I don't see a lot of morphing props - things I think should exist, just like morphing humans.

As a proof of concept, I built a morphing table. As an example of what is possible, all of these objects are the same prop.

Do you think this is useful? Got any more ideas for what it should do?

I have the following morphs in it:

Table Length

Table Width

Table Height

Table Thickness

Table Radius

Edge Radius

Leg Radius

Leg Setback

Leg Size

Leg Taper

Leg Box Height

Frisbee, if the top rotates, maybe a drafting table or treasure chest. But seriously having a prop that the legs change size without distorting the rest of the figure could be handy.

bagginsbill, that would be extremely usefull and space saving for my poor overloaded

harddrive. Would also enjoy seeing other furniture and lamps with shades done.

Thank you for your input.

Quote - Do you think this is useful?

For a low poly table, yes, definitely. However there is a balance to be struck between the convenience of a prop that morphs into various shapes and the extra RAM, that is presumably needed to store the deltas. With 12 separate props, loading any individual prop will probably us a lot less RAM, than loading a prop with 12 morphs, and would only use slightly more HDD space. It would depend on the prop, for a reasonably low poly prop it would not matter that much. Saved space in the library palette, and the time needed to load the library are a counter ballencing factors.

I have often wondered about the relationship between altGeom swapping and RAM, and whether this is better than morphs. I suspect that altGeom is not loaded into memory until it is actually dialed in, but once dialed in, I don't know if it is swapped out when the dial changes.

Quote - Got any more ideas for what it should do?

A wall with holes for a door and windows. The morphs would move the door and window holes around. Also a morphing door and window to go in the holes in the wall. If you wanted to get really posh, the door and window could probably have ERC so that they automatically adjusted to the position of the holes in the wall.

Or a morphing table/floor/wall lamp.

Very useful and it looks good, too.

Quote - Got any more ideas for what it should do?

Sorry, I must be half asleep. In my last post, I thought you were calling for ideas for other props. But now realize you were asking for more ideas for the table.

I have drunk in beer gardens where the table had a hole to take the shaft of a sun shade.

This sort of may be ;)

Very nice and very useful.

Anyway some disadvantage can be scene with props table_1 to table_14 - try to pose them ;)

I think this one is quite popular.

and this can be chalenge ;)

node ? These are props not shaders :biggrin:

Those look really nice , Ted.

When this is finished, I'd really love to see your procedural architecture go forward...

Cool :-)

Am I right in thinking there's a morphing glass or bottle (or both) prop around somewhere too?

In term of the table / stool, would it be feasible to introduce a chair-back morph? Or a chair-arms morph?

Morphing props are cool (excuse the plug!)

Texture stretching can be a limitation, though. I often export the morphed prop once I've decided its shape and re-map it. If you could find a way to morph U and V simultaneously with X, Y and Z that'd be great. ;)

Quote - Am I right in thinking there's a morphing glass or bottle (or both) prop around somewhere too?

I'm sure you're right, but darned if I can find them right now.

Somewhere in my perpetual WIP folder I have a mattress with morphs to roughly mould it to anything you care to place on top. I must find the time and inclination to finish that. 

Quote -
For a low poly table, yes, definitely. However there is a balance to be struck between the convenience of a prop that morphs into various shapes and the extra RAM, that is presumably needed to store the deltas.

If I had to fill a restaurant with these, and I had space issues, I'd just do a quick export/import - this reduces the prop to a frozen minimal representation of whatever you morphed it into.

The exp/imp round trip also fixes XYZ coordinate stretch problems that can mess up a procedural shader.

I don't have a good solution to the UV stretch problem and it is certainly the case that if you're using a UV-based shader, going too far in shape changes will harm it.

Which is why I tend to use 100% procedurals.

I am getting the BBMetal package ready for market and needed a justification to show the stainless steel. Most of the props I downloaded that could conceivably be made of stainless steel looked like strange Poser crap. (Or odd-looking Euro appliances.)

I am constantly surprised at how many vendors and freebie makers have no eye for proportion.

