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DeMatti
12-04-2010, 11:03 PM
hi everyone!

i'm writing a little script that's supposed to render the viewport you're looking at and paste a pre-alpha masked on top of that, like you would in photoshop.
now, I have a problem: according to what i've seen in maxscript help, i'm supposed to do that using the pasteBitmap() method, using the type:#composite line.

here's my code: (it's pretty short and I kept it structured)

freesceneBitmaps()

render1 = render camera vfb:on outputwidth: 1280 outputheight:720 force2sided:on
Watermark = openBitmap "C:\\Users\\Mattias\\Desktop\\NAMING TEMPLATE.tga"
finalRender = bitmap (1280) (720) color:backgroundcolor

pasteBitmap render1 finalRender(box2 0 0 1280 720)[0,0]
pasteBitmap Watermark finalRender(box2 0 0 1280 720)[0,0] type:#composite
display finalRender
finalRender.filename="C:\\Users\\Mattias\\Desktop\\Watermarked render.jpg"
save finalRender

the solution is probably something ridiculously easy, but I just can't seem to find it :S

i've already tried it with a .png image, so I don't think the file format is a problem
DeMatti
12-21-2010, 12:19 AM
guys, I think i've found the problem, but I don't seem to be able to solve it:
the problem should be somewhere in the alpha of the image that i'm pasting on top.
when I render with my script, I get this result:

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7003/wmrtest01.jpg

where I should get this: (done with photoshop, the whole point of the script is not to have to open photoshop and paste the watermark on top of the render)

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/7109/wrmtest02.jpg

so I would sincerely appreciate it is someone could lend me a hand here...

the image i'm pasting on top is a .tga file with an opacity map in it's alpha channel, saved as a 24bit per pixel image. the render is the default output of a max render, meaning no file format yet.

thanks :)
denisT
12-21-2010, 01:09 AM
what do you want to get? do you want to know why pasteBitmap does not work right? or do you want to add a watermark to an image? if you are looking for a solution of the second issue just do it using per pixel method. is it slow? might be. but the rendering of an image usually is dozen times slower.
DeMatti
12-21-2010, 01:11 AM
yes the second thing :)
i'll try to work out the per pixel method, i'll let you know how it turns out :)
DeMatti
12-21-2010, 01:26 AM
yeah... I can't get the per pixel thing to work i'm afraid, so if someone would be kind enought to tell me how to sample an entire bitmap to see where a pixel should be transparent and where not? the code i'm writing here is messed up, even though I got it from the archives of cgsociety. (there was a similar issue some years ago apparently, but they didn't solve it eventually... apparently no one on the entire internet that ever had this problem ever solved it)
lo
12-24-2010, 07:32 AM
have you tried using type:#blend instead of #composite?
DeMatti
12-24-2010, 09:34 AM
yes, but the blend mode just gives a 50% opacity to the top image, without using the alpha channel...
lo
12-24-2010, 10:07 AM
Works perfectly for me using a PNG. Perhaps give that a try.
DeMatti
12-24-2010, 10:36 AM
man, you just solved a very big problem! I don't know why it didn't work previously, but it does now :D you have my eternal gratitude, I owe you one! :D
lo
12-24-2010, 10:42 AM
cool, no sweat
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