Background Positioning

Hey Al:

I just downloaded V4..........the background positioning wizard is not there as you show it in your tutorial. Am I missing something here?

Thanks,

Chris

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Render Plus on September 15, 2011 at 11:08am

Start the renderer, load the Background tab nad compare it to the image below.

If it does not say version KI02, download and install it again.

If it does say KI02, but does not have a preview button, upload a similar image so we can see it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christopher Alan Krupp on September 15, 2011 at 11:49am

Here's what I get.....it is KI02 taht I have

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christopher Alan Krupp on September 15, 2011 at 11:52am

Rich: forgot the image

I'm doing 2 as I can't recall which is the better one.orry...forgot to upload the image

Attachments:

Background Tab.docm, 344 KB
Background Tab.doc, 296 KB

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rich Hart on September 15, 2011 at 12:29pm

You picture shows the Options dalog loaded from our toolbar within SketchUp.

The new Wizard is only available from the Rendering window. Start the rendering and then stop it and bring up the options dialog from that rending window toolbar.

We haven't written the Wizard to work from within SketchUp yet.

Does that make sense?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christopher Alan Krupp on September 15, 2011 at 3:01pm

Now that you've clarified this, its wonderful. A few little tweaks and we have something here.

It makes the most sense to me to be able to position it in the rendering setup, just as you set up the lighting, etc.

That was going to be my comment back to you as it seems kind of odd to have to start, then stop the rendering to position the background. I do like however that one does not need to trial and error the positioning by the x,y thing anymore. A few times I lost either the background or the positioning from one rendering of the same model to the other.........

With some of my backgrounds this position preview is fantastic as I often try to blend the ground plane of the background into the SketchUp ground plane so that it appears that the ground goes on way back beyond the building. It works the same with trees, etc.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Render Plus on September 15, 2011 at 3:52pm

We will be adding it directly in SketchUp.

But we wanted to get it out in front of people so we could improve the interface as well.

We are currently adding the ability to distort and well as resize the background to correct for perspective differences. This will be Dynamite!

We also plan to add a brightness and contrast slider to make adjustments to the background on the fly.

After we get those done we will get the "In SketchUp" version working. For now, you will have to render one pass first, and thenadjust the background.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alain Bonnefoy on September 18, 2011 at 10:54am

Hi Al,

I think this feature is a really good idea and is maybe related about the discussion we had few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, i really didn't have time to experiment it. I'll try to have a look at it soon.

Alain

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christopher Alan Krupp on September 19, 2011 at 7:34am

Al:

I've messed with the "position background" thing quite a bit. It works pretty darn well. I do like the idea of stretching and resizing as it can be difficult to get the portion of the background you want to shown in the right position without having the perimeter edge (and the white outside of that) showing as well.

ChrisAlain Bonnefoy said:

Hi Al,

I think this feature is a really good idea and is maybe related about the discussion we had few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, i really didn't have time to experiment it. I'll try to have a look at it soon.

Alain

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alain Bonnefoy on September 19, 2011 at 7:37am

I think we are waiting for this feature >>http://irendernxt.com/forum/topics/bkgd-image-problem

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Render Plus on September 19, 2011 at 7:47am

Are you referring to Cylindrical and Spherical Backgrounds.

For Spherical Backgrounds, which are full 360 degree images, we suggest you use them as an HDRi sky instead. That will work much better, and we have added a feature to the HDRi tab to let you convert .jpg or .png images to .hdr.

We do not have a wizard for easily rotation HDRi skies yet. But the rotation parameter does work.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Alain Bonnefoy on September 19, 2011 at 7:54am

Yes, this parameter is ok now.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Christopher Alan Krupp on September 19, 2011 at 9:17am

I guess that I'm just referring to flat backgrounds. Not really clear on how to use the other variations. Can any background image be used as 360 or spherical. Any insight would be appreciated.

Chris