Hey!
First of all, I’m new here, so my apologies if I’m doing something wrong :)

So here’s my problem:
I want a video to be displayed on a LED-wall. I’ve simply made an array of 300 volumetric spotlights, but of course it’s too much work to change the the colour of every light seperatly for every frame..
I attached a render of what I got so far
Do you know how to control the colours of the lights with a video?

I’m not sure wether this is the right category, i just thought the video would be some kind of texture, right?!

However, thanks in advance! :)

P.S. I’m using 3ds Max 2009 with V-Ray

3ds Max 2009 32-bit, VRay 1.50.SP2, Windows XP Pro 32 SP3
2x ATI FireGL X3-256
Intel Xeon 4x 2,4GHz, 2Gb Ram

	Attachment

I wouldn’t do this with actual lights. I would make the LEDs from geometry, all one object, create a material for it and map the self illumination with the video sequence. You may want to apply a mozaic effect to the video to match the res of the LED screen.

Thanks for your reply! You mean I should create a plane or something and apply the video as a texture? That would work, but I can’t get a volumetric light effect then, can I?
Is there any way I can do this with volumetric lights?

3ds Max 2009 32-bit, VRay 1.50.SP2, Windows XP Pro 32 SP3
2x ATI FireGL X3-256
Intel Xeon 4x 2,4GHz, 2Gb Ram

If the resolution of the video matches the array of LEDs (20*15) then it would be possible with a MaxScript, I would think. At each frame you would have to sample the colour of each pixel and assign it to the appropriate light’s colour.

You could also “fake” it by using a single (direct) light and geometry to allow the light through only where the LEDs are. Not really a “materials and lighting” guy, so maybe someone else can come up with a better solution.

The same bitmap is on the cutout squares (Object01) and in the Projector slot of the light so the “volume” is the same colour as the image. The other object (Plane01) is being used as a mask - it’s much bigger, and solid, to prevent the light “leaking” through except where it’s wanted.

Scene is actually Max 9, but works ok in 2009.

[edit] Can’t help with VRay - I don’t have it. Scene is standard max, scanline renderer [/edit]

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

	Attachment
16739_yfgCPo3dfc2hJeInz8ZA.zip

Yeah, something with MaxScript would be great, but I have no idea about it…
Do you know someone I could ask if it’s possible with a script?
Yours looks pretty good, too, Steve. I’m going to try to understand what you did.
Thanks to you, too!

3ds Max 2009 32-bit, VRay 1.50.SP2, Windows XP Pro 32 SP3
2x ATI FireGL X3-256
Intel Xeon 4x 2,4GHz, 2Gb Ram

I would post that as a separate (specific) question in the Maxscript Forum. I have an idea of what’s involved, but I’m not too familiar with Callbacks which I think would be needed, better to leave it to the gurus I think ;-)

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Will do, thanks again! :)

3ds Max 2009 32-bit, VRay 1.50.SP2, Windows XP Pro 32 SP3
2x ATI FireGL X3-256
Intel Xeon 4x 2,4GHz, 2Gb Ram