Hi, I've been working on a simple isometric engine that uses pre rendered scenes as a simple background engine. However it requires that I know the depth of each pixel relative to the camera viewpoint to make the image. This is a 2d engine not a 3d one.
I read that 3dsMAX can render a 'z-Depth Map' as a render element. However I cannot afford 3dsMAx so have to look elsewhere. Currently I use blitz3d and simply do a camera pick on every pixel in the scene to generate the depth map. However blitz3d cannot handle the high poly meshes that I would like to use as scenes. (Nice looking scene in poser - 300,000 polygons all in a single mesh goes over directx/blitz3d limit of polygons/vertices per surface meaning I cannot generate z map for these).
After that longwinded explanation of mine - are there any tools other than 3dsMAX which can render or generate a depth map for a scene? Preferably those which can read either poser files, or obj files.
EDIT - I actually just found a way to do it in poser - using depth cueing and changing object colors to black and background to white (as found on a tutorial on the web somewhere).
I read that 3dsMAX can render a 'z-Depth Map' as a render element. However I cannot afford 3dsMAx so have to look elsewhere. Currently I use blitz3d and simply do a camera pick on every pixel in the scene to generate the depth map. However blitz3d cannot handle the high poly meshes that I would like to use as scenes. (Nice looking scene in poser - 300,000 polygons all in a single mesh goes over directx/blitz3d limit of polygons/vertices per surface meaning I cannot generate z map for these).
After that longwinded explanation of mine - are there any tools other than 3dsMAX which can render or generate a depth map for a scene? Preferably those which can read either poser files, or obj files.
EDIT - I actually just found a way to do it in poser - using depth cueing and changing object colors to black and background to white (as found on a tutorial on the web somewhere).