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Phantom Architecture [1.2.0] Sky array export now available!

PostPosted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:28 pm
by Phantom107
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Greetings everyone,

In this topic I'd like to discuss the development of a new software package I have started on today: Phantom Architecture.
As someone who does archviz, I know there are still a lot of hiccups in workflow that could be sped up in incredible ways with intelligent software, fully geared towards archviz. And this is what this program is going to be all about! Custom designed tools for improving the archviz workflow and production in OctaneRender.

I will not reveal what I have planned just yet. First I want to get more into development and try various things. I will post in here when there is something noteworthy to show off. :)

Best,

Guus


Website is up!

> Visit the Phantom Architecture website!

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept fase]

PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 4:26 am
by Seekerfinder
I'm in...

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept fase]

PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 7:13 am
by Chriz
I am curious.

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept fase]

PostPosted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:53 am
by v-cube
interesting... any hint what it will be?

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept phase]

PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2016 1:21 am
by Phantom107
Hey guys,

So development of Phantom Architecture is going full steam right now. I've been busy implementing a bunch of the systems I designed for Phantom Scatter that will power the inner workings of this new beast. For Phantom Scatter users it will feel familiar right away:

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More updates will follow soon!

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept phase]

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 12:00 am
by Phantom107
Displacement problem analysis

Alright guys so the first problem I'm going to try and tackle in Phantom Architecture is that when modeling architecture, your models are going to have a lot of big flat faces that you will want displacement on, but modeling it 'properly' will seriously hurt workflow because it takes a lot of time and to fix the issues around corners you will need to tessellate the model which makes editing the model later on very difficult and time consuming.

So I've been doing a bit of research and I've broken it down. In the following pic on the left you will see an open cube, no tessellation or anything done on it, just what you would make in an architecture model (I use SketchUp for my building modeling). On the right side you will see the same open cube, but tessellated:

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Now when you go ahead and apply displacement to this little scene, you will see that there will be a bunch of gaps in your displacement:

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This happens because the displacement follows the normals of your triangles. When these normals are smoothed, you will see that the displacement goes nicely along the edges:

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But there still is a problem! If you look at the open cube at the left, you will see that the lighting messes up here (daylight environment). That means that simply smoothing out the model will create clearly visible lighting problems. If you look at the open cube on the right side, you will see that all is good.

So what we need in order to fix this issue is an algorithm that can automatically look at your model, tessellate faces up to a certain threshold, and then smooth them out. Then your source model is not hurt and exactly the way you like it. But the processed OBJ by Phantom Architecture will then look really good in Octane!

I am working on the algorithm to do this with great ease. ;) :D

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept phase]

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 2:28 am
by prehabitat
You are a legend! looking forward to the finished product!

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept phase]

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 3:10 am
by petitsuisse974
Great, it'll be top as usual

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept phase]

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 9:14 am
by ErdemX
Great work. Definitely needed..

Re: Phantom Architecture [concept] Displacement fix revealed!

PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 9:14 pm
by Phantom107
Here's a Phantom Architecture development pic, I'm working on the UI for the displacement fix. It's going to be very straightforward: just import an *.OBJ, then use a tool to select what you need fixed. Just pinpoint a triangle and then all the triangles that carry that same material will be selected. You can then export it into a new *.OBJ (algorithm not finished yet). Through the load setup/save setup functions you can deal with your current setup so you don't need to re-select the materials you need fixed every time.

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