Is it possible to build one wall on top of another?

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Gary,

As you say it looks a lot better!  Advanced render is certainly capable of producing some very realistic images - just have a look in the Gallery section of the forum!

In the image below I have used the 'Screen' material that Doug pointed out (Thanks Doug!).  I had not noticed the name, so just passed over it in looking at the textures,as it just looked like a purple colour (because of the combination of pink and black of course).

What I have done is changed the original black lines to a light, mid and dark grey and also a white. In the image the left side is done in the black and the others progressing to white to give varying effects of screen depending what you want to achieve.  If it is just flywire then probably the dark grey is best. In case they are usefull I have created a BIM file of them and I have also converted some to colours to simulate some common Shadecloths we have here.

If you want to use any of them, go to File / Catalogues / Import BIM and open the attached BIM file. You can then Transfer any you want to your catalogue.  They will go into Fabrics - Generic.  They look a bit odd in the Materials list because of the pink filling the 'holes'. You need to click on them to see the colour. Don't be put off by the 'pattern' that appears - they seem to render fairly smooth.

Allan

[Doug.S]

"I do notice, though, that there's considerable distortion. The porch wall on the right looks like it's about to fall over. Is there a way to compensate for that distortion and make the vertical objects stay vertical?
Gary"

As Allan explained and you moved your camera, distortion was removed.

An alternative is also possible in post processing of the final render....let's say you wanted the particular angle of view but wanted to remove the distortion......then go to a program like Photoshop or similar and use perspective correction or lens correction or similar tools.....you can fix an image in about 10 seconds and keep the view you desire....but such a correction will cause loss of image along some side(s) depending on how much correction is applied....so one needs to start with an image a bit larger in height and width.
Most common is to correct a view from a camera at ground (6') level looking up at a tall building...to correct the "falling over" look....or curved walls from a wide angle view.

The TFP 3D camera works using physics in a way nearly identical to a camera used in real life...hence Photoshop type corrections are very useful. The TFP camera does not have an "architectural" correction lens like you can use on a real camera.

Since we are on a camera topic...another hint/tip: for inside views of a room, where making a wide angle view to see everything results in a distorted looking view....temporarily remove/move a wall and back up the camera further away and use less wide angle....think of how they make movies and use stage "sets" with only 3 walls to give lots of room for camera and lighting access....but be careful with removing a roof and looking "in"....or you may get render problems with interior vs. exterior light sources....resulting in black walls under certain conditions....and lousy shadows.

Light thru open doors/windows used to be an issue too....don't remember if that bug was fixed yet.

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Doug and Gary

Since we are on a camera topic...another hint/tip: for inside views of a room, where making a wide angle view to see everything results in a distorted looking view....temporarily remove/move a wall and back up the camera further away and use less wide angle....think of how they make movies and use stage "sets" with only 3 walls to give lots of room for camera and lighting access....but be careful with removing a roof and looking "in"....or you may get render problems with interior vs. exterior light sources....resulting in black walls under certain conditions....and lousy shadows.

Light thru open doors/windows used to be an issue too....don't remember if that bug was fixed yet.

I don't want to get into detail here as this is really a separate topic but you can get a similar result, instead of deleting a wall, by positioning the camera outside the room you want to see into and just turning the surface of the wall that is in the way to Transparent (not glass - make a new material and turn off the Specular [reflection] and set it to 100% transparent). It will then render through the wall without risking the loss of floor and other elements and exterior walls becoming interior etc. Only the surface facing the camera needs to be transparent - change it back again after obviously.

The roof and ceiling off view, can be rendered sucessfully if the interior walls are "Forced to be exterior" - they will then accept 'sunlight' instead of being black. Bit messy but it works.

Light through windows and doors can still be problematic if interior lights are also desired.

If anyone wants any details on these things, either Search for existing topics on the subject or ask again in a separate post.

Allan

[Doug.S]

snip...
In the image below I have used the 'Screen' material snip
Allan

The result, not surprisingly, yields moire patterns.

These can be fixed or at least made better using Photoshop or other similar tools. Google "fix moire" for lots of ideas. I tried this:
http://unsharp-mask.blogspot.com/2007/08/moir-removal-in-photoshop.html

and got results shown attached in a few minutes time (on left half of each screen from dark to light)....not perfect but better.  I'm sure other methods may work even better...essentially is done by blurring the "L" channel of Lab color space.

Compare the original to the "fixed" jpg's to see the difference