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18/07/2011 18:27:44

ukBertyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
ukBerty
Posts: 975 		Shadow Intensity - Brilliant

64 bit version - now seems same speed as 32 bit - great (notice I now have a memory usage in the scene window - 6% !!! Time to import some more objects)

Can't remember what else there was but that's double thumbs up from me so far.
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18/07/2011 18:33:58

Dimension_five
Dimension_five
Posts: 45 		Fantastic!
No sleep tonight though.
D5
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18/07/2011 23:45:18

DanimalMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Danimal
Posts: 477 		Oh indeed how wonderful the Shadow slider is - love it!

And mappable textures for the characters? How sweet is THAT? This is going to make getting away from the program fairly difficult.

I didn't notice any difference in the movement system, but I only gave a quick run though.
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19/07/2011 00:21:18

ziggy72Muvizu mogulExperimental user
ziggy72
Posts: 1988 		We got shadows again!
We got textured people!

Putting the UV maps up was a great idea - we didn't even have to ask! Not sure I want to tackle the Skeleton map just yet... Whaaaaa? Think I'll start with the Blob and work my way up.

Muvizu - we salute you worship
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19/07/2011 02:11:12

DanimalMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Danimal
Posts: 477 		ziggy72 wrote:
Not sure I want to tackle the Skeleton map just yet


It's pretty simple. Just use good ol' trial and error. I was able to mock up a suit coat and a tattoo on a character's arm. And yes, the feature we've all wanted: the yellow belt, red underwear and blue legs of Superman. And if you leave parts of the UV map transparent, the core character shows through.

This is such a great feature!
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19/07/2011 05:27:34

penman
penman
Posts: 72 		wow ... impresive update ... very nice work and hats off to the staff ..to say the least
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19/07/2011 08:05:52

mcmillan-raExperimental userMuvizu staff
mcmillan-ra
Posts: 164 		Danimal wrote:
I didn't notice any difference in the movement system, but I only gave a quick run though.

The movement system works in the same way, but it should now stop where you'd expect it to, rather than over shooting the point you'd walked to. We're looking at some other improvements for it too.
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19/07/2011 12:34:43

DanimalMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Danimal
Posts: 477 		mcmillan-ra wrote:
The movement system works in the same way, but it should now stop where you'd expect it to, rather than over shooting the point you'd walked to.


This was not my experience. There was still a bit of a stop and slide. And when doing short movements, the character still steps to the edge of the movement circle rather than the center where I stop the arrow. Since this is how it's always worked for me, no complaints.

I also still get the Windows popup asking me if I'm sure I want to run Muvizu when I start it. Not even an issue anymore since I've gotten so used to it.
edited by Danimal on 19/07/2011
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20/07/2011 16:10:29

CrazyDaveMuvizu staff
CrazyDave
Posts: 118 		Danimal wrote:
When doing short movements, the character still steps to the edge of the movement circle rather than the center where I stop the arrow.



Yeah, short paths can be a bit of a problem as with the current system, the character has to play a full "walk/run start" animation, followed by a full step forwards followed by full "walk/run stop" animation. This can carry the character further than the user has requested with the locomotion guide, even with the new code that tries to stop him in the centre of the guide. I think it will probably be looked at in the future in terms of minimising the smallest distance that can be walked or ran.
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20/07/2011 16:26:35

DanimalMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Danimal
Posts: 477 		I'd never thought of it in terms of animation cycles but that makes perfect sense as to why they over-shoot the mark on short distances. I usually just stage the scene so they start farther back. Or don't move at all, haha.
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22/07/2011 21:37:18

ziggy72Muvizu mogulExperimental user
ziggy72
Posts: 1988 		A new error has started to appear in one of my sets - it's a window with Fatal error! at the top, followed by this kind of thing

Address = 0x823f65e7 (filename not found)

It continues on like this, with different addresses, for another 25 lines or so, before ending with

Address = 0xf3b0ce7 (filename not found)

...and then Muvizu crashes (no more messages, nothing left behind in memory).

I start Muvizu again, and all's well with the set. Which is nice.

Ideas? And would you like me to post you the set?
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22/07/2011 22:02:29

mystoMuvizu mogulExperimental user
mysto
Posts: 471 		I guess I've been lucky so far because I've not had any problems or error messages while running Muvizu 64bit or 32bit. None at all! (knocking on wood)
edited by mysto on 22/07/2011
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23/07/2011 01:56:26

RightURKen
RightURKen
Posts: 62 		Does this update fix the problem in the 64 bit version not working right with a lot of characters with motion? I had to switch to the 32 bit version because of this. Can I try the 64 bit again?
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23/07/2011 07:21:03

ukBertyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
ukBerty
Posts: 975 		RightURKen wrote:
Does this update fix the problem in the 64 bit version not working right with a lot of characters with motion? I had to switch to the 32 bit version because of this. Can I try the 64 bit again?



I think it has - I loaded up the set which I had the issue with and it works fine (mind you, as this was their test set they may have only fixed it for this one !)

Remember you can have multiple copies of Muvizu on your PC at the same time. I have 3, although the oldest one should now be redundant as the shadow slider has removed the need for it.

