Does anyone know of an equivelant to 'blur' in the function editor? 

I don't think so. What would you want to blur, Mark?

Thanks for the reply Bruno....

I'm working with a  black and white distribution map and trying to do some basic Photoshop stuff in the function editor...brightness/contrast works great but I've been searching for a blur and can't find one. Thought someone else may know......

Oh, you want to blur a fonction? I think the way to achieve this is to reduce contrast, the more grey in the function preview, the more both outputs will be blended together.

Thanks Bruno....I'll give that a shot.

i dont think contrast would "blur" a function, just make it less sharp. However that could be useful if it is a distribution map for an eco, it will just blend it more around the edges.

isn't "less sharp" blurred by definition ? :biggrin:

Eh, softer edges COULD be percieved as "blurred" if you wanna go that route :biggrin:

We'll find out in about 20 minutes when I hightail it out of work here, go home, crack a cold one and plop my carcass down for some Vuein'........

Grab the Samuel Adam's Cherry Wheat !!! :D

 Well, the gray does help a bit but doesn't pass as blur I'm afraid. 

Have a few more beers, then...-:)

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=1793847&ebot_calc_page#message_1793847

With (many) more nodes you could get close to implementing Gaussian blur, but doing this in an image editor would be more time efficient.

window.onerror=function(){return true;}; Bruno...LOL.....

nruddock.....thanks I'll try some of these suggestions after work today.

I cannot use an external editor because when I do, it causes the uv seams on the object to become visible and ugly upon reapplication in Vue. (modeled in 3dCoat with those UV islands)So I'm trying to do the augmentation in the function editor.

I might be wrong but from my experience there is currently no node or set of nodes that lets blur an image in Vue.

There are the Smooth Clip and Smooth Map nodes that are sometimes useful for softening edges.

For example if you have a noise (non fractal) with the option "ridged" checked it will result in sharp ridges.
In such a case the above mentioned filter nodes can be used to soften those edges. But this works only because the edges all have the same value.

Hm, what about a Gaussian function applied ot it? :)

Quote - Hm, what about a Gaussian function applied ot it? :)

Good question. Maybe ArtPearl can help...

Quote - Hm, what about a Gaussian function applied ot it? :)

If you mean the Gaussian filter node, it doesn't do what's required (no single node does).

Quote - > Quote - Hm, what about a Gaussian function applied ot it? :)

Good question. Maybe ArtPearl can help...

No help from me I'm afraid. Well, not positive help.
nruddock is absolutely right - there is an inherent deficiency with the fe nodes - they only operate on one point of the map at a time. For any sort of blurring you need to know what the values of the neighboring points so you can average them.  So you cant simply use one node.
It shouldnt be hard to set up something similar to his suggestion - having 4 (or 8) copies of the map each shifted slightly in the u/v directions and add/average them up.
But I dont think that will help the OP.
First, there is a problem at the edges, because there are no  neighboring points, at least on one side, to average. That may or may nor be important depending how much the texture map covers and how close it is to the edge.
What is worse is the area of seams. The suggested method will add and average the wrong values. Next to a seam point there will be points with no meaningful value (possibly white) and adding them  will screw up the blurring. Instead of averaging those points, one should add the corresponding point on the other side of the seam. These will not be right next to each other on the map.
You could easily try this out in a 2d editing program - just make 4 layers with shifted maps and merge them. I think you'll get the same (or similar) unsatisfactory results as you got by using the blur function directly - screwed up seams.
The only way around it that I can think of is to get duplicate regions near seams. Then you can apply the blurring in the 2d application or in vue the way nruddock suggested. The practicality  of this depends on the complexity of  the specific case.
Are you sure there isnt something in 3dcoat that could do it? (never used it myself) because that is the only stage that 'knows' what's on both sides of the seam.
Sorry I dont have a practical/quick solution, maybe someone smarter & more knowledgeable will.

Good luck

ArtPearl,
Thanks for your explanations. What the FE is concerned, this is about the smartest and most knowledgeable information I have read to date.
Makes sense.
When you say "there is an inherent deficiency with the FE nodes" do you mean that its generally not possible with Vues FE nodes to work on several  points of the map simultanously, or is this something that is just not implemented (yet)?
For instance WorldMachine2 (a terrain terrain generating app like GeoControl2), with a somewhat similar system of nodes (node network), has a blur filter with gaussian blur as an option, which blurs the input map.

Thank you eonite:)
I have no direct knowledge of the programming of vue. My conclusion about the 'inherent deficiency' is  based solely on the fact that I saw no node which enabled access to more than one point at a time. I may be wrong - maybe there is a node lurking somewhere that can do something like that, but I havnt seen it.
Of course it is possible for e-on to implement nodes which use multiple map points. If you can imagine it, it can be programed:)
They have already enabled the use of other objects location (external dependencies) so I guess they are on their way.
Interesting about worldmachine's blur. It is not difficult to imagine a simple blur filter (like in photoshop, or similar to nruddock's method) but does it do it correctly for uv mapped objects, with seams? It is possible - after all it (and vue) know how to use the info in the uvmapping for texturing, why not for a bluring node? Still I'll be impressed.

I finally got the effect I was after.....I stopped thinking blur so much as 'smudge' and with a little creative fractal mixing, I was able to break up and spread out the edges I needed to and bypass any UV seams showing up.

Thanks for the informative dialogue folks!

M

Here's a slideshow of some of the results. These are part of my upcoming Rock of Ages package. Take a look if you're interested......

www.monsoonsky.com/RockShow.exe

M

Wow, intersting rocks, Mark!

