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Question regarding 3d effect

Discussion in 'Archive: Scifi 3D Forum' started by Darth Venom, Jan 17, 2006.

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  1. Darth Venom

    Darth Venom Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 6, 1999
    All,

    I'm doing an animation and have run across the following problem. I have a 3d object of a graph or screen. I need to animate a line moving across the screen so that it appears with a bright point of light and then fades away as the point of light moves across the screen (like you would see on an EKG machine). The whole thing has to be 3d as the graph is rotating slowly. Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on how to accomplish this in 3DS Max 7?

    Thanks for any assistance.

    DV
     
  2. ErwinHD

    ErwinHD Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2005
    stupid answer
    coz i think you may allready have tried this already



    you could use a omni ...

    draw a line along the path you want the light follow.
    make a dummy and a omni

    with the dummy selected go into the motion tab and under assign Controller
    there should be a ? mark

    press it
    and add a path constraint
    under the button that says add path
    select the line you just made and use "selectandlink" on the omni to the dummy
    (make a strait line from you light to the dummy )

    the omni should now follow your path

    if not place the light inside youre dummy

    use the light options to fade in and out in a track view controler
    or use the atmospehere effects selection under the render-> environment->effect
    thingie

    or i could miss read the whole thing and you just want a light to on and turn off

    if so enter animation mode and turn up / or down the glow size to 0 /900 wat ever

    after you used a atmosperes & effects thingie off course :*

    if im miss reading the WHOLE POST plz exus

    been drinking trying to help out ;)

     
  3. Darth Venom

    Darth Venom Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 6, 1999
    ErwinHD,

    Thank you for your response. I'm going to try it the way you suggested. Sometimes I tend to "over think" an effect and it's good that someone can come along and remind me that there's always an "easier way to skin a cat".

    I'll post after I try it.

    Thanks again.

    DV
     
  4. ErwinHD

    ErwinHD Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 8, 2005
    hey thinking simple is wat i do [:D]

    my consulier tells me its nothing to ashamed of...
    its wat i am ;) [face_monkey]


     
  5. darthviper107

    darthviper107 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2003
    You could also try some maps----make an image of the dot with the fading line--make a second one for the opacity map (black and white) add another for self illumination, then make that as a material applied to a plane.
     
  6. Darth Venom

    Darth Venom Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 6, 1999
    All,

    Well, I tried the first method, getting an omni light to follow a path was easy (path contraint). However, it didn't give the result I was looking for so I'd be interested in trying Darthviper's method. Since I'm more of an animator than a texturer my mapping skills bite. DV, can you explain how you would do this using your method.

    Thanks in advance for any help.

    DV
     
  7. darthviper107

    darthviper107 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 26, 2003
    Go into Photoshop---make a new file at like 640 x 480 with a black background, just make a white circle for the dot, then use the rectangular selection tool and select a portion for the trail--so the selection will start in the middle of the dot and go back in the shape of the trail--then use the gradient tool and make a gradient starting at the dot and going back to the end of the tail where it is white at the dot and fades back to black. There then will be your opacity map. To make a red diffuse map just use Color Balance and turn up the red levels so that the map will then be red. Then make a new map with white dot in the same place as the first one but without the tail--so it's just an image with the white dot--save that for Self Illumination. Then in 3ds Max, make a new material--set your diffuse map in diffuse, opacity map for opacity, and the self illumination map for the self illumination--make a plane and apply the new material to it--there it is.
     
  8. ted433

    ted433 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Mar 7, 2004
    How about.... path constrained particle super spray w/ omni linked to it. light turned to zero. drag mod on particle, XYZ 100%. put a lens flare on the light. the particle life map alone would give you options to chanch color, self ill., opacity, whatever you want. or you could just have the particles get smaller and fade out. you could get them close together for a "line" or spread them out for a cool dot pattern. just another option.
     
  9. ted433

    ted433 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Mar 7, 2004
    5 min of hard work..
    http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2HX03B3N1MC3S1GBFFJ9G33EMU
     
  10. Darth Venom

    Darth Venom Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 6, 1999
    Thanks Ted, I'm gonna use that method.

    Thanks to everyone for the replies.
     
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