Bringing in birds as object into the sky

[cadmar]

Hi all,

When you are bringing in a TGO bird into the shy of an image, how do you set it to come into the scene where you can see it. Everytime I try, it seems to end up being thousands of miles out. No matter how much I enlarge it, it is still way too far out to bee seen. Its much easier to place something on the ground, then it is to place it in the sky.

Thanks

Rick 

[TheBadger]

Cannot know for sure. But it sounds like your object is coming in at the coordinates it was saved at.

To apear correctly, the model must be made at 0/0/0 (XYZ). If it is a model you made, you should easily be able to check this.
If you did not make the model, you can open the .obj version of the object in just about any modeling program. And move it to 0/0/0.

What model are you working with? Is it something we can have a look at?

[cadmar]

Cannot know for sure. But it sounds like your object is coming in at the coordinates it was saved at.

To apear correctly, the model must be made at 0/0/0 (XYZ). If it is a model you made, you should easily be able to check this.
If you did not make the model, you can open the .obj version of the object in just about any modeling program. And move it to 0/0/0.

What model are you working with? Is it something we can have a look at?

Hi, The object is simply in TGO format. I purchased it online. It's a bird.

I think I got it figured out now. I copy the coordinates of the ground in front, then I can drag the bird up into the air. It seems to work ok.

Thanks so much TB

Rick

[Dune]

That's indeed how I work. Sit it on the ground somewhere in front, then raise the Y or drag it up. If you want it very close to the camera, you can move your view until you see both bird and render camera and carefully move the bird in front of the camera. For a population, I sometimes add a displaced power fractal after compute terrain for the birds to sit on. Or just any PF, without any connection to the compute terrain.

[cadmar]

That's indeed how I work. Sit it on the ground somewhere in front, then raise the Y or drag it up. If you want it very close to the camera, you can move your view until you see both bird and render camera and carefully move the bird in front of the camera. For a population, I sometimes add a displaced power fractal after compute terrain for the birds to sit on. Or just any PF, without any connection to the compute terrain.

Thank you so much Dune. I had no idea how to bring in a population of birds. I have not used the displaced power fractal yet, this is a good way to learn something about it. So the Y is up & down, keeping it at the same distance from the camera. I'd asume if I wanted to move it further into the scene, I'd effect the Z or shrink the object?

Thanks again so much!


Rick

[jaf]

Another method that seems to work well, at least for me, is to click on the ""Select different cameras or viewports" button in the preview section and then select "Top view".  Right click in the preview window and select "Select object or shader" and then the object you want to find or position.  You may have to use the navigation controls and zoom out.  Using the zoom controls, you should be able to see your render camera and object.  The object should have the red and blue position vectors where you can move the object.

One thing to remember is when you have it positioned the way you want, click on the "current render camera..." -- not the "Copy this view to the current render camera."  You should be back at the same position when you started, but if you positioned the object, it should be in view (of course you may still have to raise or lower it  in the y axis.)

Also, sometimes temporarily scaling the object to a real large size can help.

[cadmar]

Thanks so much Jaf! There are certainly a few ways to do this. ITs great to have a variety of approaches to this. I would have never thought to do this.

Thank you all again so much for your help. IT is really appreciated!

Rick

[Dune]

No comment

[Kadri]

Many ways indeed.
I use mostly this one if the object is in the sky:

Import the object.
Open the Render Camera node and copy the coordinates from the right side copy/paste icon.
Open object node and paste those coordinates in the Translate part.
Move your camera just a  little back to see the object at full size and do your fine adjustments of the object if needed.
If your moving of the camera isn't much important you can make it permanent with the " copy this view to the current render camera" icon .
Or if you prefer your first position just use the " "current render camera (render camera)" icon and change it at its first place again.

Longer to write then to try actually.

[jo]

Hi Rick,

I'd asume if I wanted to move it further into the scene, I'd effect the Z or shrink the object?

You wouldn't shrink it. That would just make the object smaller, not change its position in space.

You also wouldn't necessarily only change the Z coordinate. That would only move it along the Z axis. You might need to change the X coordinate as well.

When I want to move something relative to the camera I switch to the Top view in the 3D Preview. Use the "Select camera" button which is the second one from the left underneath the 3D Preview. Shift the view until you can see the camera and the object. Now click on the object and then drag it to its new position. Using the top view makes it easy to drag the object around the XZ plane. This is an imaginary flat surface which lines up with the X and Z axes. It's height is the same as the Y coordinate. When you move something in the XZ plane its X and Z coordinates will change but the Y coordinate will stay the same.

When you've moved it to where you want it switch back to the render camera, again using the "Render camera" button. You may now need to adjust the Y coordinate of the object to position it where you want it in the camera view. You could either do that in the preview or changing the numbers in the node parameter view.

There is no one "right" way to do this stuff. Spend some time messing with the moving the camera and objects about and you'll find ways which work for you.

Regards,

Jo

[cadmar]

Wow! There is so much to just bringing in objects. I am going to spend a couple days just importing objects, such as birds & so on, as an individuial item & as populated. Aside from trees & landscape plant life, Populated things such as birds & so on can be very handy. IT is hard to bring in a lot of birds, one at a time. Then to have to space them & angle them, resize them.

I need to start taking advantage of the other cameras that are available. It is hard to try & do it all correctly from the render camera alone.

Thank you all again for your help. I've learned so much for you good folks. Thanks for the File Dune. That is a great way to bring in seagulls. I will need to really look at your file & the various settings. Thanks so much again everyone.

RIck 

[Walli]

I have a free flock of bird online on my site. Good enough for the background and you don´t have to create a flock by hand. Of course only works, if the shape of the flock is what you are looking for ;-)

[TheBadger]

^^ could not locate it, Walli. Got a link?

[Jo Kariboo]

@ TheBadger, try this one :

http://www.wallis-eck.de/2009/?p=305

[TheBadger]

^^Thanks! I did see that post, but I can't read German. So I thought it was about the building. I got the geese though, now! Thanks Walli!