From the Abyss

3D Interior Lighting tutorial serie becomes an e-book

2011-01-31T13:59:00.006+01:00

The Interior Lighting tutorial serie I worked on for 3D Creative Magazine becomes an e-book. You can check it out here.

3dsmax - Polygonal Modeling course for HTML.it (Italian language only)

2011-01-23T20:38:00.002+01:00

Decals in Unity3D, Part 2

2010-11-07T18:06:00.007+01:00

In this step we'll examine a couple of problems deriving from the method we used to create decals in the previous post. Creating decals in that way was an easy task, but if you had the chance to try it, you may have noticed one big problem: if you're shooting at a big wall, it works fine; but what if you're hitting a corner of the wall? The decal would be drawn partially outside the wall's corner:

So, how can we avoid this problem? The answer is quite simple, but its implications may not satisfy you. To avoid decal planes exceeding the target object's bounds, we need to go down to vertex level for the plane mesh and check if its vertices are outside the bounds; if that is the case, we tranlsate the vertices back on the bound that has been exceeded. Actually, this is quite an easy task, but it brings a lot of limitations. First of all, we can't use it on anything else than squared meshes like cubes. It's true, walls and pillars for 3D environments are mostly cubes with different shapes and sizes, but this is a big limitation nonetheless. An ever bigger limitation is that the Bounds struct offered by Unity represents an AABB (axis-aligned bounding box); this means that our walls and pillar must be axis-aligned, too: decals on rotated objects won't work with this method.

I've decided to share this method anyway, because it may be useful for study purposes and it may come in handy for some other tasks. Let's see the finishe script first, and then we'll go into details:


using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class Decal01 : MonoBehaviour 
{
 public GameObject decalPrefab;

 // Use this for initialization
 void Start () 
 {
 
 }
 
 // Update is called once per frame
 void Update () 
 {
  RaycastHit hit;
  
  if (Physics.Raycast(camera.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition), out hit))
  { 
   if (hit.collider.tag == "DecalOn" && Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
    
    // Call the decal generation method.
    DecalGen(hit.point, hit.normal, hit.collider);
   
  }
 
 }
 
 // Decal generation method.
 GameObject DecalGen(Vector3 p, Vector3 n, Collider c)
 {
  // Container for our decal instance
  GameObject decalInst;
  
  // Instantiate the actual decal prefab
  decalInst = (GameObject)Instantiate(decalPrefab, p, Quaternion.FromToRotation(Vector3.up, n));
  
  // Acquire necessary information
  MeshFilter mf = decalInst.GetComponent(typeof(MeshFilter)) as MeshFilter;
  Mesh m = mf.mesh;
  
  // Create a new array to store the decal mesh vertices
  Vector3[] verts = m.vertices;
  
  // Loop through all the delcal mesh vertices, convert them in local space
  // and check if any of them exceeds the hit collider bounds.
  for (int i = 0; i < verts.Length; i++)
  {
   verts[i] = decalInst.transform.TransformPoint(verts[i]);
   
   if (verts[i].x > c.bounds.max.x)
   { 
    verts[i].x = c.bounds.max.x;
    
   }
   
   if (verts[i].x < c.bounds.min.x)
   { 
    verts[i].x = c.bounds.min.x;
    
   }
   
   if (verts[i].y > c.bounds.max.y)
   { 
    verts[i].y = c.bounds.max.y;
    
   }
   
   if (verts[i].y < c.bounds.min.y)
   { 
    verts[i].y = c.bounds.min.y;
    
   }
   
   if (verts[i].z > c.bounds.max.z)
   { 
    verts[i].z = c.bounds.max.z;
    
   }
   
   if (verts[i].z < c.bounds.min.z)
   { 
    verts[i].z = c.bounds.min.z;
    
   }
   
   // Convert the vertices back in world space and assign them bacl to the decal mesh.
   verts[i] = decalInst.transform.InverseTransformPoint(verts[i]);
   m.vertices = verts;
  
  }
  
  return decalInst;
  
 }
 
}

At first glance, we see a big difference from the script in Part 1 (apart from it being much longer and complex...): all the instatiating code has been moved to a new method, called DecalGen. Now the Update() method is simplier, and it just calls the DecalGen method once the raycaster hits and object with the “DecalOn” tag and the player clicks the left mouse button. All the funky stuff now lives into the DecalGen method. Let's see what it does.

First of all, we create a new variable called “decalInst”, which will contain our actual decal Prefab once it gets instantiate in the scene. This will be processed and returned at the end of the method.

