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ErickSmith
A Regular
 
USA
110 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 14:33:49
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Does anyone know how to make a realistic visible laser? I've tried a small spotlight with very little spread, but you can't see the beam. I've tried to add some fog effects to no avail.
I also tried a glowing column, but it radiates light in all directions.
Any ideas?
MacPro 2 x 2.66Ghz Intel Xeon 4GGB 667MHz DDR2 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 2 x 23" Dell LCD Monitors |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
    
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 15:38:18
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have you tried shooting the spotlight through a cylinder with fog? You may have to make the fog very dense: 300% or more, you can set your light to a strong intensity, and you can set the light's full intensity distance to the full length of the cylinder.
Jean |
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ErickSmith
A Regular
 
USA
110 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 16:39:02
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Bah, it just shows up gray. Thanks for the tip though Jean. :]
MacPro 2 x 2.66Ghz Intel Xeon 4GGB 667MHz DDR2 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 2 x 23" Dell LCD Monitors |
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Brian Lawson
A Fountain of Information
    
USA
5217 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 16:41:16
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What color is your fog?
Brian Lawson Strata Technical Support support (at) strata (d0t) com |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
    
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 16:41:50
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it works just fine for me here. Can you tell me more about what you are doing? I just set mine up in a blank scene, because I don't know what else you are up to...
Jean |
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ErickSmith
A Regular
 
USA
110 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 17:04:52
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I tried to make the fog a bright green. I just have a spotlight pointed at one of the ends.
I'm making a laser sight. So, the spotlight and column are inside a small cutout in the center of a cylinder.
I did edit some of the spotlight properties though (light source radius, full intensity angle, etc..). Maybe I messed up some of the basic settings.
MacPro 2 x 2.66Ghz Intel Xeon 4GGB 667MHz DDR2 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 2 x 23" Dell LCD Monitors |
Edited by - ErickSmith on 11/12/2009 17:09:11 |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
    
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 17:09:02
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can you post your file?
Jean |
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ErickSmith
A Regular
 
USA
110 Posts |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
    
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 17:31:07
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so, I don't understand your file. Are you rendering from the camera in the scene?
Jean |
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ErickSmith
A Regular
 
USA
110 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 17:35:51
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yeah, I am.. the laser is in a group within the laser sight.
MacPro 2 x 2.66Ghz Intel Xeon 4GGB 667MHz DDR2 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 2 x 23" Dell LCD Monitors |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
    
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 17:42:26
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well, tell me what you think of this.
I set up a shape which is a cylinder filled with fog, no other texture, and shot a narrow-beam spotlight though it. I put that shape in your scene in 2 places, probably not where you intend
http://www.mostly3d.net/test/AR-15_jp.s3d.zip
Jean |
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ErickSmith
A Regular
 
USA
110 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 17:45:50
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Wow, PERFECT!!
Thank you for everything Jean.
MacPro 2 x 2.66Ghz Intel Xeon 4GGB 667MHz DDR2 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 2 x 23" Dell LCD Monitors |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
    
USA
4991 Posts |
Posted - 11/12/2009 : 17:50:47
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I'm going to give you a second,more subtle one in just a bit.
the one thing I want to be sure you understand is that I manipulated the light's full intensity distance. That is a zone you can set on a light where there is no drop-off. I set that to the full length of the cylinder. If you make the cylinder longer, you may need to make the full intensity distance longer as well. That is in the object properties window for the light.
another file is coming in just a bit...
Jean |
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
    
USA
4991 Posts |
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