Thomo

Ok done that. Had a response form their support already and we are working through it. I'll post here if any results. Thanks,

Hi, How do I export an object from EIAS, edit it in Form Z and then re-import to EIAS without losing UV's? I can't seem to get the fact file to keep the UV's into and out of FormZ. This is using V 9.1 Thanks,

Ok. So if you set the input AND output to 2.2 it seems you are getting correct results from what I can see of your .jpg. I'm assuming this is just with material colour no "texture" colour swatch. The last image appears to be correct. I can't see what you mean here. What you see on screen will differ from 1.0 gamma to 2.2 gamma. Shadowed areas especially. Apologies if I have missed your point. I agree colour swatching can be a pain for 2.2 gamma. Best

Hi Brian, I am finding this out as well. Best practice I find is to collect and save for each version of EIAS. And have separate folders. Sometimes EIAS uses a plugin from V8 even if it is saved and / or open in V9 or V9.1. The reveal in finder (which is a great tool!) lets you right away which plugin (sockets) folder you are using. As usual Tomas is correct and right on time! :-) Why is it that "plugins", always referred to as "plugins", are called "plugins", yet they are stored in a "sockets" folder? I'm sure I'm missing something and there is a reason. Curious though.

I've been waiting for any upgrade until the new MacPro and am getting tired of waiting. Any chance I could see how that scene renders on my current setup? Would help me as i am in the midst of a project that I need to complete and getting hold of the Imac would be a quick fix. Then pass it down the line if the new MacPro is needed. If I could compare those times with my current setup it might do the trick for now. Just a thought. Best Greg

Heh heh. Yep I just realised that myself. I wasn't sure how proxy "handled" the original model. So I can set up all my tree models, proxy them, stamp them around and then actually just change the original model (Hi res) for another (low res). I've done that today and it works fine. Pretty easy really. I just assumed it relied on the original model somehow. Apologies for any confusion but it seemed like there was a better "automated" solution. The fact that LODeStone doesn't keep the UV's on any poly reduction started me asking about a new workflow. Without really thinking about it first. Sorry. Anyway all good, I can work through that. Another related question. Excuse once again any misunderstanding. If I was to use "placer deposit" instead of proxy and also use the paint function for mapping variations, how would (does) this compare for rendering time? Ok "proxy" speeds things up a lot at rendering time (instead of just duplicating the same model). Does "Placer deposit" do the same. Or does it have to be combined with "swapper" / "LODeStone" to speed up rendering? I've read the manual and I think it does. But how does it compare with proxy. Rendering speed wise/ Both proxy and placer have their benefits in terms of render speed and workflow as far as I can see. If I could paint, place, rotate, scale and swap variations of planting (for me, Arch Vis) AND keep UV's of textures/ clip maps while reducing polys when needed that would be the go. All within EIAS of course. Not much to ask!! ;-) Seriously though thanks for getting back to me and confirming that I am slow on the up take! Best

Hi Tomas, I want to setup a scene with high res. tree models. Some of these will be repeated around the scene by using proxy. This would be my still shot setup. I then want to be able to swap these high res models with low res models for animation. BUT: I have instanced a lot of the trees using proxy already. Can I just use swapper to swap the models and not have to setup again (ie: export / import) the low res. models with proxy. SO: I could then, turn off swapper for still shots and turn on swapper for the animation. I am able to reduce the polygons of my trees (X-frog) a lot using Meshlab. This allows me to keep the UV's for clip maps. So I will have two models of the same tree. Hi-res and low-res. Hi-res = still shots. Low-res = animation. LODeStone will not keep the UV's so I cannot use it. Thanks for any help

Does anyone know if I can use the Swapper plugin with the proxy plugin? That is to say I have a lot of models already attached to the proxy plugin and stamped around. I now want to swap out a lower resolution model for the current one. Can I do this without setting up the proxy again. I don't have the swapper plugin as yet but want to purchase it if it will do this. I have contacted Northern Lights and they are not sure what proxy is and if it will do it or not. I know they have placer deposit but I am halfway through a project already with proxy. Any help appreciated. Thanks,

Yeah all that has been going on for a while but... EIAS 9.1 resolved quite a few issues, not entirely sure to what extent yet, with UV export especially with FMZ. Others would know more. I know some users are getting good results. I have mixed models a lot, some done in Max, some done in Revit. I always take them through FMZ 7, added to and edited as well, and it does a very good job considering! But yes always to .obj not .fac. for export to EIAS. Having said that I think the verify .fac in EIAS 9.1 sorts out a lot as well. If you can get a .fac from FMZ that is! I'm a bit behind in some ways and sticking to my work flow right now so don't take my word for it just at the moment. :-) Agreed the interface of V7 is different but I'm getting used to it now. Lots of options to turn stuff off if you don't like it as well. I like the right click links to the reference manual as well, works most of the time! I'm finding FMZ tech support pretty snappy now as well. Still waiting for answers from V5, but V7 seem to be very keen to help! All the best and any tips please post them!

