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Normalization
September 11, 2013
Hey there!
Good day and welcome to this Quick blog tutorial! (will make a logo later, so they'll be easily identifiable by more than just category)
Now, today's little tip applies again to the compositor (a place everyone seems to luv chromatic aberration, haha).
I'm sure many of you, if not all, have used a digital camera.
Everyone who has used one, knows that it's light sensor can adjust it's sensitivity to what it is seeing. For example, if you put it's focus on a lamp, it will darken the image so you can see the lamp clearly. If you view an open door from inside the house, over midday on a sunny day, it will basically blacken the inside so you can see what is outside. This compensation is also in Blender, but not a native feature. No, we construct it!
Here's what the effect looks like when there is an object at 33 emission value:
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In this post, I will show you how you can add this to your renders on full-auto with full effect or to simply make it part of it to give that film-edge in look.
In Blender we have values that can exceed 1 and darkness values that can go below 0 (darkness below 0 is only on textures as far as I know). Anyway, what normalization does is it sees where the absolute maximum is (whether 20 or 300 or 1.000000001, doesn't matter) and it pulls the whole scene in brightness and contrast, proportionally, down to a minimum of 0 and an absolute max of 1. Therefore, if you have a dark scene, normalization will make it brighter. If you have a very very very bright scene, normalization will make it darker.
Time for the doing, so you can try it yourself:
- Make a generic scene with one focal object that will increase in brightness, like this:
- Go into the Node Editor, switch to compositing (the two photo's over each other) and add the following nodes:
> 1 Normalize Node (Convertor category)
> 2 Mix Nodes (Color category)
> 1 Viewer Node (Output category)
- Order them like this:
Render Layer > Normalize Node > Color1 of first Mix node
" > Color2 of first Mix node
Set the first Mix node's Blend Type to Color. We do this because Normalize produces a black and white image and we use the original render to color that black and white image.
Now, we need to create adjustment, because sometimes this effect in pure form is too much.
Arrange the next nodes like this:
1st Mix node Out > Color1 of 2nd Mix node
Render Layer > Color2 of 2nd Mix node
2nd Mix node's Blend Type remains Mix, but you can Clamp here if you like.
2nd Mix Node Out > Viewer Node
" > Composite Node
Your set-up should now look like this:
(click to enlarge)
Good day and welcome to this Quick blog tutorial! (will make a logo later, so they'll be easily identifiable by more than just category)
Now, today's little tip applies again to the compositor (a place everyone seems to luv chromatic aberration, haha).
I'm sure many of you, if not all, have used a digital camera.
Everyone who has used one, knows that it's light sensor can adjust it's sensitivity to what it is seeing. For example, if you put it's focus on a lamp, it will darken the image so you can see the lamp clearly. If you view an open door from inside the house, over midday on a sunny day, it will basically blacken the inside so you can see what is outside. This compensation is also in Blender, but not a native feature. No, we construct it!
Here's what the effect looks like when there is an object at 33 emission value:
In this post, I will show you how you can add this to your renders on full-auto with full effect or to simply make it part of it to give that film-edge in look.
In Blender we have values that can exceed 1 and darkness values that can go below 0 (darkness below 0 is only on textures as far as I know). Anyway, what normalization does is it sees where the absolute maximum is (whether 20 or 300 or 1.000000001, doesn't matter) and it pulls the whole scene in brightness and contrast, proportionally, down to a minimum of 0 and an absolute max of 1. Therefore, if you have a dark scene, normalization will make it brighter. If you have a very very very bright scene, normalization will make it darker.
Time for the doing, so you can try it yourself:
- Make a generic scene with one focal object that will increase in brightness, like this:
Here the torus (donut) is already set to a very high value, but it's just to make it stand out for now
- Go into the Node Editor, switch to compositing (the two photo's over each other) and add the following nodes:
> 1 Normalize Node (Convertor category)
> 2 Mix Nodes (Color category)
> 1 Viewer Node (Output category)
- Order them like this:
Render Layer > Normalize Node > Color1 of first Mix node
" > Color2 of first Mix node
Set the first Mix node's Blend Type to Color. We do this because Normalize produces a black and white image and we use the original render to color that black and white image.
Now, we need to create adjustment, because sometimes this effect in pure form is too much.
Arrange the next nodes like this:
1st Mix node Out > Color1 of 2nd Mix node
Render Layer > Color2 of 2nd Mix node
2nd Mix node's Blend Type remains Mix, but you can Clamp here if you like.
2nd Mix Node Out > Viewer Node
" > Composite Node
Your set-up should now look like this:
(click to enlarge)
You can view a more refined version of this scene here, that shows this feature in action, with further compositing.
Here is what we're aiming for in an animation sequence; a different scene than above, but with a more likely situation; a light in a dark space that dims in an unstable way). Notice that the light fades slowly and that the reaction is instant. A way to see this is on the overall brightness; always the same. When the light dims, the spot on the wall gets brighter and if the light gets brighter, the spot on the wall gets darker.
Here is a frame:
The only catch to this: the effect is immediate; not delayed like that of a camera
Here is what we're aiming for in an animation sequence; a different scene than above, but with a more likely situation; a light in a dark space that dims in an unstable way). Notice that the light fades slowly and that the reaction is instant. A way to see this is on the overall brightness; always the same. When the light dims, the spot on the wall gets brighter and if the light gets brighter, the spot on the wall gets darker.
Here is a frame:
The only catch to this: the effect is immediate; not delayed like that of a camera
As a health caution; please make sure you use this in a way that it will enhance your projects, not cause trouble for people with photosensitive epilepsy
And that is all there is to it! You can now go and use this in your animations without worrying about syncing fades and trying to fake it to get this kind of adjustment. Be sure to pass this on to others who could also use this tip!
Have a great one!
Thank YOU!!!!!!!
And that is all there is to it! You can now go and use this in your animations without worrying about syncing fades and trying to fake it to get this kind of adjustment. Be sure to pass this on to others who could also use this tip!
Have a great one!
Thank YOU!!!!!!!
Posted by Marius Oberholster. Posted In : Quick Blog Tutorial