Then we instantiate the decal prefab, and the code is similar to the one in Part 1. Next we need to acquire some useful information to be able to do all the necessary checks. We need to get the MeshFilter from the decal prefab, and then its Mesh, so we gain access to all of its vertices. We also create a new Vector3 array to store the decal mesh vertices and do all the operations on a copy.

Next there's a “for loop” in which we cycle through all the mesh vertices, convert them in local space, and check separately every single Vector3 components (x, y and z), to see if they exceed the respective bounds of the hit collider. If any of them does, then we bring them back on the bound axis itself.

Then we convert the vertices in the Verts array back to world space, and reassign them to the decal prefab mesh. Lastly, we return the prefab decal object.

If you now try this script, you'll notice that decals will be always drawn inside the target objects' bounds and will never exceed them. Pretty nice, uh?

Decals in Unity3D, Part 1

2010-11-07T15:58:00.007+01:00

I've been experimenting with decals in Unity3D for our zombie game for about a month, and in this serie of posts I'll try to point out the results. Before you start messing around with this examples, it's better to say that I ain't no coder, I'm just learning Unity3D and C# scripting, so just take the code in the exampes "as is" (surely there are better ways of writing it or more performant ways to accompish the same tasks; nonetheless a novice like me could find some interesting stuff or inspiration). Also, there are at least a couple of ready-to-use decal systems for Unity, and they're very good (but we'll talk about them later). Finally, with Unity3 being released some weeks ago, you can find a good decal system in the Boot Camp demo (though the code is not commented enough, and I found it difficult to understand). Lastly, if you have any comment, suggestion or question about the code, feel free to post a comment here on the blog.

In this first part we'll see the easiest way to create a decal: instantiating a prefab in the impact point. First, we need to create our decal prefab, which will be composed by a mesh, a material and a texture. The decal mesh should be a simple flat plane; you can use the Unity primitive Plane, or any other plane mesh imported from other 3D applications. Then we need a material which supports alpha, like the Transparent shaders family in Unity. Lastly, we need to use a texture with alpha transparency information in it. Here's our plane mesh with a Transparent / Diffuse shader and a texture with alpha assigned to it:

Now we just create a new Prefab in the Assets folder, and assign the textured plane to it. Everytime we'll hit an object, a new instance of this Prefab will be created in the scene in the impact point. Let's see the code a really basic decal generation.

Create a new C# script in the Assets folder and call it like you wish (but don't forget that the script's file name must match the class name). In the example, the file name is Decal01.cs, so the class name must be Decal01:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
public class Decal01 : MonoBehaviour
{

// Use this for initialization
void Start ()
{

}

// Update is called once per frame
void Update ()
{

}

}

We need to constantly check if we're raycasting and hitting an object before we can draw the decal, so let's add raycasting to our code in the Update() method:


void Update ()
{
RaycastHit hit;

if (Physics.Raycast(camera.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition), out hit))
{


}

}

Now we need an event to decide whether or not instantiate our decal Prefab, and this event will be the left mouse button click:

void Update ()
{
RaycastHit hit;

if (Physics.Raycast(camera.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition), out hit))
{
  if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
  {
  
  }
 
}

}

Also, we need to pass the code information about WHAT to instantiate. For this we create a public GameObject variable containing our decal Prefab:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class Decal01 : MonoBehaviour
{
public GameObject decalPrefab;

// Use this for initialization
void Start ()
{

}

// Update is called once per frame
void Update ()
{
RaycastHit hit;

if (Physics.Raycast(camera.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition), out hit))
{
  if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
  {
  
  }
 
}

}

Lastly, we need the actual code to instantiate the decal in the impact point with the right orientation. We take all the necessary information from the RaycastHit structure (impact point position and orientation):

void Update ()
{
RaycastHit hit;

if (Physics.Raycast(camera.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition), out hit))
{
  if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
  {
    Instantiate(decalPrefab,
                  hit.point,
                  Quaternion.FromToRotation(Vector3.up, hit.normal));
  
  }
 
}
}

Now if you play the game, this simple decal system would work, but the raycast would get collisions with the newly generated decal planes. To avoid this, there is an easy way: just remove the Mesh Collider component from the decal Prefab, and it will work. This is a thing you should do anyway to avoid problems later. But, let's say you have a complex environment with a lot of objects; you'd have to remove colliders from all those objects you don't want decals onto, and that's not a good solution. Instead, we can implement a check for tags, so we can easily tell Unity exactly what objects should have decals.

