Belgian Amiga Club - ADF Collection/BS1 part 60.zip/BS1 part 60/Imagemaster d4.adf/apa.lzh/morph_tut10

Text File | 1993-08-30 | 6KB | 111 lines

\ApAssist
\: - This is the Quick Help for the special effects warp morph panel -
\: ---------------------------------------------------------------------
\:   Written by David E. Patterson
\: ---------------------------------------------------------------------

\font topaz.font 8
\tc 1
\wr
\lj
\dd "imh_descriptor"

\node "morph_hints"
\title "Morphing Hints and Tips"
\next "morph_more"
\prev "morph_tut9/morph_cmm"
\{ \ra \image "Clips/Bullet2.pic" l 0 \cap
\{ \ts bu Building a morph project in subgroups\} \} \flushimage
\{ \ts b Imagemaster R/t \} allows you to work on a morph in discrete
subgroups. An example of this would be where you were morphing a face, and
wanted to separate the job into subtasks consisting of the vectors for an
eye, for the mouth, for the border of the face.

To do this, simply create the first subgroup of vectors, such as the eye.
Arrange it to your liking - and then save the points under a name like \{ \ts
eye\} .  Now, delete all the points. Create your next subgroup for the mouth,
and save it under mouth, and again delete the points. Finally, create the
subgroup that defines the edge of the face and save that - if this is the
last group, you won't need to delete it.

What you have now are three sets of points saved which define your complete
morph. To perform the morph, load all the subgroups that have been saved to
disk but are not yet loaded, and add them to the current set of points by
first selecting \{ \ts b discard \} and then \{ \ts i \tc 10 Add to Current
Set \} .  Then, simply perform the morph as you usually would.

To edit any particular subgroup at one time, delete all the current points
and then load that subgroup - it's quick, and easy to do. Remember to save
your changes when you are done.

\{ \ra \image "Clips/Bullet2.pic" l 0 \cap
\{ \ts bu How Many Points?\} \} \flushimage
We have found that you typically need at least 100 control points to create
the most effective morph results. Fewer points tend to leave areas \{ \ts i
uncontrolled\} . More (usually) result in higher output quality. By all means
experiment - you may achieve effects we did not expect, which please you.

\{ \ra \image "Clips/Bullet2.pic" l 0 \cap
\{ \ts bu Folds & Tears\} \} \flushimage
When generating a morph, you may run into situations where the output image
appears to \{ \ts i fold over \}  onto or into itself. That happens when two
control influences contradict each other; an \{ \ts i influence \} in this
context is the \{ \ts i pull \} from one, or more, control points. For
instance, if you have an area that is largely uncontrolled but intentionally
place an edge with the intent of stopping any image data from moving across a
boundry, a fold may occur there if there are enough points nearby to
accumulate a strong enough push on the uncontrolled area. Folds are usually
easy to prevent, once spotted - just place some control points in the
previously uncontrolled area that have exactly the motion you want.

Tears occur where points are placed close together, but have extremely
differing path force, or \{ \ts i push\} . The situations that create them
are quite complex, and solving a tear usually requires the removal or serious
revision of one or more control points - the exact opposite of what you do to
repair a fold.

\{ \ts bu A Few Things to Avoid\} \{ \nw \}

    * Don't cross edges over each other, ever; only one will function,
      and which one is going to be totally random, and may change with
      \{ \ts b ANY \} change to the rest of the morph

    * Don't mix different velocities in one area; one area will tend to
      go \{ \ts i under \} another if you do, and the results are not at
      present very predictable (a solution is coming in the future,
      however)

    * Try to morph images that have at least some topological similarity.
      There is a strong tendancy to think that 2-d image morphology can
      perform the entire set of morphs as 3-d packages can; that's just not
      true, and never has been. 2-D morphs are very, very powerful, and in
      many cases can do \{ \ts b MOST \} of what a 3-D package can do with \{
      \ts b FAR \} less effort, but some types of motion are simply not
      double with a pair of image maps and a pair of topological transforms.
      What does \{ \ts i similar \} mean? That's a good question - one for
      which we don't have an answer that wouldn't take a chapter or two. We
      think you'll figure it out, though, as long as we make you aware of the
      issue.  An example would be faces - the vast majority of animal faces
      on the earth, including the human animal, are highly similar - two
      eyes, nose, mouth, two ears. Conversely, a human face is not (very)
      topologically similar to a scientific calculator, and that case might
      be a pretty difficult morph to make look nicely real.

\endnode

\node "morph_more"
\title "More on Morphing"
\next ""
\prev "morph_hints"
As you can see, the term \{ \ts i morphing \}  covers a lot of ground. We
have attempted to make \{ \ts b Imagemaster R/t \} 's morph tools both
comprehensive and easy to use.  However, should you find some portion of the
process particularly difficult and not well explained by the documentation,
please don't hesititate to call the user support line for help. Technical
support is available from 9am to 5pm MST, excluding an hour between noon and
1pm, at [phone]. You must be a registered user to obtain technical
support, of course.

\endnode