Planetside Software Forums

General => Contests => VR Challenge => Topic started by: Matt on March 03, 2016, 03:11:50 PM

Title: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 03, 2016, 03:11:50 PM
If you have any questions about the VR Challenge, you can ask them here.

You can also start new topics in the VR Challenge board (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/board,24.0.html).

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Tangled-Universe on March 03, 2016, 05:12:49 PM
I think many like to know the answer to this question...

How to deal with the GI best when using the "6 cube faces" approach over spherical rendering?

Pre-compute a 360 degree cache and render the 6 faces using that cache?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 03, 2016, 05:16:47 PM
You can render GI caches for each side then use "equal blend within range" with 6 frames blended for rendering *each side* in final. Be sure to name the caches sequentially, e.g. gicache_001.gic (for side 1), gicache_002.gic (for side 2), etc.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 03, 2016, 05:37:41 PM
It's OK to submit renders that have minor technical problems like these. We want to make it as easy as possible to enter the contest. GI matching and stitching problems can be solved on our end. Also, some versions of Terragen don't support GI cache files, so we can't let that affect our decisions.

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: KyL on March 03, 2016, 06:01:42 PM
Can we render image sequences?

Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: cytone on March 03, 2016, 06:02:49 PM
how can participate? I have just finished a video with this technique. ;.)

Cy Tone

www.cytone.org
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: TheBadger on March 03, 2016, 08:53:24 PM
Hello,

I was curious if the approach maters. I would like to know if PS wants global environment for some reason, or if the scene could be created more like how the standard "appears" to be when creating VR with other soft. That is, a certain amount of space, say 1-10 square miles, or something.

Or if you want a whole planet with a certain space more developed?

Also, I am thinking that this is not attached to the NWDA TG contest.?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: cyphyr on March 03, 2016, 09:18:41 PM
Excellent idea for a contest, inspired.

Two questions of the bat.

1.  Do you want to see work in progress shots. It's been a requirement of previous contests although given that you are allowing previously created scenes this may not be appropriate.
2. Is this a static camera scene where the viewer can rotate the camera viewpoint in HPB (classic QTVR) or are you looking for a completely immersive environment where the viewer can move in the XYZ and HPB freely. I suspect the former.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 03, 2016, 09:25:26 PM
Badger, as the contest rules state, we are looking for *specific viewpoints* that work in 360 degrees. At least 1 viewpoint in the scene and as many as 5, all of which work in 360 degrees. Whole planets are definitely not necessary (nor what we're really looking for). Imagine if you were in a VR environment and you could look at some distant hill and then click to go there. That's what we have in mind. So the multiple views of a single scene should probably be within viewing distance *of each other*.

Richard, WIP are very welcome! But not required. And as noted above, we are indeed talking about fixed camera rotation here (with some possible minor movement/parallax functionality).

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: DannyG on March 03, 2016, 09:52:26 PM
Quote from: TheBadger on March 03, 2016, 08:53:24 PM
Also, I am thinking that this is not attached to the NWDA TG contest.?

Correct! This IS NOT connected to NWDA, This is a "Planetside Software Contest"
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: kaedorg on March 04, 2016, 12:23:32 AM
Hi

Not sure i'll be able to submit a render for this challenge but
I think it is a great idea and there will be many things to learn here.

I used the basic statement and just put spherical camera and render size 2000 x 1000
to get this render.

Is it the kind of image that you expect or did I misunderstand anything ?

David
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 04, 2016, 01:16:10 AM
Yep, that's what we're looking for kaedorg. :)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on March 04, 2016, 10:03:51 AM
Is an interior shot possible (don't know much about this VR stuff, although I'm quite interested), or does it have to be some sort of an outside wide shot?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 04, 2016, 06:15:52 PM
Yes, interiors are allowed.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: yossam on March 05, 2016, 01:41:05 AM
How are the finished renders viewed..........QT? Could you post an example so we know what you expect?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 05, 2016, 02:25:17 AM
It will be quite a small viewing area, I suppose, something like a smartphone/tablet, as 2000px wide is not very big. For a very detailed screensize (1920 wide) view you need maybe 8000x4000px. If you want so see your own image, there are some free players around, like FSPviewer; http://www.fsoft.it/FSPViewer/ (http://www.fsoft.it/FSPViewer/)
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 05, 2016, 03:38:02 AM
We will be rendering the winning entries at higher resolution. Typical viewing would be some kind of VR headset: Oculus, Vive, etc.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: cyphyr on March 05, 2016, 03:33:13 PM
Can anyone recommend a VR previewer?
Something we can simply load up a 1000x2000 (or any similarly proportioned image and see how it looks.
Thanks
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: yossam on March 05, 2016, 04:00:21 PM
cyphyr,


