.
STREAMLINING
COMPLEX LANDSCAPES
CONVERTING
3D MODELS INTO 2D PICTURE OBJECTS
.
For
this tutorial, I am using Bryce 5, although the same
technique can be used in almost any 3D rendering program.
Start by setting up your basic scene elements - lighting,
camera, terrain, etc...
|
|
In
this example, I just used the default sky and camera settings
and I created a few basic terrain shapes. |
Now
import the model that you want to convert into a
2D picture object. For the
purposes of this tutorial, I am using tree #05 from
the 3dplants.com Plant Model Library - Volume 2.
|
|
Place
the imported model roughly in the same area of the scene
where you want to place the 2D picture object. |
Okay,
it's time to turn this tree into a forest. Of course, you
could just duplicate the model twenty or thirty times, but
that would add a heck of a lot of extra polys to the scene,
increasing the file size and load time, and it would probably
slow your computer's processor down to a crawl - very frustrating
when you're trying to work on a complex scene! Instead,
we are going to create a 2D masked picture that we can place
in our scene to simulate a 3D object. First we need to render
2 different images of our model...
|
|
First,
save your camera setting so you can get back to it later...click
on one of the "memory dots" next to the nano-preview
window in the upper left corner of your Bryce screen.
Now do a quick render, draw a marquee around the tree,
and click on "Zoom to Selection" |
. |
|
|
Set
the terrain object attributes to "hidden"
to speed up the rendering. Now render the image and
save it (select "save image as" from the file
menu). It doesn't have to be a high resolution image,
especially if it's going to be a distant background
object. Now make sure the tree object is selected and
render the same image with the "Object Mask"
option selected in the render menu. We will use this
to create a transparency mask for our 2D picture object.
Save this black & white image using the "save
image as" option. |
Now
that we have the two image renders needed to create the
masked image, we are ready to create the picture object.
This is very easy to do in Bryce...just click on the "2D
Picture Object" icon (that little "DaVinci"
figure) in the Create Palette at the top of the Bryce
screen.
|
|
This
opens the Pictures Dialogue window. Click on "Load"
for the large preview window in the top left corner
and select the full color image that you rendered
in the previous step. Now click on "Load"
for the mask image window (top center) and select
the black and white object mask image that you rendered
in the last step. Click on the check mark in the bottom
right corner to create the 2D Picture Object. |
.
|
Resize,
rotate, and position the new object as needed (make
sure that the front of the image plane is properly
oriented to face the camera or it will appear invisible).
This image shows the 3D tree and the 2D picture object
side by side. With a little experimentation, you can
get the picture object to look almost identical to
the 3D object! |
You
can now duplicate the resulting 2D Picture Object twenty...fifty...even
100 times or more without slowing down your computer
and ending up with an enormous file size when you save
the scene. Keep in mind that this technique works best
for scenes that are primarily front-lit, as 2D objects
do not cast realistic shadows when lit from the side.
Mixing 3D and 2D objects in a scene can give pretty
good results - I like to use 3D models in the foreground
and transition to 2D Picture objects in the distance.
|
In
this final version of the scene, there are a total of
four 3D tree objects - all the rest are 2D picture objects.
Click on the image for a larger view. |
This
technique can make a complex scene much easier to work
on by reducing the overall number of polys in the scene,
but unfortunately, it won't speed up the render time.
Be prepared to let the rendering process run for a few
hours, or overnight for complex scenes!
.
.
.
|
|