I published a wine glass here.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2798686&page=2

Skip the first two - I updated it - get WIP #3.

I can't remember if I published the morphing version or a fixed glass.

I do have many morphs - hope to put this in the market.

Quote - I don't have a good solution to the UV stretch problem and it is certainly the case that if you're using a UV-based shader, going too far in shape changes will harm it. Which is why I tend to use 100% procedurals.

I know. I was just teasing. :P But seriously:

Quote - [...] XYZ coordinate stretch problems that can mess up a procedural shader.

This has probably been covered elsewhere - I seem to remember a discussion somewhere of which nodes used UV coordinates and which didn't - but I wouldn't mind having my memory refreshed. Starting with: what are these XYZ coordinate stretch problems, and how do they mess up procedural shaders?

Quote - I can't remember if I published the morphing version or a fixed glass.

BBWineGlassWIP3 is fixed - no morphs, but a fine vintage all the same.

Since you mentioned procedural geometry earlier on, I was wondering if this might lead to a way to make an effective "drink" morph for a complex shaped glass, i.e. one without parallel sides. There are mathematical methods available to slave linear morphs together, and if these could somehow be matched up to the shape of the vessel things could get quite interesting. Forgive the flight of fancy.

All the nodes in the "2D Textures" section are ... 2D - UV. They are using morphed UV coordinates. As we well know from figures and their skins, this works ok on a modest change in shape, but fails miserably on things like bent shoulders. Examples: image_map, brick, tile.

Some of the 3D nodes have an option to use global coordinates, instead of model space. The will take morphs, translations, rotations, and scaling into account. The result is often good enough, but not when you want multiple props next to each other. Then it is apparent that they are all carved from a single texture space, instead of each having their own.

By doing an export and import, we re-issue the model with a new model space, and the problem goes away.

Here is a demonstration.

First table is the un-morphed standard object. The table top has a Clouds node on it.

The second has been severely morphed, and the texture goes berzerk as a result. (I don't make things any better by having a huge n-gon on the top there.)

After export/import of the morphed (2nd) table, the 3rd copy has the natural and same clouds texture as the original unmorphed table.

Quote - I am constantly surprised at how many vendors and freebie makers have no eye for proportion.

:lol: 

Me and you both, buddy. 

     I think these morphing props have considerable value, especially for Poser users who don't model (which is the great majority).  Such props allow a user to dial in the shape they want, within the limits of the morph repertoire.  This would be a great help when one can't find quite the right item.

All the nodes in the "3D Textures" section are ... 3D - XYZ. They are using the un-morphed model-space vertex coordinates to drive the texture.

(My italics) Got it, thanks! 

"I am getting the BBMetal package ready for market and needed a justification to show the stainless steel. "

Yeppy! How soon?

Meanwhile, I finally figured out a good UV mapping for taking flat-photo textures and wrapping around the ends, sides, and corners of the table so it looks good.

Here's one of them on the morphing table. It looks great even though they were not designed for each other on purpose.

I think Tom and I are raising the bar on UV mapping props for Poser, with the plan to make shaders work all over the place with no effort.

Lovely wood!

Much anticipating the release of BBMetals...

But really looking forward to seeing what's next from the Bagginsbill and Dreamland collaboration too... it sounds awesome.

The material singles included with both the Chevy and the Car Patio are really useful.

Cheers ;-)

But I think I'll make a script that will procedurally reassign UVs after you morph it so there will be no stretch.

Thanks. I saw your recent renders using stuff from both.  Very cool.

Here's a sneak peak of what we're working on.

This is the first in a series of related props. Each will have new materials that work on all the pieces, and I hope many people will want them in their library.

Your wood make me crazy :woot:

Quote - Your wood make me crazy :woot:

Thanks - I am really glad to hear it, because I've been working on it hundreds of hours. I was hoping it was worth it.

Yup, that IS awesome :-)

I've been having a lot of fun playing with both the Dreamland / BB products so far, and the shaders in them... so really looking forward to the next set.