See Dunes post above..........works pretty good. Just gotta render at larger sizes. Still experimenting.  :)
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: cyphyr on March 05, 2016, 05:03:15 PM
Quote from: yossam on March 05, 2016, 04:00:21 PM
cyphyr,


See Dunes post above..........works pretty good. Just gotta render at larger sizes. Still experimenting.  :)

Excellent, I really should pay more attention, thank you.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: TheBadger on March 05, 2016, 07:44:35 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on March 05, 2016, 03:38:02 AM
We will be rendering the winning entries at higher resolution. Typical viewing would be some kind of VR headset: Oculus, Vive, etc.

- Oshyan

Dont forget guys, there are cheap and reasonably effective options...
https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/
and amazon has a ton too.
Need a iPod or smart phone though. Not totally sure about iPod actually but it may be an option.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 06, 2016, 02:12:28 AM
I don't have such fancy equipment, so a viewer on the computer will have to do, but I wonder how sharp a 2000px image will be in an oculus or specialized device. In the viewer you indeed need more than 2000px for a bit of sharpness (at least double that), or it's a very small window you're looking at. And I can't really imagine that being much sharper in an oculus.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: yossam on March 06, 2016, 02:30:06 AM
I just got thru rendering a pic 8000x4000, it's gonna take a pic at least that big to get any kind of quality. And it's a little large............19Mb.  :o
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 06, 2016, 02:33:15 AM
Yes, that's what I mean, and that's what I also do. But I guess the entries will be judged on possible virtuosity, not on actual excellence  ;)
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 07, 2016, 09:30:06 AM
Cardboard works perfectly for VR applications. Or hanging your phone from a hat with lenses in front of your eyes (same principle).
However, does anyone know a cardboard app that can load these images as VR? Cardboard Camera can load it, but says it's not VR and shows as normal image...
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 08, 2016, 01:58:22 AM
Two questions: does PS have a Speedtree licence, in other words, would it be legitimate to hand over some greens? And is this mainly about plain photoreality, or more like creative discoverability and surprise?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 08, 2016, 05:33:25 AM
Quote from: Dune on March 08, 2016, 01:58:22 AM
Two questions: does PS have a Speedtree licence, in other words, would it be legitimate to hand over some greens?

We don't have licenses for any Speedtree products at the moment.

Quote
And is this mainly about plain photoreality, or more like creative discoverability and surprise?

I like both (but not necessarily at the same time), so it's difficult for me to suggest which direction you should go here.

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 08, 2016, 08:03:14 AM
Thanks Matt. So I'll make something containing both, without ST greens. No problem.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Blubbel on March 08, 2016, 10:23:27 AM
Hi All,

I don not have the profeesional version, I used the "Seperate Cam Setup". How can I merge my pics now together?

Thanks, Andi :)
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 08, 2016, 07:17:39 PM
Quote from: Blubbel on March 08, 2016, 10:23:27 AM
I don not have the profeesional version, I used the "Seperate Cam Setup". How can I merge my pics now together?

Our contest submission page (which isn't ready yet) will allow you to upload the 6 separate images. But I know it's useful to see the result stitched together before you submit your entry, so we will find some stitching or viewing tools to recommend soon.

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Blubbel on March 10, 2016, 02:03:23 AM
Maybe you can offer a "free temp license", to enable this featuer in Terragen? But anyway, you gave me a hint what I should look for, a "stitching tool". Never heard this word before... :)

