Buggsy

Ok, first problem... I don't have any presets!? Golf Course A... where do I find that? It's not in the EI Presets folder in v9.1. Were the presets issued with v9.0 and not with v9.1? If so where can I get them from? Second, it refers to them as .ibl files but I have .hdr files, what's the difference and how do I create .ibl files. When I put all my .hdr images, that I have collected over the years, into the EI Presets folder, I can only see one of them and none of the others. It appears as the simple things a difficult enough to figure out, let alone using them! Sorry but there is a big disconnect here! Michael

Unfortunately neither of them are mac native. World Machine says you can use Parallels or Wine http://www.world-machine.com/support.php?page=tech and World Creator is only Windows compatible http://www.cloddy.com/index.php/wc-purchase/getdemo. Michael

I have looked at Image Based Lighting for a long time, and being an avid photographer I believe I understand a little of capturing location specific lighting with a chrome sphere. What I would like to know is what are the best steps in determining when and where this can be applied in EIAS3D to achieve better lighting solutions given that I can't capture lighting for all scenes. Of course I may completely misunderstand IBL which maybe why I haven't used it earlier. Michael

I have used 'Displacement' in the NX Shader on the wave and there are some 7 million polygons without the displacement coming from NX Shader. What sort of time should I expect to achieve? Michael

Hi Steve, I want to learn how to use environments but I'm not sure where to start. Any pointers would be good. Michael

Ok, I couldn't resist playing around a little more with this EXR2mesh plug-in. Some bits aren't convincing, but it was a lot of fun. The Range Rover sport model I bought years ago has bad rear brake light geometry so I abandoned making them look right. Good to know this plug-in is about. Next I want to explore creating my own EXR map in photoshop. Steve, I adjusted my sun to give longer shadows, as you might be able to tell from my scenes, and I also have 0.0 specular light. Rendering time was 2 hours. Michael

Hi Steve, Yes I'm using a combination of five textures with the idea of building base layers working through to top layers. The last texture being a cloud texture set to 'screen' to add the subtle variations in colour across the landscape, and a bump map for the pitting on the surface. I'm doing another one with trees and a range rover model I bought a little while ago. I will post this if I can do a decent job of it. Michael

Ok, here's another one, this time texture maps, no NX Shader, reverse illumination and skylight. 3min 30sec rendering time (2.8GHz Intel Core iMac i7, 8GB RAM). Michael

I did some tests with the project Tomas put up. Find following a couple of test renders. The first one has no skylight or reverse illumination and the second one does have skylight and reverse illumination. Render time for the first image was 12min and the second one was 19min. Oh and I added an NX shader terrain material. With a regular texture map the rendering time comes down to about 2min, although it's not as nice as the NX Shader one (i haven't attached it here). There are some artefacts from NX shader displacement. I'll do one without NX shader, using only texture maps.

Hi Frankg, I have done very little animation but thought I'd add my input. Composition wise, I'm not a fan of the way the product, while it opens, passes behind the lettering. Also the Kraftraum logo could fade slower into view. It seems a little abrupt. Michael

Hey this is so cool! I'm glad this little gem was talked about. I'm doing an Environmental Science degree at the moment and I'll have access to a mountain of files (no pun intended) of my local region here in Australia. Thanks Tomas and Scott

Hi Steve, It was never an EI option but it was a graphics card option in my old G5 Mac now that I recall it. Nvidia released a piece of software that allowed you to control anti-aliasing on their graphics cards. You could set the application in the control panel that you wanted anti-aliased while using openGL. I used to set it for ArchiCAD because its openGL solution wasn't anti-aliased. Michael

Oh also, Another great feature I love is that you can control how procedural shaders and textures preview in the Camera View window. Under Display in the objects attributes you now have the option of 'Display Diffuse Textures','Shade Textures (Phong Only)' and 'Display Procedural Thumbnail'. I tend to turn on all except 'Display Procedural Thumbnail' which makes for an excellent Camera View setting. Michael

Hi, Is there any way to anti-alias the Camera View window, or is it anti-aliased already? I can vaguely recall being able to do this on my last Mac Pro machine, I just can't remember if it was a graphics card feature or a software add-on. Michael

Hi Burney, The improvements with the openGL engine were enough for me to truly see the value in upgrading. I can't say I knew this before I upgraded but when I did I noticed there was no 'software engine' option for the camera view window. I freaked out, but I am so amazed how robust openGL is now. Even in a scene with 9 million polygons, moving the camera isn't too different then a scene with 1 million polygons. And the camera view window is so much more predictable! I just wish transparency would work properly. Michael

Hi Tom, Thanks for that. The shapes that can be created are very interesting. I'm thinking they may have application for making accessories in my architectural interiors. Michael

Hi, These only seem to work if you have the XPressionist plug-in!? Can this still be purchased? I have looked at their store but I'm still none the wiser if I can buy it? Michael

