Thanks Mark, that was just a typo.  Please let me know right away of any empty links or errors and I'll fix them right away while I tripple check the edits !

Mark's settings worked well and got the video down to almost the same size as the DivX avi files.  I've made the changes to the page and converted the video tutorials and uploaded them.

Thanks for the advice dudes.

I've uploaded a Quicktime version of the file.  Its 3 times larger than the Divx so its best to download it onto your system then play it in full.

I'll have to find a codec and settings that gives a clean picture of the Carrara screen, but isnt so large, then I'll convert the other tutorials and put up permanent links to them.  If anyone can recommend one and settings for the Mac/Quicktime that would help !

Check back tomorrow and refresh the tutorials page.  I'll convert the file to Quicktime (mpeg or that H1.234 ) and put up a second link when I get some time later.  I tested the file in QT and it didnt work for me either !

Mark,

Yes there is plenty more !

The file is okay and does have audio throughout.  Its probably your player or codec.  Did you try saving the file and running it with a different player or the DivX player ?  The link on the tutorial page to DivX is wrong though, so I'll fix that.

If you have trouble viewing it on your Mac let me know and I'll convert it to Quicktime.

Pretty cool effects guys !

The EdgeFalloff plugin clearly has a problem with ray traced renders and it will happen with the mipmappers as well.  I used these for larger architectural scenes and landscapes with texture maps so the problem hasnt shown up till now.  The algorithm in the shader uses the distance of the surface from the camera and the angle of the surface to the camera.  The EdgeFalloff shader only uses the angle.  If the object using these shaders is seen in a reflection then its not going to work ! 

I'll have to see if there is a way to get the angle from the incoming light ray instead.  The total distance of a ray as it bounces around the scene isnt passed to a basic shader.  I havent done any custom lighting model plugins and that is probably what this needs to be perfected.

This is probably why the shader function was never included with Carrara then.  I used to like using the edge falloff in Poser for 'cheap' special effects and tricks with the depth buffered renders.  One of the features I want to have is to use reflection maps in Carrara rather than ray traced reflections for even faster renders where that detail doesnt matter.  I couldnt figure out how to do that function with Carrara so I was going to do a plugin sooner or later.

Jeremy,
www.Sparrowhawke3D.com

Brian,

Once installed you will find the shader under the Sparrowhawke3D submenu.

Use it with the alpha channel on something like a classic wine glass spline object rather than transparency and see what happens.  Adjusting the Acuteness Falloff will exaggerate the effect.

Make a cloud shape or something like that in the vertex modeler and hit it with a wave deformer.  For clouds and smoke stuff use it in the alpha channel and check the EdgeFalloff Inverse option so the edges fade away.

I have an EdgeFalloff shader that should be what Paul is after.   Its good for cheap special effects like soft edges on clouds, smoke and for transparency on glass.

I cut and paste a few lines of code from my MipMapper plugin into a new project quite a while back that gives this 'EdgeFalloff' effect.  ( It takes the dot product of the surface normal and the vector from the camera - simple, once you get hold of the camera ! )

Most other applications have it and it really should have been included with Carrara in the functions list many versions ago...

I was going to bundle this up with a few other basic shaders but if anyone wants to try it now...sorry, still only  Windows versions though.

http://sparrowhawke3d.com/Downloads/EdgeFalloff/EdgeFalloffC4.zip
http://sparrowhawke3d.com/Downloads/EdgeFalloff/EdgeFalloffC5.zip
http://sparrowhawke3d.com/Downloads/EdgeFalloff/EdgeFalloffC6.zip

GKDantas,

My deformer does build up an internal texture map which a linked shader can use to get a depth value.  I didnt perfect this feature though and it didnt work for large terrains.  

Most games use decals for bullet holes and footprints.  The idea of using the collision of objects with a terrain to paint a detailed bump map is interesting.  That sounds more like the kind of thing Eric at the DCG could do. 

(For your other off-topic idea send me any requests directly and I'll see what I can do.  Modifiers are my speciality though.)

