How can I do this? - Polyloop

medeamajic · 10th November 2006, 10:10

How could I make it look like a Lazer is carving my name or an image into a piece of metal? It would be like a welder using a cutting torch to spell their name in a big block of iron. It needs to be animated to look like it is lazering the image on the piece of metal. I will have light shining through as the lazer cuts out the image and text. Has anyone done this before?

bwtr · 10th November 2006, 13:28

I think there is a tute about Christmas lights (here?) which might be adaptable.

markbremmer · 10th November 2006, 14:40

I actually did this for a project a couple of years ago. Create a "block" with the words already cut out. Duplicate it but remove the cut out letters. Now you have two blocks perfectly aligned but you can't see the words. The duplicate block with no words will be scaled smaller as the animation progresses to reveal the words. Then simply add a thin, glowing cylinder for your laser. Animate it to follow the letters and add a spot with the light cone enabled plus add a particle generator in "free" mode to create your sparks.

Clear as mud? Just post back if you need more of an explaination.

medeamajic · 10th November 2006, 20:53

bwtr,

Christmas lights? Please explain.

Mark,

I think I hear you loud and clear. The object with out the words will get smaller and reveal the object/letter of the second object. I was thinking more about cursive writing or cutting an odd image. I don't think that scaling the object will work to imitate a pen or odd shape being cut. I was thinking I make have to use a black and white AVI movie with UV mapping and shader domians to do this. I think it can be done and done very well in Carrara, Maya or Lightwave but my shading skills are note best.

markbremmer · 10th November 2006, 21:51

Hi Medeamajic,

Well now you're asking for a more sophisticated solution. There is a fairly complex way to do that in Carrara by animating spline paths but it takes a lot of work. Being lazy myself, I'd simply animate some white type on a black matte in a video editing program and bring that in as an animated texture/alpha map. What kind of tools do you have to play with? I'll try to come up with the best solution for what you have to work with.

medeamajic · 11th November 2006, 23:10

If I could animate the boolean operation it would be so easy.

dbigers · 12th November 2006, 09:44

I have had sucess with this by using the shadow catcher. Create the initial block. Then duplicate it and cut out your letters. Do a render with just the basic block visible. Save that image. Now put it in the backdrop. Make the cut out version visible and hide the basic version.

Now insert some planes. Resize them so they rest above the finished block--obscuring it. Resize them so that you have a couple of shapes covering each letter in the block. Set their surfaces as shadow catcher so they only render as the background.

Now animate your laser beam. As you do, you can scale and move the pieces to reveal your final block with the letters cutout.

Before rendering out the background in the initial step, make sure the block is exactly where you want it to be in the final animation. Because the cutout version has to cover it exactly.

It sounds more complicated than it is. You just have to do some planning ahead. If there is movement in your animation from the camera then you need to nail that down first and render out a sequenced set of bitmaps to use in your background for the final animation. Just be sure that after you render out your initial background sequence that you dont move the camera before doing the final animation and the original will be perfectly covered by the final animation.

medeamajic · 12th November 2006, 12:02

Thanks for the suggestion. The camera and the object with the text and image will be animated. There must be a better way to do this. I wish I could animate the boolean logic. It would make things easy.

dbigers · 12th November 2006, 19:22

Yes animated booleans would be nice in this situation. Good luck, it can be done without them, but it is a lot of work.

julvr · 14th November 2006, 00:55

I've done this using an avi. I wish I still had the source around.

First, create a vector outline of the text you want to write (I used corel draw), and a filled version of the text. Take the outline and export it to a .ai file. Take the filled version and convert it to a bitmap.

Take the bitmap and use it to create a greyscale avi of the text being written (starting at the last frame, erase small bits of the text so that when you play the avi forward it looks like it's being written).

In Carrara, go to the spline object editor, and import the .ai file. Make this the thickness of what you are cutting. Make sure that you do not fill either the front or back section. Line this up with the block you are cutting.

Create a shader using your avi as a mixer. Make the text fully transparent when written. Apply this to your block. (The text when written should line up perfectly with the spline object inside of the block...)

Create a cylender for your laser (does not cast shadows, glows, does not effect lighting when fully transparent, make it fully transparent...). Select a rotate point somewhere high up.

Create a group of four objects -- three lights, and a fountain dohicky, that spits out glowing sparks. (The three lights should be grouped very close to each other, but not at the exact same spot. Add a lens effect. with a fairly large glow. Align these with the starting point of the laser

Select the rotation tool, and go to the beginning of the animation. Step through the animation frame by frame, and rotate the cylender to match the animation, and move the lights to match as well.

Tweak for about an hour, and you're done.

