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Can it be done? Projector image on a chracter.

Posted By Dragonskunk 8 Years Ago
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justaviking
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Greetings.

Rampa's experiments were very similar to what I was referring to in my first response to this thread.  I finally got around to doing some testing, and there might be some hope for doing it in iClone.  As always, it depends on the level of detail (quality) you need, and the effort you're willing to put into it.

I did some experiments using the REFLECTION MAP.

Here are the relevant controls in iClone:
https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/b3c09896-f7b5-4c8b-b3bb-4450.jpg


This is my Reflection map (I circled an area of interest):
https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/03869ce8-674e-491c-8920-4b11.jpg


First test, using some primitives - you can see the reflection that I highlighted in the previous picture:
https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/add5f1b5-f192-491f-8f3d-eccd.jpg


An initial test on a CC avatar - shows some promise:
https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/9472559d-8d85-46ac-87e5-50ef.jpg


Using a "cropped" version of the Reflection map, trying to show only the center- Everything around it was black - not very attractive because the black was visible on her skin - also tried white (not shown) which was equally unattractive:
https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/78ba89e9-c89c-440b-9190-3c78.jpg


Rather than a white or black "background" on the Reflection map, I tried a *transparent* background for all but the area of interest (don't worry about the small black frame, I left that there on purpose since I was experimenting):
https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/3c832b9c-b0cf-44d9-bfd1-d80b.jpg


It looks like the alpha (transparent) layer on the reflection map was honored, and now I see only the smaller portion of the image being reflected on her face:
https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/3e5ef3a2-b831-4a6c-acb2-dbaa.jpg



NOTE:

The lighting is not very flattering.  I realized later I still have an IBL image active, which is making her less attractive, but the concept seems to be working.  It didn't seem worth re-doing all the pictures.

NOTE 2:  Actually, the "black cropping" might have worked just as well as the transparent alpha layer, which makes sense.  I may have dragged the wrong image onto the transparency map.  I'm getting pretty much identical results with a "black cropped" and an "alpha cropped" version of the transparency map.  (The white version is ghastly since it reflects white paste all over her face.  Could be good for a horror show).  Sorry about the confusion.  Also, I know I'm using the word "cropped" inaccurately, but I hope you know what I mean.  I wanted to remove 90% of the image.  The example image above should help make it clear.

SUMMARY:

Looking at these images, I'm started to get a bit more optimistic.  It doesn't project onto her hair and stuff like that, but for story-telling purposes, if you want to make it look like she's seeing a computer monitor display or something like that, I think it would be pretty effective, and the audience would be unlikely to leap from their chairs and shout, "Hey, it's not shining onto her hair!"  Yeah, I'm feeling far better about this than I anticipated.

@DragonSkunk - I look forward to seeing what you come up with.  Let us know which way you go and how it works out.




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Edited
8 Years Ago by justaviking
Dragonskunk
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You have to keep in mind that the projection needs to be fixed even if the character is pacing in front of the screen or turning away. So stills don't cut it, you need to show the character walk from one end to where the projection isn't showing and it doesn't show on the character and turning around and it's on her back. I don't think iClone's IBL is gonna cut it.

Maybe I can manually track the texture to match the position of the character. I could try to offset a video as texture with a video editor and move the texture relative to the x position of the character. I would need to use an complete envelope of the character to project the video.         


https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/f0d5a6aa-f907-4e06-b7ab-3cc3.jpg
Rampa
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I was hoping the IBL would be "full scene", but suspected it would be basically very similar to the reflection channel. Both are a spherical projection, and both share the same "gotcha". Wink

You get scaling with IBL. So there is that, I guess....... If it could just map a bit more "loosely".
justaviking
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I'm not saying it's great, but the reflection map is not static on the face like the diffuse map is.  (The image itself is, but the position on the face changes as she moves, sort of.)

Here's a short little example:
<<< video removed... see video at bottom of this post >>>

It's not pretty, but maybe still a candidate.
Don't worry, I'm not offended if it's not a viable solution, I'm just trying to help with ideas.

It will reflect on her no matter where she is in the room (but can depend on the direction she's facing), so that's a definite downside.

I just did another test... you can keyframe the "Strength" of the map, so it could "appear" when she is in the projection beam and then go away when she steps out of it.  Again, not perfect, but it's all in iClone.

The question is, with a bit of clever editing, what "cheats" can you get away with?  Movie magic, not physical reality.  Wink


ADDED:

You can use a video file for the Reflection map, so the image on her face can change, too.
It's most noticeable on her forehead.




P.S.
For some odd reason, if I put the first video in, nothing below it appears in this post.  Very strange.  Oh well, the video I included shows all the key elements.



iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
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Edited
8 Years Ago by justaviking
Cricky
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Can Video Projection be done on a character as they walk by? Yes, but it takes a bit of work to align all videos and place them on the parts that project the simulation.

PopVideo Blend Overlay for Skin 
Plus Diffuse for Plane and Projection Screen  

In this clip the cloud movement was chosen because of its continuous pattern change.  

The same video was applied to the Avatar Skin Blend Channel only. For the clothing I used the Diffuse Channel.  

The Opacity Channel is automatic using popVideo so the Alpha channel is simple. 

I avoided applying it to the Blend of the Hair to see if the pattern was discernable from the skin layer, which may be hard to see, but it is.

A Plane was aligned in front of the Character which has the same Video.

  



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Dragonskunk
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I wonder if I would place a cloth over the character make it semi transparent with a texture would look like a projection on the character? Make gravity go towards the projected wall and have the character walk in the cloth displacing it. Could it make the effect work?

Stay tuned.


https://forum.reallusion.com/uploads/images/f0d5a6aa-f907-4e06-b7ab-3cc3.jpg
esemgee
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Not too sure if this is what you want - a year too late - but noticed it as I was trying to work out if using 'billboards' would help me in an area I am playing with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jif3uq-DNQY



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