Soft Shadows

Al Hart · 27 Apr 2009, 00:59

Your images are awfully similar - but that may be all right (You would be a better judge of that then me)

Don't worry about quality - we can improve that after we see if the idea works.
(I am planning to offer you a free copy of NprTools in exchange for 6 to 10 images which I can include in it. Not a great deal for you because I don't think we will charge much for NprTools. I have already offered free copies to everyone who has helped with it - and that just about equal the number of people who might be interested in it when it is done.)

I suspect that the individual lines may be too thick. You should paste the two images on top of each other to make sure you are happy the effect the cross hatch will have.

(This isn't quite right - because I simple pasted them together rather than blending them together.)
Here is a sample from another web site.

I don't really like their result, but it reminds me that I may want too allow 3 or 4 layers instead of just 2.

I am trying to achieve an effect something like this.

BTM · 27 Apr 2009, 01:02

Ah, don't worry, I think I know what you mean.
First set just made Tile-able with GIMP, second was edited to match up better in the texture.
_First set:

_Edited set:

All images were done with a 6B pencil.

The tiled images aren't that big, so they might not look too good. I can redo them in a few minutes though.

BTM · 27 Apr 2009, 01:08

Hmm... My post was a bit messed up. you were right about them being similar, I just flipped them vertically, and the latter (better) 2 images are messed up, and are showing the same one
i'll try to make some thinner lines (more detailed too). Might get them up soon, or have to wait 'till tomorrow.

Al Hart · 27 Apr 2009, 01:42

@unknownuser said:

Hmm... My post was a bit messed up.

And you need to stop editing your posts after I have already started my reply.

Al Hart · 27 Apr 2009, 02:42

Thanks - I'll give them a try - but it may take a day or two...

BTM · 27 Apr 2009, 02:42

@unknownuser said:

Oh, and sorry, I have a habit of editing my posts after I post them

, again.
... Newer cross-hatching textures
Oh, and i don't know how well these will work, but I made tile-able thinner lines.

Don't pay attention to the file names, they aren't in any order at all

BTM · 27 Apr 2009, 02:55

... Tomorrow I'll probably make another set, more of a straight-thin-pencil style though.

Al Hart · 2 May 2009, 17:59

Thanks for the pattern, BTM. I got the criss-cross shadows to work - the first pattern is used for the lighter parts of the shadow, and the second pattern is brought in for the darker parts (and overlayed over the first pattern).

Also, I made these shadows red (someone had requested colored shadows, so I added a shadow color button) (I can't see that they are red. (Someone just told me that this model didn't look very good. Pay attention to the technology of the shadows, not the model or the final result. If someone has a small model which would be better for these examples, sent it to me.)

Chris Fullmer · 2 May 2009, 22:08

I like it a lot on the house shadow that is cast on the ground. Any chance of seeing it with a regular grey shadow instead of the red? Its really looking great Al!

Chris

Al Hart · 2 May 2009, 22:19

@chris fullmer said:

I like it a lot on the house shadow that is cast on the ground. Any chance of seeing it with a regular grey shadow instead of the red? Its really looking great Al!

Chris

Good to hear from you again - this whole "soft shadow" think came from your idea of taking several (64 or so) images moving the sun around, and combining them to get softer shadows. As a result you will get a free copy of NprTools when it is delivered.

Send me a model you would like to see some soft shadows on, and I will run it through as a test case.

Chris Fullmer · 2 May 2009, 22:24

Oh I've been eagerly watching this thread Al. I think the soft shadows are coming along very well. I genereally prefer them with no hatching, but the criss-cross pattern on the last one is actually quite nice I think. I think it has to do with the density of the strokes. They are closer and tighter in that example than they have been in some of the others. I like that best.

Anyhow, its coming along really well. I'll find a model and PM it to you. Keep it up!

Chris

Al Hart · 3 May 2009, 00:00

Thanks,

I'd like to try another model.

I'm getting tired of looking at this one.

There are a lot of settings here for density, color, transparency, pattern, blurring, etc. which you will be able to use when I get the Beta out.

BTM · 3 May 2009, 00:33

Soft shadows could probably be good for indoor scenes (windows). Maybe you should make some indoor scenes, as well as outdoors.

Pixero · 3 May 2009, 07:40

Wow, I'm really looking forward to this.
And colored shadows, yeees!

Question, does the line scale factor also go into less than 1 for getting even thinner lines?

Al Hart · 3 May 2009, 13:20

Here is an interior scene:

Here is the result with soft shadows (no cross hatch)

Here is a result with cross-hatch. I don't think it worked well. I might try a light (rather than dark) hatch in the sunny area instead.

Here is a BW image with cross hatch.

Al Hart · 3 May 2009, 13:23

@pixero said:

Question, does the line scale factor also go into less than 1 for getting even thinner lines?

The scale factor can be less than 1.

It scales the entire pattern, line and spaces between lines - not just the lines.

kwistenbiebel · 3 May 2009, 13:34

Hi Al,

Interesting experiments!
I like the soft shadows in the first post a lot. A plugin that can output this effect as a .jpg would be great!

Al Hart · 3 May 2009, 16:52

Aha, this inverse image took some clever balancing and a trick ("leave shadows on, but set the sun intensity to 0 to get an image with the same lighting as the shadow image, but no sun"), but it turned out pretty well.

I have added "Invert" as an option to SketchyShadows.

I think Inverse mode worked better on the interior, then on the exterior. You would need less sun and more shadow for the exterior to work well.

BTM · 3 May 2009, 17:15

... How many layers of cross-hatching do you think will be available, and will NPR Tools be available for macs?

... Also, just throwing this out there, but what would happen if you included cross-hatched shadows and sun?

Al Hart · 3 May 2009, 17:35

@unknownuser said:

... How many layers of cross-hatching do you think will be available, and will NPR Tools be available for macs?

... Also, just throwing this out there, but what would happen if you included cross-hatched shadows and sun?

Probably 4 layers, but you will have to use a naming convention for the patterns (so I can select the first pattern - say Lines_1.jpg - and I can know that the other three are Lines_2.jpg, Lines_3.jpg, etc. - So I won't have to prompt for the names of all 4 pattern files)

I hope to make a Mac version in time for the next "Design Visualization Center" conference. (as far as I now it is not scheduled yet).

I will try to dual hatching - perhaps reversing the order or the patterns to so they won't just run together.