Animated region

[pauljcox]

Hi all. I've been using Max for several years now, but haven't done much animation. I want to make a photo real render with just one animated part - say for example the curtain is blowing slightly but everything else in the room is static. Would it just be as simple as rendering one overall image, and then rendering 100 or so frames of the one animated region? What would be a good method for achieving this? Probably a dummy question, but I'm pretty green when it comes to animation, and I want to do this right :-)

 

Thanks.

[Devin Johnston]

If you isolate the object with an alpha channel then you can just render out the element by it's self and composite it back into the still in post.

[pauljcox]

If you isolate the object with an alpha channel then you can just render out the element by it's self and composite it back into the still in post.

 

Would I use After Effects to get those frames onto the still?

[Devin Johnston]

Yes, should be pretty easy.

[pauljcox]

Cool, thanks man.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Well... I don't want to be the pessimist here, but, hopefully it work for you with that simple solution. Because it may look very strange if you don't consider, transparency or translucency of the curtain material, shadows or light variation that the curtain may produce with the movement. and how light will affect the curtain it self.

 

I guess it depend of the camera position. If your shot has a straight view to the curtains and the floor right under it, with light coming through that window ( which usually happens) then, rendering region may be a better choice. or even render the whole frame.

 

Also, I am not sure what render engine you are using. If you have GI you need to adjust your setting for moving object. Otherwise you'll get GI noise.

[Joel Gray]

I agree with Francisco on all points, but you should experiment for yourself, Paul. You may find a new technique that works well, then you could share it with the community.

 

Joel

[pauljcox]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I will definitely play with this and let you know what I discover.

[annarosy]

should be pretty easy!

[Chris MacDonald]

Pretty sure that this is what the vray sphere fade thing is used for in big productions, so you can just render one part of the frame instead of all of it.