So load on the 64 bit, but install it in a different directory to the 32 bit (I think it should do that anyway). It will overwrite the desktop icon, but you can always create a new shortcut to the 32 bit version if the 64 bit still proves a problem.

Let us know how you get on.
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23/07/2011 07:37:06

mystoMuvizu mogulExperimental user
mysto
Posts: 471 		RightURKen wrote:
Does this update fix the problem in the 64 bit version not working right with a lot of characters with motion? I had to switch to the 32 bit version because of this. Can I try the 64 bit again?


From what I have experienced so far the newest release of the 64bit version seems to be working fine with several characters in motion. I too had the same issues with the previous release of the 64bit version and went back to the 32bit version to do my animation. The newest 64bit release is working great for me with many characters. Give it a go and let us know how things are working out for you.
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23/07/2011 09:25:26

simonhefferMuvizu mogulExperimental user
simonheffer
Posts: 225 		I'm getting a crash in the video joiner. see http://min.us/meEWSPt
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24/07/2011 01:04:11

DanimalMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Danimal
Posts: 477 		While it's almost certainly something I'm doing, I've noticed that the "Look at speed" slider seems to have no effect on the actual turning speed of the head or eyes any more. Again, maybe that's just how it looks in preview mode or something, when it makes the final movie it comes out OK? It seems to look right when doing the animation, but during playback it's the same snap speed.

Again, probably something I'm doing...
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25/07/2011 22:07:33

ziggy72Muvizu mogulExperimental user
ziggy72
Posts: 1988 		Also struggling to see any real difference when using the Look At speed slider - maybe the effect isn't exaggerated enough.

Anyway, that's not what I'm posting about - I've just been reusing an old set of mine (Matt's flat from The Dumped Stories). It had, as a feature, blinds I got from Sketchup. I shone a spot through them, they cast shadows across the room as you'd expect, all good. Now, however, there are no shadows cast by the blinds. None at all, regardless of light setting or shadow intensity. I thought at first the lighting looked bad because I just wasn't used to the subtleties of the new engine, but now I find it just doesn't work. This doesn't feel like progress.

For example, why do objects sitting on top of other objects cast shadows THROUGH the shadow of the object they're sitting on?! It looks terrible. I think maybe I'll have to reinstall the older version of Muvizu, just so I can have working shadows again. There seems to be something fundamentally broke with the lighting system of the upgraded Unreal engine - an object can cast a shadow from a light source on the other side of an object that should be completely blocking that light - huh? Surely that's just plain wrong in any 3d environment. And don't get me started on the Individual Shadows option - all it does is render your scene useless by putting crazy shadows in all directions with no relation to where the light source actually is. And how can a WALL cast a shadow of itself inside a room?! Don't walls block light usually? Whaaaaa?


Please please fix this. I can't animate in Muvizu without using lights and shadows - it's fundamental. The old way the lighting was handled wasn't perfect, but at least it was predictable. And it cast shadows in a realistic way.

Other than that, all's good!
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26/07/2011 11:36:54

CrazyDaveMuvizu staff
CrazyDave
Posts: 118 		ziggy72 wrote:
I shone a spot through them, they cast shadows across the room as you'd expect, all good. Now, however, there are no shadows cast by the blinds. None at all, regardless of light setting or shadow intensity.


None of us here have heard of a situation where an object does not cast a shadow at all. I suspect it's something to do with it being a SketchUp model rather than an original Muvizu prop but I can't tell without looking at it. Could you send the set file to david@muvizu.com?


ziggy72 wrote:
For example, why do objects sitting on top of other objects cast shadows THROUGH the shadow of the object they're sitting on?! It looks terrible. I think maybe I'll have to reinstall the older version of Muvizu, just so I can have working shadows again.


I just installed the 0.12b release of Muvizu and it has exactly the same issue: this hasn't been introduced with recent upgrades to Muvizu. The way that Unreal calculates shadows is done per-object and is additive so shadows often overlap in an unrealistic way, unless the shadows are "blown out" or at maximum intensity, as used to be the case for the old individual shadows. It's something we will probably look at in the future.


ziggy72 wrote:
And don't get me started on the Individual Shadows option - all it does is render your scene useless by putting crazy shadows in all directions with no relation to where the light source actually is.


As far as I can tell, the individual shadow option gives shadows in a more accurate direction than the non -individual shadows (which themselves tend to cast the shadows unnaturally downwards due to combining with the scene's ambient environmental light). If I make a block and a light and move my point of view to be the same position as the light, then look at the block, I see that the shadow is cast accurately: the area behind the block from my point of view is shadowed. Please let me know if I'm missing a point here.
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26/07/2011 16:35:13

DreekoMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Dreeko
Posts: 1257 		I do sympathise with ziggy when it comes to the shadows being cast through objects.
I have a fire engine cab with ladders placed on top which cast a shadow of the ladders inside the cab through the roof!?

Still trying to get the little characters inside the bloody thing incidentally grrr!

D
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Muvizu is easy to use 3D animation software that allows anyone to create high quality animations quickly and easily. Muvizu’s animation engine is ideal for storytellers, animators, teachers and businesses looking to engage, enchant and delight audiences with animated content.