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Using Xfrog plants in Carrara

eponicaeponica Posts: 197
edited November 2014 in Carrara Discussion

Hi again folks! :-)

As you probably know, Xfrog has recently released another lovely batch of free plant samples for us to play with :) But I need to know a little more about the Carrara opacity channel to make 'em work.

In DS, I import the .obj. If it's used as is, the leaf planes are transparent. So I rummage around and find the (usually) included transparency maps, which I plug into the opacity channel, thus fixing the leaves.

The imported leaf planes are also transparent in Carrara, but I don't know where to plug in those transmaps. Please help...? :)

Post edited by eponica on

Comments

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,543
    edited December 1969

    The Alpha channel is the opacity channel in Carrara ;)
    You're gonna have fun with those! :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,543
    edited December 1969

    I should also add that Carrara has a way to make for some incredibly realistic lighting going on - at the expense of render time, of course!
    For leaves, try asking yourself what color the light would be passing through the leaf.
    Now, in the shader for the leaves, you have your transparency map in the alpha channel. You can make even the opaque parts more transparent if you use the Brightness control under the image to make it a bit darker. But that's not very real... just fast.
    If you use the Translucency Channel, you can have light pass through the leaves without becoming transparent!
    Again, this gets more advanced and requires more render time calculations and such, but it's easy to do and fun to experiment with, so I thought I should tell you about it.

    For this example, remember that Black = 0, which means no translucency. White = 100, meaning full translucency.
    We don't want to get anywhere near white.
    So we go for a color. A summertime maple leaf, at least one that is green, would have a green translucency, but not too much.
    So we set the translucency channel to "color" and then make that color green. Take some time to imagine the right shade of green for your leaves. Now drag that color from where it is to much, much closer to black. By the time I'm rendering, I usually have it so close to black that it almost looks black.
    The closer to black you go, the less the translucent effect, and vice versa.
    So if you go for a dark green, you'll get a lot of translucency allowing light to pass through the leaves.

    Some translucency is the most effective and realistic way to keep those black shadows from making your leaves look fake or painted.
    But messing around with lighting, using lights that don't cast shadows, and that only affect the trees can be much faster at render time - but that's another subject altogether! ;)

  • RoygeeRoygee Posts: 2,247
    edited November 2014

    When you import the Xfrog plants as .obj, use the Facet Meshes option instead of the default Vertex Primitives option - same goes for Ivy Generator http://vivec3d.com/3d-ivy-generator-2012/

    If you want bare branches, use the default option :)

    Post edited by Roygee on
  • eponicaeponica Posts: 197
    edited December 1969

    Wow, that was fast! Thanks guys :)

  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945
    edited December 1969

    eponica said:
    Wow, that was fast! Thanks guys :)

    Here in Belgium, it is not a compliment for a man !

  • eponicaeponica Posts: 197
    edited November 2014

    I meant 'those were fast replies' ;-)

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

    ROTFLMAO!!!! :ahhh:

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