Newbie - 2 questions

[romi]

i did some searching around and learned a lot but i need more info on these 2 -

1. sun direction - i see the sun controls in the lighting tab - direction & heading. but is there a visual gizmo somewhere where i can see the sun's direction? in the 3D preview or the small fractal window?

2. i want to render out a sky with clouds and would like to have an alpha channel so i can easily extract the clouds portion of the image. is there a way to enable this?

thanks in advance for the help!

cheers,
Rom
snowblindstudios.com

[rcallicotte]

1.  No way I know about.
2.  No way I know about directly, though BigBen or Volker might know about something.  Both of these guys have played a lot with masks and clouds.

[JimB]

You just need to get used to the Sun direction thing, I think. When you move the slider left the Sun moves left 

For cloud alphas, and I'm assuming you have the Deep+Animation license, switch off the Atmosphere's Primary Rays, and render using the Sequence Output button in the Render options with the Alpha channel output option switched on. This will retain GI on the clouds from the atmosphere. Also switch off the terrain if applicable.

If you want to render an EXR, just change the .bmp extension to .exr by retyping in the filename extensions in the Render Sequence options.

[rcallicotte]

 

I didn't know you could do that.

[Harvey Birdman]

You just need to get used to the Sun direction thing, I think. When you move the slider left the Sun moves left 

For cloud alphas, and I'm assuming you have the Deep+Animation license, switch off the Atmosphere's Primary Rays, and render using the Sequence Output button in the Render options with the Alpha channel output option switched on. This will retain GI on the clouds from the atmosphere. Also switch off the terrain if applicable.

If you want to render an EXR, just change the .bmp extension to .exr by retyping in the filename extensions in the Render Sequence options.

Neat trick about the alpha image, and I didn't know that about the file extension!

So,, uhhh, got any more little nuggets you care to share?

   

[romi]

thanks for the info JimB!

does the Deep edition (no animation) have an alpha channel output option? currently its unlikely i'll get the animation edition.

cheers,
Rom
snowblindstudios.com

[Oshyan]

The alpha is automatically output to the TG2 temp folder upon completion of an image render. The Explore Temp Files option from the File menu should get you there, then select the most recent folder and image after your render completes.

A visual "gizmo" for sun positioning is among the UI enhancement we'll be considering in the future.

- Oshyan

[dandelO]

TG2 automaticaly saves your alpha channels etc. in 'trmporary files'. You can find them by opening T2 and clicking 'file' >> 'explore temporary files'. You might want to periodicaly delete these files once in a while, they take up gig, upon gig of hard drive space. 

I think that's what you want...

[dandelO]

The alpha is automatically output to the TG2 temp folder upon completion of an image render. The Explore Temp Files option from the File menu should get you there, then select the most recent folder and image after your render completes.

A visual "gizmo" for sun positioning is among the UI enhancement we'll be considering in the future.

- Oshyan

Beat me to it, man!

[romi]

thats brilliant! exactly what i need. thank you so much.

cheers,
Rom

[Cyber-Angel]

What is this alpha image that gets output for (Or will before if the function required is still under development)? Aside from taking up room and slowing down the render process if they are generated at render time what do you do with them? 

Regards to you.

Cyber-Angel   

[dhavalmistry]

Alpha images are basically masks....they are black and white and can be used to mask anything with that shape

[JimB]

Some links explaining alpha channels:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/archive/t-1567.html
http://nicolaescher.com/tutorials/alpha-channel-primer.php
http://www.bertmonroy.com/tutorials/text/17_alpha.htm

[Oshyan]

They don't slow down the render process - generating the data used to create the alpha image is already necessary for the rest of rendering.

- Oshyan

[rcallicotte]

I have the Deep / Animation version, but do not see the Alpha channel output option?  Where do I find this?  A picture might help.