Options for animating TGOs

Started by gregtee, October 30, 2013, 10:05:12 PM

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gregtee

So what are the available options for adding things like wind displacements to xfrog tgo files?  Ideally I'd like to do it all in TG but I know that's not possible now so instead I assume running simulations on these formats outside of TG and then importing an object sequence is the way to go.  My question is how does one export an xfrog TGO file out of TG into something a package like Houdini could use?  I gather exporting as an obj with texture coordinates intact would work, but I can't figure out how to save a TGO as an OBJ, if it's even possible.

Thanks

Greg

Supervisor, Computer Graphics
D I G I T A L  D O M A I N

Dune

You can just save a tgo and choose the extension at the bottom tab.

gregtee

ok, I'm dense.   I don't see any save options in the tgo reader node.  unless there's another save option somewhere I'm missing.  :o
Supervisor, Computer Graphics
D I G I T A L  D O M A I N

Dune

If you right click on the imported tgo, you can choose save... etc.

j meyer

As far as I remember most xfrog models have an export lock.
So,if you have xfrog as an app you could export from there or
you could try to use dandelOs method for a bit of a wind effect.
Only for the leaves iirc.
There has to be the animation and some discussion somewhere
on these forum,don't recall where though,please use the search
function.Or maybe someone else can chime in and help.



gregtee

thanks for the info j meyer. 

I looked at some of those links and the tree anim looks promising but the grass one isn't realistic enough.  What I really need is something to displace palm tree fronds in a wind like fashion.  The trick is always that you want to make the individual leaf fronds displace differently than the main stem it's attached to and then you may or may not want some sway on the main trunk depending on the wind type.

This is where another app comes into play such as Houdini where I'd have the artist weight the individual components of the tree, run a wind simulation on it and then kick out an object sequence that would be imported back into Terragen.  I saw some Vue renders of wind driven trees a while back that looked pretty impressive as well.  It's too bad we don't have this ability yet here natively. 

I did try Dune's suggestion of right clicking and exporting a TGO as a OBJ but the save option is locked so that's not an option.  I guess had I known that xfrog objects purchased in the TGO format stay in the TGO format I would have just bought OBJ format to start since Terragen can handle those too. 
Supervisor, Computer Graphics
D I G I T A L  D O M A I N

Matt

Quote from: gregtee on October 31, 2013, 03:20:06 PM
I did try Dune's suggestion of right clicking and exporting a TGO as a OBJ but the save option is locked so that's not an option.  I guess had I known that xfrog objects purchased in the TGO format stay in the TGO format I would have just bought OBJ format to start since Terragen can handle those too.

I believe you can simply request the additional formats at no extra cost, when you buy. I would recommend getting both TGO and OBJ, although some of the newer TGOs are not locked. You can probably contact the seller and ask to download the OBJs.

Matt
Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.

gregtee

Thanks Matt.  On the same note, assuming I can get object sequnce obj in, do I have to render with RTO off?   
Supervisor, Computer Graphics
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Oshyan

If you are using an externally created *sequence* of OBJs, no you don't need to render with RTO off. The animation is not being created with displacement, it's only rendering 1 object at a time for each frame, it just uses a different OBJ for the next frame, all of which the RTO option handles fine.

- Oshyan

TheBadger

Hi,
Very curious, what number of plants as sequences are we talking about here? individuals, or populations? Can you populate a sequence? And if so, what kind of numbers are we talking about?

If anyone wants a render test Ill do it. I am working a ton of hours and my system is idle all day everyday. If a sequence can (1) be populated, and (2) a project can be set up and sent to me, Ill hit render and let you know when its done.

I would be very interested to see a animated forest in TG.
It has been eaten.

gregtee

I have access to considerable resources to do this kind of thing, but what I don't have are access to obj plant models.  I bought the xfrog tropical collection and Matt says I can have them give me the purchase in obj format which I'll follow up on, but of anyone has obj models of tress they'd be willing to share I can have a Houdini artist preform the wind simulations on them and run it through the process. 

-Greg

Supervisor, Computer Graphics
D I G I T A L  D O M A I N

TheBadger

Thats cool. But again, I would like to know if anyone has, or anyway if its possible, to populate a sequences? I have only seen animations with one sequence of multiple objects, but do not recall any definitive statement about populating that sequence. Does that make sense?
It has been eaten.

Oshyan

Yes, you can certainly populate an object sequence. Of course every instance of it will animate exactly the same which would probably call attention to the repetition more than a static image with instancing would, though it depends on what you're animating...

- Oshyan