Disney release Ptex as open source !

[fatfinger]

Could this be the OpenEXR of texturing? How long before we see this integrated in Blender? Will UV's be a thing of the past?

http://ptex.us/

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

Ptex is a texture mapping system developed by Walt Disney Animation Studios for production-quality rendering: No UV assignment is required! Ptex applies a separate texture to each face of a subdivision or polygon mesh. The Ptex file format can efficiently store hundreds of thousands of texture images in a single file. The Ptex API provides cached file I/O and high-quality filtering - everything that is needed to easily add Ptex support to a production-quality renderer or texture authoring application.

[mfoxdogg]

Yeah i saw this earlier, saw the paper a long time ago, it was impossible to impliment then and now its just extreamly difficult to do so don't hold your breath

but it is very nice to see disney releasing it as many people are opening up their stuff and not just old stuff (doom for instance) but cutting edge tech

[Artax]

Wow, cool!

[wysiwyg]

that looks really cool! not fully clear what it does - but it looks cool nonetheless!
its open source, so why not implement it, whatever it is?

[ShnitzelKiller]

Wouldn't this mean that every texture file is specific to a mesh? Not that that's so bad. I hate UV mapping.

[Kris]

While it's cool, UV's aren't really that hard to do anymore and also, they are still important in games and such. I still don't think I'd use this unless I saw some workflows or tutorials from the pros who use it to demonstrate its functionality. I understand why it's useful to films, but other media UV maps are still important to have; for freedom and other painting apps like post work in Photoshop.

[almux]

Whatsoever, it is cool if it stcks on surfaces like clothes when moving. If it can be used as easely as procedurals without having to go through the bake and UV mapings, it's qite ok for me.

[Michael W]

Did i imagine the other big thread on this from a couple of days ago?

Anyway, the clever stuff is the filtering across UV seams and the fact that all these images get stored in one file...

that aside, even oif it was implemented it would mean that all your texturing needs to be done in 3d paint... Blender's projection painting is good, but still fiddley for cloning from photo sources (and you still need to "project them from UVs anyway....

if the "lightmap pack UVs " method worked with filtering across the seams you'/d not really have much need for this... but you can see right now what it'd be like doing all your 3d paint inside blender.. not pretty!

don't get me wrong, blender's 3d paint is strong, but only for some things, (like fix up cloning across seams or doing some basic projection from a bunch of source pictures....

I'd have to agree with Kris that "traditional" methods of unwrap that still allow editing in an external paint package are much more attractive right now...

[rdo3]

didn't disney buy pixar and are only giving away whe stuff that didn't work as good from the merger?

[dyf]

Originally Posted by wysiwyg its open source, so why not implement it, whatever it is?

the linux kernel is open source as well, why not implement it, whatever it is?

[ristesekuloski]

If I remember correctly, ZBrush had similar Auto UV assignment feature, that worked and looked great in ZBrush, but I haven't seen it used anywhere else... and what's more, nobody is using it even in Zbrush.

Although, I have to say that I am amazed that Disney decided to give something away... that is sooooo unlike them!

[Daniel8488]

This should be implemented in some way, it was used on the Dinosaur film (2000). The graphics are phenomenal for something which was produced 10 years ago, if you have the chance go check it out, I believe it was Disney's first foray into 3D animation and they developed some pretty kick ass technology, this being on of them.

[tyrant monkey]

good on Disney

@Daniel8488 are you not perharps thinking of something different because the ptex site that fatfinger linked to said Bolt was the first feature film the used this on

[Daniel8488]

Hmm I think I must be thinking of something different.

[rogper]

@tyrant monkey:
The dinosaur in the picture is from "The Robinson's". What I guess is that in that movie it was only used for the dino and in Bolt it was used for everything.

[almux]

And Pixels 3D had the "Smooth seams" when it was yet nurbs modeling only. It was cool to mix the borders of two completely different procedurals to have that nice seam vanishing. You could choose the % of melting.

[Ace Dragon]

Isn't it almost the same as writing a python script for Blender that would make every face its own UV island and arrange them to fill up every pixel on the image according to size and then autosnapping the verticies to pixels.?

That would be a nice thing for Blender 2.5 to have in the immediate future, good thing Blender has projection painting now.

[Loolarge]

I guess you cannot use photoshop and alike for texturing anymore(?), so you need to have a 3d painting soft that's feature set is comparable to bodypaint (photoshop for 3D). Am i right?

[Commander Taco]

The autoUV in Zbrush was a great feature, problem is that people could not follow the instructions to properly import them to their application, and you cannot edit the texture in anything but Zbrush because of how distorted some of the tiles become.

I find it disturbing that Disney studios is still using Walt Disney's name. They push a mythological agenda that would have made Walt Disney puke. Walt was against any religious overtones in his studios work, he wanted EVERYONE to be able to enjoy his studio's work.

The Jonas Brothers, and Hanna Montana would never see the light of day if Disney was still alive today. Even on the "Mickey Mouse Club" he made it a strong point to have Jewish and children without any religious conviction appear in his show. He did not make anything that singles out, or alienates people of different faiths. (Although he did make some racist propaganda films for the US government. during WW2)

When Disney studios bought Pixar, I wanted to cry.

And when Disney studios payed lobbyists to corrupt politicians into banning homosexuals from getting married, I could hear old Walt rolling over and over and over again in his grave. Some of Disney's top animators where homosexual, and Disney not only knew about it, he commended them on how brave they where to admit it in public. (Back then you could go to jail for "lude and indecent" acts if you were gay. You did not even have to commit lude and indecent acts, if you where a homosexual and admitted it you where guilty.)

Disney liked multiple women, he did not even believe in marriage. He enjoyed Cocaine , and on occasion used LSD. (after his first trip, he started working on Fantasia). Durring his first few years of fame he told everyone he liked to pray and was thankful for his religious upbringing. Later in life he would not comment on religion, and in one case he actually walked out of a Walter Cronkite interview when asked about faith.

Well, anyway... back on topic.
I think it is important for every one to learn proper UV mapping. I think gift from pixar would be a great addition to blender, but i can also see it making so that people will press the AUV button to get an automatically generated UV map, and getting poor results because they must edit the texture in blender, rather than taking it to a full featured 2d paint program.

+2 cents

[Meriabo]

This could be the future if someone develops a photoshop that could be used in a 3d program. So you could paste images right onto the model, use layers, filters. And everything that make photoshop that great inside the 3d paint program.