LIGHTFLOW problems. please help!

Coding Python Support
1

hi,
i am messing around with lightflow and ive come upon this really odd problem which i cant fix.
its using voxels to make a bit of smoke, and part of the smokes code requires it to have its own environment, along with the normal one:

"
s.interiorBegin( smoke )
atmosphere1 = s.newMaterial( “transparent”, [] )
s.interiorEnd()
s.materialBegin( atmosphere1 )
s.addObject( s.newObject( “box”, [ “position”, vector3( -1, -1, -1.6 ), vector3( 1, 1, 3.0 ) ] ) )
s.materialEnd()
"
as you can see, its a box which is transparent.
my normal environment is this:

"
atmosphere = s.newMaterial( ‘standard’, [ ‘ka’, vector3(1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000), ‘kc’, vector3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0), ‘kd’, 0.0, ‘shadowing’, 0.0 ] )
s.materialBegin( atmosphere )
s.addObject( s.newObject( ‘sphere’, [ ‘radius’, 50.000000 ] ) )
s.materialEnd()
"
this is a white diffused sphere.technically, since the smokes world is transparent, it shouldnt be a problem, but

check out the render http://membersites.namezero.com/aidan.cartoonsaloon.ie//david/smoke.jpg

there is an obvious box surrounding the smoke, which IS transparent, but is a darker area.this would suggest there is a light fog or something over the normal env. (the sphere), but i cant figure it out.
i do not have this problem when i render without the white sphere…

PLEASE HELP!!

heres the script download http://membersites.namezero.com/aidan.cartoonsaloon.ie//david/smoketest.py

I also have a few other questions regarding LF:

  1. why does it render in multiples of the final render (if i get it to render 300x300, itll render a 1x1 image, a 75x75 image, a 150x150 image and then a final antialiases 300x300 image. can i skip all these other renders?)

also

2.could someone please explain how to use MATspiderLF shaders. everytime i copy the text with complex shaders it never works. (eg. ghostrock has LOADS of text to paste. it never works, but simple diffuse shaders work fine. and would there be any way to save the shader/library file (eg. shader.mtl) and get LF to read it directly? it would be a lot easier.

and

3.is there any text editor that would colour code the python for me, its my first experience with modifying python and its become a pain to look at loads of black text!

4.also one that would execute the .py file on the click of a button without saving it, because when i make changes, and the .py file doensnt work, i have to REMEMBER all that ive changed and resave.

thanks,

2

I can’t at the moment say what the problem is with the render, no time, but as you say it doesn’t happen without the sphere, which is probably a WORLD_LIGHT, so use regular lighting instead…

  1. why does it render in multiples of the final render (if i get it to render 300x300, itll render a 1x1 image, a 75x75 image, a 150x150 image and then a final antialiases 300x300 image. can i skip all these other renders?)

This only happens when you have radiosity enabled, it is a side-effect of the global illumination method used by Lightflow, you will see the same thing in POVray, (the blocky pre-renders when using radiosity).
I’m guessing here, somebody like Cessen would probably be able to accurately explain this, but what I think it does is refining the lighting with every iteration of the image. So the first iteration (the smallest picture) makes a coarse estimate of the light distribution, and every subsequent iteration progressivly refines this based on the previous estimate.
But you didn’t want to know that, I’m sure…

2.could someone please explain how to use MATspiderLF shaders. everytime i copy the text with complex shaders it never works. (eg. ghostrock has LOADS of text to paste. it never works, but simple diffuse shaders work fine. and would there be any way to save the shader/library file (eg. shader.mtl) and get LF to read it directly? it would be a lot easier.

When you copy the material from MATSpiderLF you either have to change the material name to the material name used by the object, or you change the material name used by the object to the MATSpiderLF name.

4.also one that would execute the .py file on the click of a button without saving it, because when i make changes, and the .py file doensnt work, i have to REMEMBER all that ive changed and resave

What I do, is export, minimize the Blender window so it’s still running, and then let Lightflow render, when the output is not what I want, I only need to switch back to Blender to make changes and export again.

As for your poll question:
I like Lightflow very much but as for export scripts, try using Green’s Blenderman, it is easily the best…

3

thanks but the world light is really essential for good radiosity, ohh well…

i suppose its not a problem with the lf exp. script its with the renderer or the many parameters used.

thanks again.