Go into the Tag editor and add a new tag; call it “DecalOn”. Now let's go back to the code and add this simple condition for the decal to be generated:

void Update ()
{
RaycastHit hit;

if (Physics.Raycast(camera.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition), out hit))
{
 if (hit.collider.tag == "DecalOn" && Input.GetMouseButtonDown(0))
 {
   Instantiate(decalPrefab,
                 hit.point,
                 Quaternion.FromToRotation(Vector3.up, hit.normal));

 }
 
}

}

So, now we have three conditions that must be satisfied before a decal could be generated on the target object:

1) the target object must be hit by te raycasting

2) the target object must have a tag called “DecalOn” (or whichever name you choose)

3) the player must click the left mouse button

When all of these three conditions are true, the decal will be generated on the target object, exactly on the impact point and with the right orientation. If you want to test it out, create a new object in the scene (for example, a cube) and assign the “DecalOn” tag to it. Don't forget to assign the script to the Camera, off course. In fact, this kind of stuff will work only if applied to a camera (since we're using the camera component to drive the raycast method). Also, you need to assign the decal Prefab in the public slot we created earlier; just select the camera you attached the script to, and drag the decal Prefab from the Project view to the Decal Prefab slot of the camera.

You can downoad the Unity package file for this sample project here.

3D Creative Mag, October 2010

2010-09-30T16:16:00.008+02:00

Here's the October issue of 3D Creative Magazine, together with the last part of the Indoor Lighting tutorial serie (Maya version by me). Keep following guys!

Hardware shopping list: completed!

2010-09-28T14:06:00.009+02:00

		Finally, after a long wait, all the hardware shopping list is complete. Today I got the fans, the Dominator RAM kit and the Intel i7 980x CPU. Now I can proceed building the new workstation.
		I think I will call some friend of mine to help me with the job, since I've had a couple of accidents with hardware in the past, and I don't feel very comfortable with handling a 900 euros CPU...

[Video Tutorial] Importing vertex color information into Unity3D

2010-09-27T14:16:00.004+02:00

Here's the second part of the video. After baking the AO into the vertex color data, we export the model into Unity3D and use a Unify Community Wiki shader to display it.

[Video Tutorial] Baking Ambient Occlusion on Vertex Color

2010-09-26T23:11:00.003+02:00

I've decided to change the characters' shader from toon to vertex color. Here's a brief video tutorial about how I baked the Ambient Occlusion map into the vertex color information; maybe someone will find it useful.

Bug fixing!

2010-09-25T11:38:00.006+02:00

"Doggy Loop" game (yep, that's the final title...) is going under heavy mainteinance and bug fixing this weekend. We also started the "polishing" phase to remove some glitches and add some more cool graphics and effects. Also, Luca Eberhart (who is a skilled musician, too, when he's not doing graphics) composed a couple of nice music loops for the game.

Interview

2010-09-22T23:44:00.003+02:00

The guys at 3dagain.com wanted to make an interview, and here's the result. It's in Italian. English translation will follow, eventually.

New workstation, almost ready...

2010-09-22T23:33:00.007+02:00

		Today I got the LC Power Legion X2 power supply unit. Looks great! The new workstation is almost ready. This week I should get the last pieces...

Dog Game, new update

2010-09-16T19:21:00.002+02:00

The Dog Game (still "working title"...) is taking shape more and more. Now it's almost playable, there are still a few minor bugs (mostly in the collisions). The new update has: audio (music + sound fx), flying cat, main menu and in-game menu.

Dog Game update

2010-09-12T19:47:00.002+02:00

A little update today; we added particle systems for certain events and modified the camera behaviour.

Dog Game (working title) video

2010-09-11T21:38:00.002+02:00

Ok, here's what we got so far after almost one week of work. There is still some little bug in the collisions and some graphical assets missing, but basically the game is up and running.

MoBo got delivered!

2010-09-09T09:21:00.001+02:00

		Finally, I got the GigaByte X58A-UD3R. It looks like it is highly compatible with an OSx86 installation. Can't wait for the processor and other components to arrive!

Unity3D game project

2010-09-05T10:07:00.001+02:00

		Today we start a new game project. The concept is quite "ancient" and very simple: a dog trying to catch some food falling from above. We're doing this in our spare time and mostly for study purposes. We'll be using Unity3D engine and some C# scripting. Here are some pictures of the main character, which has already been modelled, textured and animated.

Case for new workstation got delivered!

2010-09-04T10:31:00.008+02:00

		Today the Fractal Design Define R2 got delivered. I have to say it's top-notch stuff: elegant, rock solid, a lot of room for fans and everything else. Thanks go to my friend and work-mate Piko for pointing out such an excellent product.