That last render I posted in my gallery, I spent some time transferring the nodes from the wet park bench shader over the top of the colour maps for the Tardis prop... the prop is fairly background, so the benefit is fairly subtle, especially in the smaller version I posted (I rendered at 4000px wide) but I thought this venture went pretty well... looks a lot better than when it just had its default colour maps ;-)

I've been stealing shaders out of that pack too. The wet wood bench came in handy for an old boat. :)

You asked why vendors or freebie makers do not use your material.

I tried your matmatic floors which were perfect with my scene "retro bedroom". Anyway I think that it is not fair to take money for somebodys freebie. Moreover it looks much better then materials used on rest of my props :) I did not want create pretty floor with ugly walls and furnitures.

When you release your props with materials, it would be hard to create any furniture props which look good.

Being someone who does furniture refinishing my first thought was wow that wood lookes great. My second thought was, there's no end grain. And my third thought was, end grain would probably not be doable besides it still looks great.

Quote - You asked why vendors or freebie makers do not use your material.

I tried your matmatic floors which were perfect with my scene "retro bedroom". Anyway I think that it is not fair to take money for somebodys freebie. Moreover it looks much better then materials used on rest of my props :) I did not want create pretty floor with ugly walls and furnitures.

When you release your props with materials, it would be hard to create any furniture props which look good.

Many vendors prefer exotic shaders who render very very fast, they dont look for realism ;)

Now that's what I call wood! Birch, Maple, Mahogany, Palisander... Awesome!. I'll be the first to buy your shaders.

Excellent work Ted!

Best regards,

Bopper.

My second thought was, there's no end grain. And my third thought was, end grain would probably not be doable besides it still looks great.

Endgrain is something you try to avoid anyway when making furniture. What I would like is some burl veneer, but I assume that's a piece of cake and you have included that already.

We have several thousand texture/shader combinations to choose from. We haven't even begun to sort out what to release beyond the first two products. But we're trying to make sure that every prop comes with new materials, and each set of materials works on every prop.

If you're the kind of person to "collect" things, you're going to go nuts.

Speaking of fast renders - this was 30 seconds.

I think I have perfected the math of "staining" wood textures. Everything I try comes out beautiful.

Of course, the stain is a parameter so you don't have to stick with my presets. You can make an infinite number of variations yourself, too.

Quote - If you're the kind of person to "collect" things, you're going to go nuts.

He he. Not sure I was the type of person to collect things before... well, I guess things that are useful or fun to have, I suppose I do... I guess, as an eclectic bricoleur, I'm a collector of tools...

...but anyway I can see myself becoming a collector of these ;-)

Those burl veneers look amazing!

Quote - Speaking of fast renders - this was 30 seconds.

With empty scene ;)

But I did this with my procedural table top, arranging 35 props and loading 35 materials at the push of a button.

Quote - > Quote - Speaking of fast renders - this was 30 seconds.

With empty scene ;)

I decided long ago that is my "style" hahahah. One prop + one environment sphere + one light  = art.

Actually, this image:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2296383&user_id=374541

is one prop + environment sphere + zero lights = art.

You make me very happy! This looks fabulous! I hope you will release it soon.

Quote - is one prop + environment sphere + zero lights = art.

I think that this is more complicated. There is no art formula (better explained by Robin Williams in "Dead Poet Society")

Are you going to create any shader with splinters or another imperfections?

These all look bloody amazing.  Whatever I make for sale, I'll be pointing people in the direction of your store.

Hmmm, a polished wooden Dalek.  Could work. 

The burl procedural would be perfect for a top of the range Les Paul. 

Or a maple shader on a Fender precision bass

Quote - Or a maple shader on a Fender precision bass

They tend to avoid burl for necks, since it can be fragile.  And it wouldn't usually be used as a body wood, because it's too heavy.  That's why a Les Paul has a maple cap on a mahogany body.  Les Paul himself wanted a solid maple guitar but Gibson talked him out of it.

Then again, a lot of the newer Les Pauls use mahogany that's so damn heavy, they started routing chunks out to keep the weight down.  Gibson calls them "Tone Chambers".  Everyone else calls them holes. :)