I am very pleased to announce the release of the Alien/SciFi Skies Set for Artmatic Voyager.

You can find all the relevant informations here

Cheers,

Dick

Tags:SciFi Skies, Environment 360, Voyager

I am almost done with the Alien/SciFi skies collection. Some of you might be curious to see what the skies look like. I have just set up a gallery so you can view each and every sky of the collection. The pictures are renders from the Voyager scene files included in the set. So the RGB surfaces used for in the renders are also part of the set.

Enjoy!

-Alien/SciFi Skies gallery-

Tags:Voyager, Alien Skies, SciFi Skies, Environment 360

Here is another QTVR movie file. For the surface I used one of Eric`s very cool city files.

The sky is a 360 environment. The technique used here makes it possible to have objects that span the entire sky. The construct in this example seamlessly surrounds the city. It`s a candidate for the Alien/SciFi sky collection...

-Surreal Construct-

Tags:Voyager, QTVR, Environment 360

Here is another tutorial with some more on how to use the extra output option.

In the first tutorial on extra outputs we have learned how to set up Artmatic and Voyager to get the extra outputs to work.
In this tutorial we will see how we can use an AM extra output to add reflection to halfspheres.

First download the files: Extra-Output-2
If not done automatically, un-zip the downloaded folder.

Launch Artmatic, then from the downloaded folder open the AM file "Halfspheres".

On the preview you can see that this AM system generates a surface with halfspheres.


The left part of the tree is the main tree. The right part is the subtree.


As explained in the previous tutorial, only the main tree is visible on the canvas. It generates the surface and color.

The effect of the subtree is just visible in Voyager. It`s purpose here is to add reflection to the halfspheres.

We will not go into details about the maintree. For this tutorial it`s sufficient to know that it generates the RGB surface with the halfspheres.


Let`s have a closer look at the subtree. It is connected to the Global Input A4.


This input provides a constant value. When you click on one of the Global Inputs,
the Input Matrix panel opens where you will find the constant value for A4. By default it is set to 0.



The tile in the middle of the subtree uses an RGB alpha component. This component in short let`s you apply a mask.

The Global Input A4, which is set to a value of 0, is connected to Input 1. We need this value of 0 to tell Voyager that no effect should be applied.


The second input of the RGB Alpha tile is fed by an x+A component, which in turn is connected to A4. We use this component to offset the constant value provided by A4. Voyager then will apply an effect (in our case a reflection) depending on the offset value from x+A.


The 3rd input of the RGB Alpha component is fed by the tree providing the halfspheres. It`s also called the Alpha input. This input controls the areas on which the offset value from x+A is applied.



The bottom component (Ax+B) of the subtree has only one purpose. It tells Voyager that there is 1 output (if we left the RGB Alpha component at the bottom of the tree we would have 3 outputs).

Let`s make the subtree visible. Click on the Ax+B tile to select it, then press "m" to temporarily make it the master output.


On the preview you now see what`s actually output by the tree.


The black color represents the value of 0 provided by A4.
The white color represents a high value provided by the a+X component.

The reason why we have dot shaped areas with white color is because we have connected the halfsphere branch to the Alpha input of the RGB Alpha component.

Note: Make certain you get a good understanding of how alpha components work since masking is used over and over when building trees for Voyager.

Get the Ax+B tile to the right again. To perform this you click on the 2->4 Max tile to select it, then press "m". (The procedure should now be familiar. We already used it in the previous tutorial)

Now that we have discussed the details of the subtree, let`s see how it effects what you see in Voyager. No need to save the file.

Launch Voyager and open the Voyager file Extra-Outputs-2.am3d.

The preview should show a ridged surface with halfspheres.


Now, in order for the sub output(s) to actually have an influence we need to open the Preferences panel. Press apple (command)/ "," or open it via menu.
At the bottom of the panel you can see some setting options for the Extra Outputs.


Extra Output 1 is currently set to "nothing". Click on it to open the menu of options. Select "Reflection level".


Close the panel.

The halfspheres should now reflect the sky. Nice isn`t it!


Note: The current Voyager version (1.6) can only reflect the sky properly. The ability to reflect the surface will probably be added in a later version.

That`s all for now.

Tags:Voyager, Tutorial

Here is a QTVR movie (Panoramic view of a picture) named Snowy Mountain. The clouds sky is a newly developed seamless 360 Environment. What`s cool about this approach is that you can not only add Voyager clouds to it, but also that this enables you to add any other elements to the sky, like planets, moons, suns, sunbeams etc.

