New AE Plugin: ZbornToy
Update: This plugin takes a while to figure out, and I asked the creator a couple of questions at the Adobe Forums. I've added his answers to three of my questions at the end of this post. Also, there's now some sample AE projects to get you started with the demo.
Here's a fresh new way to composite externally rendered 3D images in After Effects. The plug-in ZbornToy takes grayscale depth maps and magically let's you continue tweaking and change many parameters from within AE.
In some ways, the technique is similar to Walker Effects' Channel Lighting, but with ZbornToy, not only can you change the lighting afterwards, you can also render with background refractions, cast caustic reflections onto other layers, and much more.
According to this discussion thread on ZBrushCentral, the rendering is super-quick as well.
Check out the ZbornToy gallery, and post a comment when you've tried the demo, I'm way too busy at the moment!
**************************
From Adobe Forums:
1. What passes do you need to render from your 3D software?
It all depends on what it is you want to do with it. ZbT does ultimatively want at least a depth sequence (Zbuffer). It should be from black(back) to white(front)! From this it will create normals and is able to render 2.5d shadows, occlusion approx. and all the transparency stuff. BUT it is still just 2.5d (relief). You can additionally, if you want, save out a surface normal sequence. Using it will skip a whole computation section of the plugin and speed thigns up again. It also will add a more accurate element, because ZbT has to recreate the normals from pixel to pixel, while the 3d application knows the normal before rendering it! If you want more complex shadows, you might want to render out a shadow pass as well. You can render out surface color pass. You can render out texture passes (glossiness, translucency). But you should first be familiar with how the shading functions, because it is a real surprise to some artsits. Since glossiness is such a major player here and does nearly destroy the need for specularity, reflectivity and a few more complex features for diffusion. You just define the glossiness and have everything activated you want (like reflections of the environment turned on). A glossiness of 0 totally diffuses both specular highlights as well as reflections (and more). A glossiness of one gives you a sharp highlight and reflections, as if the surface was very glossy (perfectly glossy). It's logical. So even if you needed more complex passes, you just need to render out a glossiness pass for many things contemporarily necessary in other packages. That's...about...I think that's it. I mean, you could come up with things you might need, which is part of the fun of it all, but that's really pretty much it.
2. Are those passes "standard" in all the major 3D packages?
Yes, they are. People just don't understand the nature of depth images entirely. And nowadays it just has to be 16bit or floats. Depth images are really the render of the actual geomtries. What ever subdivision level you have used, how ever find the polygons are on the geometry, this is how fine it will be on the depth image. So if you were just to use the ZbornToy on it, it would really be like a flat shader! It will also make the shadows accordingly! Now because you do not need to render textures and complicated materials, which take 3d render engines minutes and potentially hours, you should truely invest the little extra in more subdivisions, which should not take the renderer much longer. I've worked on messiah:Studio and believed and still believe in the power of the package, because it has such brilliant implementation of subdivision. I havn't been used to long rendertimes, thanx to it, but now I'm of course entirely messed up. ZbT uses 1 second, 2 seconds maybe 10 seconds for truely complicated stuff at 1k or higher. Maybe even 15 seconds here and there. Anyway...back to the question. It doesn't have to be pixel displacement, although that's nice (hehe), but it should be high enough. For the rest you can really use normal sequences to get find and smooth details. If the difference between geometry density and normal suggestion is too big, it will show and it will most likely be not as pretty. When you encounter such a thing, increase subdivisions!
3. To what problem is ZbornToy a solution? Just tweaking lights during comping, plus quick refractions?
Ah yeah...to what ARTISTIC problem is the computer a solution?
Really, I mean, really, just think about it. Think about what a master painter would have thought about. You may come to a better answer to that questions than I could. And I believe that answer is partially individual to everyone out there.
I could try even harder and squeeeez my brains to say something like: Time! (because it's a big time saver, for a whole bunch of rendering scenarios!). I could say ...eehhhtweaking lights during comping, plus quick refractions.... (hihihi..sorry). But this is nothing, really, if you begin to figure out the things you can do. That's all.
- Jonas
Here's a fresh new way to composite externally rendered 3D images in After Effects. The plug-in ZbornToy takes grayscale depth maps and magically let's you continue tweaking and change many parameters from within AE.
