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Rendering with Arnold in CINEMA 4D using the C4DtoA plug-in.
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Is there a way to emulate the "Normal_Camera" attribute on an ambient occlusion node as you can in Maya?

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Message 1 of 6
nmiller32394
378 Views, 5 Replies

Is there a way to emulate the "Normal_Camera" attribute on an ambient occlusion node as you can in Maya?

I'm trying to break up my ambient occlusion using a noise. In Maya, you can get interesting results by plugging noise into a bump then into the normal_camera hidden attribute on the ambient occlusion shader. Just plugging it into the normal slot doesn't do the trick.

Is there an attribute I'm missing? Do we not have normal_camera in Cinema? Is there a way to emulate the effect? & finally, what's the difference between 'normal' and normal_camera'?

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Message 2 of 6
lee_griggs
in reply to: nmiller32394

Are you able to share any results of the effect that you are getting in Maya?

Lee Griggs
Arnold rendering specialist
AUTODESK
Message 3 of 6

I think the "Normal Camera" in Maya is the same parameter as the one labeled as "Normal" on the ambient occlusion shader UI in C4DtoA. Did you try that?

3130-ambocc-normal.png

Message 4 of 6

Whatever you connect to normal_camera in Maya is exported as a connection to the normal parameter. Export an ASS file to see what you're getting.



// Stephen Blair
// Arnold Renderer Support
Message 5 of 6
nmiller32394
in reply to: nmiller32394

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.

Lee: I'm following a tutorial from Arvid Schneider (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lji0C8bQZQ around the 7:40 mark) attached is the result he's getting vs. what I'm getting with a noise/bump/ao normal setup in Cinema. You can see how the noise in Arvid's is affecting the ao much differently when hooked up to normal camera - the black & white values of the noise appear to affect the actual edge of the AO, as opposed to in mine (connected to just the normal in Cinema) which is still adhering to the square edge created by the ao. Arvid's example is much more interesting to me, hence why I'm trying to figure this out.

Is there a workaround? I'm not sure exactly what the difference is between normal & normal camera, which is problematic for trying to find a workaround. I didn't find much in the documentation – maybe I missed something.

Peter: This is not giving the desired effect. You can actually see the top comment on youtube from the tutorial I'm following (attached) in which someone points out that connecting to just the normal doesn't achieve the same interesting breakup.

Stephen: Attached is what I'm getting in render view. You can see the difference in breakup between my version (plugged into just the normal) vs. the maya version using normal camera. If you can shine any light as to what exactly the difference is between 'normal' and 'normal_camera,' maybe we can find a workaround.

Thanks again guys.

Message 6 of 6

Seems to be working fine with the Normal input.

3145-ambocc-normal-render.png

Here's my scene: ambocc-test.zip

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