Another interesting aspect is the RGB Surface file. The snow, instead of taken from Voyager, is provided by the AM file.
The fact that the snow is generated by the AM file rather than directy by Voyager gives you more flexibilty.

1. You can make the snow appear where you like. It does not have to be altitude/slope dependent.
2. You probably noticed that Voyager snow, when used on edgy surfaces, is not smoothening out those areas. This tends to look unnatural.
When creating the snow with AM, all you have to do is make those areas, where the is supposed to be snow, look smooth (which is quite a challenge though).

As for the RGB Surface I made use of the newly added extra output option "Normal", which adds a bump map to the rock texture. The really tricky thing was to get the snow to appear only on shallow slopes AND to have no bump map applied to it, while having the rock texture on steep slopes with bump mapping.
As those techniques/features have great potential you will probably hear and see a lot about them.

See the QTVR movie - Snowy Mountains-

Tags:Voyager, QTVR, Environment 360, Tip, Advanced

Here are some examples of what Bump Map (one of the options for the AM extra outputs) is capable of.

Normal-Test-D
Normal-Test-K
Normal-Test-K3
Normal-Test-K5

Download Normal Test K5 (Voyager bundle file)


Leaving a comment won`t hurt...

Tags:Tip, Bump Map, Voyager, Test

Voyager 1.6 has improved atmospheric models. One good example is the way the sun interacts with the haze. Select "extra bright sun" or "stronger halo,fuzzy sun" from the sun menu.
Set the sun very low and increase the haze level.

Tags:Voyager, Tip

In Artmatic you can add extra outputs. Those outputs, in Voyager, serve to control wetness, ambience, reflectivity and normal (which lets you add bumps).
Let`s see how it works.


First download the files:
AM-Extra-Output


If it`s not done automatically, un-zip.

Launch AM and open the file "AM Extra Output" from the downloaded folder.



The tree is very simple. It has just 2 tiles as separate branches. The tile you see in the left branch uses a component that creates the texture and the surface. That`s why it has 4 outputs. It`s a 2->4 Ridged Noise component.
The right branch has a 1->1 tile with a Ax+B component. It is connected to the Global Input A2, which receives altitude information from Voyager.

We can say that the left branch provides output 1 to 4, while the 2nd branch provides the 5th output (or first extra or sub output).

This output will be fed back to Voyager to control what has been described further above.

Before we switch to Voyager, let`s have a closer look at what is actually output by the right branch.
In systems with several output tiles, it`s always the left tile which provides the main outputs. The sub outputs have no influence on what you see in the preview. To make it visible we need to move it to the left.

Click on the Ax+B tile, then press "m" on the keyboard.


This will place it left and makes it the master output.



The preview should show a gradient from white to grey in the upper part of the preview, while the lower part stays black.


On the picture below you see a horizontal line. It`s placed exactly in the middle and represents Voyager`s altitude 0.


Now the gradient here is a representation of the influence that the sub output will have in Voyager. With increasing brightness the influence increases.

What the sub-output does in VY (Voyager) is determined by Voyager itself. In the Preferences menu of VY you can make the corresponding settings. We will get there in a moment.

First we have to put back the sub output tile to its proper place again, which is on the rightside of the 2->4 Ridged Noise tile. To get this done click on the 2->4 tile,


then press "m" to move the 2->4 Ridged Noise tile to the left and make it the main output again.



You dont have to save the file because we have not actually changed it.


Now launch Voyager and open the Voyager file "Extra Output.am3d". It has already been set up to use the AM file we just discussed.

The preview should look like that:


You can see the surface and color that the main branch outputs ( In our case the 2->4 Ridged Noise component) provide. The 5th output has currently no influence.

Now, in order for the sub output(s) to actually have an influence we need to open the preferences panel. Press apple (command)/ "," or open it via menu.
At the bottom of the panel you can see some setting options for the Extra Outputs.


The AM file that we are using has 1 extra output. This is interpreted by Voyager as Extra Output 1.
As you can see, the Extra Output 1 is mapped to "nothing".

When you click on "nothing", a dropdown menu appears and you can select what the extra output controls.
Select "Wetness level".



Press enter to close the preferences panel.

On the preview you should now see the effect of the extra output 1 controlling wetness.


The wetness increases with increasing altitude, exactly as predicted in AM.


That`s all for now. I hope it was fun.

Tags:Voyager, Tutorial