If you are using FormZ V7 it is pretty straight forward. I just apply a texture in formZ and edit it with the texture edit. This allows you to set UV coordinates in the wrapped textures / mapping types drop down. I usually then just export as an .obj. UV option is then available when you import into EIAS. I never had much success with previous versions of Form Z. I did have some success exporting as a 3DS through polytrans though. Hope that helps.

Hmm yep hadn't thought of that! Thanks, good tip, I'll give it a try.

Yep good idea but they look pretty crap without GI. Maybe if I exclude some of them could be the go! Got me thinking now. Thanks for the reply.

Hi, Something I should know but. Does setting an object to shadow or reflection "only" help with render times? If I have a lot of 3D plants am I better to render in passes than as all in one hit (assuming I have enough memory). Like, set them to be shadow and / or reflection and then render another separate with just plants to comp later. Something I should know but i'm up against a deadline and need to sort out a few problems. Thanks,

Thanks Brian, I am liking this new notifications via email but I didn't get back to you on this one and apologies for that. Thanks for the bit on gamma. Yes that does happen. It was a case of having me stumped what to do. If you cant. What do you do? Still not a fully clarified answer on that. I'm not sure about the DOF shader and that that is the case. I certainly can't get that to be a result. Do you have an example file I might be able to look at? Quite frankly it has me stumped and has done for quite a while now. I'll keep trying. I understand the concept of what you say, which makes sense, but just can't actually produce it! Thanks very much though,

I'm not so used to using shaders so much but there is a lot of info on the web. It;s all relative for shaders, specific app or other. As for specific instructions as to what does what. Yes hard to get. Bugs me too! Dare I say it but trial and error. I reckon that would be a good feature to be able to quickly check a shader impact / influence etc, from with EIAS. Not seen it anywhere else yet. Hmmm ...?

Like lots of fluro lights? for a large store. Light object? Can be lengthly to render time wise initially but once you have the photon map it is fast. And more real. Be sure to set your distance to reference for the light source. Best results from the correct settings. So the light is an object, or lots of fluro light objects (as an object). Area light set to object. Distance to point of interest is critical. Quadratic again. Drop-off etc. Nice and easy for lighting big areas, once you have the photon map. Another one is a map on a big area light but I find it harder to control. Works well with glows though. Colour etc.

Thanks Richard, That was my thought. I'd like to give it a try at least. I'm very appreciative of you getting back to me so I will get in touch via message. Hmm. and how do I do that on this forum? Best regards,

Hi, Have you tried "shaping" the light with graphs. Assuming you are using quadratic drop-off you could try to balance with the "light to ref%". But probably more so in the customise tab you might try to customise the direct illumination. Basically push or pull that hot spot to where you want it and then give it some dropoff with a light to ref% and or bias. Maybe "customise the direct" for the sun, shape it so it is a more even spread of light and then "pull up" the light to ref distance from the ceiling to the floor to maybe 85%. I haven't looked at the file (got my own nightmares here right now. :-) ) but I think the key to fix it is in the customise tab! Gamma 2.2 you would have to "fix" any maps with texture filter or another of the same layered on top set to multiply. That's within EIAS. Hope that helps,

Nice, thanks Tomas. I know you are without time, very well understood. Me a fair bit too, that was the point. :-) I will need your help and I thank you very much for the offer. Speak soon my friend!

Alright well I guess that was not so well received. It really was mostly a question though. Not to worry. Cheerio!

Hi, I have some projects coming up very soon where I need some fairly simple camera animations. They are architectural projects so they would be walk-throughs and fly-around type camera animations. This is something I have never really done before in any depth. I understand the principles and what needs to be done but do not have the skills or the time to learn at this point. My question is; Is there anyone who would be willing to setup the motion paths for the camera(s) for me? I just don't think I would be very good at getting timing or motions etc. in any way very good. I am thinking this would be relatively straight forward for someone who knows their stuff, as I don't. There would be no modelling, texturing or lighting involved, I would do that. Although having said that there would be scope to talk about this of course. I am thinking there may be some post production as well, not sure yet. I would handle all the rendering of the frames. This is something I would like to try if any one is at all interested. I would also be interested in not just a one off, this is something that I need to provide and am getting asked regularly. I have considered this may be a silly approach but I am not sure. Any thoughts any one? Of course this would be a paid process! Am I allowed to say that on this forum? If not sorry. Thanks, Greg

Thanks Alex, I'll give it a go!

How can I upload the files directly to a slave machine and have the rama slave access those files instead of up through the network. Is this possible? I mean large model and texture files. Thanks,

Ok well that's good. :-) One more question I have about the DOF. Does anyone know a work around to get a "middle focus". That is to say I would like to have the foreground out of focus, the middle in focus and then beyond out of focus. I hope that makes sense. Thanks.

Heh. Ok now I've discovered I can save it from the image window itself as a .img file. So, problem solved! Sorry for posting a bit prematurely but maybe this post will help someone else anyway.