, did you use a preset or make your own?

I used .bip motion capture files.

What I meant by the Advanced tab was really the Render subdiv settings tab? Any changes from the default there?

Nope!
Title: Re: Dogs of war
Post by: dorianvan on December 15, 2016, 03:28:28 PM
Thanks. I have a project coming up with Ulco and we are going to need a million or two people milling about and I'm researching which way to go; poser to max/vray, max to TG (like your Dogs of war), or a crowd simulation software like Massive (http://www.massivesoftware.com/massive-for-max.html) and comp together with TG.