creating Under Water dappled light effect???

# 1 21-01-2005 , 04:39 PM

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creating Under Water dappled light effect???

Hi,

I'm trying to think of a way to achieve a moving 'dappled' (think thats the right phrase) light effect. The kind of thing you see used when things are under water in an ocean or similiar.

I'm pretty unsure what would be the best method for this.

Would a seamless animated water texture parented infront of a light do the job? As long as the alpha channel or transparency was there ? If so, does anyone know where to get a seamless animated water texture!

Any help would be really great !
Thanks in advance,
Geo.

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# 2 21-01-2005 , 07:47 PM

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Yes, and even better to just use that animated texture as the lights color user added image

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 3 21-01-2005 , 11:33 PM

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i never thought of that!

Like a shader map for the light, yeah...

you dont by any chance know where i can find a seamless looped animated water texture on the internet do you user added image

thanks,
Geo.

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# 4 22-01-2005 , 02:10 AM

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Not off the top of my head, but if you search google, im sure you can find a ton user added image

Also, this technique in the real world is called a "gobo".
It is the act of placing things like fake tree branches etc. in front of the light to cast specific shadows in the scene so as to make it appear less dull, and add more life to a shot.

I would suggest adding this sequence to a spot light with light fog ON, to get the "caustic" fog or "god ray" affect, and read the docs on how to set it up, and you should have no problems user added image

Good luck!

Israel "Izzy" Long
Motion and Title Design for Broadcast-Film-DS
izzylong.com

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# 5 22-01-2005 , 11:21 AM

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Le_geo
Please post some screenies of your work when you get it done.. this thread sounds very interesting to follow

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# 6 22-01-2005 , 02:23 PM

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Cool,

gobo, have to remember that.

I start searching although is "animated water texture" the right search phrase?

Anyway, thanks for your help, if I have any trouble, is it OK if I continue to ask questions?

And yeah, of course, I'll post some shots.

Thanks,
Geo.

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# 7 22-01-2005 , 02:49 PM

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What size do you want the animated water texture and what format would it have to be in ?

There is a cool texture generator utility called Texture maker. Purchased it a while ago to make seamless textures..

https://www.texturemaker.com

It allows you to make stuff like this

https://www.texturemaker.com/vid/caustics.mpg

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# 8 22-01-2005 , 03:29 PM

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Hey Uber,

I'm unsure what size, but any standard video format like AVI or something compatable with Maya would be fine.

I just checked out the caustics mpeg you attached, man, that's perfect for what I want, just gentle water shimmer.

You created this with texture maker? How do you find this program? what kind of price etc...

Thanks, that clip is really helpful and really cool.

- Geo.

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# 9 22-01-2005 , 04:21 PM

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The free trial version has restricted in what size output you can do, but in this case, I don't think it matters.. The full package was 85.00 USD / 67.00 Euro .. I included a link to the program in my last post
https://www.texturemaker.com
Its main use is a seamless texture generator, but it can also animate the output as you have seen.

I didnt make that animation I linked before but I am running a script now to generate a different one.. The thing with programs like this, is trial and error... I think the next one may have a bit too much movement in it, but Im sure you could tweak it to run a lot slower using some Video editing utility..

I will post the output as soon as its completed

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# 10 22-01-2005 , 04:43 PM

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Hey Uber,

I'd love to see your moving texture, you'll have to upload it.

The speed isnt a problem, as you said, it can be played about in any editing software. The problem is the actual animation, the one you provided was incredible! You cant create something like that easily (well, u probably can but i dont know how at the moment!).

I was thinking of all kinds of convoluted ways to get a seamless water movement, looks like I know where to go now!

Laters,
Geo.

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# 11 22-01-2005 , 06:18 PM

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WOW
The 256 x256 animated texture I just did (using a script someone else had written) was 190 meg in its raw uncompressed state
I have managed to get it down to 16 meg using DivX but I can't upload it at present. I am at work and I need my broadband at home to upload it.

The reason for the size being so huge, is that there needed to be 1000 frames for texture generated by the script, to loop seamlessly.
I havent used this feature much at all and I dont have much time at the moment to investigate further sorry.

Here is a shorter 2 meg (not seamless) version of the one I will upload later sometime when I get in (the 16 meg seamless version).

https://stonks.com/temp/short.zip (2 meg) DivX5 encoded

Last edited by uberstonks; 22-01-2005 at 06:20 PM.

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# 12 22-01-2005 , 07:14 PM

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OK here is the seamless version (16 meg)

https://stonks.com/temp/water_test.zip

Again its divX

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# 13 23-01-2005 , 03:22 PM

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I played with the script a lot to get less action going on. Here is another 40 second seamless 256 x 256 AVI.. This time its Xvid encoded (to get rid of the DivX watermark that was on the last one I did) If you want the other one doing again using Xvid, just shout..
https://stonks.com/temp/seamless.zip (2 meg)

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# 14 26-01-2005 , 11:59 AM

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Was this usefull ?

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# 15 28-01-2005 , 04:33 PM

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Hi,

yeah, these were very VERY useful. Just the job. I've just been away playing about with different techniques.

In fact, I was just about to ask about a query... How do u get the movie file to 'loop' in maya? I 'm going to apply it as a light gel, or a semi-transparent movie plane in front of the light - whichever works best. But I'm unsure how to get it to loop on itself. Is there a tick box somewhere, it must have evaded me!

Thanks in advance.

-Geo.

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creating Under Water dappled light effect???

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