Gmax confusion & Warper advice

[nickdiacre]

Hi...

Merry Christmas and New Year... I hope you all had a good time...

I have an issue with Gmax, I am probably being stupid, but maybe someone can help:

When I select the control points for the mesh in camera view they do not move at all. However, when I select them in "front" view, I have no problems moving them.

Similarly I can move the mesh around in "front" view, but not in "camera" view.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for your help...

I will explain the context in which I am doing this... I have a widescreen [22'x8'] screen flown above a stage. Either side of the screen are 13' high x 8' wide screens which will show logos. These screens are standing on the stage and so drop down to the stage floor. What I want is to have the whole thing be like one screen, so I can move text across all 3 screens and play video across all three screens.

However if I use the warper to fit the side screens [they are at an angle] it is out of proportion to the main screen- what I need to do is use splines in Gmax to cut out the shape of the side screens so the X mesh only covers the screens [like a key effect]... Perhaps if it was possible to delete vertexes in warper it would be possible with the warper?

The final problem I have is scaling the two cameras to project the same proportions... if the meshes for the widescreen and the side screens are the same height [theoretically] then the images are the wrong size. Maybe it's simpler to see it like this:

4:3mesh onto 22'wx8'h screen = 8' high
4:3mesh onto 8'wx13'h screen = 13' high

Therefore in camera space the meshes are the same size, but in reality they are different sizes... what is the best way to correct this?

If it was possible on the cameras to stretch X and Y values somehow...?

Nick

[nickdiacre]

Or perhaps a Z offset or "zoom" for cameras? Would have the same result as an X/Y scale.

[Daniel Kaminski]

A few questions regarding your Projects.
Which Version of Pandoras Box are you running?
Do I understand correctly that you are having 3 projectors? What is the resolution of the projector?
Are any of the projectors softedged? Can you send us a quick drawing or picture of the setup @ support(at)coolux.de ?

Regarding Warper: It is not possible to delete Vertecs in Warper at this point.

Regarding GMX: We can not reproduce your problem here. So a few questions: are you in MOVE Mode? Is the Object selected? Can you send us 2 screenshoots (a) Camera view, b) Front view) maybe we can see something there.

Greetings
Daniel

[nickdiacre]

Will do straight away!

[nickdiacre]

Gmax problem was due to snap toggles in bottom left...

[Taken me a long time to work that out]

I have emailed you some photos of the screen layout

Nick

[nickdiacre]

I have used the file "PB_Native_v4_5_PB_Exporter.gmax" in gmax to edit my shape and cut out the edge.

I then used the Pandora's Box exporter script in Gmax to export the object as an X file.

Now it is the correct mesh, however it is in the wrong plane... I know this because if I load the mesh onto a layer [instead of the camera], and then rotate the XYZ axis, I can get it in the correct position.

On the Gmax file the camera is still in the correct position...

What have I done wrong?

Nick

[Daniel Kaminski]

Hi Nick,

Please see the Tutorial in this post.
viewtopic.php?f=97&t=576

It looks like your forgot to "Adjust Transform" your Object before exporting.

Before exporting the finished object via PB Exporter, please navigate to Hierarchy
tab, and click on Reset: [Transform] under Adjust Transform. This rotates the axis
inside Gmax to fit to Pandoras Box.

See Page 11.

I think once you do that everything should work great.

Daniel

[nickdiacre]

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for your help with this...

Yes... thanks this helped a lot! It is now in the correct position.

However I need to redo the mesh anyway because I used the "uniform scale" tool in gmax to reduce the size of the mesh so I could reach the FFD control points without moving them each individually.

This seems to have made the mesh too small on the projection surface.... does that sound correct?

Is there any easy way of correcting the scale without doing it again? I tried the reset scale button from the hierarchy tab, but it did not work.

Nick

[nickdiacre]

Hmmm I just tried without modifying the uniform scale and I still have the problem.

The mesh fits perfectly in Gmax camera view. However in Pandora's Box it is too small...?

Any ideas?

Nick

[Daniel Kaminski]

Which software Version are you Running? 4.5 rev 3964 or Version 4.1?

Daniel

[nickdiacre]

4.5 [build 4032]

Using the Gmax Exporter for 4.5 file [which has all the objects hidden]

Nick

[Julia Foest]

Hi Nick,

are you sure that your plane goes through the origin (in depth)?
And did you warp your plane in camera view with the taskbar turned off?

If you can´t figure the problem out, please send also your gmax file to support[at]coolux.de.

Thanks!
Julia