Master Text Styles in Premiere Pro CC

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Premiere Pro CC 2018

Create a Master Text Style and apply it to multiple text objects:

  1. Open the Essential Graphics panel:
    Window > Essential Graphics
    And in the panel, click the Edit tab.
  2. Select the text from which you want to create the Master Style in the Program Monitor Window.
  3. In the Essential Graphics panel, in the Edit tab, Under Master Styles,
    Open the drop down menu, choose Create New Master Text Style, and give it a name in the dialog box.
    * The new text master style now appears in the project window
  4. Drag the Master Text Style from the project window on text clips in the timeline to apply the style to them.

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V-Ray for Maya toon shading

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Maya 2018 | V-Ray 3.6

Toon shading in V-Ray consists of two elements:

  1. A VRayToon node that creates a graphic contour effect on the rendered image.
  2. A flat shader that uses surface luminance data to define color areas.
    * A VRayLightMtl can be used for that.

Creating the VRayToon node:

  1. Click the Create V-Ray Toon button in the V-Ray toolbar to create a VRayToon node.
  2. In the VRayToon node attributes, set line thickness, color, and more graphic properties.
    * if you created a VRayToon node and it’s not selected RMB click the Create V-Ray Toon button in the V-Ray toolbar and choose Select VRayToon node.
    * To delete the VRayToon node, select it and press Delete.

Creating the toon shader:

  1. Create a VRayLightMTL node as the object’s surface shader.
  2. Create a Ramp texture node, connect it’s output color to the VRayLightMTL’s color input and delete it’s accompanying 2D placement node.
  3. Create a surfaceLuminance node and connect it’s output to the Ramp node’s V Coord input.
  4. Optional remapValue node between the surfaceLuminance node and the Ramp node to clamp the luminance values.
  5. Optional floatMath node to scale or manipulate the surfaceLuminance output value.

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Related:
Arnold for Maya Toon Shading

VRayMtl’s new metallic goodness

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
3ds max 2019 | V-Ray Next | V-Ray next GPU

In V-Ray Next (4) for 3ds max, a new Metalness parameter has been added to the Reflect parameters of the VRayMtl material.
This allows for easy creation of realistic metal materials and also effectively enables a PBR workflow with V-Ray.

When the Metalness parameter is set to 1.0, the material becomes completely reflective, the Diffuse color controls the general reflection color, and the Reflect color (which should generally be set to white) controls the reflection color at grazing incidence angle.

The IOR parameter still controls how fast will the main reflection color (set by the Diffuse color) blend into the Reflection color, and I don’t know whether some form of complex Fresnel has been implemented or if it’s just a dielectric simple Fresnel blended over a reflective surface.

An excellent article on the new Feature from the Chaos Group blog:
https://www.chaosgroup.com/blog/understanding-metalness

VRay_Next_Metalness

Related:

  1. Fresnel Reflections
  2. Complex Fresnel for Blender & Cycles
  3. Metal material in UE4

 

Maya Python scripting – Getting an Object’s world-space transform matrix

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Maya 2018

How to get an object transformation matrix in world space coordinates:

from maya.api.OpenMaya import MVector, MMatrix, MPoint
import maya.cmds as cmds

def get_world_transform (obj):
 return MMatrix ( cmds.xform( obj, q=True, matrix=True, ws=True ) )

selected_object = (cmds.ls(sl=1,sn=True))[0]

print ( get_world_transform( selected_object ) )

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Cycles Tangent node & Anisotropic reflection

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.82

The Cycles Tangent node defines a Tangent-Space for a mesh by either using one of the object’s local axes (see image A) or by using an available UV layout.
This can be useful when designing an Anisotropic reflection shader like in the case of brushed, machined or lathed metals.
A grey-scale texture can be connected to the Rotation input of the shader to define changes in the Anisotropic direction on the surface (see image B).

Examples:

A. In this example the Tangent node is set to ‘Radial’ Direction mode, in which a object axis is chosen as the radial axis of the Anisotropic direction:
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B. In this example a Noise texture’s Factor output is connected to the Anisotropic shader’s Rotation input to create an irregular Anisotropic (metal brushing finish) direction:

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Related:

  1. Adding a texture to an Area Light
  2. Using the normal’s blue channel to create top-side effects
  3. Nested transparencies

Media Encoder – 8K video & 8K 360 VR video for YouTube

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Adobe Media Encoder CC 2018

Recently YouTube added support for uploading HEVC H.265 video encoding.
That’s great news for anyone wanting to upload 8K video from Adobe Premiere Pro CC, or After Effects CC, because there’s no need to use inconvenient third party workarounds and plugins like WebM, DNxHD etc.
Abobe Media Encoder doesn’t allow encoding H.264 at higher than 4K resolutions*, but has native support for HEVC H.265 that does allow 8K encoding.
* There’s a commercial plugin that encodes H.264 at 8K.

Another convenient & time saving feature in the Adobe Media Encoder H.265 output module is the option to add panoramic VR video meta-data to the file eliminating the need to use meta-data “injection” utilities,
So uploading 8K stereo 360 VR video to YouTube became completely hassle-free 🙂

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Configuring Blender for faster object selection in large scenes

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.79

In large scenes, selecting objects becomes slow.
There’s a frustrating lag and the software hangs between the time you Right-Click an object in the view-port, and the time it gets selected.
* especially if there are a lot of mesh surfaces behind it in the view-line of the mouse cursor.

The Systems settings shown below can dramatically improve this.
* You need a GLSL capable video card.

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Measure Distance & Angle in Blender

Posted on by Oded Maoz Erell

Software:
Blender 2.79

To create and edit measurement Rulers & Protractors:

  1. In the Tool Shelf > Grease Pencil,
    Press Ruler/Protractor to activate Ruler/Protractor mode.
  2. LMB Click & Drag the 3D Viewport to create a measuring Ruler.
    * Hold Ctrl while creating the Ruler to snap its start and end points to 3D elements.
    * If a one or more measuring Rulers already exist, Ctrl must be held anyway to create a new Ruler.
  3. LMB Click & Drag along an existing Ruler line to turn it into a Protractor for angle measurement.
    * Hold Ctrl while creating the Protractor to snap its apex to 3D elements.
  4. LMB Click & Drag a point in an existing Ruler or Protractor to change its location.
  5. LMB Click an existing Ruler or Protractor and Press Delete to delete it.
  6. When finished creating measurement Rulers & Protractors,
    Press Enter to save them for later use of the Ruler/Protractor mode,
    Or Press Escape to discard them (without discarding Rulers / Protractors that were previously saved).

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To Delete all Ruler / Protractor data:
In the Properties Panel > Grease Pencil Layers,
Delete the RulerData3D Layer.

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