ArchiCad C4d R9 Plugin trouble

[Wokka]

Ok, I've been using the OBJ file format for years to import into C4D and thought, since I have it, I'll give the new plugin a go. Everything comes in nice except that anything curved has had it's geometry hacked with a carving knife

Any ideas???
Thanks

[Anonymous]

I want to sit down and write a full review, that will have to be later, but for now I share at least this much.

Looking at the tremendous high quality work at:

http://www.pacificommultimedia.com/architecture.html

Talking with them, they use Max,Viz and Vray and a team of artist- I appreciate the quality provided by those tools, but I feel a crossplatform solution can be found that does approximately the same effect. The 3D grass shown in their animations provided the main inspiration.

The Grass:

I have checked out:

Hair Dept: Free
http://www.maxon.net/pages/dyn_files/dyn_htx/htx/58/00058_00081.html


AND diTools - more about this later


http://www.remotion.de.vu/


Now, the grass in the previously submitted image was done with:

http://www.dpit2.de/

My motion test:

http://www.Burginger.com/DPInstantTree/Grass.mov


It is about the best solution I have come across as of today 12/3/04 - however I have received an email about something being currently developed. When I learn more I will forward the information ASAP.

Another note worth mentioning is:

Model all dimensioned items in ArchiCAD, set up your material structure in ArchiCAD - Layers/Materials - export as OBJ, covered by Michael Rensing in the C4D thread. But here is the Cooking with Gas solution for Materials: (Guys take out your wallet, Gals your purse) This is going to be worth every penny. *** In Beta to be released soon ***

http://www.dunako.com/

CHECK OUT MAT MANAGER!

[Eduardo Rolon]

The link that
http://www.maxon.net/pages/dyn_files/dyn_htx/htx/58/00058_00081.html

refers to is down

[Anonymous]

O.K. today it looks like it is down.

This is the problem with free software, share-ware, etc. No guarantees.


When it is up, you might find that it does not work with Mac browsers. Maybe they are fixing that today. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

OSX plugin on a Windows only web site....


Mark

[Eduardo Rolon]

Did try the windows option and No Go...

[Anonymous]

working now...

+pablo

Mac G5/C4D9/AC9

[Eduardo Rolon]

Still trying with no luck... server cannot be found

[Anonymous]

The Advanced Render module for AC9 is capable of grass via SPD (SubPolygon Displacement). It is said to be much less render demanding than Hair Dept. for large areas. I got these bits from elsewhere on the net Googling around....



09-30-2004, 07:00 PM
SPD is really no more complicated than a bump map which doesn't just fake raised/lowered surface detail visually, but actually constructs the extra surface detail at rendertime from tiny polys. it does this by subdividing the object further, so if you take a 1x1 plane and apply SPD with a 4x setting to it (which is the default), you get a new poly density equivalent to having that 1x1 plane subdivided 4 times. you can see more clearly how it works if you go into render settings>effects and turn on the 'cel render' effect with edges turned on. it'll show you where the SPD polys are and how dense they get with each setting.

more useful stuff:

- the 0 - 100% slider in the SPD channel determines how round or spiky the SPD looks. make it 100, and you'll get something that looks like fur. at 20% you should see a much more subtle effects

- the SPD height determines how far the SPD go outwards from the surface, or inwards into the surface (negative setting)

- the 'round geometry' thing has the same effect as a hypernurbs object. so if you apply spiky SPD to a polycube with rounding on, it won't look like a spiky cube, but rather a spiky cube with hypernurbs-like rounding.


09-30-2004, 04:47 PM
make a plane set to 1x1
in the displacement channel add a layer shader
in the layer shader make any noise or combination of noise layers you want
on top of the noise layers make a gradient shader set to radial
set this to multiply and perhaps lighten the black to a dark grey
apply material to plane
nothing really noticable happens
now turn on SPD
set subdivision to 4
notice something happening now?
Increase subdivision to 8
now are you seeing the effect?
Try increasing the height value in the displacement channel.

Thats what you need to know for now, don't worry about the different image types and such those are for advanced uses and you shouldn't concern yourself with that yet.

[Anonymous]

Mark,

Pacificommultimedia.. ! What spellbinding work!! Even a french baguette hand cut!.. When it comes to good interior work no doubt best to contract out.. I'll stick to exteriors only. Wow..

What was the render time for that full lawn (cut the grass and cut your render time down??) Tried SPD?? I intend to do a comparison.. SPD versus Hair Dept..

[Anonymous]

Rendertime not really a problem, C4D can cut through 1.5GB of polygon data within several minutes (4 or 5). It was the memory load that causes the major headache.

My machine is 2.5GB Memory and I could run out when creating a convincing lawn equal to 1/4 acre. If your goal is to recreate the White House Lawn, fill the banks with memory.

I am in no way an expert at any of this stuff, I approach it as an advanced learner. If I can do it within 3 hours the goal can be achieved by nearly anyone. Please pursue the sans plugin avenue you have found, we need to learn more from everyone. Thanks