Greetings from Austria, Andi
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 10, 2016, 03:16:44 AM
Chris has done a great job and found some software; on other threads. Check those out.
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,21292.0.html (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,21292.0.html)
http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,21291.0.html (http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,21291.0.html)
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on March 12, 2016, 05:41:52 AM
Not entirely a VR question, but do you need the files before you are judging, or only of the ones who made it in the end?
I'm only asking because it may take some time to convert all the .obj files into .tgos to make the file size smaller.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 12, 2016, 07:41:25 AM
I was wondering, most of the VR scenes I have seen using cardboard are also in 3d / stereoscopic. Will the final scenes also be rendered  stereoscopic?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: alessandro on March 12, 2016, 09:05:13 AM
It'd be nice if we were allowed to crop and eliminate the bottomless part of the image (approximately 1/12th of it), where the terrain (or what's there) get so much distortion that it looks really ugly.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on March 12, 2016, 12:19:14 PM
Alessandro, if you render out a 2:1 ratio image (at least with the spherical camera) there is no distorted part of the bottom if you watch it in a pano viewer. What do you mean?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: alessandro on March 12, 2016, 12:31:34 PM
Hannes hello, I'll search for a better Pano viewer, the one I currently use on OSX probably is the issue. I'll post some pictures as I progress with my image...
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 12, 2016, 04:23:53 PM
Hannes, you only need to submit your source files upon request. That will not necessarily be *only* for winners (we may need to evaluate some aspect of multiple scenes to help decide winners, for example). Also if you compress to 7-zip (.7z) OBJ and TGO will probably be similar size. File size should not be a huge issue in any case.

Mohawk, we do plan to render stereoscopic. :)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on March 12, 2016, 05:04:49 PM
Thanks!
Alessandro, I'm using one of the apps Chris suggested, but I'm afraid they are Windows apps.

Oshyan, good to know. So, there's no need to convert everything to tgo, right?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 12, 2016, 09:59:15 PM
Correct, no need to convert everything.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 12, 2016, 10:31:38 PM
Quote from: Mohawk20 on March 12, 2016, 07:41:25 AM
I was wondering, most of the VR scenes I have seen using cardboard are also in 3d / stereoscopic. Will the final scenes also be rendered  stereoscopic?

You can submit mono renders, or stereo renders if you prefer, but it shouldn't really matter for the judging process.

We will render winners in stereo, and possibly more than just stereo for some platforms 8)  :-X

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 13, 2016, 03:03:49 AM
Yeah, add some cool animated parts!
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 13, 2016, 03:16:12 AM
Quote from: Dune on March 13, 2016, 03:03:49 AM
Yeah, add some cool animated parts!

Yes, like water. Super realistic stereoscopic 360 scenes with  water that doesn't move a little bit is just weird, and immediately destroys the realism.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 13, 2016, 03:20:16 AM
I got the same reaction when showing my Stone Age hunting scene to someone; can't you make those people move around  ::) Weird that they stand so still.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on March 13, 2016, 05:33:25 AM
Quote from: Matt on March 12, 2016, 10:31:38 PM
We will render winners in stereo, and possibly more than just stereo for some platforms 8)  :-X

I'm curious how to render stereo panos. Is it just rendering to panos, one for the right "eye" and one for the left one?
If one looks up, he can turn his head around which would make right to left and left to right?! I know this has already been done, but I can't imagine how.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 13, 2016, 07:26:16 AM
If you look up or down, you just go nuts and screw your eyes  ;)
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 14, 2016, 02:27:33 AM
Quote from: Hannes on March 13, 2016, 05:33:25 AM
Quote from: Matt on March 12, 2016, 10:31:38 PM
We will render winners in stereo, and possibly more than just stereo for some platforms 8)  :-X

I'm curious how to render stereo panos. Is it just rendering to panos, one for the right "eye" and one for the left one?
If one looks up, he can turn his head around which would make right to left and left to right?! I know this has already been done, but I can't imagine how.

Pre-rendered (or photographed) stereo has problems at the poles for this exact reason. Some renders choose to ignore this problem, and it looks a bit screwy when looking straight up or straight down (and of course even more so if you twist your head). The approach that OTOY have taken in some of their renders is to cancel out the stereo effect near the poles so that there is no perceivable stereo there. That's not ideal either. A third way to solve this is to render the scene in real-time so the stereo is correct for any head rotation. Obviously with pre-rendered (or photographed) content this is not easy. But that's not the same as impossible, and I have some tricks up my sleeve ;)

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 14, 2016, 03:07:11 AM
You always have!  ;D
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on March 14, 2016, 03:33:47 AM
Quote from: Matt on March 14, 2016, 02:27:33 AM
...and I have some tricks up my sleeve ;)

Yesssss!!!!
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: majidkaviani on March 14, 2016, 04:16:56 AM
hi friends.
i just want to know which way is better?using default spherical camera or using 6 rendered technique?
when i try to render with default spherical camera the rendered image was so far from base camera(distance).
can you help me to solve this? is there a way to use default camera without losing base position?
thanks
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on March 14, 2016, 04:36:02 AM
You can always test an image (low res for testing purposes) created with the spherical camera by loading it into a pano viewer like the FSPViewer (very much recommended - easy to use!!) or another one Chris suggested. If you look at your result without using a viewer it may probably always look like your too far away.

