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Quizboy
07-21-2003, 08:55 PM
I'm no MELer but I wonder if any knows if it would be possible to make a sort of Time-Space Continuum Jump effect within my scene. So that if a character looks at one side of a wall it's just a solid wall, but when he looks around the other side it's a whole different realm of space. I'd like to be able to have the camera do this, and then even be able to enter and model and animate within that space.

Another take on the same theme is the Doctor Who effect. Remember his telephone box spaceship? Make a simple polygonal box with one side open, but inside that box is a large room or even a completely different Maya scene. But to the camera it all looks like one. Maybe the key is somehow linking a Maya scene within a scene and opting for the angle or plane at which that scene is visible or enterable...

This may sound weird but can anyone here do this, or know someone who can or has already?
mark_wilkins
07-21-2003, 10:49 PM
This kind of thing is best done with one camera move, two environments, and a 2D composite.

-- Mark
Quizboy
07-22-2003, 10:22 AM
I get that, but that's kind of a hack isn't it? Cause you've got then the problem of lining up all the camera moves betwen the apps or perspective will not be properly maintained, and if you make any adjustments to the scene then you've got to adjust everything in the comp app and in the other scene. And what if you're someone who is not a compositor?

Is this even possible within Maya itself? Keeping it within one workflow...if so how much work would it take to develop this for an experienced MELer (or would this require a team...)
mark_wilkins
07-22-2003, 05:20 PM
Lining up the camera moves? I meant that you should use the same camera move in the same app. In Maya you can use, for example, referencing to keep cameras in sync with each other, although another choice is to export the camera from one scene and import into another.

As for whether it's a hack, well, not any more than any other 3D is a hack. The goal isn't to simulate reality, it's to make a picture.

As for not being a compositor, compositing is a critical tool for anyone who wants to do sufficiently complex 3D work, and these kinds of techniques are used abundantly on any 3D film you see in the theaters.

Trust me, what we're discussing is the simplest composite in the world -- it's not like you're talking about complex live-action/3D integration, just an animated matte which you can render out of Maya directly anyway.

And no, you would not normally do this within Maya. There's no advantage to it. It would require heavy manipulation of Maya's rendering pipeline if it's possible at all, and while I'd be impressed if someone did it I'd still think it were a waste of time when the 2D approach is so trivially simple.

-- Mark
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