John

rickei · 30th November 2006, 20:16

Have you seen the Potentializer plug-in?

http://www.kawachi.zaq.ne.jp/kurozuka/akurodigital/

I haven't tried it but it look like it does what you are looking for.

rickei

medeamajic · 1st December 2006, 12:00

I went to the site and down loaded the translater. I rebooted my system and can not get the website to come up now.

medeamajic · 1st December 2006, 22:22

Now it works. It might infact do what I need. Thank you for the info.

are · 2nd December 2006, 10:40

how about.... ?
Place a thin block or plane slightly above another block, displace the top plane using an animation - this will push bits of the top plane into the lower block allowing the lower block to be seen through the top one. Add your laser beam and sparks. Job done ?

I am trying this now - will post file asap if it works

Sardtok · 3rd December 2006, 18:44

How about doing the revelation in post?
Using 3 layers:
1. Laser and sparks
2. Non-cut-out version
3. Cut-out version

Just erase parts of the non-cut-out layer to reveal the one underneath, remember to animate them with the proper lighting and all so they match, otherwise it will look weird...

Edit: The one thing that would be hard to do here is light going through the thing I guess...
But not exactly sure I know how you want it to look, could you post a drawing or something?

are · 3rd December 2006, 23:59

here is another attempt at this...

hope it helps ?

are · 4th December 2006, 00:24

and here is the mov file - divx died on me for some reason but I guess quicktime is more universal ?

edit- well that went wrong ? so I've zipped the movie and will try again...

edit2- no, it just came as upload failed again, not sure what I am doing wrong (file is a zip @ 4.3meg) anyway too late not to play - will try again tomorrow...

edit 3 - goodmorning - just tried again and still getting an upload error. Better get some work done and come back to this in a bit....

edit 4 - converted to divx and uploaded it

medeamajic · 4th December 2006, 09:28

Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

The Potentializer will not work but it is on the right track.

Nichod · 22nd December 2006, 15:42

Booleans would be nice to have animated, but they tend to be unreliable visually unless we are talking about antimatter booleans. (rendertime boolean operation) Unless I'm mistaken I didn't see anyone suggest an animated displacement map.

medeamajic · 23rd December 2006, 04:58

I am decent with setting up shader domains and even using the layer tools. Using UV mapping and displacement mapping features should work for what I need to do. I just need to learn them. I will work on a gey scale AVI soon. Getting the lazer to care all the way through to let the light shine through may not me possible. I know I could do it if Carrara would let me animate booleans.

10th November 2006, 10:10	#1 (permalink)
medeamajic Now, I learn animation Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,028	How can I do this? How could I make it look like a Lazer is carving my name or an image into a piece of metal? It would be like a welder using a cutting torch to spell their name in a big block of iron. It needs to be animated to look like it is lazering the image on the piece of metal. I will have light shining through as the lazer cuts out the image and text. Has anyone done this before?

10th November 2006, 14:40	#3 (permalink)
markbremmer Escaping to 3D worlds... Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 176	I actually did this for a project a couple of years ago. Create a "block" with the words already cut out. Duplicate it but remove the cut out letters. Now you have two blocks perfectly aligned but you can't see the words. The duplicate block with no words will be scaled smaller as the animation progresses to reveal the words. Then simply add a thin, glowing cylinder for your laser. Animate it to follow the letters and add a spot with the light cone enabled plus add a particle generator in "free" mode to create your sparks. Clear as mud? Just post back if you need more of an explaination. __________________ Mark Bremmer Beginner, intermediate and advanced Carrara tutorials are here.

10th November 2006, 21:51	#5 (permalink)
markbremmer Escaping to 3D worlds... Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 176	Hi Medeamajic, Well now you're asking for a more sophisticated solution. There is a fairly complex way to do that in Carrara by animating spline paths but it takes a lot of work. Being lazy myself, I'd simply animate some white type on a black matte in a video editing program and bring that in as an animated texture/alpha map. What kind of tools do you have to play with? I'll try to come up with the best solution for what you have to work with. __________________ Mark Bremmer Beginner, intermediate and advanced Carrara tutorials are here.

12th November 2006, 09:44	#7 (permalink)
dbigers Spline Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 31	I have had sucess with this by using the shadow catcher. Create the initial block. Then duplicate it and cut out your letters. Do a render with just the basic block visible. Save that image. Now put it in the backdrop. Make the cut out version visible and hide the basic version. Now insert some planes. Resize them so they rest above the finished block--obscuring it. Resize them so that you have a couple of shapes covering each letter in the block. Set their surfaces as shadow catcher so they only render as the background. Now animate your laser beam. As you do, you can scale and move the pieces to reveal your final block with the letters cutout. Before rendering out the background in the initial step, make sure the block is exactly where you want it to be in the final animation. Because the cutout version has to cover it exactly. It sounds more complicated than it is. You just have to do some planning ahead. If there is movement in your animation from the camera then you need to nail that down first and render out a sequenced set of bitmaps to use in your background for the final animation. Just be sure that after you render out your initial background sequence that you dont move the camera before doing the final animation and the original will be perfectly covered by the final animation. __________________ Donnie

12th November 2006, 19:22	#9 (permalink)
dbigers Spline Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 31	Yes animated booleans would be nice in this situation. Good luck, it can be done without them, but it is a lot of work. __________________ Donnie

10th November 2006, 13:28	#2 (permalink)
bwtr Brian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: South Australia Posts: 2,096	I think there is a tute about Christmas lights (here?) which might be adaptable.

