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General Category => General Anim8or Forum => Topic started by: Alpha2 on January 16, 2010, 09:15:38 pm

Title: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Alpha2 on January 16, 2010, 09:15:38 pm
I was working on a scene that with stars as the back drop. I've tried several times with no success in photoshop to create a texture that looks good when placed in a shot as a panorama. It always ends up stretched and/or blurry. Is there a specific size for the panorama that I can use to avoid the stretching?
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: NeonFalcon on January 16, 2010, 10:22:42 pm
I dont know about the size but normaly its 300x300 wait I know!! I think becase the object that ur using is 1 big object maybe if u make multiple parts of that object it may come out the way u want it.
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Raxx on January 16, 2010, 10:52:04 pm
Adjust the high/low left/right values to change the width/height ratio to about what your image is in photoshop. If it looks blurry then increase the resolution. If memory serves correctly, Anim8or only works with multiples of 2. So make sure the height and width exceed that of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, etc pixels if you want it to look sharper on the next level.

For example, if your image is 800x600, then it's only going to show it at a resolution of 512x512. So if you want an image of that ratio to have the next level of detail (1024x1024) then you'd have to make a panorama image of 1365x1024. And obviously just resizing it in photoshop would make it just as blurry; you also have to re-make the texture so that it retains a high level of detail.

You can also just make a cube map...
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Alpha2 on January 17, 2010, 01:58:05 am
Okay well it wouldnt be a big issue for me to remake the image I've done it like 12 times already. I've been using the standard 72 pixel internet resolution but I've been making it like 1280 by 720 just to try and make it huge and eliminate the  blurring because I thought Anim8or was causing it. I'm going to start experimenting now with the panorama and image but I'm not sure what settings are required to make a cube map. If it's specific to .97 then I'll have to do it some other way since I use .95




EDIT: after messing with it a while I managed to get a decent star panorama with the settings 256 resolution, width 2048, height 512. I end up with an image that's 8x2 inches and it shows no signs of pixel stretching. Now I need to play around with it to get some better detail.
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Pincho on January 17, 2010, 06:40:05 am
Pixel resolution is only for printing on paper, so you are wasting a whole load of computer memory for nothing. I have made starfields using a texture on the inside of a sphere. 2048 *1024.
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Alpha2 on January 17, 2010, 01:13:27 pm
Yeah, my background is more in print media so I tend to start from that perspective. Still, changing the numbers to correspond to Raxx's suggestions was the best route to the visual I was aiming for

I tried the sphere method first and despite the stretching I had a problem with the texture towards the top of the dome, using the UV function only created problems elsewhere laterally.

(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_P6wISFiuK2A/S1NS74OMFAI/AAAAAAAAADA/Uu4khUeX8GU/s640/image.jpg)
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Pincho on January 17, 2010, 01:59:42 pm
Well my Sphere is huge so the bending is gone, but the stretching is visible. However, this sphere is so large that you can fly for 1000's of miles inside it, so if I scaled it down so that you could not fly so far it would look much better.

(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pinchopaxton/Screen8.jpg)
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Alpha2 on January 17, 2010, 02:17:10 pm
thousands of miles? geez what are you rendering this on, skynet?
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Pincho on January 17, 2010, 02:30:49 pm
It's a game, and size doesn't alter the running speed of the game. I don't think it alters rendering time either, as only the visible screen is rendered. But this is in realtime.
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Alpha2 on January 17, 2010, 02:42:03 pm
I see, that explains the aliasing and the HUD in the corner. In your case the sphere makes a lot more sense, for the animation I'm working on the exterior shots wont have as much camera movement. What are the requirements for your game or is it still too early to judge?
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Pincho on January 17, 2010, 04:42:41 pm
It will run on any computer from the past 5 years really, I don't even have duel core fitted yet, and my Graphic card is AGP which has been replaced for a long time now. It's all modelled in Anim8or as well.
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Alpha2 on January 17, 2010, 06:51:56 pm
Sounds cool. Is there a download link?
Title: Re: Any tips for creating a back ground for the Panorama?
Post by: Pincho on January 18, 2010, 05:18:21 am
It's not finished yet.