Max and TG2 referencing objects help.

[Hetzen]

Hi there. New guy here.

I've just bought the full trial version with animation to use on a few shots I need to make. I love what this program can do. Especially with clouds.

Could someone explain or help me with how to set up a reference object in TG2 to be used in Max to help me with camera and model placement, so that I can then export the camera .chan file back into TG2 to render a planet background plate. Idealy it would just be a sphere to represent a planet. I need to crash zoom a camera from high to low orbit, with rotation to match a 3D model animation.

For another shot, I need to set up some 3d objects on a TG2 glacier. The camera animation is reasonably simple, but I need to set up a background plate and a reference plate, so I can comp these two sources together. What would be a good workflow for this? Is there a good turorial on how to use TG2 with other 3D packages?

Many thanks

Jon

[rcallicotte]

A tutorial section on these sorts of things would be nice.

I haven't done any of these things, but maybe someone here who has will help you.

[Hetzen]

I don't mind trying to figure this stuff out. It's like those old analogue synthesizers, you learn by twisting knobs. Yeah alright, that sounds wrong. But I would like to have some sort of steer on what to do.

This program checks all the right boxes for a major project we're working on, which could have some serious mainstream kudos blow back for Planetside.

I've used Vue, and honestly hate it. I'm fed up with the fried flickering fish renders I get when anything moves.

My shots don't need eco systems, just realistic clouds at low orbit and photo real arctic landscapes at first light. This program can do this, but I need to match up camera animations which are very specific and need to be done in Max, not TG2, so reference points are essential.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Jon

[pagan]

I haven't use referencing objects yet and I would like to know how it works too
The easiest way that I discovered so far in order to import terrain objects into 3ds max and to match the scenes is the following(let me know if there are better once):

- Set up your shot in TG2
- use LWO micro exporter for the part of the scene that will be filmed (most of the time you don't need the entire landscape for animating characthers for example, and if you do, you can always use a lower resolution terrain)
- Use Acutrans to convert  the terrain from lwo to obj
- import the terrain obj into 3ds max (it will appear excatly where it supposed to be)
- delete extra far away polygons that the terrain model will include (did not fully understood why the lwo exporter catches polygons that are not in the camera view)
- use optimize modifier in 3ds max to reduce the polygon count for faster interaction.
- (if you like) import the camera from TG2 with MANTANIA
- do your animation
- export the 3ds max camera with mantania
- import the camera into TG2
- do the rendering of your landscape in TG2
- do the rendering of your other animated objects in 3ds max
(In 3ds max you can apply a background shader to your terrain so that it will include also an alpha for objects shadows etc.. If I have other static objects in the scene I usually render them from TG2 and have a reference in 3ds)
- use a compositing/editing package to bring the two rendered scenes(3ds and TG2) together.

There are obviously other methods but I hope this is a start.
Good luck

[rcallicotte]

Thanks pagan.  The more I read about what people are doing, the more I'm learning.

[Hetzen]

Thank you Pagan. I will give that a go.

It will be interesting to see how a planet is exported as an lwo.

[Oshyan]

There is no real specific support for "reference objects" at present, but of course you could setup an object of known size and position to use *as* a reference. Pretty much all units in TG2 are meters, so that should help in matching with other apps.

If you're using 3DS Max, you may find this plugin useful:
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=3445.0
I'm not sure of current availability or how up-to-date it is though.

There are a number of other threads here that deal with these kinds of issues - a search ought to bring them up. You might also look for some posts by JimB, who has used TG2 a fair amount on professional projects and has described his workflow a few times.

- Oshyan

[Hetzen]

Thanks Oshyan, I've spent quite a lot of time recently going through some older topics, which has accelerated my learning curve no end.

For my first shot from low orbit, the solution was extremely easy, knock up a sphere and copy the planet dimensions in.  So proceeding on with that at the moment.

I've also solved how to use image map to solve weather formations of clouds. I have a specific reference shot to try and copy, and although it won't be dead on, it will still be interesting due to the terminator and shadows moving. It would be good to get some movement in the clouds too, but one thing at a time.

After that I'll work out how to use the LWO node.

Could you possibly direct me to some of JimBs posts where he talks about workflow, if you can remember off the top of your head.

Many thanks

Jon

[Hetzen]

Oh and thanks for the link, that was something I had played around with before starting this topic.

Cheers

[Oshyan]

Here's an example: http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=4457.msg46914#msg46914 Most of his other posts are a bit more general, but may also be valuable. I'm sure he'd be fine with you contacting him if you have any questions, too.

- Oshyan