8

548 Chapter 8: Modifiers
Left: The texture of an object with a camera map modifier
matches the background when seen by the cam era the
modifier uses.
Right: When seen by a camera not used by camera map, the
object’s texture is based on object geometry.
B lending a n Object into the B ackgr ound
In the Procedures section (below), you’ll be
blending an object into the background using the
Camera Map modifier. If the background uses the
same image as the object’s texture map, then the
object blends w ith the background at the fr ame
where the modifier is applied and a camera is
specified. The object becomes visible if either the
camera or object moves. In order to ma ke the
illusion work, you must assign the same map to
the background that you assign to the object.
Ma pping Coordi nates
Because the accuracy of mapped objects depends
partly on the complexity of the mesh, the "blend to
background" effect works best when applied to an
object with a relatively high density of triangular
faces. The necessary density also depends on t he
distance of the object from the camera.
A simple box might look fine w hen it occupies only
asmallportionofthebackground,butupclose
the mapping will look distorted without adequate
tessellation. Some experimentation is required
to get an ideal mapping and still minimize the
complexity of the geometry. (In general, for a
box object that’s filling a quarter of the screen, a
tessellation of 4x4x4 works well.)
Note: When using the Camera Map mod ifier, apply
the modifier to a single object at a time. If it’s
applied to a selection set, only the first item in t he
selection wil l be mapped properly.
Use
Camera Map (WSM) (page 1–498) if you want
to move the camera and maintain the match to the
background.
Using the P late Match/MA X R 2. 5
Rendering Filter
Prior to 3ds Max 3, the antialiasing affected only
geometric edges, with the filtering of bitmaps
being controlled in the Bitmap Map parameters
(pyramidal, summed area, or no filtering).
Antialiasing fi lters affect ever y aspe ct of the object,
filteringtexturesalongwithgeometricedges.
While antialiasing provides superior results, it
produces inconsistencies when rendering objects
that are supposed to match the environment
background.Thisisbecausetheantialiasingfilters
donotaffectthebackgroundbydefault.Youcan
turn on background antialiasing in Customize
>Preferences>Rendering>Background
Antialiasing > Filter Background. To correctly
match an object’s map to an unfiltered background
image,youneedtousethePlateMatch/MAX
R2.5 filter so t he texture is not affected by the
antialiasing.
There are three ways you can render objects in
3ds Max to blend seamlessly into a background
environment:
•ByassigningaMatte/ShadowMaterial
• By assign ing a 100% self-illuminated diffuse
texture to an object using Camera Mapping
• By assign ing a 100% self-illuminated diffuse
texture u sing Environment/Screen projection