3D Creative Mag, September 2010

2010-09-03T17:41:00.009+02:00

Here's the new issue of 3D Creative Mag. This month there's a special anniversary! 5 years of 3D Creative Mag. Do yourself a favour: buy the mag and support the 3D Creative Mag guys. Next month there will be the last part of the indoor lighting tutorial (Maya version by me...).

September, shopping time!

2010-09-03T08:24:00.005+02:00

After buying a new graphic tablet last month (Wacom Intuos 4 M), it's time to start building up a new war machine! Here's the shopping list:

No hard drives (I already have plenty of them...) and no video card (same thing). I could take a better motherboard, but it seems that one is totally compatible with OSx86 installation. Today they should deliver the case and the motherboard; other stuff coming soon.

Thanks to Jacopo for some hints about the hardware to buy.

Countryside

2010-08-29T09:24:00.003+02:00

A day off in the coutryside, away from computers and stinky civilization.

ZBrush 4.0

2010-08-27T08:06:00.008+02:00

Finally, after quite a long wait, here it is!

ZBrush 4.0 hit the stores on August, 9th, with a lot of improvements and a LONG list of new features. Check it out on Pixologic's website.

Here's a quick sketch I made to celebrate ZB 4.0 and it's 10th anniversary (and to play around with its new toys, off course...).

OSX86 (again...)

2010-08-23T08:55:00.012+02:00

It's been a long time since the last time I tried to set up an OSX86 machine (I think it was 5 years ago). At the time, I managed to install Tiger 10.4.7 on an old PC I had at home. It worked flawlessly from the start, with full support for video, audio, LAN, etc.

The PC was quite old, so apart from the initial happiness for the successful installation, the system could not be used for work or any other serious tasks. I kept it for a while, using it as a media station (watching movies, listening to music and surfing the net).

After 5 years, powered with a new Quad Core, a lot of RAM and a nice video card, I decided to try it again. I was really disappointed when I found out that ANY of the OSX86 versions out there (iAtkos, iDeneb, Kalyway, etc.) would not work on my new PC, no matter what I did. I could not even boot into the installer!

After a quick research, I found that probably it was due to a SATA problem; even once in the installer, it wouldn't recognize my hard disks, so there was no way to install Leopard on the PC (let alone Snow Leopard).

In particular, the problem seemed to be the missing support for AHCI on my motherboard. I also discovered that my mobo (Asus P5N-D) was one of the worst mobo's to try such an experiment with OSX86 onto.

After some more months, with the launch of Snow Leopard, I was surfing the net again in search for any new solution to my problem, and I found the two keys that opened the gates of a successful OSX86 installation for me: iPC 10.5.6 and the brilliant Verdant's guide to install Snow Leopard retail on a PC with a nForce chipset.

It wasn't easy, and it took me almost two weeks of work, but in the end I made it, and now I'm writing this post from a fresh OSX86 Snow Leopard 10.6.4 system.

I was thinking about writing a guide, to save someone the tribulation I went through while attempting to install Snow Leopard on my PC, but there's no need for it: just follow the Verdant's guide and it will just work for you, too. You only need a working brain, a lot of spare time and some patience.

Anyway, if you need some advices or some hints, just ask here.

My hardware specs:

Snow Leopard 10.6.4
Intel Quad Core 8200
Asus P5N-D
8 gb DDR2 800 Mhz RAM
nVidia 9800 GT 1gb DDR3
750 gb SATA2 disk (data)
1000 gb SATA2 disk (data)
200 gb SATA2 disk (Snow Leopard)
120 gb SATA2 disk (Windows 7)
500 gb PATA disk (data)

Outdoor Environment Lighting tutorial serie becomes an E-Book

2010-08-18T09:13:00.000+02:00

The Outdoor Environment Lighting tutorial serie I made earlier this year for 3D Creative Mag becomes a nice, downloadable e-book in PDF format. You can find it on the 3D Total online shop.

3D Creative Mag, August 2010

2010-08-03T17:34:00.004+02:00

3D Creative Mag (and the indoor lighting tutorial...) await you with the new August issue. Check it out on the 3D Creative M ag website.

3D Creative Mag, July 2010

2010-07-03T17:31:00.002+02:00

The new issue of 3D Creative Mag, with the second part of the indoor lighting tutorial (by me). Get yourself a copy, now!

New tutorial serie for 3D Creative Mag

2010-06-03T17:25:00.002+02:00

Check out the new issue of 3D Creative Mag. This month we got a brand new tutorial serie; this time it's an indoor environment lighting tutorial composed of 5 different parts (Sunset, Daylight, Night time, Romantic, TV Light). Support the 3D Creative Mag guys and don't forget to buy a copy!

