3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [513]
This file includes a simple space scene with a camera because the Starfield filter requires a camera.
2. Choose Rendering⇒Video Post to open the Video Post interface. A Scene Event must be added to the queue in order for the render job to be executed. Click the Add Scene Event button, type planet scene in the Label field, Select Camera01 as the Source Camera, and click OK.
This adds the event to the Queue pane.
3. Click the Add Image Filter Event button (or press Ctrl+F) to open the Add Image Filter Event dialog box, and in the Label field type the name starfield bg. Select Starfield from the drop-down list, and click the Setup button to open the Stars Control dialog box, set the Star Size to 3.0 and the Count to 150,000, and click OK.
4. Click the Execute Sequence button (or press Ctrl+R), select the Single output time option and an Output Size, and click the Render button.
Figure 49.16 shows the resulting space scene.
Adding image layer events
In addition to the standard filters that can be applied to a single image, several more filters, called layer events, can be applied to two or more images or rendered scenes. The Add Layer Event button (Ctrl+L) is available on the toolbar only when two image events are selected in the Queue pane. The first image (which is the selected image highest in the queue) becomes the source image, and the second image is the compositor. Both image events become subevents under the layer event.
Note
If the layer event is deleted, the two subevent images remain. •
The dialog box for the Add Image Layer Event is the same as the Add Image Filter Event dialog box shown earlier, except that the drop-down list includes filters that work with two images.
Adobe Premiere Transition filter
When it comes to transitions, Adobe Premiere already has created so many cool transitions that it makes sense to just use theirs. In Max, you can access these filters through the Adobe Premiere Transition Filter Setup dialog box.
This dialog box includes an Add path button to tell Max where to look for filters. All available filters are displayed in the Filter Selection list. You can access the filter interface with the Custom Parameters button. The two preview windows to the right display the filter effects. You also have options to Swap Input (which switches the source image) and Use Stand-In (which lets you specify a sample image to preview the effect).
FIGURE 49.16
A space scene with a background, compliments of the Video Post interface
Simple Wipe compositor
The Simple Wipe compositor is similar to the Simple Wipe filter, except that it slides the image in or out instead of erasing it. Its setup dialog box looks just like that of the Simple Wipe Control dialog box.
Other layer filters
The remaining layer filters include simple methods for compositing images and some simple transitions. None of these other filters has a Setup dialog box.
You can use the Alpha compositor to composite two images, using the alpha channel of the foreground image. The Cross Fade Transition compositor fades one image out as it fades another image in. You can use the Pseudo Alpha compositor to combine two images if one doesn't have an alpha channel. This compositor uses the upper-left pixel to designate the transparent color for the image. The Simple Additive Compositor combines two images based on the intensity of the second image.
Adding external events
The Add External Event button on the toolbar lets you use an external image-processing program to edit the image. This button is available only when an image event is selected, and the image event becomes a sub-event under the external event. The Add External Event dialog box, shown in Figure 49.17, includes a Browse button for locating the external program. It also includes a Command Line Options field for entering text commands for the external program. Many external programs use the clipboard to do their processing, so the Write image to clipboard and Read image from clipboard options make this possible.
FIGURE