The way the sidemask works is by applying different colors or materials to the front and the rear of the meshes.
The final result was accomplished by applying the built sidemask script to various object in maya. In my case; a Coiled spring, long pegs, and a diamond box.
Alternate Render of Side-mask Optical Illusion. The color changes were made by keying the parameters on the tkSideMask shader node in maya
Step 1: Build the sidemask script and apply it to an AiStandardSurface mtl in maya. tkSideMask.cpp Script:
https://github.com/tylerklimekartist/VSFX755Script/blob/master/tkSideMask.cpp
Step 2: Setup parameters- The script was loaded into an AiStandardSurface shader by connecting the masks "Out Color" function to the "base color" on the shader. The parameters let me choose the colors of the front and rear of the meshes, or swap the two.
Step 3: Scene- The illusion was made by aiming a camera straight down through a spring tube/long pegs. As the camera slowly moved closer to the diamond box, the springs rotated in the opposite direction and the long pegs tightened up closer to the camera
The camera itself barely moves at all in the scene, but it has the appearance of faster movement due to the rotation of the coil and the pegs.
Conslusion: Working in C++ has been a totally new concept for myself this quarter, and this project and the material around it started bringing me to new ground, which is both exciting and a little nerve-wracking. This was a fun study to practice with
The goal of the C++ side-mask project was to create and utilize a C++ script to mask different portions of a 3D mesh based on the direction of the normals. I took this as an opportunity to do something a little different and make a "2D Optical Illusion" with 3D tools.