3D Creative Magazine, May 2010

2010-05-03T17:22:00.003+02:00

Here's the new issue of 3D Creative Mag, which contains the last part of the outdoor environment tutorial. A new serie coming next month!

3D Creative Magazine, April 2010

2010-04-03T17:20:00.002+02:00

Check out the new issue of the 3D Creative Mag, along with my new tutorial.

3D Creative Magazine, March 2010

2010-03-03T17:04:00.003+01:00

After a long break, the 3D Creative Magazine guys called me back to replace another artist for a tutorial serie. This time it's an outdoor environment lighting tutorial. Check it out on 3D Creative Magazine website (and don't forget to buy the mag!).

How to format code on Blogger

2009-11-24T21:22:00.004+01:00

Here's a really useful link on how to format code for Blogger posts.

Sync me up #2

2009-11-24T15:49:00.005+01:00

Ok, this time it's free. But it's running under Ubuntu (and other Linux distros). The name's Unison (for the command line package, while just install unison-gtk for a pratical GUI version).

Installation:


sudo apt-get install unison unison-gtk

Usage (for the command line version):


unison root1 root2 [options]

Sync me up

2009-11-08T21:42:00.004+01:00

If you need to sync files from one PC to another, from one dir to another, from your PC to your grandma's brain, here's a little, useulf piece of software: Viceversa. Ok, it's not free, but it really does the job.

"Gothic Church" tutorial serie on sale

2009-10-23T09:44:00.002+02:00

"Gothic Church" tutorial serie I made for 3D Creative Mag goes on sale on the 3D Total shop. Check it out!

"Aquarium" ebook goes on sale

2009-04-28T18:53:00.002+02:00

"Aquarium" tutorial serie I made for 3D Creative Mag goes on sale on the 3D Total shop. Check it out!

"Environment Lighting" e-book hits the store

2008-07-28T18:59:00.012+02:00

	The environment lighting tutorial serie I made for 3D Creative Mag has been packed up in a nice e-book, which is now available in the 3D Total online shop. Some customers' reviews:
	Alex Johnson (5/5 stars): Defiantly worth the money. This helped out my renderings a ton. Plus you don't need a pronunciation guide to say the company's name (gnomon I'm talking to you) Clive Welch (5/5 stars): Useful step-by-step instructions to producing some great effects. This helped explain what other manuals had failed to do. Lighting really does make or break a scene. A must for new and experienced alike. Fabio Brasiliense: (5/5 stars): Very usefull, the whole process is very well explained! Each chapter has a different lighting solution and the link to download resources are great. Sean Rupert: (5/5 stars): If you find Mental Ray settings a bit confusing, then this e-book on Environmental Lighting is a must have!

"Tuc Tuc" tutorial serie hits the stores

2007-12-14T09:21:00.003+01:00

"Tuc Tuc" tutorial serie I made for 3D Creative Mag becomes an e-book. It's available in the 3D Total online shop, check it out both versions (3dsmax and XSI)!

Some customers' reviews:

Raju Bandhari (4/5 stars):
3ds max tutorials are good it helps to improve our skils its very good.

Robbert van der velden (5/5 stars):

Great ebook.
You'll learn a lot about how shaders REALLY work.
The same goes for lighting.
You can use these techniques in pretty much every single scene you create.

Alex Vorobiev (5/5 stars):
This guide delivers what it promises and more. Very well detailed and easy to follow with some techniques which I have yet to see described anywhere else. I especially enjoyed the more creative material creation techniques. Both thumbs up.

Thomas Betts (5/5 stars):
I couldn't agree more with Nathan, this guide is incredible value for money. Well done 3DTotal on another superb piece of training and especially well done on making sure it can be available to people like me with low student budget in a remote area.

Nathan Ledet (5/5 stars):
Wow....is all I can say. I can't believe how packed with information this is! I've never really learned how to properly set up scenes and lighting. This guide has provided me with a huge step forward in making my renders look appealing.

"Sword Master" tutorial serie in stores

2007-09-05T09:47:00.002+02:00

The "Sword Master" tutorial serie (XSI remake) I made for 3D Creative Mag goes on sale in the 3D Total online shop.

"Joan of Arc" tutorial goes on sale

2007-09-05T09:36:00.004+02:00

The "Joan of Arc" tutorial remake (XSI version) I made for 3D Creative Mag goes on sale in the 3D Total online shop.

Some customers' reviews:

Matt Cieslukowski (5/5 stars):
Great product from a great publisher. The project was easy to follow and even though I'm an inexperienced enthusiast, I was able to get fantastic results. Keep up the great work.