Baking shadows
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Hello, I need your help. Im looking for existing ways to "bake" SU shadows onto the objects for subsequent export.
I have a huge model of exisiting site in Acute3D viewer (1sq km) trees buildings,topo, road and all. Can clearly see windows on each building. There is LOD (level of detail algorythm) built in so the model moves very fast. Not possible in SU. I import into the scene my design from SU as .obj. This way i can see my project in huge existing environment. Super exciting. The trouble is that Acute3D viewer doesnt project shadows. (Enviromental models already have shadows baked by the sun).
So, i want to color up my design model with shadows prerendered into it. (Baked). Export .obj. and insert into environment.
Any idea how to achieve it? -
You might want to check on LightUp. It's an extension that is able to bake a lot of effects in the model and I believe you can bake only shadows too.
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@jql said:
You might want to check on LightUp. It's an extension that is able to bake a lot of effects in the model and I believe you can bake only shadows too.
+1
I'm not sure if you'll be able to export it though, it's been a while since I've used LU.
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Easiest and most affordable way would be Blender and the Bake Tool+ Addon for about $30 I think?
It will consolidate the maps into one map, which you can define the resolution of, and then export it to .DAE
Or another hack is to use Thomthom Blackout plugin and grab a top perspective of the elements in black and export the viewport grab and blur it.
Then multiply it on the texture to get the baked feel. Needs some fiddling though.
LightUp can do a global bake but you need to be mindful of the size of your largest texture as it can crash it you let LightUp dynamically create the lighting info. There's some setting that lets you limit the final resolution of the bake
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So the 2 choices are:
- LightUp
- Blender + bake tool add on
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Those are my 2 suggestions. Might be other choices out there.
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Can I get an .obj exported in both cases?
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Not from LightUp. .DAE and .FBX only.
From Blender you've the full range of 3D formats.
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Can LightUp export .PLY?
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No, only FBX and DAE.
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How hard is Blender to learn? Is there a way to test this method without committing a credit card number?
What do you think about reimporting LightUp dae into sketchup and export to .obj from SU?
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@dennis_n said:
How hard is Blender to learn? Is there a way to test this method without committing a credit card number?
Blender UI is a beast to figure out. Steep learning curve. No way to trial the Bake Tool+.
@dennis_n said:
What do you think about reimporting LightUp dae into sketchup and export to .obj from SU?
It's be quicker to use MeshLab to convert it from DAE to OBJ
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It's for animation or still images ?
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Sort of Animation.
Acute3D viewer is only flying around photogrammetry model. The only and critical advantage of it is LOD. It has 1 Gb model with details unseen in SU, flying like it is 1k SU model. Amazing. Because Photogrammetry model already has shadows baked in, even medium built PC can process it with no problem. Animating shadows is not an issue, because the environment model already has shadows fixed and cant adjust at all. The only choice is to match the existing environment shadows. Well that is good enough. However, imported geometry looks like crap because it is not shaded.If I can fix that, my clients will piss their pants from excitement.
So Here is what I got for now - 1.Get the LighUP to export DAE, 2. Use MeshLab (or SU) to make a .OBJ
Right? -
I don't know if that can help ?
Su[Ch] by Renderiza
Shadow Text -
Will xNormal do the job?
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It could but you'll need to lower poly mesh to bake the high poly info to.
Knald would also bake the AO channel. Haven't seen your mesh so I don't know if it would fail or not.
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28 residential towers 20 - 33 floors, intense landscape below.
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The LightUp demo didnt work. I couldn't get it to export baked shadows. Anyone with LightUp can you post a small DAE with baked shadow? Im desperate.
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Looked at Blender: Gotten really sceared by complexity.
Tried LightUp:couldnt get it to export anything meaningful. Posted on forums for support, no luck.
Came across SimLab Composer: it was the answer to my prayers. It did everything I wanted and more. They are really friendly with import\exports. The bake looks good. Wooho.
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