I guess the results should be roughly the same no matter if you use the spherical camera or stitched images.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 14, 2016, 04:39:23 AM
Quote from: majidkaviani on March 14, 2016, 04:16:56 AM
hi friends.
i just want to know which way is better?using default spherical camera or using 6 rendered technique?

The cube setup gives you more resolution when looking straight up or straight down, but takes a little bit more work to set up and render, and may be more difficult to find viewers to preview your work in 360 degrees.

Quote
when i try to render with default spherical camera the rendered image was so far from base camera(distance).
can you help me to solve this? is there a way to use default camera without losing base position?
thanks

Do you mean that the spherical camera is at a different position in the world? Or does it only look like you're further away from your subect?

If the camera really is in a different position, there are two ways to solve this. You can copy your desired camera position into the spherical camera's position parameter (using the clipboard menu next to the camera's position parameter). Or you can turn your existing camera into a spherical camera by clicking on "spherical", and making sure the rotation values are 0 in X and Z.

Maybe it just looks like you're further away from your subject. This can happen because of the wider field of view, but when you view the image in a 360-degree viewer or panorama viewer it might look closer to what you expect.

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: majidkaviani on March 14, 2016, 04:54:37 AM
thank you, the image with spherical camera in fps viewer is the same as normal render. but i`m sure i have to render it in 8 k :)
thanks :)
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Antoine on March 14, 2016, 01:09:03 PM
In the scene I would like to create and before using some objects, I need to know if Planetside has the licence to use the followings :

1 : short mowed grass from Silva 3d
2: Pine trees from Xfrog BUT modified by me in Xfrog software
3 : Softer voronoi cracks from NWDA

David.



Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 14, 2016, 07:13:49 PM
Quote from: Antoine on March 14, 2016, 01:09:03 PM
In the scene I would like to create and before using some objects, I need to know if Planetside has the licence to use the followings :

1 : short mowed grass from Silva 3d
2: Pine trees from Xfrog BUT modified by me in Xfrog software
3 : Softer voronoi cracks from NWDA

David.

Yes, we have licenses to use all of those.

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Antoine on March 15, 2016, 01:48:21 PM
Thank you for your answer Matt !

I have forgotten these two I will perhaps use in my project: Do you have a licence for :

Eroded stones 1&2 and Sky preset from Virtual Landscapes (Luc Bianco)

David.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 15, 2016, 07:51:15 PM
Question:
For those of us machine impaired what is the minimum Detail and AA recommendations. Seems largely not that important except for the "sell" of the initial image as you guys will be re rendering the final VR images. Oh, and characters? I'm guessing unless they're quite hi poly models they're not a good idea...already deleted the one from my scene.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 16, 2016, 04:36:05 PM
Will the final versions be rendered in TG4? I guess some scenes will look even better with the new lens flare effects and stuff...
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 16, 2016, 05:01:29 PM
Quote from: bobbystahr on March 15, 2016, 07:51:15 PM
Question:
For those of us machine impaired what is the minimum Detail and AA recommendations. Seems largely not that important except for the "sell" of the initial image as you guys will be re rendering the final VR images. Oh, and characters? I'm guessing unless they're quite hi poly models they're not a good idea...already deleted the one from my scene.

There are no minimum quality settings to enter. We will use our experience to try to judge the potential of the scene, but you should try to make the submitted images look good enough to see their potential. If a scene seems promising we will ask for scene files so we can render higher quality tests before deciding on winners. So just render at the best quality you can without taking too much time away from creating your scenes.

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Matt on March 16, 2016, 05:05:02 PM
Quote from: Mohawk20 on March 16, 2016, 04:36:05 PM
Will the final versions be rendered in TG4? I guess some scenes will look even better with the new lens flare effects and stuff...

