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Ceciliabr
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Re: A major challenge?

@okh

Thanks a lot to cec for steering me in the right direction.

Now, now, it was your idea in the first place! Remember?

I have been thinking about what is piloting our objective, yours being to make models as small as possible, models that are easy to handle and renders fast, while I tend to ignore both the size and the time it takes to render an image. I'm happy if my images renders over night, when I sleep, but sometimes my constructions are so complex that they take days to render, even on a twelwe-core MacPro.
Here are about two hundred and fifty light sources and over a hundred MB of textures. Original rendering is 4K. The whole tunnel-project is 7.8 GB. And this image, that took 17 hours to render, is just a backdrop, and will only be seen for about ten seconds in my video.



I think my objective is to test the limits of SH3D – find out what I can really do with this impressive peace of software. That's probably why I asked the initial question: Is it a major challenge to apply alpha-channels to sky and ground?
Sometimes I imagine how SH3D would have been with a timeline and key-frames, to enable simple animated movements.

I can clearly see the point in working with models that are easy to handle, and I sometimes wonder if I'm overdoing my models, making them bigger than they need to be. But I really tried to make my lampette as small as possible, and I'm really amazed that you were able to make it so incredibly small. I obviously have a lot to learn.

Anyway, I have a contribution I would like to make, a one-sided disc, with an opening in the middle:
Ring-InnerUp.zip

It's great for making lampshades ( and other things), and it's only 8kb. (Well, for me that's "only". If you have a way to make it smaller; go ahead.)
Here are some examples of what it can do:




cec
[Sep 26, 2016, 4:37:37 AM] Show Printable Version of Post    View Member Profile    Send Private Message [Link] Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
okh
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Re: A major challenge?

..a contribution..Ring-InnerUp.zip ...
smile Thanks, my kind of model. As you say, it can be used for lots of things with a very low payload. Really like that.
..lampette as small as possible...
My love for compact has a practical background. Working with lots of looong documents - often emailed or downloaded on dodgy connections - I have really come to appreciate compact formats. To take an example, a while back, when abroad on a lousy gsm connection, I received documents for review, Word/PDF mostly. While the content only was 40 pages of text, the combined file-size was 20 times the size of the Bible. So my thought is, that if a deity can say all he or she has to say about everything in < 4000 KB, it seems rather unnecessary for me to spend over an hour of downloading and roaming costs equal to my fee, just to read, well, pretty insignificant, plain text. Now, I am not hysteric about these things, but it has become sort of a hobby to create everything digital as small and with as little redundant information as possible. Small is beautiful.

Useful detail - such as what is needed for making the kind of renderings you create - is fine. Because the result is also a lot better. So when the purpose is a beautiful rendering, simplified models are (often) not good enough. Therefore if you were to use simplified models, you would probably also cheat the forum for some of your wonderful pictures.

But using SH3D for strictly practical purposes that level of aesthetics is not always needed. Some of the 3d warehouse models can be so large that the initial planning process takes forever. Sometimes even making rendering impossible. Trees and shrubbery being one major culprit. Which is why it can be a good idea to start out by using very simple models, and only put in the advanced ones (trees especially) at the very end. And/or keep the big models in a separate file and just paste them in for rendering. That way, SH3D will be super-fast even on slow computers while doing the basic layout.

But then, I have quite come to enjoy the challenge of creating the smallest possible replica of an object. To an extent where I sometimes waste more time making a small (inferior) model than it would have taken me to get a proper render smile But heck, it is a hobby, isn't it?

ok
[Sep 26, 2016, 8:40:35 AM] Show Printable Version of Post    View Member Profile    Send Private Message [Link] Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
Ceciliabr
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Re: A major challenge?

@okh

Which is why it can be a good idea to start out by using very simple models, and only put in the advanced ones (trees especially) at the very end. And/or keep the big models in a separate file and just paste them in for rendering.

I agree.
Another way do it is to place heavy objects on separate levels,
so we can make the most CPU-intensive objects disappear by making
their levels un-viewable whilst working on the basic construction,
and, as you say; just bring them in for rendering.

Especially trees... and yes, I have been constructing some trees
and plants from time to time, and the biggest ones can easily become
around 50 - 60Mb, including textures.



The textures of course have to be.png -files to support transparency, which adds even more weight.
A medium sized texture (good enough, unless you want real close-ups),
can easily be around 6Mb.





(Orig size)


But heck, it is a hobby, isn't it?

Exactly, and that's why we take it so seriously. wink



Cec
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[Edit 1 times, last edit by Ceciliabr at Jan 9, 2017, 1:50:27 AM]
[Jan 9, 2017, 1:49:06 AM] Show Printable Version of Post    View Member Profile    Send Private Message [Link] Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
okh
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Re: A major challenge?

Those are lovely trees and plants, Cec! Better than most tree models I have seen. Certainly interesting for sharing if you feel so inclined.
I cannot help thinking that most man-made objects can be reduced to very simple models, but once you try nature's own creations it gets pretty complicated.
.. heavy objects on separate levels...
Absolutely, but even so, working on a slow (but blissfully fanless and very portable) computer, it has advantages using very simple tree-outlines until rendering. Even if the simplified tree models are annoyingly ugly, they will show light and shadow with a very limited payload. Useful for, to take an actual example, chopping down a tree in front of the house and get an impression of interior light at different times and different times of the year (using sunlight simulation). The illustrations below show some ugly models in SF 3D models 261. Note the link Puybaret posted for generating more complicated trees: Arbaro.

Another trick is to use multiple instances of a very simple tree scaled to different sizes, and then simply open the zipped (compressed) .sh3d file and replace the simple model with a more advanced one at time of rendering. That way it is possible to change an entire little forest of ugly trees to prettier ones with just a couple of key-clicks (caution, keep backup).

As for the .pngs - I am sure you know, but for those who have not used the .png format a lot - there are some tools to reduce sizes (like PNG optimizer for Windows) which at least is helpful for file sizes.
ok
PS. And thanks for the interesting extras - Stelton/Magnussen kaffekanne, witchbrew, Dagbdalet... Always a joy.
SVG rendering of sunlight. Sunlight rotation fairly easy to change.

[Jan 9, 2017, 3:04:04 PM] Show Printable Version of Post    View Member Profile    Send Private Message [Link] Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
Ceciliabr
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Re: A major challenge?

@okh

Certainly interesting for sharing if you feel so inclined.

Yes... why not, indeed. I'm a fan of sharing. I'll post a file later (after breakfast).

cec
[Jan 10, 2017, 7:17:52 AM] Show Printable Version of Post    View Member Profile    Send Private Message [Link] Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
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