transitioning between two completely different meshes

WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711
edited April 2018 in Carrara Discussion

I am puzzling about ways to transition between two completely different meshes and open VDB (for Carrara using Octane3) seems to be the only thing that can do this.

However I have yet to find a way to create VDB files from obj that does not require one to be a coder and compiler crying

particles possibly could be another way

3DAge suggested doing a plugin for this for FLUIDOS in that thread and using 3  objects that morph between one could get a reasonable waterfall VDB for example but I am thinking things like DAZ figure shapes morphing to text, animals, clouds the mind boggles, a cloud that morphs into any shape in effect.

I know this is easy in 2D and have numerous programs to do it.

Simple closed shapes the shrinkwrap modifier in Blender is viable but not separate meshes like text or a bunch of clouds, waterdrops etc, VDB could do this if only I knew how to create the files cheeky

 

apparently Houdini can, I uninstalled it the other day but doubt Apprentice would allow export anyway

 

Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on

Comments

  • MarcCCTxMarcCCTx Posts: 909

    Could you use https://www.daz3d.com/simtenero-shape-reprojector to transition to a neutral state and then use it on the other mesh to transition back out?

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711
    MarcCCTx said:

    Could you use https://www.daz3d.com/simtenero-shape-reprojector to transition to a neutral state and then use it on the other mesh to transition back out?

    I have yet to see anyone post anything useful from that plugin

    if it works nobody seems willing to share renders of the result

    I have two other Simtenero plugins I never use too and would not recommend to anyone cheeky

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711
    edited April 2018

    and damnit Maya too has an OpenVDB export import but Blender so far is not able to I can only afford the latter software blush

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • cdordonicdordoni Posts: 583
    edited April 2018

    Shrinkwrap in Blender? Not sure if it has OpenVDB yet though. Sorry must have missed your last post

    Post edited by cdordoni on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711
    cdordoni said:

    Shrinkwrap in Blender? Not sure if it has OpenVDB yet though.

    https://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Kevindietrich/OpenVDBVolumePrimitive

    no sadly, this is the only project I could find and yes Shrinkwrap works for single closed meshes

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711

    brainwave

    am trying it but it occurred to me a surface replicator made into real instances would have exactly the same vertex count on every mesh

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,524

    Don't know if this is a solution ?

    http://www.meshmixer.com/

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711

    TY I used to use that like Sculptris and Zbrush but it only joins and sculpts

    what I am wanting is the ability to form many things from the same mesh but so far surface replicated polygons (just single triangles) made into real instances is proving a massive obj export thats been going for hours!

    I am not even sure if it will work.

  • McGuiverMcGuiver Posts: 219

    The only way I can think of is using a spherical morph.

    Object-1 is morphed into a sphere (hidden)

    Morph object -2 into a sphere over a certian time, then hide it.....at the next frame unhide object-1 and un-morph it.

    IE: triangle morphed into a sphere.....sphere morphed into a cube........cube morphed into a sphere.......sphere morphed into a butterfly.cheeky

     

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711
    edited April 2018

    this in Blender is sort of what I wanted to do with VDB but particles are ok too they can have volume in Blender but whether I can export it as an obj series that can be loaded as morph targets is another matter

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • Persona Non GrataPersona Non Grata Posts: 1,365
    edited March 2021

    .

    Post edited by Persona Non Grata on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921

    This isn't the droid you are looking for ...

    this is using meatballs

     

     

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311

    HI Wendy :)

    apparently Houdini can, I uninstalled it the other day but doubt Apprentice would allow export anyway

     You can get VDB (single or sequences) out of houdini apprentice ,. and I know there's a couple of nodes which i think may be helpful,. (Convert to VDB,.and  VDB to polygons)

     

    To export a VDB,.

    create an object (source) add a Pyro system from the "shelf tools",. select the soure and houdini will create the "Pyro_sim" and "Pyro_Import" nodes,.

    Double click to Jump into the Pyro_Import node,.  and select the Import_Pyro_Visualisation node,.

    Open the tab menu and you should have a menu listing for VDB,. with lot's of options.

    Add a "Convertvdb" node and plug the visualisation into that,.

    In the convert VDB options,. select VDB ... and add the groups from you pyro sim,. (density, heat,)  etc,... I've found that it works best in carrara if you add the bounding box to these options.

    Last step is to add an export/file node,. then give it a location and file name to save to.

    If you want to export a sequence of VDB Files,. you should add   _$F   to the end of your file name.

    Pics to helps :)

     

     I think it's possible to convert polys to VDB then use CombineVDB (to mix or merge with another VDB),. then ConvertVDB to get back to polys,. but whether there's any UV/texture info left after that is anyones guess, I'm sure you'll find out :)

    Normally i'd suggest a transition (fade in /out) or with another "third object" to fill the gaps in changing,.  or a flash and a puff of bright smoke,. like real magic

    VDB and voxels seems to open up  a load of new options

    vdb options.jpg
    753 x 665 - 105K
    Hxp1.jpg
    545 x 1026 - 94K
    Hxp3.jpg
    553 x 1019 - 97K
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711
    Diomede said:

    yeah as I said here and in that thread I have yet to see anyone successfully using it

    I may need to reinstall Houdini Apprentice and look at 3Dage's workfiow

    the surface replicator idea worked BTW but the files take 24 hours to export!!!!

    not got much to show for it

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,139
    edited April 2018

    I know this isn't what you really want, but have you considered just using a 2D transformation, the type that used to be really popular in the 1980s or 1990s? That would avoid the mesh considerations altogether. Or is it the technical challenge that you want to crack!

    Post edited by PhilW on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711
    PhilW said:

    I know this isn't what you really want, but have you considered just using a 2D transformation, the type that used to be really popular in the 1980s or 1990s? That would avoid the mesh considerations altogether. Or is it the technical challenge that you want to crack!

    I can already do that with Squilzmorph or even Slomovideo but yeah wanted a 3D effect for a number of reasons 

    the VDB method was what I was looking for, clouds, smoke fire forming shapes, letters etc for magic fantasy or just 3D titles.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711

    OK I just discovered I had this all along

    under bake cache in Blender

    Capture.JPG
    1918 x 1040 - 246K
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711

    quick test video

    yeah 1 FPS I was lazy did not compile my image series into an avi

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311

    looks like you need to find the auto adjust setting for the bounding box. it should be able to expand the bounding box as the volume increases/rises.

    Nice find :)

     

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 37,711

    I also since realised I had it tipped over 90° 

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