In some ways, the technique is similar to Walker Effects' Channel Lighting, but with ZbornToy, not only can you change the lighting afterwards, you can also render with background refractions, cast caustic reflections onto other layers, and much more.
According to this discussion thread on ZBrushCentral, the rendering is super-quick as well.
Check out the ZbornToy gallery, and post a comment when you've tried the demo, I'm way too busy at the moment!
**************************
From Adobe Forums:
1. What passes do you need to render from your 3D software?
It all depends on what it is you want to do with it. ZbT does ultimatively want at least a depth sequence (Zbuffer). It should be from black(back) to white(front)! From this it will create normals and is able to render 2.5d shadows, occlusion approx. and all the transparency stuff. BUT it is still just 2.5d (relief). You can additionally, if you want, save out a surface normal sequence. Using it will skip a whole computation section of the plugin and speed thigns up again. It also will add a more accurate element, because ZbT has to recreate the normals from pixel to pixel, while the 3d application knows the normal before rendering it! If you want more complex shadows, you might want to render out a shadow pass as well. You can render out surface color pass. You can render out texture passes (glossiness, translucency). But you should first be familiar with how the shading functions, because it is a real surprise to some artsits. Since glossiness is such a major player here and does nearly destroy the need for specularity, reflectivity and a few more complex features for diffusion. You just define the glossiness and have everything activated you want (like reflections of the environment turned on). A glossiness of 0 totally diffuses both specular highlights as well as reflections (and more). A glossiness of one gives you a sharp highlight and reflections, as if the surface was very glossy (perfectly glossy). It's logical. So even if you needed more complex passes, you just need to render out a glossiness pass for many things contemporarily necessary in other packages. That's...about...I think that's it. I mean, you could come up with things you might need, which is part of the fun of it all, but that's really pretty much it.
2. Are those passes "standard" in all the major 3D packages?
Yes, they are. People just don't understand the nature of depth images entirely. And nowadays it just has to be 16bit or floats. Depth images are really the render of the actual geomtries. What ever subdivision level you have used, how ever find the polygons are on the geometry, this is how fine it will be on the depth image. So if you were just to use the ZbornToy on it, it would really be like a flat shader! It will also make the shadows accordingly! Now because you do not need to render textures and complicated materials, which take 3d render engines minutes and potentially hours, you should truely invest the little extra in more subdivisions, which should not take the renderer much longer. I've worked on messiah:Studio and believed and still believe in the power of the package, because it has such brilliant implementation of subdivision. I havn't been used to long rendertimes, thanx to it, but now I'm of course entirely messed up. ZbT uses 1 second, 2 seconds maybe 10 seconds for truely complicated stuff at 1k or higher. Maybe even 15 seconds here and there. Anyway...back to the question. It doesn't have to be pixel displacement, although that's nice (hehe), but it should be high enough. For the rest you can really use normal sequences to get find and smooth details. If the difference between geometry density and normal suggestion is too big, it will show and it will most likely be not as pretty. When you encounter such a thing, increase subdivisions!
3. To what problem is ZbornToy a solution? Just tweaking lights during comping, plus quick refractions?
Ah yeah...to what ARTISTIC problem is the computer a solution?
Really, I mean, really, just think about it. Think about what a master painter would have thought about. You may come to a better answer to that questions than I could. And I believe that answer is partially individual to everyone out there.
I could try even harder and squeeeez my brains to say something like: Time! (because it's a big time saver, for a whole bunch of rendering scenarios!). I could say ...eehhhtweaking lights during comping, plus quick refractions.... (hihihi..sorry). But this is nothing, really, if you begin to figure out the things you can do. That's all.
- Jonas
Labels: AfterEffects
2 Comments:
Awesome, Jonas! Thank you!
You don't even need externally generated content to make great use of the plug-in.
Check out the Free Stuff section for new demo projects.
By
Taron, at Monday, November 06, 2006
Taron,
Great, I'll check it out! I think you need to work on posting "before/after" images and movies, so that potential users can see what kind of sources they need, and what results your plugin can give them.
Demo projects are great, but rendered clips are quicker to look at.
By
Jonas Hummelstrand, at Tuesday, November 07, 2006
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