Yes, we'll render some scenes with TG4 using whatever secret technology we have at our disposal to make them look as good as we can :)

Matt
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 17, 2016, 12:08:53 AM
Quote from: Matt on March 16, 2016, 05:01:29 PM
Quote from: bobbystahr on March 15, 2016, 07:51:15 PM
Question:
For those of us machine impaired what is the minimum Detail and AA recommendations. Seems largely not that important except for the "sell" of the initial image as you guys will be re rendering the final VR images. Oh, and characters? I'm guessing unless they're quite hi poly models they're not a good idea...already deleted the one from my scene.

There are no minimum quality settings to enter. We will use our experience to try to judge the potential of the scene, but you should try to make the submitted images look good enough to see their potential. If a scene seems promising we will ask for scene files so we can render higher quality tests before deciding on winners. So just render at the best quality you can without taking too much time away from creating your scenes.

Matt


Coolio...I'll throw whatever I can at it then, there's what, 2 weeks left?...I should be able to get at least one scene done heh heh heh. For their size, I find spherical renders go faster...or am I deceiving myself again?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Kadri on March 18, 2016, 10:27:13 PM

We can use our work in another way,media etc. even if we enter-win the contest? The rights are still ours?
That is what i understand. Is this right Matt, Oshyan ?
I have a scene that i wanted to use in my animation (this is a still only). Just to be sure.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 19, 2016, 01:42:44 AM
Yes Kadri, that's correct. We are not requiring exclusive rights on the entries.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Kadri on March 19, 2016, 02:09:17 AM

Thanks Oshyan.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 21, 2016, 10:51:37 PM
Got a wee query. I'm going to get my renders done at pixel plow and I have each file in it's own gathered folder but should I move all the assets to the same place as the .tgd? They say relative and that's what I understand as relative.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 21, 2016, 11:19:28 PM
No, if you have Gathered the project, then it will work fine. "Relative" actually means just a file/folder path that is specified *relative to the one that has the TGD*. So rather than an *absolute* path, e.g C:\files\terragenproject\project files\image.tif, instead because your TGD is in \terragenproject\ you only need to specify the *subdirectory* that image.tif is in. So the relative path to image.tif in this case is "project files\image.tif" (note: I originally had a leading \ here, which is incorrect; I added quotes instead so you can see the entirety of the path statement, where it begins and where it ends)
The path is *relative* to the TGD, i.e. "where is this file relative to the tgd? oh, it's in this directory inside of the one in which the tgd resides"

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 22, 2016, 02:43:56 AM
Quote from: Oshyan on March 21, 2016, 11:19:28 PM
No, if you have Gathered the project, then it will work fine. "Relative" actually means just a file/folder path that is specified *relative to the one that has the TGD*. So rather than an *absolute* path, e.g C:\files\terragenproject\project files\image.tif, instead because your TGD is in \terragenproject\ you only need to specify the *subdirectory* that image.tif is in. So the relative path to image.tif in this case is \project files\image.tif
The path is *relative* to the TGD, i.e. "where is this file relative to the tgd? oh, it's in this directory inside of the one in which the tgd resides"

- Oshyan

Cool, thought I had that straight, thanks.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 22, 2016, 07:16:04 AM
Another question:
Will you make changes to the winning entries to ensure the best quality? Like upping the clouds quality settings and maybe better GI settings, or stuff like that?
Or do we have  to do that beforehand?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 22, 2016, 02:43:23 PM
Quote from: Mohawk20 on March 22, 2016, 07:16:04 AM
Another question:
Will you make changes to the winning entries to ensure the best quality? Like upping the clouds quality settings and maybe better GI settings, or stuff like that?
Or do we have  to do that beforehand?

echo.....echo......echo.......echo

Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Kadri on March 22, 2016, 02:52:56 PM
Quote from: Mohawk20 on March 22, 2016, 07:16:04 AM
Another question:
Will you make changes to the winning entries to ensure the best quality? Like upping the clouds quality settings and maybe better GI settings, or stuff like that?
Or do we have  to do that beforehand?

