Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

[Thomas An._cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

In the bottom line, I would propose an interface like this:


The "Multiply" contains Micha's code [color=Intensity*Color*TextMult*Texture]
...and there can be other blending methods as well in the drop down list.

[Micha_cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

I'm waiting for interesting and useful suggestions for other "blend" modes. Thomas, what do you want to do? Do we only speak about formulas?

Good, your interface is a tradeoff. But for my taste to big. What do you want to do with a color and a texture?

[Thomas An._cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

I'm waiting for interesting and useful suggestions for other "blend" modes. Thomas, what do you want to do? Do we only speak about formulas?

Good, your interface is a tradeoff. But for my taste to big. What do you want to do with a color and a texture?

There is a number of blend modes that can be usefull. Why limit it to only the multiply mode ?

We can most likely do useful things with Hue blend, Color blend, Multiply, Overlay, HardLight, SoftLight, Dodge, Burn ... (Different people may have different needs at different times).

The dialog can be more compact; that is not a problem.

[Micha_cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

Good, the interface looks quite compact. Looks nice.

Some thoughts about the other blend modes as multiply. Most of them I never have missed. Most I need contrast, color shift and brightness as texture control. In the most cases the contrast could be changed per gamma control.

I see some advantages of your interface. The user can set a object color and a texture and can jump between both. Also this could be good for the global disable map option. If the maps are disabled, the color is used.

All the different blend modes are a luxury. But why not? The interface is compact and the user must not use it. It's good for everybody.

What could do Joe? How many blend modes should he implement? For me I would use "multiply" and "add". The add could help to wash out a texture or to give a color a light texture.

I have found a practice for the "washout effect" -> the reflection map. Example: I have here a contrastful reflection map, but I would like to use a light map effect only. If I would use the "multiply", than I would change the intensity of the reflection. Per "add" I could mix a little bit texture to the reflection color.
He, this is the first concrete practical example for the current blend mode.

[flipside]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

Hey Thomas, what I don't understand, is the two multipliers. In your last dialog, if you would set them to 2 and 3, wouldn't you get the exact same result if you would only have one multiplier in the end, set to 6?

[Micha_cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

... Thomas, if you like, please add the gamma control, so Joe could take it 1:1. I would place the gamma above the word "Administrator". Also, unused parts of the control could be greyed out.

My conclusion: Would we like to get this GUI with this controls?
For me - yes.

[Thomas An._cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

Micha: It looks like we are starting to agree ! This is very nice (I will look into the gamma control)

Wouter: About the dual intensity multipliers... I left them in for UI conceptual reasons. Since the color is one UI entity and texture is another UI entity, it feels natural to have a control for each for maximum flexibility; since there maybe times when the user might want to reduce the infuence of the texture only. So basically the multipliers define a ratio of color-to-Texture influence in the blend. For example a 2:1 multiplier means there are two parts of color and 1 part of texture participating in the blend. (We may not need this many times and we could always leave the texture multiplier to 1.0, but there maybe an occasion of producing a special effect where it could come in handy)

For Joe: We do not have to have all the blend functions at once. Maybe we could start with Multiply, Hue and Add ... (other could be introduced at later versions over time)

[Thomas An._cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

Micha: I was thinking (I am not sure though) that maybe we can get away without a gamma control if we use blending modes. For example we can use the "SoftLight" blend to control dark/white points (which is similar to gamma). We can also use blends for brightness. The only problem is that we can not use two blends at the same time.

SoftLight: Combines the Burn and Dodge blend modes. If the color channel value of the selected layer is less than 128, the Burn blend mode is used. If the color channel value is greater than or equal to 128, the Dodge blend mode is used. In general, use the Soft Light blend mode to add soft highlights or shadows.

[flipside]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

Micha: I was thinking (I am not sure though) that maybe we can get away without a gamma control if we use blending modes. For example we can use the "SoftLight" blend to control dark/white points (which is similar to gamma). We can also use blends for brightness. The only problem is that we can not use two blends at the same time.

SoftLight: Combines the Burn and Dodge blend modes. If the color channel value of the selected layer is less than 128, the Burn blend mode is used. If the color channel value is greater than or equal to 128, the Dodge blend mode is used. In general, use the Soft Light blend mode to add soft highlights or shadows.

Dude!!! Gamma control is the most important of all!! It is essential if you use gamma color mapping, to match you textures (the UI should also have a gamma control to be able to use it properly). This is related to the linear workflow, look in the vray forum for more info or here: http://www.gijsdezwart.nl/tutorials.php

[Thomas An._cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)

Dude!!! Gamma control is the most important of all!!

You are right guys... it is more convenient to have a separate gamma than trying to hack it in other ways

[Micha_cg]

Your thoughts on the current TexMap and Color Mults( Blend)