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Re: Search luminous neon objects!
But it's going to be long ...
Yes, you may have a hard time both finding old bar neon lights and adding lightsources to make it look real. A lot of time and lots of try and fail. I know I would.
But it all depends on your ambition level and need for quality renderings. If you are willing to live with lower quality, there is a possible compromise.
Make a box with a front texture and inside boxes with different colours. Add a couple of lightsources inside the coloured boxes.
Now the front texture is a canvas where you can use raster software (like the Gimp) to write or draw transparent patterns in a .png or .gif file.
Put the different textures on the boxes. That way the light will shine through and look like light signs, if not exactly proper neon signs.
If the texture is mapped to 100% of the front surface, you can also scale the sign to different ratios (but beware the scaling of the lightsource that tends to end up beyond the box borders).
Yes, yes, I know. Nowhere as elegant as other projects, such as the ghost city, but it is quick (and dirty) and takes up very little file space. The rendering, however, can still be pretty sluggish depening on how many lightsources you wish to play with. NOTE that the below examples are quick illustrations not intended to produce high quality results. With some editing the look could improve, if not to the standards some here would require.
In case some of the pros want to contribute proper models, I created a ticket in SF 3D models 453.
ok
Demo file: bar_neon.sh3d Texture files (low res) - transparency written on a black canvas.
Poland
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Re: Search luminous neon objects!
GLOW
You need your model in .obj format with corresponding .mtl file. If you have .dae or .3ds model import it to SH3D and export as .obj (3D view > Export to OBJ format...). Open .mtl and set "illum 0" for material you want to "glow". Save, reimport model and render with global illumination=path (if you dont have plugin it will be Q4 - best quality i think)
1) Global illumination default - your object is always bright, even if there's no light source in your scene, but it doesn't emit its own light (no glow). Global illumination path - your object glows - gives light to the scene.
2) The bigger is model (face) the more light it emits (range). Single face emits light from both sides.
3) You can increase strength of light by multiplying Kd values in .mtl file. Example: White color is Kd 1.0 1.0 1.0 (RGB) - if you want more bright white change it to Kd 2.0 2.0 2.0. Green is Kd 0.0 1.0 0.0 - more glowing green Kd 0.0 5.0 0.0
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Re: Search luminous neon objects!
This is interesting. Never quite figured the full meaning of the illum settings, but then, there you go with amateurs at play. Thanks for sharing this. More to play with: and before I elaborate on my lack of understanding I am looking forward to do some testing - if I can get my head around all the variables.
You would not, by any chance, have a corresponding .sh3d file to explore?
Poland
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Re: Search luminous neon objects!
This is really very simple. More useful example (i hope): Create your own sign using walls, floors and other objects (furniture). (If you want your floor to have thickness create next level with elevation>0) Apply different colors to parts of your sign (for walls - top and both sides).
Select all parts* and Export to OBJ.
Modify .mtl - illum to "0" (You can remove some parameters - i think you can leave only newmtl, illum and Kd).
Import .obj - rotate, change size if needed, etc.
Place in your home and render Q4 (or with plugin - set gI to "path")**
*If you want to cut hole in floor draw smaller floor shape inside(on it) and don't select it for exporting (see "O" in "GLOW") ** No glowing when sky has texture
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Re: Search luminous neon objects!
Thanks - looking forward to explore.
This is really very simple...
Yes, well, for you, I suppose... Not sure about me. But then, everything is simple when you know how . Anyway, thanks again, most useful. New possibilities for learning... And Merry Hols. ok
Western Europa
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Re: Search luminous neon objects!
This is really very simple. More useful example (i hope): Create your own sign using walls, floors and other objects (furniture). (If you want your floor to have thickness create next level with elevation>0) Apply different colors to parts of your sign (for walls - top and both sides).
Select all parts* and Export to OBJ.
Modify .mtl - illum to "0" (You can remove some parameters - i think you can leave only newmtl, illum and Kd).
Import .obj - rotate, change size if needed, etc.
Place in your home and render Q4 (or with plugin - set gI to "path")**
*If you want to cut hole in floor draw smaller floor shape inside(on it) and don't select it for exporting (see "O" in "GLOW") ** No glowing when sky has texture
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Re: Search luminous neon objects!
This is really very simple
You are right, not difficult once you know how. Thanks so much for good instructions! This opens lots of possibilities. Tested to see whether it was as easy as you said. And yes, making a model and editing the .mtl did not take many minutes - even if the rendering was a pain, as you warned. Thankfully glow without the path at the next best rendering level is still pretty nice - and much faster. Testing your instructions compared with model with built in lightsource - at quality 2,3,4:
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Evil progresses when good people do nothing! --- SH3D 7.1 and nothing else - W11 64b in 4K
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Denmark
Joined: Jul 7, 2013
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Re: Search luminous neon objects!
@okh
Nowhere as elegant as other projects, such as the ghost city,
Being reminded of the Ghost City project I did some nearly two years ago, I recalled doing a lot of research about the glow-effect. There was an old thread ( by Enko perhaps?) that had a link to the Sunflow renderer Bible. I remember I did a lot of this stuff, and created heaps of logos and neon signs - and ended up using only a fraction.
Anyway, searching through my backups I found that most of it was in Chinese, and that a lot had never been back up. But I found a few things that was not Chinese, like these neons. They are not very good, but I used some of them anyway...
... and I remember making combinations in order to get neon objects with different colours. I have made a kind of reconstruction as an example:
I also found some of my logos - like the ones on top of the skyscrapers in the Ghost City.
The different sizes and qualities are because they are experiments, made over a period of several months.
If anyone think they can find any use for them, please, feel free to download.
To change the colour of any of the objects, just edit it in SH3D, and export the object with it's new colour. Change the illum to 0 in the .mtl-file, and re-import to SH3D.
The way I made these object was to first make Photoshop-files and do extrusions, and then import them into Verto Studio 3D, both to colourize them and to merge the extruded sides. Then I edited the .mtl, as described elsewhere in this thread.
Cec
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. Anyway, thanks again, most useful. New possibilities for learning... And Merry Hols. ok
