Displacement Grass in Animation

[ShaunDon]

Hey all --

I'm working on an animation and trying to use vray displacement for the grass... however as the camera moves, the grass pixels flicker and the lawn looks like green static. I've gone through several past threads from the forum by people with similar issues -- and responses pointed the finger at GI or anti-aliasing.

I've ruled out GI -- I rendered a saved irradiance map with displacement disabled, then rendered from that map with displacement on and gotten the same static flickering. The effect does look like aliasing to me, though I have been unsuccessful in finding a setting that can correct the problem.

Anyway, all that aside, has anyone out there successfully used displacement mapped grass in an animation? I'd appreciate any insights!

Thanks,
Shaun

[RErender]

I think the best option is standard lights(no GI), High AA and render double sized frames. This can get it to a point where it is passable but not perfect.


oh, and just tell the client it is blowing in the wind :P

[tricky]

Hey there.

I had EXACTLY the same problem - somehow, I find this comforting, though I am sure it will not make you feel any better!

My suggestion is, don't bother. I never found a good solution, even with high AA, and double size rendering is just not practical.

Its annoying, because the still shots always looked great.

I find grass to be one of the most difficult things to get right - in images I usually just comp in from a similar photo. Animation is another story.

C'mon Chaos - any chance of an animatable grass extension to Vray?

(only joking!)

[ShaunDon]

Ouch man. Well, better to know when to abandon it rather than keep wasting my time! After this project we upgrade to Max 6 and beta Vray, so next time maybe we can do something with shag/fur... but planar fields of grass are by far the weakest parts of our animations!

Thanks guys.

Shaun

[travistlo]

you guys try vray fur yet? Its in the new builds, not sure what you are using.

[Dynedain]

you guys try vray fur yet? Its in the new builds, not sure what you are using.

vrayfur is pretty much useless for grass unless you are doing a very small patch or a barren, weedy patch. For big lawns it creates way too much geometry to be of any use.

[ShaunDon]

I think I'm gonna cry!

Ah, well... guess I'll have to keep plugging at the old tricks. It still gets better every time, but I was holding out for a revolution in grass technology...

Shaun

[travistlo]

vrayfur is pretty much useless for grass unless you are doing a very small patch or a barren, weedy patch. For big lawns it creates way too much geometry to be of any use

I never tried it yet, so i didnt know.

Thanks

[Dynedain]

Shaun, have you tried turning off "view dependent" in the vray disp mod settings?

[ShaunDon]

I don't see a "view dependent" setting in the modifier... but I should clarify that I'm using v1.09.03m. Once this project is over we'll be upgrading to Max 6 (only ONE version behind instead of three!) and the 1.5 beta, which I assume must have that setting. I'll hold out for that being the solution!

In the meantime, I've made marginal improvements to our standard grass materials... it's an incremental improvement, not the show-stopper I was hoping for, but I can live with it a lot more than our previous material. So it'll do for now.



Half-sized for the board. Just a standard material with bumps and such. Still need to add color variations -- the background hills are more dead grass. Appologize for the blown-out lighting... I'm only two days into the project, with two days left! Back to work!

Thanks everyone!

Shaun