Paint Fracture Maps

I posted a new (partly manual) workflow for fracturing volume meshes using Voronoi Texture Fracture. It describes how to deal with messy normals before inward extrusion and provides a method for painting your own fracture maps directly onto the mesh using Maya's 3D Paint Tool. Check out the thread in the SOuP Forum for details ...

Mesh fractured using Maya's 3D Paint Tool and Voronoi Texture Fracture

If the is enough demand (and if i find the time) i'll implement this workflow into the tool. 

FBX Export for Camera Matching in 3dsmax

Here is another tool i developed for RTT some time ago. It's a hybrid script utilizing MEL and MAXScript that automates the process of camera matching (still images) by integrating 3dsmax's Camera Match into an existing Maya pipeline. It was meant to speed up the whole process, establish a unified workflow and relieve the artists of all the tedious task (like browsing for files, adjusting settings, etc.) that ate up time or could've been error sources in the past.

Automated tasks:

• export selected geometry as FBX (bypassing the FBX export dialog)
• run 3dsmax (works with 2009-2012, automatically runs latest version you have installed)
• import FBX geometry into 3dsmax (bypassing the FBX import dialog)
• set render settings in 3dsmax (according to size of given image file)
• set backplate in 3dsmax (matching render output)
• configure Nitrous viewport (3dsmax2012 only)
• configure units and snap settings (3D snap to vertex)
• maximize perspective viewport and frame imported geometry
• save 3dsmax scene file
• switch to CamPoint tool so you can start working right away
• one-button interface in 3dsmax for FBX camera export (bypassing the FBX import dialog)
• import camera into Maya & create image plane with the given image

 

 (click to enlarge)

 

The tool is being used on a regular basis and has proven to be a real time saver in production.

Video Demonstration for Voronoi Texture Fracture

I added a short video demonstration for my Voronoi Texture Fracture tool. The workflow for fracuring by image source is pretty much the same. You just need to specify an image in the UI instead of creating a voronoi shader.
If you go for smaller pieces, make sure you also increase the "Fracture Map Resolution for Voronoi Textures" in the tool's settings menu (default is 512x512).

Original post HERE.

Download the script HERE.