10th November 2006, 20:53	#4 (permalink)
medeamajic Now, I learn animation Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,028	bwtr, Christmas lights? Please explain. Mark, I think I hear you loud and clear. The object with out the words will get smaller and reveal the object/letter of the second object. I was thinking more about cursive writing or cutting an odd image. I don't think that scaling the object will work to imitate a pen or odd shape being cut. I was thinking I make have to use a black and white AVI movie with UV mapping and shader domians to do this. I think it can be done and done very well in Carrara, Maya or Lightwave but my shading skills are note best.

11th November 2006, 23:10	#6 (permalink)
medeamajic Now, I learn animation Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,028	If I could animate the boolean operation it would be so easy.

12th November 2006, 12:02	#8 (permalink)
medeamajic Now, I learn animation Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,028	Thanks for the suggestion. The camera and the object with the text and image will be animated. There must be a better way to do this. I wish I could animate the boolean logic. It would make things easy.

14th November 2006, 00:55	#10 (permalink)
julvr Vertex Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 25	I've done this I've done this using an avi. I wish I still had the source around. First, create a vector outline of the text you want to write (I used corel draw), and a filled version of the text. Take the outline and export it to a .ai file. Take the filled version and convert it to a bitmap. Take the bitmap and use it to create a greyscale avi of the text being written (starting at the last frame, erase small bits of the text so that when you play the avi forward it looks like it's being written). In Carrara, go to the spline object editor, and import the .ai file. Make this the thickness of what you are cutting. Make sure that you do not fill either the front or back section. Line this up with the block you are cutting. Create a shader using your avi as a mixer. Make the text fully transparent when written. Apply this to your block. (The text when written should line up perfectly with the spline object inside of the block...) Create a cylender for your laser (does not cast shadows, glows, does not effect lighting when fully transparent, make it fully transparent...). Select a rotate point somewhere high up. Create a group of four objects -- three lights, and a fountain dohicky, that spits out glowing sparks. (The three lights should be grouped very close to each other, but not at the exact same spot. Add a lens effect. with a fairly large glow. Align these with the starting point of the laser Select the rotation tool, and go to the beginning of the animation. Step through the animation frame by frame, and rotate the cylender to match the animation, and move the lights to match as well. Tweak for about an hour, and you're done. John

30th November 2006, 20:16	#11 (permalink)
rickei Respect the Dawg! Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: USA - Conway, South Carolina Posts: 791	Have you seen the Potentializer plug-in? http://www.kawachi.zaq.ne.jp/kurozuka/akurodigital/ I haven't tried it but it look like it does what you are looking for. rickei

1st December 2006, 12:00	#12 (permalink)
medeamajic Now, I learn animation Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,028	I went to the site and down loaded the translater. I rebooted my system and can not get the website to come up now.

1st December 2006, 22:22	#13 (permalink)
medeamajic Now, I learn animation Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,028	Now it works. It might infact do what I need. Thank you for the info.

3rd December 2006, 18:44	#15 (permalink)
Sardtok Box modeling Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Oslo, Norway Posts: 217	How about doing the revelation in post? Using 3 layers: 1. Laser and sparks 2. Non-cut-out version 3. Cut-out version Just erase parts of the non-cut-out layer to reveal the one underneath, remember to animate them with the proper lighting and all so they match, otherwise it will look weird... Edit: The one thing that would be hard to do here is light going through the thing I guess... But not exactly sure I know how you want it to look, could you post a drawing or something? __________________ --- The Zigg (Take me off for great justice?)

4th December 2006, 09:28	#18 (permalink)
medeamajic Now, I learn animation Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,028	Thanks to everyone who tried to help. The Potentializer will not work but it is on the right track.

22nd December 2006, 15:42	#19 (permalink)
Nichod Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 612	Booleans would be nice to have animated, but they tend to be unreliable visually unless we are talking about antimatter booleans. (rendertime boolean operation) Unless I'm mistaken I didn't see anyone suggest an animated displacement map. __________________ Email Me. Visit my blog! Get hundreds of shader presets! Get Art of Shaders! And a preview for Art of Skin is now available. AMD Turion(TM) 64 ML-40 (2.2GHz/1MB L2 Cache) 1280 MB DDR 333mHz RAM 128MB ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/Hypermemory(TM) 60 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support 15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x800) I use.

23rd December 2006, 04:58	#20 (permalink)
medeamajic Now, I learn animation Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,028	I am decent with setting up shader domains and even using the layer tools. Using UV mapping and displacement mapping features should work for what I need to do. I just need to learn them. I will work on a gey scale AVI soon. Getting the lazer to care all the way through to let the light shine through may not me possible. I know I could do it if Carrara would let me animate booleans.

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