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]

I know the guy your talking about. I actually exchanged several e-mails with him. He was using 3dsmax and a add on he was developing. This basically the same thing but with Blender. It is shocking how it comes out. The model can be put into any position and boom perfect. There is stepping. One of the videos show how to modify the code in the plug-in...have to try that next. But the stepping is easly smoothed in zbrush. You should definitly pick this videos up...in the video he has instrructions after the depthmap is created for aspire, artcam and zbrush. He and I differ on how to use in zbrush but both methods work fine. Dont have aspire nor artcam so no clue on that part.

He is suppose to be coming out with more vids on how to achieve a good relief from a photo...should be interesting. Like I said I was shocked how good this works..and FREE SOFTWARE....when the download didnt come right after paying I raised aand eyebrow..then the free download site, which took forever to DL..I was like ut oh..waste of 38 bucks..LOL Boy was I wrong

[mtylerfl]

My only hesitation was that it is just for Blender - yeh, like I need another learning curve to go through! However, in this case I think it may be worth it. (Over the years, I've downloaded/installed various versions of Blender...hated the GUI but I know it has been much improved since the early days.)

So you know the guy I was referring to? I sure would like to get ahold of him. Was hoping he would develop a plug-in that works directly in ArtCAM or Aspire!

[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?

[jpaluck]

Bergerud,

Yes some how the patch takes care of the z scaling. There are quite a few nodes you drag out to acheive this affect besides the bas relief node...see my screen shot. But the videos make it fairly simple to follow. With the video files he also includes a couple diffrent version of blender with the patch installed..basicall all ready to go. Once the nodes are set up it is as simple and has replacing models and posing them.

[bergerud]

Sounds really good, I will have to check it out. Thanks John.

[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.

[jpaluck]

MT,

The guys name is dennis sent you his email. I am addicted to this..lol. I have a file of a bunch of 3d models I tried to make patterns out back when I was learning modeling...no go...could do a depthmap no problem but it always lost detail. I am playing with all the models now. I put a screen shot kinda of explaining the issue and how this fixes it..not the specifics of fixing just example.