Any way to rotate a backdrop?

TurnerTurner Posts: 116
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

I'd like to rotate the backdrop (Backround has a rotation slider......) but don't think I can. I'd rather not rotate the whole scene if I don't have to, but think I might have to...

Any help appreciated!

thanks,
Andrew

Comments

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    There are no rotation controls for the Backdrop because it will show up no matter where the camera is positioned.

    To see the Backdrop while you are setting up your scene, you can open the Interactive Renderer (little circle icon with an up arrow) and enable the Show Backdrop check box.

    A couple caveats: The image you use in the Backdrop has no image based light effect (such as the Background) when the skylight is enabled, it will not reflect, it should be the same aspect ratio as the final render (or it will look distorted) and it will be visible in all the cameras including the director's camera

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  • TurnerTurner Posts: 116
    edited December 1969

    Thanks again...

    Yeah, I was hoping to find some "magic background" that would let me use the same type of wrapping you get from HDRI but allow two different images, e.g. a "lights only" HDRI map for lighting but then an "image-only" wrap.

    cheers & have a great holiday-
    Andrew

  • Design AcrobatDesign Acrobat Posts: 459
    edited December 1969

    Turner said:
    Thanks again...

    Yeah, I was hoping to find some "magic background" that would let me use the same type of wrapping you get from HDRI but allow two different images, e.g. a "lights only" HDRI map for lighting but then an "image-only" wrap.

    cheers & have a great holiday-
    Andrew

    What you need is a sky dome or box. I believe there are some commercially available from DAZ. Someone may offer on how to make your own so you can get that panorama view while scanning the view.

  • TurnerTurner Posts: 116
    edited December 1969

    Thanks for the note!

    I'll look into sky domes...

    Andrew

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    You can use an hdri in the scene's Background and an image in the Backdrop to hide the hdri. This way, the hdri provides IBL lighting and reflections, while the backdrop stays the same no matter the angle.

  • TurnerTurner Posts: 116
    edited December 1969

    Right - but the backdrop doesn't rotate with the HDRI...

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Turner said:
    Right - but the backdrop doesn't rotate with the HDRI...

    I know that.

    I guess I don't get what you want. If you want a spherical image, then use one in either in the background or map it onto a sphere. If you have a standard image, but need it to look as if the camera is panning or tracking from side to side or up or down, then map the image to a plane and use it like a billboard.

    If you have a panoramic image, then make a curved surface, somewhat like a cyclorama and map the image to that.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    You can use a regular, non-HDRI spherical image in the background and enable the Skylight in the render room and it will act just like an hdri, though a bit less dynamic.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,200
    edited December 1969

    make your big sphere not cast or recieve shadows
    I use big spheres a lot instead on backgrounds so I can see it in assembly room with texture view on.

  • edited December 2013

    A couple caveats: and 'Backdrop' will be visible in all the cameras including the director's camera

    Not Strictly True evilproducer,

    If you have 8.5 then we had a couple of nice little features added to cover this, esspecially handy
    if you are working a matchmoving scene.

    In the Interactive Render Settings box there is a new checkbox marked 'Show Backdrop (Directors Camera)',
    unchecking this will stop the backdrop showing in the directors camera. Also, if you select any camera in your
    scene (except the directors one) and look in the properties tray's 'General' tab, in the 'View' section you'll
    find a new checkbox called 'Show Backdrop', unchecking this will stop the backdrop being visible in these cameras
    too. These little additions ensure that if you have a backdrop loaded up you can restrict the backdrop to only be
    visible in your chosen 'Render Camera' thus leaving your 3D Views windows free. Much easier to consentrate on
    what your manipulating in the other views.

    Tee Hee

    Post edited by pscammp_2e78c43842 on
  • edited December 1969

    Turner,
    'Rotating the backdrop' does'nt make much sense to me either but if thats what you want to do then
    who are we to stand in your way.........

    Try This:-

    Drop a flat plane primitive into your scene and position it face on to your intended render camera, open its
    shader and load up you backdrop image/video into the colour channel and turn off all other options like
    reflections, transparency, highlight etc, in properties tray be sure to disable cast AND recieve shadows. Then,
    rotate this plane in front of the camera.

    Obviously this plane will need to be a bit oversized because when your plane twists 90 degree's one way
    it will not fill the field of view for the camera horizontally so a little thaught will have to go in to the planning.
    The higher the resolution of your image/video the better in this situation.

    Just a Thaught......

    Good Luck
    Paul

  • JamyJamy Posts: 192
    edited December 1969

    Hi,

    it's possible to built a hemispherical object.

    you could find some samples and texture here :

    http://www.sharecg.com/v/4040/

    and texture here :

    http://www.marlinstudios.com/samples/samppano.htm

    Discussion on Daz here :

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/1498/

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,543
    edited December 1969

    Turner said:
    Thanks again...