I have worked on a deformer plugin that does this very thing for use with tanks and vehicles as well as human feet.  There is an existing plugin for Carrara 5 from Akuro Digital called the 'potentializer' that can be used to do it (sorry, cant easily find the link for that).  Mine allows for variable size 'feet' that deform a terrain or vertex object and I added a matching shader for the disturbed earth - but that part didnt work on large terrains.  My plugin will work well for close ups if I subdivide a spot area but for large terrains its slow and to add detail like tank track imprints it would need a lot of polygon detail or detail in the path of the vehicle.

The beauty of a plugin like this is that you apply my deformer to the terrain, select which objects are 'feet' then when you animate or render it builds up the changes frame by frame in a copy of the terrain or vertex object.  Change the path of the vehicle and the tracks left behind are reset.

Its still a beta version though and after working on the Jiggle Deformer I've found out how to do it so it works much much quicker and so I need to revise the code. 

The beta works though, I used this on an animation of an excavator you can see in my website gallery.  Look closely and you will see that it leaves a rut behind it.  For digging the hole I made a morph and for scooping and dropping the earth I couldnt use physics and had to do it manually...which sucked.

And I did another test using the ATV from Daz leaving a trail in the sand which is much more clear - it also uses a terrain following plugin I've been working on but havent perfected yet.

Reply to me directly if you are interested in the trying out the current beta for C5-6 (windows only) if this is what you are after.

Jeremy
www.Sparrowhawke3D.com

.....stupid attachments.....

This is what my screen looks like when its setup.  The modifier is on the geometry because in C6 both the parent group and the bones wont allow for general modifiers.  Close and move the parent group of the vehicle around.

mhscspo,

You got it working for Vista 64 ?  If so what do you think was the problem (or mistake) and solution ?

For 'Wheels': so long as you type in the exact unique name of either the front or rear wheels and get the diameter correct then the wheels will spin when the vehicle ( which the modifier is applied to) is moved. 

If the Brake Lock or Disable Completely are checked (be careful with key frames) then the wheels wont spin.  An easy user mistake is to get the wheel names wrong.  I will be releasing an update for most of my plugins (in a few weeks) that adds selection dialogs to all of the C5/C6 versions.

There is a section in the manual that explains what each of the user interface options is for.

Follow the instructions for the Humvee to the letter.  If the facing axis and wheel overide axes arent correct then the constraints on the body parts will stop them from spinning.

Also an issue has come up with 'Wheels' that if anything in the scene uses a Carrara 'Spin' modifier then it kills my plugin.

mhscspo,

Sorry you are still having trouble.   Delete my plugins from your Extensions folder if they are giving errors and you need to keep working.

If you extract the Carrara 6 versions into Carrara 5 you will get an "Extension X is too recent" error.  Put the C5 versions in C6 and you get an "extension X is too old" error.

The plugins will work for Carrara 6 Pro, regular or Express editions etc, there is no difference.

Make sure you have the latest 6.03 update for Carrara.  When I first tested my plugins in C6 they didnt show up.  A few reboots and reruns later they did - which was a bit mysterious.  If you have more than one of my plugins they will turn up in a Sparrowhawke3D sub-menu but if you only have one then they might not show up.

Check the compatiblity settings for the Carrara 6 application.  From the little I've seen of Vista it does have better backwards compatibility than XP.

However if Carrara 6 is working perfectly in Vista 64 and my plugins dont then it could be that I've got a compiler setting wrong for 64 bit compatibility.  I base the projects on the ones straight from the Carrara SDK though.**
**

mhscspo,

I have tried them with Vista but not specifically with Vista 64.

Have you installed and got any other 3rd party plugins to work ?

If you are new to Carrara make sure that you extract all of the files for the matching version into your CarraraExtensions folder.

Nice effect Noviski, 

I did write 2 spin-off plugins for myself to give the distance and acuteness/edge falloff as separate shaders that return a value.  Looks like you've used the closeness sub-channels as 1 and 0 values to achieve it. 

Should I release these as well ?  I think there are commercially available shaders for fake fresnel and one that does proximity already though.