aescripts + aeplugins

Qassim AlGhowinem

I'm new to C4D and I want to know how to do external compositing for each side of the pages..

regards,

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Qassim, you should be able to do it by exporting the project to Alembic. I've never done it so I can't give you precise indications, but I can do some tests in the next days. Let me know if you solve the question. Best, Gianni

Qassim AlGhowinem

I would really appreciate you if you could do a quick and small tutorial for that.. As I mentioned I'm new to C4D..

Gianni Lorusso

Let me know if I understand what you would like to do.
I hypothesize that you want to create the animation in Cinema 4D and then for example in After Effects change the texture of the pages, is it right?

Qassim AlGhowinem

yes thats right

Gianni Lorusso

I'm going to try to find a solution.

If I had to find it I think for sure it will not be a trivial solution.

Qassim AlGhowinem

for sure it will not be an ordinary solution. I have tried a lot of tutorials on Youtube but for the book, it didn't work...

thank you a lot. 

Gianni Lorusso

Please, can you tell me what do you have tried?

Qassim AlGhowinem

the normal external compositing tutorials. the basic ones

Gianni Lorusso

ok, thanks.

Gianni Lorusso

I found a way to get the result you are looking for.
Hope the following explanation can be useful and understandable.
Changing the textures of the pages in post production using After Effects I think it's not a trivial thing because the pages are deformed.
To solve this problem you need to use a third-party plugin such as Re:Map.
Re:Map manages the frame obtained from the Cinema 4D UVW multipass material. The UVW Material multipass generates an image with a gradient material (green-red) applied to the surfaces.
At this point, however, another problem seems to arise because the UVW material multipass should be accompanied by an alpha channel in order to separate the different materials even for the same page: the front and the back side. But Cinema 4D does not create a buffer for polygon selections (remember that a page is a single object with selections of different polygons for the front and back).
So the solution requires the separation of the surfaces involved to obtain three different objects. A further problem seems to be the buffer limit because I see a limited number of IDs definable for multipass, but in any case you can obtain all the object buffers by subdividing the process in several renders.
To get the suggested result, after fixing the page size and the number of subdivisions, you need to create a copy of the first page and make it child of the original page, edit that child and disable the parent page. The child object needs to be split using the selection tag to obtain three distinct objects: the front part, the back part and the thickness part. Only for the first two you will need to add a compositing tag to the buffer. Now if there are other pages beyond the first one you have to delete them and recreate them so you can get the same configuration automatically. Obviously if you have created animations for every single page or fine adjustments these would be lost and so the only way would be to repeat the operation above for each page.
At this point you should be able to mask the UVW material multipass with the appropriate luma channel and then in After Effects it should be possible to use Re: Map to assign different textures.
I just tried this method successfully for the first page.

Take a look to this clear example for the use of the Re:Map plugin.

Richard Krolewicz

Hi! I love this rig!

I have a question though. Using the Base Turn 1 slider I'm able to open the hardcover of the book and expose the pages. But once all the pages are flipped, the Base Turn 2 slider doesn't close the book. Is there a way to close the book so you see the back cover?

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Richard,

Thank you for the appreciation, first.

As you can see in the Overview video you have to adjust the Back Cover Landing in the Hardcover tab.

Best Regards,

Gianni

Chuck Mackey

Hi Gianni

I'm working in Cinema r20 and recently downloaded Real Book 3 and its very cool..

The question I have is when I add pages to book I get 2-3 copies if the same page image even if I change each page texture/image individually?

A bit of a head scratcher....

Let me know your thoughts..

Many thanks in advance..

-Chuck M.

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Chuck,

Thank you for the appreciation.

Because of how the multishader works if you have N pages (N evens and N odds) you need to put N textures in each multishader material to avoid repetitions.

Best,

Gianni

Chuck Mackey

Bingo!... thank you Gianni.

-Chuck M.

Misha Patel

Hi Gianni

Is there a reason the old comments have dissapeared...they were very helpful covering a range of user issues and solutions?

My current problem lies with texturing custom pages - the image files that were previously successfully applying to the default pages don't automatically update/reapply themselves to the new custom rounded pages I have created.

I'm using your instructions (though I'm not sure what step 5 means: 'Duplicate the page'): https://giannilorusso.com/2018/01/09/realbook-with-custom-pages/

Many Thanks for your help!

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Misha,
no comment has been deleted here.
The old comments are on another place, where the Realbook was for sale before.
About your problem, instead, you need to make also your own texturing, not only the polygons.
If you have Realbook 3 and make your custom page starting from a copy of a cube (child of Page_1) you can take advantage of the polygon selections already present. In this way the textures will be correctly applied without having to recreate the uvw map.
The starting point for the creation of the custom page is the Realbook with one page.
When you have setup the first page with the custom page you can duplicate the page using the button Change The Number Of Pages in the Dimension Tab (for Realbook 3).

Misha Patel

Hi Gianni

Do you mean I now need to apply individual materials to individual custom pages and that the multi shader will now not work to distribute the texture layers?

