If this is a no-brainer... forgive me. It seemed cool to me.

I came up with this while working on the TWO project and thought I would share.

Basically it is a very very low patch way to create railings, or hand rail posts. I have a model that will have like... a bazillion rail posts... so... while I'm getting things lookin' good before I decide the final rail post design... I still want to "see" it.

This technique allows me to actually see the railing effect in shaded preview which is great for my purposes. Plus the patch count is virtually non-existent compared to individual meshes.

I also think in some cases these could be used for a final project. As long as they appear in the distance.

If this tutorial would be better in another format, I will see if I can put something together. PDF sounds good.

http://lowrestv.com/lowres/tutorials/tutor....asp?tut_id=t14

Anyone from the TWO project reading this... I will use real posts... I promise. This is for the proxy set.

p.s. I also used the same thing for a whole bunch o' ladders.

Vernon "!" Zehr

Very straightforward Vern. A great use of cookie cut images.
The guide/alignment tips are really great too.

Thanks!
Rodney

Another keeper tut Vern ,thanks for sharing, will come in handy.

Michael

I just added a project file to the tutorial. It is at the top of the page and includes the image and the simple railing model that I used for the tut.

Vernon "!" Zehr

I haven't looked at many tutorials in the tutorial section of the forum.
I must say that I like the interactivity of the tutorial quite a bit.

Nifty!

Thanks Nyahkitty,

I have a database set up I built myself that allows me to create tutorials on my lowrestv.com site very easily all based on a single template. I just fill out a couple of forms upload the images for each step etc.

I added a special bit of code that allows me to add JS "image swaps" just by clicking a checkbox in the form. It saves room and allows for larger images and smaller pages (less scrolling).

The draw back of course... you can't print the tutorials... I think I will create a new alternate template that will allow printing of the tutorials. I have to figure out what to do about the animated gifs of course. I may just use JS to animate single images then those can be used in the print version.... so many ideas so little time.

I use to labor on tutorials. This way I can do it much easier and faster. I haven't done a tutorial with this system in a long time and it still made sense... so that is good.

I plan to do another one soon for some displacement tricks I am using for architectural elements.

Vernon "!" Zehr

Vern,
Nice job.
Looking forward to the Architectural tutes as well.

Thanks,
David

I have expanded on this idea just a tad.

The railings looked a little sparse and since they are just one patch in thickness they had no dimension. So I tried adding a bump map... I liked the results I was getting and did this really over the top fancy railing in photoshop as a tiled image using the exact same technique in the tutorial.

I can see this being used in large architectural projects for lots and lots of intricate details without the memory hit of large patch counts.

Here are the results...

This is the alpha and bump map for the effect. The bump map is a breeze to create. Just use the selection from the alpha to create a layer filled with black over a black background. Using Photoshop add the layer style Inner Glow. You want to click on center instead of edge and fiddle with the settings.

[attachmentid=10069]

This is the wire frame. Very very sparse. Plus, using cookie cut allows you to see the effect in shaded preview... maybe this is a limitation on my machine but I don't see transparency in shaded preview except using a cookie cut.

[attachmentid=10070]


This is the result. I used mult-ipass set for 9 passes.

[attachmentid=10071]


Vernon "!" Zehr

Looks pretty fine even up close.

Yes it does look good even up close... uh... as long as the camera never moves!

That is where it falls apart. Once the camera starts to move around the object "close up" it reveals the flat nature of the mesh.


Vernon "!" Zehr

Very real looking, Thanks for including the file also...

Michael

Ooooo...really like that - love the design.