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User posts mcolinp
01 January 2015 11:35
I think part of it is that there are son many options in Blender; that I get lost in trying different things and not really sure which combination of settings is actually right. I will try the image instead of "Environment Map"; though I am still unsure why there would be a "Environment Map" option at all without being able to load something as an environment map. It is also the way your documentation describes it.
01 January 2015 11:31
The object reflecting into another object is not all that important at the moment. Getting all (node) materials to reflect the same environment scene is my present goal. It has just turned into the new year here; and I will look at the links you gave in the morning. Thank you.
01 January 2015 01:13
I do not work for Blend4web; but I think this might be what you are looking for:

https://www.blend4web.com/doc/en/lighting.html#index-2

These tools appear in the "Blend4web" Tool Shelf Tab. I myself have not really used them yet; but the documentation points to these being part of the workflow you are describing.
31 December 2014 22:00
When I load a html scene created by Blend4web on my iPhone; the settings button does not expand to show the row of buttons you would usually see. instead it toggles back and fourth between fullscreen mode.

Are the other functions unsupported? Such as turntable start stop, etc.

This happens to me when I go to the file through Dropbox; I am not certain if it happens while embedded on a webpage.
31 December 2014 21:44
I began to wonder: is this supposed to be done through Blender Render "nodes"?

I have only been attempting to use the options that show up in the Properties panels.
31 December 2014 21:32
I am quite perplexed at trying to use any of the described methods for Environment Map/Sky textures, etc; from your documentation. Granted I really do not have previous experience in this area of blender; which is likely exponentially increasing my errors.

So far I am come to understand that you can use a map image to create a scene background (A world); and I have done this in many other software tiles using panoramic 360 images downloaded from a variety of places on the web. (HDR images, jpegs, etc.)

Also through your description here: https://www.blend4web.com/doc/en/textures.html#index-9

I realized that I should be able to render objects into a world environment to add realist reflections of all objects into one another.

Where I think I am getting stuck, is that When I try to use the "Environment Map" option in the "World > Textures": I don't understand how to load an image as an Environment map. If I were to choose "Image or Movie" instead; there would be a dialog below to "Open" an image. This is not the case when choosing "Environment Map" as the option.

Also I am unclear as to what the format should be to correctly load an image as an Environment map. In your example I linked above; it seems that the environment is layered out as 6 separate images tiled together. I am not sure whether Blender can take a simple 360 image and generate these images; or perhaps if it needs to already be split up and tiled before loading it (which seems a bit tedious and daunting for such a routine setting.)

It would be very helpful to me, and perhaps others as well; to see an example file(s) that demonstrate the various Sky / Environment options. Specifically for me; I am looking to reflect a background image into a variety of Matcap materials on various objects. Also I would like to create a object rendered environment for realistic reflection from object to > object. But one step at a time . . .

Please demystify us!

One other thought; I also would like to know how to use an environment as a mirror reflection into object materials; without showing the environment in the background.

31 December 2014 19:03
This would not be the highest priority of things to be addressed in Blend4web. However; it seems worth mentioning that it would be nice to incorporate the freestyle SVG animations into an html output using blend4web. It would make sense to to have more that one style of output; given that the SVG portion is already in place.
31 December 2014 02:55
I can understand this question not being your specialty of expertise. I guess my point is that your add-on for Blender is going to attract a whole new user-base to Blender that would have not been all that interested before. These users will likely have expectations that will be different than what has been the common expectations of Blender users up to this point.

I used your Helicopter example as a starting point for discussion about Dimensions; and a query to figure out how that was achieved in your example file.

If there is someone more qualified to talk about these concerns/features; I would be more than happy to share with them some thoughts on how dimensions could overall be improved in Blender; and how that would in-turn be passed on to better possibilities and functionality in Blend4web.

I come from an Industrial Design background; as you likely noticed in the example I showed.
That was a project I worked on a couple years ago for a client. My workflow needs would likely differ wildly from someone who was creating a game or a Sci-fi character model/animation . . .
31 December 2014 02:42
Sounds Good! I still think it should be an optional Check box option; just like "panning mode", so that no one is forced to publish that type of data if they do not want to.

One other thought: It would be great to make the "Part Properties" I mentioned be linked to an external spreadsheet; or at least be able to auto populate from a spreadsheet. More and more; it is becoming vital for different software to share information through spreadsheets: making the data valuable in more than just a single program.
30 December 2014 23:02
I think it would be really helpful to be able to publish a "Parts Tree" (Known as the "Outliner" in Blender), so that a person could turn individual objects on or off (visibility) on demand in the web interface.

I think in the future this could also be built upon; such as making part properties and metadata available. Perhaps even making it possible to add hyperlinks or hotlinks to either: open a webpage, or link to another animation or 3D file (html). Perhaps even links to other types of files such as: SVG, PDF, JPEG, PNG, MPEG Movie, etc. I am thinking of a Product design that each part might have a linked 2D Detail drawing in SVG or PDF format that could be viewed.

In a mobile environment; I could see a swipe from the side of the screen revealing the Parts List. Maybe it shows on load; then disappears, so the user knows it's there. Perhaps there could also be a button in the upper right; similar to the button in the lower right; except it is simply a rectangle with some horizontal lines to depict the list graphically. Pressing this with the mouse would show the panel.