In page 4 Matt's last two posts kind of have the answers for that.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 22, 2016, 02:58:00 PM
We will make quality-related adjustments as we see fit. We want to present the best quality final results and we'll be using all our expertise to ensure that. :D So the burden is off you guys for that stuff. Just focus on the *content* and *structure* of the scene, and your camera placement(s). Please, for the love of god, don't bother with high quality or high resolution tests or final renders, at least not before you have really tuned and tweaked everything in your scene to look as good as you can make it.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 22, 2016, 03:55:57 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on March 22, 2016, 02:58:00 PM
We will make quality-related adjustments as we see fit. We want to present the best quality final results and we'll be using all our expertise to ensure that. :D So the burden is off you guys for that stuff. Just focus on the *content* and *structure* of the scene, and your camera placement(s). Please, for the love of god, don't bother with high quality or high resolution tests or final renders, at least not before you have really tuned and tweaked everything in your scene to look as good as you can make it.

- Oshyan

Heh heh heh, well a week of smaller res tweaks later I have 2 scenes ready for pixel plow....won't be posting them here but are versions of the Chinese Bridge scene I did. Oh and good to know on the quality thing...thanks planetside.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 23, 2016, 09:25:47 AM
How did you get along with the Speedtree guys? Can we use those veggies?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 23, 2016, 12:40:15 PM
I'm getting worried as I see all those great, high realism renders, like the ones from Dune, Jo Kariboo or Danny.
I hope I can get in somewhere around place 8 or 9, but what if I don't make it? (I really want to win TG4, as I guess a lot of others do as well.) Would it be possible to have an 11th place for most creative scenebuilding (the way you put the nodes together, or use shaders for effects they were not meant for), or a 12th place for best indoor scene, or stuff like that?
I know you can't give everyone a copy for their effort, but still...
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 23, 2016, 02:20:04 PM
Ulco, we still don't have an answer on Speedtree, but we remain hopeful and are working to make it possible.

Mohawk, we figured 10 people winning a prize instead of the more typical 3-4 (1st-3rd place, etc.) was a pretty good way to go. That will hopefully give everyone plenty of chance to win.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 23, 2016, 04:45:33 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on March 23, 2016, 02:20:04 PM
Mohawk, we figured 10 people winning a prize instead of the more typical 3-4 (1st-3rd place, etc.) was a pretty good way to go. That will hopefully give everyone plenty of chance to win.

- Oshyan

That is true of course. Apologies on the lack of gratitude for the current amount of rewards.
I have to realize it's still a contest.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 23, 2016, 05:31:53 PM
That's OK Mohawk, I totally understand. :)

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 24, 2016, 03:01:14 AM
Quotewe figured 10 people winning a prize instead of the more typical 3-4 (1st-3rd place, etc.) was a pretty good way to go
There's only one 'loser', at this moment (counter on 11)  ;) so chances are good, Mohawk.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: ADE on March 24, 2016, 07:49:40 AM
where is the link to submit the entries?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 24, 2016, 09:27:48 AM
In the thread "VR Challenge: Getting Started"

Quote from: Matt on March 03, 2016, 03:10:43 PM
Contest Rules


http://terragen4.com/terragen-vr-challenge/#rules


How to render 360-degree images for submission


If you have Terragen 3 Professional or Terragen 3 Professional with Animation, you can render with a spherical camera. This is the simplest way to render a 360-degree view.

1) Enable "spherical" on the camera node.

2) Usually you want to ensure that the camera's rotation is level with the horizon (set X and Z rotations to 0).

3) Set the image width to be 2x the image height. E.g. 2000 x 1000.

4) Render an image.


If you don't have a version that can render with a spherical camera, use the 360-degree cube setup here:


http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,21257.msg212927.html#msg212927


How to submit your entries


Upload your renders here: http://terragen4.com/vr-challenge-submission/
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 25, 2016, 09:49:14 AM
Can we insert the Xoio (winter) people? I couldn't find any rules, but they are given away for free at their site. Would be a nice addition to one of my renders.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: AndyWelder on March 27, 2016, 01:42:41 PM
How do I get my render (preview) started? It's the 3.4 Pro edition I'm using but though I created a new camera, selected "Spherical" and connected this to a new Renderer nothing happens: The preview says 5% and that's it, even after 30 minutes. I know I'm silver blond so there's probably something I don't notice. Could anyone tell me what, please?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Mohawk20 on March 27, 2016, 01:47:08 PM
Quote from: AndyWelder on March 27, 2016, 01:42:41 PM
I created a new camera, selected "Spherical" and connected this to a new Renderer nothing happens: The preview says 5% and that's it, even after 30 minutes.

