Texturing A Ground Fracture In 3D Studio Max – Tuts+ Premium
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Texturing A Ground Fracture In 3D Studio Max – Tuts+ Premium

on Oct 7th 2011 with 13 comments
Tutorial Details

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial we will look at integrating a nice ground fracture into a live action shot. The process will look at using a our source video as the texture and how we can project and ‘stick’ it to the fragments. I will also cover how to set up a multi/sub object material and us it in conjunction with Rayfire to assign the correct texture to correct side of a fragment. We will also use Rayfire to fracture our street.

Click here to watch an Excerpt from this tutorial

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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Kevin has always been inspired by breath-taking visual effects in movies and commercials and is eager to be part of the new generation to inspire those to come. He has recently graduated from college and is working to step out into the VFX world. Currently his areas of study are motion tracking and particle effects, but enjoys modeling, compositing, and effects editing. When he's not working on his next effect, Kevin enjoys playing computer games, golf, tennis, and spending time with his family.  

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  • http://ablogonzo.wordpress.com/ Allan

    looks like the fractured parts are casting no shadow on the ground

    • Kevin
      Author

      There is no light casting shadows for the fragments, only the skylight illuminating the objects and giving it an ambient occlusion effect.

  • http://anon.com anon

    Planar map in the Y, go to cgtextures and grab asphalt. Render. How is the estimated completion time 1-2 hours and why is this considered intermediate?

    • Kevin
      Author

      Using the planar map in the Y (with this specific shot), you would have to line up the black caulking in the street, along with having to deal with the shadows. By camera mapping the actual footage as the material for the top of the fragments, you don’t need to worry about lining the black lines or matching the shadows.

      • http://anon.com anon

        I still think a planar projection in Y would be more suitable to what is needed. Why can’t you just walk down a few feet from where you shot the footage and take a photo of the soon to be fractured area?

        Anyways, I don’t see why this is premium while other tutorials are not… maybe an explanation from the moderators will shed some light.

        Without knowing exactly what you’re teaching in the tutorial, maybe a better description would benefit you.

        Perhaps focusing more on the dynamics and tracking rather than texturing.

        The result isn’t bad, but from what I gather in the description, it’s too complicated for what is actually needed.

        Also (more critiquing) if you look at the shadows of the scene, they seem pretty strong and directional. So just relying on a GI shadow effect will not suffice. Just try adding a basic shadow to the particles and you’ll see a world of difference for the better.

        The result isn’t bad, I just have more of a problem with how the site decides what is premium or not.

      • Kevin
        Author

        I understand.

        I was actually considering just taking a picture down the road but thought that it might be interesting finding a way to use the video as the texture (its an interesting pipeline).

        As far as the shadows go, yes they are way to dark and the fragments themselves don’t cast any (never set that up as I mainly wanted to focus on using the video as a texture and how materials work inside of rayfire). The beginning of this video was created with the same process.

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdnDf4_FP50

        In regards to the tut and the description, a good portion of it is setting up a multi/sub object material, with the rendered texture, that can be used inside of rayfire and how to apply the correct texture to the correct side of the fragment. I will see if I can clarify the description.

        It is my first tutorial so I thank you for the critiquing, looks to be a few areas I can focus on for future ones.

  • B_O_B

    I’d just like to congratulate you on a nice simple tutorial. A great first attempt. Very clear and a good attitude (this is starting to sound like a report card). I just really appreciated it and felt like encouraging you. Great work! Thank you.

    p.s – as a response to Anon I’d say that sometimes you get footage without reference images (VFX artist would almost never shoot their own footage) so this technique has a place.

    • Kevin
      Author

      Thanks for the kind words B_O_B.

  • Chris

    I agree with B_O_B. This tutorial was very helpful. I was seeking a workflow that would allow the use of original source footage on the fly as a texture instead of an external image. This is the first tutorial I’ve seen that covers camera map per pixel and the application was great! It’s also a nice introduction to Rayfire for new users. Exactly what I was looking for.

    I think the guy Anon who commented may have overlooked or didn’t understand the beneficial aspects of this tutorial. This is great when you have issues with shadows in your original footage and either don’t have a texture or have issues texturing. This is an ALTERNATIVE and a good one at that. Great job! You have a good voice for tutorials. The way you talk is really calm and soothing. Made me feel like everything was gonna be alright lol

    p.s. – This is a very small issue but it would’ve been nice to see you creating and aligning the plane that you used to hide the edges of the box as opposed to just unhiding it. I had a little trouble lining the plane up in a way that hid the edges but didnt cover the top of the fragment box. Its a small thing but i wouldve liked to see how you went about doing it. Nice job

    • Kevin
      Author

      I greatly appreciate your comments Chris! Made my night (errr morning).

      As for the plane aligned with the fragment box, they were both created from the same box. I created a large box (the height I wanted my fragments to be) with some length and width segments. I then grabbed the top and bottom inner vertices and moved them around to create the shape I wanted my fractured area to look like. I then selected those polygons (both top and bottom) and detached them from the larger box. I then just bridged the edges together. After that, I just deleted the side and bottom polygons from the remaining box to create the plain.

  • alfor

    I like a lot this tutorial … but I have a problem.
    I’m using 3DS MAX 2012 when I try tu use RENDER TO TEXTURE the scale of the image is wrong, and I have no idea how to overcame to this error.

  • http://www.RickyWilson.ws Richard

    Nice tut but need shadow, dust elements and the ball HRD… The timing of the guy freighting and running should be a little delayed… you never jump scared as something emerge, there’s a delay when you to perceive action and them react to that.. nicely done though

  • Ryan G.

    Hey Kevin, I’m hoping that you’re still looking at the comments :).

    First off, awesome tutorial…been wanting to do this type of effect for awhile.

    Anyway, I’m attempting this tutorial with my own footage, and am having an issue with the render-to-texture sequence not lining up. It’s kind of tough to explain so bear with me.

    So basically I’ve confirmed via a test (totally untextured) render that my matchmove is right on the money, sticks like glue.

    I’m finally at a point now where I’m bringing the fractured render sequence into After Effects and it’s weird…the mesh is perfect, but the Render-to-Texture sequence applied to it is sliding around.

    Here’s a quick clip to show this:
    http://www.ryangallion.com/Fracture_OffsetProblem.mp4

    I’ve tried every offset imaginable (shifting the camera back/forward one frame, shifting the RTT sequence back/forward 1 frame via the IFL setup dialog, shifting the entire sequence in After Effects, etc) and I just can’t get this thing to line up correctly.

    In the end I suspect its the classic 1 frame offset issue (starting at frame 0 vs. frame 1.) But I’m thinking it could also be a framerate things because Max can’t do 29.97.

    So have you ever experienced this type of issue? Is there a solution that comes to mind? Is there any piece of wisdom you could pass along?

    Thanks in advance for the time :).