Thanks to everyone. Yes, they are working on a 'Professional' version of the software which should allow for the importation of 'standard' file types, and I ave tried and tried to get a beta of it (and I am a forum Mod there and know one of their programmers in a round about way) and have been not been able to :( Their approach in their format in kind of unique as it allows you to import standard formats such as jpg, png, and gif, and it interprets it as a heightmap. I have done quite a few things just using Corel Draw and contours (not my idea BTW, but it works great), this method works but you have very limited control.

I have used Blender to do some very basic height map rendering but I find it's interface to be counter intuitive, the menus are NEVER the same, some kind of modal nonsense that make it impossible to (unless you have a lot of experiance) to get back to someplace you just were. That is one thing I have like about the small amount of time I have used MoI, I could actually draw some basic things in just a few minutes. I may have to venture back to Blender to render the height maps though.....if I can figure out how to render stuff created in MoI.

Thanks again,

Hi All,

You guys will have some fun with this one... :-)

ZSurf will create a heightfield model from a bitmap in IGES format which can be imported into MoI
I found this article in Czech with some photos that you can reference.


http://tinyurl.com/yq5teh

http://tinyurl.com/yvpdtp

I could easily see making lithophanes with this process or incorporating the heightfield model into an
existing model. The edge curves can extruded into a solid model.
There's more info on ZSURFon the Rhino NG

The organic looking model is from a factal image that I mirrored, but, if you pre-processed the
image in GIMP or PhotoShop, I imagine you could smooth out the seam.
Faststone image Image Viewer has a editing thing that will make sort of a bump map out of an existing image.

http://www.faststone.org/

I didn't edit the BMP's I used for my experiment. You will have to convert some BMP's into 32 bit images in order for Zsurf to process them.

I just have one warning, don't try this during working hours or you'll never get anything done! :-)

-Jesse



http://mwt.net/~sjedging/ZSURF4.zip

Hi Jesse,

Here's some more info about ZSurf4 & using it with Rhino.

regards Colin

I did check out Zsurf today, it is quit neat. Just works the opposite of what I need. I downloaded Blender again and will try creating in MoI and rendering the heightfield in Blender.

Hi Colin,

Thanks,

I wasn't able to find the English version earlier today.

-Jesse

Hi Michael,

Would it be possible to do Z-buffer rendering in MoI?
Or something like it?

I tried to re-position the light to make the shadows
more conducive to heightfield modeling.
I've been trying to use something from this page,
http://www.sjbaker.org/steve/omniv/love_your_z_buffer.html
but I'm a little out of my realm.

The image I got is the opposite of what I expected
and it lost shadowing at the highest points.

Be that as it may, I edited the image before processing
it in Zsurf, but you can see, the results are less than spectacular.


-Jesse

> Would it be possible to do Z-buffer rendering in MoI?
> Or something like it?

Hi Jesse, it should be possible eventually but it will be a while. I will probably try to add some types of rendering capabilities for version 2.

Positioning the light won't really get you a height map image, because the standard light-based shading creates a color depending on the angle between the surface normal and the light.

For a height map you don't care about the angle, you care just about the position...

Rhino used to have a "ZBuffer" command that you could use to create a height map, so you could give that a try.

- MIchael

I found another posibility to render height maps last night http://www.anim8or.com/ and a halfway good tutorial http://www.anim8or.com/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html . Getting the 'Start' and 'End' settings set properly seems to be the only tricky part. The programs UI is MUCH better than Blender IMHO, so now I will venture to create in MoI and render the heightmap in anim8or.

maybe you have a problem with the text editor :)
here the adresse
http://www.anim8or.com/tutorials/from_users/focal_blur/focalblur_1.html

Yes, I guess I was having problems, thanks for correcting it! I have made progress and can now create things in MoI and render a heightmap in Anim8tor. It is a workable solution but the rendering in Anim8tor leaves 'freckles' which I cleaned up with a slight gaussian blur. Now since I know how to make use of the beuatiful thigns I can create in MoI on my carving machine I'll get busy learning with MoI. Thanks again everyone for your help.

Funny method before your carvermachine accept the import files !

http://support.vectric.com/cut3d-questions/item/can-you-use-carvewright-pattern-files

...again, provided you own the CarveWright STL Importer...

(There is also a CarveWright dxf importer...)

- Brian