Tropical Waters
I have an item called Tramp Steamer (and possibly some other sea vehicles on the horizon), and I was wondering how to place them in the water (or ocean). Is there a product to purchase in order to make this happen?
Is the prop (ship) just set down on a mat that looks like water? Is background added?
Would a product like 'Tropical Waters' work? I noticed it said: 'This product requires any graphics program that supports .PSD files.' I didn't know quite how that might affect the product as a possible choice. (Or if this product would work.)
Some friendly suggestions would be nice. Thanks.
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Tropical waters is a set of .PSD files intended for use in postworking. They're essentially image files you can overlay into already rendered scenes in Photoshop. As such they can fit the majority of needs you might have depending on your level of skill. For an in-house method you can use several things, including a simple textured plane with displacement maps to simulate waves. If you're particularly savvy, you might want to include the foam from the steamer's passage through the water which, again, can be either done using displacement maps or added in post.
Thank you for replying.
Which method do you think would be the simplest way for the newbie? I'd like to drop the Steamer onto some water, but I wasn't sure if that could be done, or if i'd need to practice up before that was possible.
You can drop it in onto any surface just fine. The only time it might be a bother is when the water plane intersects the boat in a visible manner. For larger ships, this is rarely an issue since the camera will only see the exterior, but for smaller boats like rowboats, you might need to render two passes and overlay one over the other.
As an example, the image below was done using this two-pass method. Once rendering everything, the second pass rendering only the boat and characters. The second image was then placed over the original to give a seamless image with some minor postwork to make it more vivid. The smaller image is an example of the intersection that was fixed in post.
Thank you. That helps considerably.
Does anyone know what the notes on the product 'Tropical Waters' means when it says: 'This product requires any graphics program that supports .PSD files'?
Would there be any other requirements to use the product in Daz Studio in order to place a ship or boat on it?
It means your image editor has o be able to open a .psd (Photoshop) file. Most should be able to, including the Gimp (free), Paintshop Pro and Photoshop Elements
.PSD files are PhotoShop image files. DAZ Studio cannot read these type of files.
Echos of Andromeda has a nice water plane that you can use to put your ship on.
http://www.daz3d.com/echoes-of-andromeda
I used it for this image
The PSD files are images designed to be used after the render is finished. Programs like GIMP and Photoshop have powerful editing tools which can blend them in seamlessly.
Ah, I see. I believe I have Photoshop/Elements. Yes.
Thanks for explaining.
S.P. Hideaway seems to include water.
Can a boat or small ship (like Tramp Steamer) be dropped on it? Or is the water included in this product more of a background?
And how about the the product 'Tropical Coast'? Can a boat be set down on the water in this product?
(Tropical Coast Pre-Load Construction (.PP2 and .OBJ)
Coast
Coast Margin (Add Morph Scale ZX)
Coconut Palms 1
Coconut Palms 2
Coconut Palms 3
Grass
Old Eucalyptus 1
Old Eucalyptus 2
Old Eucalyptus 3
Plants
Rocks Big
Rocks Small
Water
Water Foam)
I am going to merge this post with your last thread, as it appears to be on the same concept.
Yes, the water included with the 'Tropical Coast' set will work fine for your steamer. Just about any water plane can be used to good effect, it's down to the skill of the individual artist to blend it in with their scene. Try experimenting with different styles until you get the effect you want.
Thanks greatly!
I think you're missing the point a little. Just like everything else in your scene, water is just a prop. It won't react to anything being 'dropped' into it unless you specifically make it react by using displacement maps or smoothing. Therefore, you can drop your boat into anything and it will have the same effect. Whether it's a plane, or a reshaped cube with a water shader on it, the effect will ultimately be similar, and you might still require some postwork as I detailed in my rowboat example above.
Ultimately how much control you want to put on the scene is down to the individual making it and how much time you put into setting it up.
Oh, okay!
Just a heads up. DS is not a it will do it for you program. It is a The more you put in the better you get out program.
Example: Just Dropping the boat on a Plane with a water texture will not give you the Waves and such that a real boat causes in the water. That part will need to be added by you in some way. Doing postwork (editing the render in an Art program) works for any with the skills, adding other objects to the scene to create the effect works for others and still others do it in different ways. That will come to you as you learn more about 3D and how it all works.
Start Simple, do the best you can and learn as you go.
Incidentally, that rowboat image was done specifically for this post to illustrate how easy it can be once you've got your head around the basics. A simple textured plane with a displacement map, some cunningly placed 'wake' done in Photoshop using the vertex deformation tool and Bingo! One boat moving through water. You can easily apply the same techniques for the steamer.
If you put in more time, you get more out. It's a good life philosophy.