The very right hand side of 'GT04.jpg' looks really good! The dining chairs and table look a little too low though. Dining tables are normally about 750-760mm high from the floor to the table top. I like the feature chair in the living room, the detail in the metal is great and the fabric texture is very realistic. The leather on the couch is a little bumpy though. I shared my leather couch specular settings in this thread (http://www.eias3d.com/forums/topic/6126-recent-architectural-work/), it maybe worthwhile incorporating in your leather material. The texture on the feature wall is also a little bumpy, maybe up the sampling or reduce the bumpiness but I'm sure it's on your todo list. The coffee table also looks a little bit thin. I really like your aluminium framed glass sliding door material. Nice contrast and reflection. Can you maybe share how you did it? No disrespect intended, I hope I'm being helpful. Michael

Hi Thomo, Is 'client brief 01.jpg' a photo of what the client wanted or is it EI? Michael

I'm nervous about upgrading operating systems and software because I don't have the cash-flow to go and buy a new machine. Invariably all these upgrades play catch-up and push you into an upgrade. I have been surprised (in a good way) with the last couple of upgrades to OS and EI but I'm wondering if my luck has run out. I have explored the additional RAM as you stated and even the 32GB option that a number of non-mac suppliers are willing to put their name against. It was cheap (about 6 months ago) but once again that pesky thing I hate called money is not in plentiful supply so I procrastinate! I did ask myself, while typing up my OX details above, why am I still on OS 10.8.5? Maybe it's because I have no overhead of RAM that I'm experiencing this slowdown. I perhaps need to address the RAM issue and OS in the hope that it resolves. What OS are you running Steve? Michael

Hi, When I set camera to use all 8GB of RAM in my machine, to render a polygon heavy scene (9,250,000 polygons), my machine seems to be awfully sluggish for about 5 minutes after. It's almost like camera doesn't want to give all the RAM back or something. I need to resolve it because my machine becomes unusable during this 5 minutes! My machine specifications are: 27 inch late 2009 iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 8GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory OS 10.8.5 Michael

Hi Steve, EI export out of ArchiCAD keeps all the layers that are present in the 3D window. It's good because you can relate back to your project as built in ArchiCAD. I have heard over the years that Form Z is great for modelling buildings but I don't believe it has any plan documentation functions which makes it a little bit of a double up considering ArchiCAD can document and model. ArchiCAD is great to model buildings in, but I wish there were greater controls over the way it exports polygons. When you insert a window in a wall it produces high aspect ratio polygons, which make post editing difficult (see image attached below). I think what I want is the control that CAD has, being able to model things dimensionally constrained to accurate proportions yet something I can model a more free-form organic item such as leather couch or an apple or a pumpkin and something that I can import to commercial models I buy into it so I can tweak them and add to them. I'm not sure what modelling packed will do this for me without compatibility problems with EI. I have attached here the EI export options window from ArchiCAD so you can see the various options for exporting to EI. It hasn't been updated since v2.9 of EI but still works fine nonetheless. I have also attached a screen shot from inside EI, which shows the high aspect polygons that get exported from ArchiCAD. Michael

Hi Tom, Yes you don't really get anything worthwhile for $100 so that's what I meant by 'put towards a modelling program'. The better programs that have high end functionality seem to be Zbrush, Form Z, Rhino and Modo. This isn't a definitive list though, as some of these attempt to be both rendering engine and modeller, and I'm also not really sure of the work flow required to interface with EI. I would like to see an EI Team generated commercial modeller list, in order of usability from highest to lowest compatibility/lest number of bugs point of view, as well as the type of work an artist does, so I could make an informed decision about which package I need to plan on buying. The 'modeller thing' has haunted EI for years. I remember having to wait for years for the promised EI modeller that then turned out to be a bitter-sweet program. It had/has its strengths, and they were really strong and then there were its down-right short-comings. I feel like there is little direction regarding what modelling programs work without some arduous work-around. I stand to be corrected here as I'm no expert with modelling programs, I just wish there was a clearer direction. Michael

Hi, Thanks Steve, the leather is just specular fall-off. No fancy shaders. I have attached a screen shot here. The modelling program issue is bugging me. I want something that can do the precision of ArchiCAD for building the walls, cabinets etc as well as the organic work of couches, seat cushions etc. I have see plenty of FormZ stuff over the years but I thought it only did hard modelling (like ArchiCAD)? I'll have a better look at it! Thanks Tom, I hadn't considered buying Encage. I wonder though whether the $99 may be better put towards a modelling program? Michael

Hi Scott, Good to hear from you. I am totally with you on your comments. My biggest problem is I don't have a modelling program to make the tweaks as you suggested and ArchiCAD produces a lot of high aspect polygons when output as an EI model file. Effectively I use the models as they come from Turbo Squid etc and have little control over them. The lack of cash flow in my business really prevents me from splashing out on what I'd like to buy and that is ZBrush. But then I'm not sure of compatibility issues with EI so I ignore it and put up with the models as they are. When things turn for the better I'll hopefully address the edge thingy. I have also tried the bevel shader in EI but it doesn't really work given the way it has been designed. As far as the wood textures go the models are coming with UV's that are already set up. I could superimpose real wood textures over them in photoshop so I'll give this a try next time. Thanks for your comments, you've been too kind with your critique. I unfortunately, perhaps like most artists, mostly see the things I hate in the images. Don't get me wrong, I really like what I produce these days, and I enjoy reviewing my work months after doing it, I just wish I could resolve all the things that I find niggling me. I could write a long list of things that I don't like but that would be a little OC (obsessive compulsive) and detract from the great work I can produce with EI. Michael