Complex Scenes/dynamic detail - Polyloop

julvr · 28th November 2006, 18:02

I want to create a scene of conceptual city. The scene would provide the base for some animations. The problem I have is this: I need lots of details for various parts of the city -- they have to look really good in a closeup, yet all the details combined would make for a huge scene -- I don't care about file size, what I care about is rendering time and modeling time.

I'm currently running in Carrara Studio 4. I'm wondering how well Carrara 5 handles these type of scenes, or if there are any other packages which would.

Also, for a wish list for features:

A really nice feature would be to allow objects to be visible if they are within a certain distance of the camera -- Subsequently, you might have a lower res model which can 'replace' a high res model at a certain distance. This would help eliminate artifacts created by to small objects.

Thanks
John

Couerl · 28th November 2006, 22:32

Here is the comparison chart for C5, 4, pro etc...

I think this was one of the better things Eovia did towards the end and hope daz picks up on it because it's very important for marketing software.

I don't think the scene size or render times will be much different in either C4 or C5, but the rendering feature set and texturing in C5 is improved and might be worth looking at. If you want my honest opinion I think C4 will do the job fine, but if I were you, I'd be looking to upgrade to C6 when that is available and keep on that upgrade path. It's cheaper than most and gives more bang for the buck IMHO.

ooops,

http://www.daz3d.com/program/carrara...5/stdvspro.php

markbremmer · 29th November 2006, 15:04

Hi John,

Creating a single, one-size-fits-all model set up is usally not a wise option because there are some significant speed penalties on render plus it creates a cumbersome file for Carrara to deal with. The best way to go about it is have a base, fly through city that is low polygons, medium textures. (also, using a texture plug-in like Deeper from Inagoni is excellent for this) The next step is to create cameo areas of greater detail and higher resolution texture maps.

The "main" city can then be used as a base to create multiple files that you build out local detail in as required.

If animation production is in the future for this project, it's time to storyboard out the action and then make the modeling decisions. Typically, stuff like this isn't handled by a single render anyhow - it's too expensive in terms of render time for high quality. Instead, it's done in layers with a couple of digital mattes/paintings plus an alpha masked, animation portion that is all composed and "animated" in video post production.

Mark

chrisd · 30th November 2006, 01:32

Its interesting that one of Carrara's predecessors, Infini-D, had LOD (level-of-detail) control so that objects further away in the scene would have their polys reduced. I don't know how well this worked in Infini-D, but it certainly was an idea ahead of its time in a low to mid level animation package.

28th November 2006, 18:02	#1 (permalink)
julvr Vertex Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 25	Complex Scenes/dynamic detail I want to create a scene of conceptual city. The scene would provide the base for some animations. The problem I have is this: I need lots of details for various parts of the city -- they have to look really good in a closeup, yet all the details combined would make for a huge scene -- I don't care about file size, what I care about is rendering time and modeling time. I'm currently running in Carrara Studio 4. I'm wondering how well Carrara 5 handles these type of scenes, or if there are any other packages which would. Also, for a wish list for features: A really nice feature would be to allow objects to be visible if they are within a certain distance of the camera -- Subsequently, you might have a lower res model which can 'replace' a high res model at a certain distance. This would help eliminate artifacts created by to small objects. Thanks John

29th November 2006, 15:04	#3 (permalink)
markbremmer Escaping to 3D worlds... Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 176	Hi John, Creating a single, one-size-fits-all model set up is usally not a wise option because there are some significant speed penalties on render plus it creates a cumbersome file for Carrara to deal with. The best way to go about it is have a base, fly through city that is low polygons, medium textures. (also, using a texture plug-in like Deeper from Inagoni is excellent for this) The next step is to create cameo areas of greater detail and higher resolution texture maps. The "main" city can then be used as a base to create multiple files that you build out local detail in as required. If animation production is in the future for this project, it's time to storyboard out the action and then make the modeling decisions. Typically, stuff like this isn't handled by a single render anyhow - it's too expensive in terms of render time for high quality. Instead, it's done in layers with a couple of digital mattes/paintings plus an alpha masked, animation portion that is all composed and "animated" in video post production. Mark __________________ Mark Bremmer Beginner, intermediate and advanced Carrara tutorials are here.

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28th November 2006, 22:32	#2 (permalink)
Couerl Polygurbs Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Denver Posts: 1,307	Here is the comparison chart for C5, 4, pro etc... I think this was one of the better things Eovia did towards the end and hope daz picks up on it because it's very important for marketing software. I don't think the scene size or render times will be much different in either C4 or C5, but the rendering feature set and texturing in C5 is improved and might be worth looking at. If you want my honest opinion I think C4 will do the job fine, but if I were you, I'd be looking to upgrade to C6 when that is available and keep on that upgrade path. It's cheaper than most and gives more bang for the buck IMHO. ooops, http://www.daz3d.com/program/carrara...5/stdvspro.php

30th November 2006, 01:32	#4 (permalink)
chrisd Cube Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Leominster, MA USA Posts: 81	Its interesting that one of Carrara's predecessors, Infini-D, had LOD (level-of-detail) control so that objects further away in the scene would have their polys reduced. I don't know how well this worked in Infini-D, but it certainly was an idea ahead of its time in a low to mid level animation package.