GI and transparent objects?

[mynewcat]

The main problem with using any global illumination solutions, like the light tracer or skylight (or even vray) is that it computer the shadow values including and across all objects.

so quite often you end up with silly situations whereby, if you remove or hide an object that is nowhere near the object you are looking at, the shadow gradient will be ever so slightly different.

Iknow you used a light dome, but with 13 lights it's no good - try lookign at this

http://www.the123d.com/tutorial/3dsmax/fake-gi1.shtml

it produces faster and nearly as good (sometimes better depending on what you want) results as a skylight..... but it's better of the action takes place in a more focused area.

As for standard skylight flickers during animations, perhaps someone else can help, as I never need to do animations.

[naik]

Nice suggestions from mynewcat,

but as far as i know Dark Soldier, eLight works only with 3,4,5 version of 3dsmax.

Hope you got one of these versions.

good luck

P.s correct me if i was wrong

[Dark Soldier]

thanks for reading post.

i knew about elight, it takes up alot of memory. i got the same results using just 13 lights and softening the shadows but increasing the sample range. the problem with elight aslo is that it uses shadow map , which does not account for transparency. so as the object finally disappears the shadow pops and dissappears. i could change to Adv. raytrace but the time increases greatly because i have to increase the 'spread' in the shadow options to get that GI look, its actually quicker to use the skylight+lightracer, but i also get this poping as the object fades.

i think tonight i will have to try Ambient Occulsion+mental ray for the shadow pass but its not really that quick and very very grainy on default settings and i can not Network render it at work because we only have max 6 here so i would have to do it on my laptop and pc at home, which would takes a week or so.

i'm not really sure what else to do , i can maybe talk them into letting animate the objects moving away instead of fading

thanks

[Joel Hooks]

E-light works through max7.

[naik]

Hmm,

I must admit, im not quite sure if i really understand your problem.

So you got a problem (eg with the dome solution)
that when your objects fades to invisibility, that at the end the shadows
pops away, is that right?


EDIT
@ JOEL HOOKS

E-Light Installation
------------------------------------
E-Light works in 3D Studi MAX 3, 4 and 5.
Copy E-Light.ms into any directory, for example C:\3dsmax4\scripts.
In 3D Studio MAX, choose MAXScript, Run Script..., and select E-Light.ms.
Minimise the E-Light floater when you're not using it.
Or once you've closed it, run it again. It will automatically read your scene and detect all object settings.
Alternatively, create a shortcut for it if you plan to use it a lot.
There is a seperate version for MAX 5, due to interface lay-out changes in this version of MAX.
-----
Actually i did not try it out with MAX 7 ,but if you gonna say it works that would be fine buddy...:)

[Conny]

when your objects fades to invisibility, that at the end the shadows
pops away, is that right?
Yes, Shadow Map shadwos doesn't support Opacity or Visibility.
The shadows are solid when the objects fades to transparent/invisible.
The shadows goes away when the objects are completley transparent/invisible.

That's not the case with Raytrace shadows, but you have to pay with render time.

Conny

[naik]

okay...

how about that mate...

Try to lower the density of the shadow during the animation.
I have done that little trick for earlier projetcs, but im not quite sure if it fits for ur prob.
Probably that will work fine, its a question of the right setup and timing.
(Shadow Color fading / Density and so on)

Hope that will help...

[moidphotos]

If you switch to Mental Ray you can render with shadows maps (you'll need to use mental ray lights) that respect transparency like ray trace shadows do. There is a setting for it at the bottom of a mr light rollout. Not sure if that won't flicker, I've only ever used them in still renders.

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