Well, that's the thing with a spherical camera, the preview is loaded for every triangle in sight when the preview is rendering. So it's taking quite some time to load everything all around. But the actual time depends in the complexity of the scene. Mine didn't take that long, so I'm very interested to see your scene.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: AndyWelder on March 27, 2016, 01:52:09 PM
Quotethe preview is loaded for every triangle in sight when the preview is rendering
Oh boy.... So should I skip the water? The camera is on a small rock in a lake...
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Kadri on March 27, 2016, 02:14:16 PM

Are you sure you can see the "Spherical" camera in the preview?
I just opened a default scene and if you change the perspective to spherical nothing changes in the preview.
I still use Terragen v. 3.3
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: AndyWelder on March 27, 2016, 03:21:20 PM
QuoteAre you sure you can see the "Spherical" camera in the preview?
Pretty much! I did save the project, closed an reopened it , selected the Spherical camera from the drop down list and got a preview with detail at 5 for at least 20 minutes now. Maybe my PC is too old for this with 3rd gen I5@2.70GHz...
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 28, 2016, 02:45:03 AM
The button on the left of that one hasn't been set. I guess that's what's going wrong.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on March 28, 2016, 05:03:45 AM
I don't know, if I get you right. You mean your preview doesn't update, when you select "spherical cam"?!
I'm not sure if this is the problem, but when I created my VR scene I first tried to get some nice POVs with the regular camera put to a position where the viewers eyes are supposed to be.
Then I switched to spherical camera. The preview stayed the same! No spherical view in the preview window. But when you hit render (lo res with low quality settings for testing purposes - sometimes much faster than waiting for the preview), you get your spherical image.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Kadri on March 28, 2016, 05:08:14 AM

Same here Hannes. Wasn't clear probably how i wrote it.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 28, 2016, 10:58:02 AM
Not really a question but I uploaded my 3rd scene and as it was a single image I tried to upload the .tif the TG3 outputs but it kept refusing as an invalid format so I 7zipped it.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 28, 2016, 01:35:24 PM
Damn, I thought there should be a Spherical in the drop down but my TG3.4 doesn't have one. As I overwrote TG3.3 I can't check if it's just this version but in truth I've never seen that since I got the Full with Animation version. And I'm an OCD view updater....
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 28, 2016, 04:02:59 PM
We want you to upload JPGs Bobby, that's why TIFF is not accepted. ;) There's no reason to upload TIFFs, they're unnecessarily big. But your submission is fine as-is in an archive.

As for the Spherical dropdown, are you talking about in the camera node's settings, or where? The Spherical option in the camera is a radio button, not dropdown.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 28, 2016, 04:07:52 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on March 28, 2016, 04:02:59 PM
We want you to upload JPGs Bobby, that's why TIFF is not accepted. ;) There's no reason to upload TIFFs, they're unnecessarily big. But your submission is fine as-is in an archive.

As for the Spherical dropdown, are you talking about in the camera node's settings, or where? The Spherical option in the camera is a radio button, not dropdown.

- Oshyan


O K,I understand...a misunderstanding on my part....re: spherical drop down see Andy's post #86 in this thread
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 28, 2016, 04:21:53 PM
Andy created a new camera and named it "Spherical Camera". That dropdown is for the available cameras. So the name of any camera you create will show up there. But of course that doesn't make it a spherical camera, it's just a name. The actual Spherical Camera *option* is in the camera node settings.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: bobbystahr on March 28, 2016, 04:26:46 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on March 28, 2016, 04:21:53 PM
Andy created a new camera and named it "Spherical Camera". That dropdown is for the available cameras. So the name of any camera you create will show up there. But of course that doesn't make it a spherical camera, it's just a name. The actual Spherical Camera *option* is in the camera node settings.

- Oshyan

D'oh, yeah...brain cramp...I guess I was assuming Andy was getting an actual spherical view in the 3D preview but his screen grab doesn't in fact show that. Think we'll ever get a preview of the spherical camera?; would be a time saver.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: RicardoFSilva on March 28, 2016, 04:30:25 PM
Hello,

While reading the Terragen VR Challenge rules, point 9 states that:

            "Prepare to share your scene files with us (.TGD, objects, textures etc.). We may ask you to send us your files so that we can test how well the scene turns into a VR experience..."