    Yeah, I was hoping to find some "magic background" that would let me use the same type of wrapping you get from HDRI but allow two different images, e.g. a "lights only" HDRI map for lighting but then an "image-only" wrap.

    cheers & have a great holiday-
    Andrew

    So, if I'm reading this right, you would like to use the Background for a spherical map, like your HDRI lighting, and still use the backdrop to override the image that comes through in the HDRI?

    This being the case, you can do this. Wendy hints into it - you create a spherical image, unless you already have one, and map it to a large sphere - remove cast/receive shadows and place the image in the glow channel for its own illumination. This will allow your HDRI to light the scene from the background setting, while having the cameras actually see what's on the sphere - and then you can rotate the sphere.

    Otherwise, if all you wish is to rotate an image in the background settings, do as you didn't want to, and put the entire scene into a single group and rotate it while looking through the Directors Camera. Any other cameras, if their in the group, like they should be, will make this difficult to get the rotation just right.

  • Design AcrobatDesign Acrobat Posts: 459
    edited December 2013

    Links that may be relative to the topic at hand:

    Digital Carver's Guild
    Starbright

    StarBright is a background plug-in that wraps your scene in a globe covered in stars. You can

    control the number of stars, their size, their pattern, the rotation and elevation of the star

    dome and the color of the dome itself. While StarBrights effect tends to be fairly subtle, it

    can add some of the finishing details that turn an ordinary shot into an impressive shot.

    http://www.digitalcarversguild.com/plugin.php?ProductId=14


    YouTube videos on light domes

    Creating Realistic Sky And Sun Lighting With Light Domes PART 1
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtUZLbHI2Sg

    Creating Realistic Sky And Sun Lighting With Light Domes PART 2
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSVDSvsmeaM

    Creating Realistic Sky And Sun Lighting With Light Domes PART 3
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvneQ8_gjk8

    Bryce spherical mapper (if you have bryce) available commercially


    Forum thread here:
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/2895/

    Bryce 7 Pro Spherical Mapper Available in DAZ Store

    Turn your Bryce scenes into spherically mapped images - for use in Bryce (and other software)
    as pre-rendered backdrops.

    http://www.daz3d.com/bryce-7-pro-spherical-mapper

    Post edited by Design Acrobat on
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    pscammp said:

    A couple caveats: and 'Backdrop' will be visible in all the cameras including the director's camera

    Not Strictly True evilproducer,

    If you have 8.5 then we had a couple of nice little features added to cover this, esspecially handy
    if you are working a matchmoving scene.

    In the Interactive Render Settings box there is a new checkbox marked 'Show Backdrop (Directors Camera)',
    unchecking this will stop the backdrop showing in the directors camera. Also, if you select any camera in your
    scene (except the directors one) and look in the properties tray's 'General' tab, in the 'View' section you'll
    find a new checkbox called 'Show Backdrop', unchecking this will stop the backdrop being visible in these cameras
    too. These little additions ensure that if you have a backdrop loaded up you can restrict the backdrop to only be
    visible in your chosen 'Render Camera' thus leaving your 3D Views windows free. Much easier to consentrate on
    what your manipulating in the other views.

    Tee Hee

    I'm using C7.2. It's nice to know that they updated the location of the control to do that.

  • Design AcrobatDesign Acrobat Posts: 459
    edited December 2013

    Forgot to include PhilW's Infinite skill training course in the DAZ store that shows how to make scenes with panaroma using the spherical camera.

    http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-8-5-tutorial-video-11-5-hours-long-instant-digital-download

    There is the same training course with less updated stuff (8.5 stuff) not included for older versions of Carrara Pro which can be found here.

    http://www.daz3d.com/advanced-carrara-techniques

    The PhilW training course obviously includes more (hours of video training on many things) than the panorama method with spherical cameras, but just including this for the purpose of information on this thread.

    Post edited by Design Acrobat on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,543
    edited December 1969

    Yes. In the Advanced Training he gets into making HDR Images as well as the spherical, and the whole of setting stuff up.
    A bit off the original topic, but in case anyone reading this wants to know:
    I run various lessons from this quite often for reference. Yeah, he actually 'teaches', so it's easy to retain each subject, but he does cover a lot of stuff. Besides... he's fun! Sometimes I put it on just as the show to watch for the night. I'll set up a playlist in media player starting with the last one where he tells you who he is and his experience in CG and Carrara, then run several topics in the order I wish. He grants some very useful insight on building shaders from the ground up, goes through techniques on creating particle emitters, even using Fenric's ERC for Carrara and a whole slew of modeling techniques. Before you get into modeling though, he begins to introduce you to UV Mapping. I entirely agree with him that UV Map set up is important to know and practice directly along with your learning of modeling. I was lucky in that regard - UV Mapping is what I did to get me interested in 3d modeling - so for me, UV Mapping came first.
    3D Painting, custom plants, creating morphs, displacement mapping, replication, camera techniques, dynamic hair, working with primitives... it is an excellent course.

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