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The Depiction of Water in Inventor

21 REPLIES 21
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Message 1 of 22
coviepresb1647
1289 Views, 21 Replies

The Depiction of Water in Inventor

Water exhibits a blue color of varying intensity.(deepening to navy blue and eventually black with depth). I've tried modeling a medium size swimming pool with 12 ft depth (should appear medium blue) and a water-filled crater with 320 ft depth (should appear dark navy blue or black). It seems that Inventor doesn't take the wave diffraction or absorbtion of water into account since my pool and my experiemental crater looks like white, clear water regardless of depth. Is there a way to vary the color style (ambient, specular, diffuse, etc.). to mimic the wave diffraction and/or absorption (and thereby the increasing blueness of the water with depth)?

Inventor 11 SP2
MDT 2007
Windows XP Message was edited by: coviepresb1647
21 REPLIES 21
Message 2 of 22

can you post a screensot. How did you model the water?
Message 3 of 22
mikegore
in reply to: coviepresb1647

A quick workaround might be to create a new Caustic material to assign to the interior of the pool. To give the illusion of refracted light etc.

An image similar in appearance to this....
http://www.amath.washington.edu/~calhoun/demos/CS_graphics/caustics/caustics.gif
Message 4 of 22

I simply modeled the water by:
1. making a planar outline of the water in the simple crater
2. revolving it around the y-axis
3. adding the density and thermal conductivity of water to a new property ("water") in the styles menu under Material.
4. selecting the water from the color pull down menu to assign to the material "water".
5. Trying to vary the color properties (especially diffuse, specular, and ambient) to try to mimic water diffraction

Attached is the simple crater model (1320 ft x 320 ft) with simulated land ("dirt") around it and for the crater bottom.
Message 5 of 22

I'll try to use that.
Message 6 of 22

you will need to modify the .dpi of the texture so that it is rendered bigger. Probably about 4dpi will get it large enough to see.
Message 7 of 22

I did the same with the swimming pool (125 by 4 ft sloping to 12 feet) except the water outline is a rectangular extrusion except a revolved "bowl".

Oh. for the Diffuse property, I set it as darkere blue (0, 0, 128) and left the specular and ambient as they are. Message was edited by: coviepresb1647
Message 8 of 22

It does look better though the blue intensity doesn't change between 4 ft and 12 ft. I reset the Diffuse back to White (255, 255, 255).
Message 9 of 22

>It does look better though the blue intensity doesn't change

It won't. The colors are for the surfaces, the fact that it is a solid w/ thickness won't affect the color. Depending on how detailed you want to get, the caustic (or surface texture) is probably going to give the best results. You can also add another color w/ bump map for the top surface of the water (look at Water Bubbles for an idea).
Message 10 of 22

I see. Thanks to you both for the helpful suggestions.
Message 11 of 22
pkquat
in reply to: coviepresb1647

IV won't change the color based on material properties. It is a CAD program vs a graphics design program so it does not readily have these features.

If I remember right, a cheat is to fill the pool in layers with something like clear polished blue. The more layers it goes through the deeper the blue. I am not sure if this will work with the original water settings, but I think it works with some of the transparent plastics. If not you might be able to assign slightly deep colors to the different layers. I have seen something similar done with pretty good effects. Once the image is rendered a little blurring in photoshop etc may help remove an lines at the color transitions.

Also Models can be exported and worked with in other programs to achieve a more realistic effect. It think some people have used Blender.

Pete
Message 12 of 22

I'll consider that as well. Thanks.
Message 13 of 22
pkquat
in reply to: coviepresb1647

Attached are two screen shots with default glass and default water. I just patterned the plate infront of iMike. I am not sure how they will render, but so far they don't look too bad.

Pete
Message 14 of 22
Anonymous
in reply to: coviepresb1647

You also may want to try creating a gradient map.

Mike

wrote in message news:5992399@discussion.autodesk.com...
It does look better though the blue intensity doesn't change between 4 ft
and 12 ft. I reset the Diffuse back to White (255, 255, 255).
Message 15 of 22

Thanks. How does one do a gradient map?
Message 16 of 22
Anonymous
in reply to: coviepresb1647

Using image editng software such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.
Here's a couple tutorials using Photoshop.

http://www.photoshopforce.com/tutorials/gradient-map-tool/index.php

http://fotolife.com.ua/help_cs/1_12_7_2.html

Save the file in your \Inventor ####\Textures\surfaces\ folder
Create a new Color Style in the Styles Editor and choose your texture.

Mike

wrote in message news:5992875@discussion.autodesk.com...
Thanks. How does one do a gradient map?
Message 17 of 22

Since I don't have photoshop on my machine and it would be pain to get it from our IT, I took the layering approach. I modeled the volume in 2-ft vertical segments. Then, I changed the color properties to the following:
Diffuse 0 177 240
Emissive 0 0 0
Specular 255 255 255
Ambient 0 177 240
25% Shiny
15% Opaque
Texture: f_WaterTexturm_93b3cec.bmp (set at 1)
Message 18 of 22
pkquat
in reply to: coviepresb1647

Final Picture? 🙂

Powerpoint can also do gradiants, and I think it is also available in MS Word via the drawings / pictures sections.

Pete
Message 19 of 22

The final picture using the layering.
Message 20 of 22
Anonymous
in reply to: coviepresb1647

I hope IMike appreciates the the nice pool you made him! 🙂




wrote in message news:5993580@discussion.autodesk.com...
The final picture using the layering.

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