My understanding is that one does not need to send the project files when submitting the images for the contest, they may be requested by Planetside at a later time.

I do not have any problem to send those files while submitting. However, I am using World Machine to generate the terrain and some textures, and the resulting files are above the 100 MB in size.

Can someone confirm that we do not need to send the project files while submitting for the VR contest?

Much appreciated,
Ricardo
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 28, 2016, 04:36:58 PM
Yes, that's correct Ricardo, for your initial submission you only need to send image files. We *may* later request your scene files during judgment, or if we have selected your scene as a winner (so that we can render it at higher quality/resolution).

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: RicardoFSilva on March 28, 2016, 04:40:30 PM
Thanks Oshyan for the quick answer. I am almost done here, final adjustments for the cameras and I am done

Ricardo
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: AndyWelder on March 28, 2016, 04:48:46 PM
@ Hannes:
QuoteBut when you hit render (lo res with low quality settings for testing purposes - sometimes much faster than waiting for the preview), you get your spherical image.
Thank you for explaining this. I followed your advise and am waiting for the results to show; render is going on for 8:35:xx now and still the window is black. Render settings for this test are: Size 900x450, detail 0.5, AA 3. What I call "lo res, low quality."
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 28, 2016, 04:53:12 PM
If that's 8 *hours* and 35 minutes, then it really sounds like something is wrong.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: AndyWelder on March 28, 2016, 05:39:15 PM
Yep, it was 8 hours 35 minutes, actually it's 9:31 now... I'll wait till tomorrow before I abort this render, just to be sure I'm not interrupting something going on in the background.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Dune on March 29, 2016, 02:30:06 AM
That small? Something is definitely wrong. You could try and put up the tgd for us to have a look at it.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: AndyWelder on March 30, 2016, 02:49:39 PM
Looks like I found the reason for all the rendering problems: The displacements. ::) The bottom part of the front camera view took over 6 hours to complete @ 1000x1000 Q5 AA3. This particular part did show some of the island the camera is positioned on. The other sides of the cube rendered much faster except the render of the camera looking down: This render is going on for over 31 hours and not even half way completed, most renderbuckets take up to 12 hours to complete. :(
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Ariel DK on March 31, 2016, 02:06:47 PM
Hi to all

I just have two simple questions:

1) I can use public DEM data sets?

2) and probably no much relationated with the contest: How works the "Gathered project" option?

Thanks in advance

EDIT: Forget the 2nd question ;)
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 31, 2016, 03:43:47 PM
Yes, you can use public DEM data, absolutely. You can use any external resources (objects, images, textures, etc.) but you have to render the final entry completely in Terragen.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: jacquesd on March 31, 2016, 04:29:00 PM
i have uploaded tiff images is it ok? or should i reupload jpgs?
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on March 31, 2016, 04:36:14 PM
TIFF is acceptable but we prefer high quality JPGs. TIFF is unnecessarily large.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Ariel DK on March 31, 2016, 05:56:13 PM
Quote from: Oshyan on March 31, 2016, 03:43:47 PM
Yes, you can use public DEM data, absolutely. You can use any external resources (objects, images, textures, etc.) but you have to render the final entry completely in Terragen.

- Oshyan

Many thanks
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Oshyan on April 05, 2016, 10:08:05 PM
SpeedTree content/models are now officially OK'd for use in the contest thanks to SpeedTree publisher IDV!

- Oshyan
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: digitalguru on April 10, 2016, 06:24:05 PM
Does the submission form take a while to process?

I submitted mine about 15 mins ago and it still looks like it's processing.

The files aren't that large, about 11 mb total for 3 jpegs.

Update: Re-submitted and it went through this time, turned off an ad bocker
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on April 11, 2016, 04:17:54 AM
A little off topic, since it's not about the contest, but does anyone know an Android app, that's compatible with Google's cardboard and plays 360° stereoscopic movies?
At the moment I'm using the AAA VR cinema app to play 360° movies on my phone, but I haven't found a stereoscopic player yet.
Title: Re: VR Questions? Post them here
Post by: Hannes on April 11, 2016, 05:31:53 AM
Well, I guess, I was a little too optimistic. I just read a lot about this stuff, and at the moment it seems quite difficult, if not impossible to create even 360° stereoscopic still images that work.