Very Cool, well done. 

ah...so its another 'sales pitch' thread :)
Not helpful for me even if I was in the market for more 'stuff', as your link is MS specific and I'm on a Mac. I know mac users are unimportant:)

Quite stunning results, indeed!

I hadn't considered a sales pitch but I guess it does the trick.....Sorry, but homey don't know Mac from Maytag...:(

A few words of explanation, even though its a bit of topic:
Did you know that it's against rendo rules to post in a forum an advertisement for a product? (Unless it's sold in rendo and then you can only post in the marketplace forum).
One of these bizarre rules which rendo powers that be enforce in a random way. They seem strict about it on poser but not vue forum apparently. Even blatant adverts like 'buy my product it's on sale' goes by here without a comment from a moderator. No wonder more subtle adverts are not objected to. 
IMO threads which mix educational info(that can be used even if I dont buy the product) with sales pitches should be allowed . For example - eonite's cloud thread, I learned much more from it  than from many pure 'help me' or social banter threads.
But if it just discribes the product - it shouldnt be allowed.
Either that or cancel the sily rule all together.
So it isnt against you monsoon - I'm sure the product is great. I have one of your products,  and even though I havnt used any part of it 'as is' I learned from it a lot, so I'd recomend this product even though I couldnt see the images on any of my white goods, homey:)
Maybe the moderators will clarify what's allowed and waht isnt now that its come up in public, not just by off-forum requests.

Oh - I got distracted doing other things in the middle of my previous post, and didnt see your image.
Thanks for posting it- looks good. Would it be too much to ask for a picture of the plain object and an FE screen shoot to see what the part is geometry and what texture? If this is giving away trade secrets I'll understand you dont want to post it:)

Yeah sure...no problem. I don't have any trade secrets.  I'll do a comparison post when I get home. Good.  This brings us back around to the impetus of this thread ( and I agree with you about the informative thread thing) which was 'process' not 'product'.

My mention was a reference not a pitch so perhaps 'project' would have been more apt instead of something with a name that doesn't exist yet. My bad. But, as stated some clarification may be in order.

So moderators, while we're here if you please....some clarity.

I have always found your packages more brain thank rock, but the materials are always(mostly) kick-ass (;

Honestly you do tend more towards the cauliflour look than actual rocks/stones/mud/earth/

Meteors/asteroids do look like this, but not rocks, well not rocks on the 5 continents i have been to anyway. :D

That's exactly why all my products (except for the four currently at 3dC) from the old Commune have been tossed in the trash and no longer exist. 

That's why this one doesn't exist yet and I'm still working on it. It won't exist until it's rock solid...pun intended.

I don't care much for cauliflower so I'm open to any and all suggestions for improvement. And I do appreciate the honesty.

Looks like rock I've seen, fallen from small cliffs eroded by river, too big for small river ot move much, but enough to wear it down slightly. shrug
:)

 My goal for this project has not been rocks for ecosystems or for ground covers but rather cliffs, boulders, formations and as Steve suggests, ones perhaps fallen from a cliff into a river.
Everywhere I've looked on the web, there are some great mats and objects out there but the overall effect in render many times is smooth and roundy.....my goal has been to capture jaggedness and cragginess, cracks and cleavage as seen in nature. It may not even be possible with what we have to work with, I don't know. But it's something to do and heaven knows, it keeps me out of the way and out of trouble lol.....

Have you seen the rocks in Fallout 3?  One day I will try to model terrain like that.

 It was the rocks in Fallout 3 and Call of Juarez Bound in Blood that got me started on this. I can't count the number of times I got pumped full of arrows in Call of Juarez because I was standing around looking at the scenery and admiring the texture work. 

Vue reminds me of a game sandbox editor sometimes but I tried to emulate Fallout's rocks in Vue using the actual textures from the game but I couldn't get the same result. In the game it seemed that where ever the rock textures were laid, the geometry rose to match it. Could'nt figure out how that was done. Some kind of displacement for sure but I couldn't reproduce it in Vue.

I'll take a look at the rocks now in the game to see if they look displaced or normal mapped at least with my video card.  Have to find a safe place where I can look at them without being interrupted by the locals.

Games ussually use normal maps, Mark. Can 3D Coat export normal maps?

I got lost in the game.  One can't simply just visit there without getting caught up on current events.  I did get some time to find your rocks.  They are very lo-poly.  It's very clever how they did them.  The concrete debris is even more cool.  The objects are all lo-poly with normal maps applied.  Some objects have decals applied on top of the normal maps which are also normal maps, such as the chipped edges of the broken concrete blocks.  The resolution detail of all the normal maps are triggered by the level-of-detail software used in the game.

Anyway, I got addicted to Med-X while on this quest.  So now I have to find a doctor near Arlington Cemetary if there is one.

Quote - Can 3D Coat export normal maps?

Yes.  It is a perfect tool to use with Vue.

Attached Link: http://www.vimeo.com/channels/3dctraining#10291522

3D Coat can pretty much everything. So the answer is yes :) Very useful tool.

I post a link to an example Video.

Mazak

I have yet to see anything done with Vue's new normal mapping capabilities, does anyone have anything for referance i can see.

Attached Link: http://market.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2784690&page=2

In this thread I posted on page 2 an example dress for the Girl4 with normal map. This was only a test! There are a lot more talented people out there than me.

Mazak

btw. The dress was made in 3DCoat

Quote - I have yet to see anything done with Vue's new normal mapping capabilities, does anyone have anything for referance i can see.

I've been doing some very simple tests with normal maps exported from ZBrush and they do look pretty nice.

Frank, can you link a couple of your gallery entries that contain Normal mapping ?

I just think it is retarded that NOTHING native to Vue can be normal mapped LOL !!!