I have RB V.3 and have done as you said but the pages don't get any of the multishader textures.

Thanks

Gianni Lorusso

Do you have the correct polygon selections on your custom page? Wich render engine are you using? Octane, Redshift and other don't support the multishader texturing.

That said, if the custom page works as isolated project with polygon selections and materials with texture correctly applied it will works also with the multishader.
Can you send me a lite project file?

Peter Reitmann

hi gianni!

i have a question for you: 

i still have realbook 1 from an old project and need to export an obj-sequence for after effects/elements. my usual way to export obj-sequences is this free script https://richh.co/c4d-native-obj-sequence-export-no-plugins/ but with realbook1 in a c4d scene it ends up in an error. 

with the blank realbook1 template i can use the script flawlessly, the error happens as soon as one page is animated in the scene ("page control/turn").

now i reach out to you because we are thinking about buying realbook3.... it this error still happens i have to rebuild the magazines on my own but if you could test v3 for me and tell me if the obj-export-script works in realbook 3 we can buy it and it would save me hours of work.

thank you gianni!

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Peter,

thanks for contact me.

I'll let you know as soon as possible.

Peter Reitmann

thank  you!

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Peter,

I tried the script with C4D R20 after modifying it to export just two frames.

It seems to work in part.

With the Realbook 3:
Setting the automatic animation of the default preset (with 5 pages) seems to work but the top and bottom of the hardcover are not exported.

This problem seems to lie in the nesting of polygons.

With my old Realbook 1.2:

Everything seems ok.

Let me know other informations so we can study in deep the problem. 

Bliend Grean

This is a fatal flaw. It is hardened when rendered as an octane. 

Tell me how!!

Gianni Lorusso

Can you be more precise?
What's the problem?
For sure you can't use the multishader material that you find in the preset. You have to create the materials yourself.

Bliend Grean

Acommon problem

First, if you increase a page, the same page repeats twice.

Second, if you increase the page, it will be duplicated twice and you will not be able to put the image you want in it.

how can I put the images I want in a replicated page sequentially?

Gianni Lorusso

A common problem?

Sorry but I don't understand this!
If you use Octane, as I said you need to create several materials. Each material should be applied to the front or the back of one page. 

I suggest to create a video to explain better the issue or send me a private message (you can open a ticket for this) and send me the file where the problem is clearly visible.

Sean Walsh

Hi

Do you know a way to transfer the materials over in redshift?

Thanks

Gianni Lorusso

I guess you're referring to the multishader material. In this case no. I need to investigate into this to offer a solution in the future.

Thanks to you.

Sean Walsh

Thanks for getting back to me...I am able to do it with new single materials and the selection tags.

Thanks

Gianni Lorusso

Thanks to you for let me know. The automatic creation of selection tags is a lifesaver, I think.

Have a good day, Sean.

Terry Scruby

Hi Gianni. Despite what everyone keeps saying, Octane and Multishade material did previously work perfectly with Realbook v2. You just needed to use a 'side' node combined with a step effector on your cloner to make sure the index of each of the clones was sequential. I used it for many jobs without a problem

Unfortunately this new v3 doesn't work, because you've included the 'thickness' of the page by swapping the old plane for a cube. Now, each page has 6 sides instead of 2, which breaks the multishader and Octane.

Is there a simple way of swapping the page cube back to just a plane? Or should I just continue using v2?

thanks!

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Terry,

sorry for the late reply.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

About the question you could get the plane following these steps:

1. Change the number of pages to 1.

2. In the Dimension Tab set the Width and Height Segments to 1.

3. Add a Plane and set the dimensions equal to the dimension of the pages but inverted.

4. Move the plane under the Cube as child and set to zero position and rotation.

5. Clear the selection field of the two material tags and set the Side to front for the first tag and back for the second.

6. In the second tag material set Length V to 100%.

7. Turn off the Cube.

It should work.

Let me know.

Best,

Gianni

zhou car

Hi Gianni, I purchased Realbook 3.0 for a project test. I finished the latest 4 functional demo video tutorials for Realbook 3.0, tested all the relevant parameters, I hope to complete, refer to https://vimeo.com/ 227731395 In the video of 7~10 seconds, the animation form of the book, I hope to add more details in the form of the real book, making the page dynamic and softer.
video link

picture ref link
https://imgur.com/hFuXy3Q
https://imgur.com/zm3CGH7
https://imgur.com/pIDQdcV
https://imgur.com/NH6m2Jl

Terry Scruby

Gianni Lorusso said:

Hi Terry,

sorry for the late reply.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

About the question you could get the plane following these steps:

1. Change the number of pages to 1.

2. In the Dimension Tab set the Width and Height Segments to 1.

3. Add a Plane and set the dimensions equal to the dimension of the pages but inverted.

4. Move the plane under the Cube as child and set to zero position and rotation.

5. Clear the selection field of the two material tags and set the Side to front for the first tag and back for the second.

