More New Shaders
Recently I've been working on lots of personal projects. I've been writing new shaders as well as learning the basics of Max Script. I've learned a lot, but I haven't had much time for blog entries.
On the MaxScript front, I'd like to learn to write Max Scripts for character rig automation, so you can just run the script and it builds the rig for you. So far, I've written a script that generates some point helpers. Then you put the helpers where you want the character's joints to go. Then I wrote a second script that connects those points with bones. It's all very basic so far. I'm just getting my feet wet.
On the Shader front, I've created two new shaders that I posted on CgTalk. Take a look at them here.
The first one is an eyeball shader that does refraction of the iris and caustics from the cornea. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Here's a sample pic:
The second one is a metal shader. It lets you control the shininess/reflectivity of the surface per-pixel with the alpha channel of the diffuse texture. You can use it for all different types of metal. Here are some of the metal types I came up with:
The thing that I like most about this one is that I finally figured out how to use actual high dynamic range floating point cube maps for image based lighting. These really add a lot to the realism of the scene and make everything look more vibrant. I couldn't use them before because FX shaders in Max only support DDS textures (and a few other LDR formats). Now that Photoshp CS2 has support for high dynamic range images (it has great tools for working with them), I'm able to save my cube maps in 16 or 32 bit floating point DDS!
Feedback on these is much appreciated.
On the MaxScript front, I'd like to learn to write Max Scripts for character rig automation, so you can just run the script and it builds the rig for you. So far, I've written a script that generates some point helpers. Then you put the helpers where you want the character's joints to go. Then I wrote a second script that connects those points with bones. It's all very basic so far. I'm just getting my feet wet.
On the Shader front, I've created two new shaders that I posted on CgTalk. Take a look at them here.
The first one is an eyeball shader that does refraction of the iris and caustics from the cornea. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Here's a sample pic:
The second one is a metal shader. It lets you control the shininess/reflectivity of the surface per-pixel with the alpha channel of the diffuse texture. You can use it for all different types of metal. Here are some of the metal types I came up with:
The thing that I like most about this one is that I finally figured out how to use actual high dynamic range floating point cube maps for image based lighting. These really add a lot to the realism of the scene and make everything look more vibrant. I couldn't use them before because FX shaders in Max only support DDS textures (and a few other LDR formats). Now that Photoshp CS2 has support for high dynamic range images (it has great tools for working with them), I'm able to save my cube maps in 16 or 32 bit floating point DDS!
Feedback on these is much appreciated.
posted by Ben Cloward at 11:59 PM
6 Comments:
Thanks for the textures in your website! I'll send you a DVD-R of my movie when it's done! :)
Thanks for your generosity to the 3D community. Hopefully I can pay you back one day soon with a paying job!
Thanks so much for the great textures that you have! You're an awesome person tobe so generous, I'd love to give back too, going to start on my own gift to the 3D and Computer Art community as soon as I get the chance. :)
I like what you've done, thanks for taking the time to document the .dds & Photoshop CS2 details. Your work continues to inspire. I'm intending to study High Dynamic Range lighting in more depth at some point, and its great to see your shader running in Max, and using this for the ambient and reflective lighting.
Daniel
Hey man, I'd just like to say thanks for the cool textures. I'm helping someone with a game and these are a big help. You can find the beta of the text version at http://www.bloodynightmare.net/. Keep in mind that the closed beta release of the text game is just days away. If you want, I can probally get malDON to let you in on it. The shockwave and FPS version aren't even in beta yet so if you want to lend a hand, we'd appricaite it. We're trying to make the most unprecidented MMORPG ever, and we're on the fast track to doing so.
thanks for having those wood textures for anyone to use! they are such high-resolution! perfect
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