Blender bas releif node patch

[jpaluck]

This things works awsome. This guy has a video up and I looked at it quite a few times. Last night I said what the heck its only $38.00...I have no problem paying for stuff if it's good. There is no istant download so you have to wait for the link to be emailed to you. The download is on a site that is for free downloads...I figured it would have been self hosted..I thought ok here we go 38 bucks out the window.

I am in awe of how well this does creating a a depth map from a full 3d model. The issue normally you can not get a good depth map from a full 3d model due to the zdepth..always loses detail sharp drop off etc...this eliminates and works dead perfect. You can put your model in any angle and it renders perfect. I have attached a couple quick tries with some model that will not make good depthmaps in zbrush or max. These came out really good. They have some stepping but that is easily fixed in zbrush or sculptris with a little smoothing.

I find modeling in 3d is sometimes alot easier than 2.5d and faster. This will bridge the gap to get a good releif out of a full model. Gonna try a car next..they never come out right from a model..I am sure it will work well.

Best part the software is free..blender..and add sculptis for some minor smoothing and you are good to go. They also use photoshop at the end a little..I am sure PS could be replaced with gimp for it is minor work. Everything you need is in the e-mail..ie blender the patch and the videos..no talking on the vids but it was easy enough to follow along with.

I also put a screenshot of what the node editing looks like in blender..it looks complicated but it's really not..just follow along with the video.

I highly recommend this video for anyone wanting to create patterns..even if you dont know how to model there are a ton of free ones out there...the modonna and mickey below were free on a site i found a while back.

here is the link to the guy's site

http://buy.3drelief.net/

[jpaluck]

Whats really cool about this you put the model on any angle and get a good relief. This almost never works in most methods of getting a heightmap from a model.

[mtylerfl]

That is a great tool, John. Thank you for the heads-up!

A few years ago, I followed a link to a website where the guy was developing a tool exactly like this (was a link from the ArtCAM Forum where he was posting). He was showing and explaining the process of retaining a superb amount of detail when converting from a true full-3D model to a relief model. Everyone was very excited about it, but he totally disappeared. I have a feeling this may be the same fellow finally re-appearing! I will definitely be buying this!

[jpaluck]

LG might ebe a simple job for you..LOL but it wasnt for me. I could never figure it out prior to trying this plug in. Somehow I figured you knew how to do this.

Here are a couple, again done from full 3d statue. I cant take any credit for these models as they are free online...I just put them thru blender bas relief node

[liquidguitars]

Well it had to be simple if i did it...


here i still see the eage from the conversion... if i used the STL program I could just cut it off a little.

[jpaluck]

weird..I go to it by following links on this page http://www.blendernation.com/2009/06...de-in-blender/

[CNC Carver]

Try this.
http://wiki.blender.org/

[jpaluck]

Ok here are few more...I love this thing..it has given the best results for bas releif render. You can put the model on any agle in x y z and get a good pattern. Looking into a 3d scanner..too fun.

[bergerud]

Whats really cool about this you put the model on any angle and get a good relief. This almost never works in most methods of getting a heightmap from a model.

I wonder just what the software is doing. You should try a few basic geometric shapes to see what happens. A sphere or a cone for example. Is there some z scaling going on? How does the software determine the back plane position? Remember the example of the cartoon character with the big feet which stuck out too far into the foreground. The feet had to be scaled back so as not to over influence the z scaling. Are you saying that the patch somehow takes care of such problems?

[mtylerfl]

I wonder just what the software is doing. You should try a few basic geometric shapes to see what happens. A sphere or a cone for example. Is there some z scaling going on? How does the software determine the back plane position? Remember the example of the cartoon character with the big feet which stuck out too far into the foreground. The feet had to be scaled back so as not to over influence the z scaling. Are you saying that the patch somehow takes care of such problems?

The "mystery" fellow John and I know about, did give an explanation of a sort, way back when, of how he retains the details in Z. I'll be darned if I can recall what he said - at the time, he was comparing how superior his method was compared to ArtCAM's "Keep Detail" feature. I briefly searched the ArtCAM Forum to see if I could find his posts, but did not yield any result. I may try again later...

John, if you still have his email address, perhaps you could share it with me via PM, but only IF you feel comfortable with that, of course.