6. In the second tag material set Length V to 100%.

7. Turn off the Cube.

It should work.

Let me know.

Best,

Gianni

Amazing! Thanks so much for your help Gianni - really appreciate it. I've done as you suggested and all appears to work correctly. I've yet to try it with Octane multishader but should be ok. I'll report back.

Just wanted to say what a great job you've done on this plugin - it's an absolute life saver

Terry Scruby

Hey Gianni, I can now confirm that multishader + Octane works again now that I've swapped the cube out for a plane as in the method you described. Thanks!

If it's any help, once I've finished this project I'm happy to write you a quick walkthrough, in case any one else would like to use Realbook with Octane and the multishader. Just let me know.

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Zhou Car,

Thanks for the purchase, first.

1.

I don't think you can get that result without changing the setup.

In any case you need to disable automatic animation to have more control.

2.

https://giannilorusso.com/2018/01/09/realbook-v-2-4-curved-spine-quick-tip/

3.

That variation is more evident when the book is opened. You need to use the Realistic Distribution Setting in conjunction with the Starting Angle Offset.

4.

You could add a bend deformer under the cube (the page) as a child to manage that fine bending.

To set the right position and rotation of the bend turn off all the bend deformers, after making the hidden layer visible and editable.

Cheers,

Gianni Lorusso

Terry Scruby said:

Hey Gianni, I can now confirm that multishader + Octane works again now that I've swapped the cube out for a plane as in the method you described. Thanks!

If it's any help, once I've finished this project I'm happy to write you a quick walkthrough, in case any one else would like to use Realbook with Octane and the multishader. Just let me know.

Thank you Terry, I'm glad for your words.
And thank you for let me know that it works.
What you have in mind would be wonderful and very appreciated. 

Nils Wogsted

Thanks for this rig.

Any idea how to make selection tags for the edge of the pages? 

I see that the front and back selection tag are generated with pyton-script, but how to modify it to cover the edges too?

Thanks in advance.

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Nils,

If you really need the tag and you don't want to simply assign a material to the edges then it should be necessary to create another tag modifying the script.

In case you have your page with fixed segments, so you will not change them you could make a copy of the page, make it editable, make your selection and then copy it on the original page (the parametric cube).

Hope it can help.

Vfxm q8

Hi , When i open the file i can't see the null object in the outliner , also when i add a new null it does not appear in the outliner , i don't know what is the problem

I'm using R20.059

Thank you.

---------------------------

Update: I fixed the problem by unlocking the rig layer , i think you should update the file and make the layer unlocked by default. Thank you for the great work.

Gianni Lorusso

Vfxm q8 said:

Hi , When i open the file i can't see the null object in the outliner , also when i add a new null it does not appear in the outliner , i don't know what is the problem

I'm using R20.059

Thank you.

---------------------------

Update: I fixed the problem by unlocking the rig layer , i think you should update the file and make the layer unlocked by default. Thank you for the great work.

Hi,

someone who had this problem has found that it was due to a plugin installed, but now I don't remember its name, the Realbook file is ok.

Diandra Sanches

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #454545}

Gianni, yesterday i bought Realbook 3. Im trying to animate the book and i'll need that the pages recognizes the hard cover as a limit. For example, if i open the book (Base turn 65%) i'll need that the 100% of the animation tag of the pages recognize that 65%. 

I know that there is a way if I set the Xpresso tags but I’m really short of time to try to understand. I set some parameters in Xpresso but I would like that the fold behavior recognizes that limit too.

Thanks!!!

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Diandra Sanche,

I don't know if I have understood correctly, but at the moment the Base Turn acts only on the spine indipendetly, the pages turn always from 0 to 180 degrees. So you have to animate indipendently the Base Turn, the cover, and the pages playing with keyframes.

Diandra Sanches

Gianni Lorusso said:

Hi Diandra Sanche,

I don't know if I have understood correctly, but at the moment the Base Turn acts only on the spine indipendetly, the pages turn always from 0 to 180 degrees. So you have to animate indipendently the Base Turn, the cover, and the pages playing with keyframes.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #454545}

I'll be more clear if I ask you with an example:

If I have to open the book about 110 degrees and animate the pages of the book to the position of the cover as a limit, I should animate each one individually?

Gianni Lorusso

It's clear what you mean.

Unfortunately an intermediate configuration is not managed fron Realbook. You can try to obtain that result with a manual animation of each page.

Gianni Lorusso

To get assistance, please open a support ticket and include as much information as possible: https://aescripts.com/contact/?product_id=1318&direct=1

Bram Vreugdenhil

Will there be an update for realbook with redshift materials? The multi shader doesn't work when converted to a RS material.

Gianni Lorusso

Hi Bram,

I know someone used Redshift with Realbook, but I don't know if he used the multishader. Have you tried creating manually a Redshift material using the multishader?
It should be supported by Redshift or am I wrong?
I installed the demo just yesterday and as soon as I can I will look for a solution.