Overlapping spheres?

[DarkBeam]

I am wondering on this concept. Take the normal 3d space in ortho coords. A sphere lies inside...
(x-x0)**2+(y-y0)**2+(z-z0)**2<=1
okay. think about 2 spheres. r is the distance from each origin as explained
min(r1,r2)<=1
is the region where both spheres exist
max(r1,r2)<=1
gives the intersection
but i wanted to find an appropriate fun of r1 and r2 that
. far from the intersection works as min(r1,r2) or almost like
. near the intersection "melts" the spheres in some way
what should I use as f? wondering of an exp smoothing but how?
thanks

[DarkBeam]

Like in this example www.shipbrook.com/jeff/raytrace/blobs.html

[marius]

Like in this example www.shipbrook.com/jeff/raytrace/blobs.html

Have you seen http://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/distfunctions/distfunctions.htm ?
Distance estimation oriented but why would you want it any other way 

[fractower]

I have played with a number of partition functions while trying to spatially combine two mandelbulbs separated in space. The parameter a controls the abruptness of the transition. It is also extendable to and many circles as you want.

r_min ~=  (r1 * exp(-a*r1^2) + r2 * exp(-a*r2^2))/(exp(-a*r1^2) + exp(-a*r2^2))

Changing the sign in the exp will give you r_max.

A couple of examples. No bulbs were hurt in the creation of these images.
http://nocache-nocookies.digitalgott.com/gallery/6/2792_06_04_11_8_51_21.jpeg
http://nocache-nocookies.digitalgott.com/gallery/6/2792_04_04_11_9_35_59.jpeg

[DarkBeam]

Like in this example www.shipbrook.com/jeff/raytrace/blobs.html

Have you seen http://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/distfunctions/distfunctions.htm ?
Distance estimation oriented but why would you want it any other way 

Wooo!!!! GREAT find.  but:

Blend

float opBlend( vec3 p )
{
    float d1 = primitiveA(p);
    float d2 = primitiveB(p);
    floar dd = smoothcurve(d1-d2);
    return mix(d1,d2,dd);
}

He forgot to tell what is mix() and smoothcurve() 

Luca

[DarkBeam]

I have played with a number of partition functions while trying to spatially combine two mandelbulbs separated in space. The parameter a controls the abruptness of the transition. It is also extendable to and many circles as you want.

r_min ~=  (r1 * exp(-a*r1^2) + r2 * exp(-a*r2^2))/(exp(-a*r1^2) + exp(-a*r2^2))

Changing the sign in the exp will give you r_max.

A couple of examples. No bulbs were hurt in the creation of these images.
http://nocache-nocookies.digitalgott.com/gallery/6/2792_06_04_11_8_51_21.jpeg
http://nocache-nocookies.digitalgott.com/gallery/6/2792_04_04_11_9_35_59.jpeg

Fantastic! I will definitely try it! 

[subblue]

He forgot to tell what is mix() and smoothcurve()

mix(a, b, c): result =a when c <= 0 and =b when c >= 1 with a linear blend inbetween

I'm guessing smoothcurve is like the smoothstep function in OpenGL, which (from the spec):

Returns 0.0 if x <= edge0 and 1.0 if x >= edge1 and performs smooth Hermite interpolation between 0 and 1 when edge0 < x < edge1.  This is useful in cases where you would want a threshold function with a smooth transition.
This is equivalent to:
   t = clamp ((x – edge0) / (edge1 – edge0), 0, 1);
   return t * t * (3 – 2 * t);

[DarkBeam]

He forgot to tell what is mix() and smoothcurve()

mix(a, b, c): result =a when c <= 0 and =b when c >= 1 with a linear blend inbetween

I'm guessing smoothcurve is like the smoothstep function in OpenGL, which (from the spec):

Returns 0.0 if x <= edge0 and 1.0 if x >= edge1 and performs smooth Hermite interpolation between 0 and 1 when edge0 < x < edge1.  This is useful in cases where you would want a threshold function with a smooth transition.
This is equivalent to:
   t = clamp ((x – edge0) / (edge1 – edge0), 0, 1);
   return t * t * (3 – 2 * t);

I found a very similar answer in google. tyty!!!

[Syntopia]

I played around with this exact problem some weeks ago.

I never really understood Quilez's formula. If I use smoothcurve(d1-d2) = smoothstep(0,1,d1-d2), I get some very asymmetric objects, not very blobby (see the top of attached pictures).

Also, if you look at slide 42 in his 'Rendering Worlds...' (http://www.iquilezles.org/www/material/nvscene2008/rwwtt.pdf), he uses a different formula - here he uses a global distance to interpolate: smoothstep(length(p),0,1) - notice the order of arguments?. And if you look at the Slisesix demo code, it seems he just mixes linearly ("float a = clamp( r*3.0, 0.0, 1.0 ); return c*a + d*(1.0-a);").

I came up with the following formula, which mixes linearly based on the distance from the center of each object (I could not find a good formula based on the ratios of the distance estimates, even though I would have preferred it). Fragmentarium code:

Code:

include "DE-Raytracer.frag"
uniform float Dist; slider[0,1,2]
uniform float n; slider[0,1,10]

float sdSphere(vec3 p, float s) {  return length(p)-s; }

vec3 C1 = vec3(Dist,0,0);
vec3 C2 = vec3(-Dist,0,0);

float DE( vec3 p )
{
	float d1 = sdSphere(p-C1,1.0);
	float d2 = sdSphere(p-C2,1.0);	
	float r1 = length(p-C1);
	float r2 = length(p-C2);	
	float m = r1/(r1+r2);
	return mix(d1,d2,m);
}

This produces the lower image.

I also just tried fractowers formula, but it seems not very 'blobby' to me either - at least not if the r1 and r2 are distance estimates. It does, however, provide a nice controllable weighting if you mix the distance estimates by the distances to the center:

Code:

return (d1*exp(-A*r1*r1) + d2*exp(-A*r2*r2)) / (exp(-A*r1*r1) + exp(-A*r2*r2));

[Syntopia]

I just realized that there is a much simpler way:

Just take the union with the product of the distance estimates:

Code:

float DE( vec3 p )
{
	float d1 = sdSphere(p-C1,1.0);
	float d2 = sdSphere(p-C2,1.0);	
	return min(min(d1,d2),n*d1*d2);
}

This gives a nice symmetric blobby interpolation, and the blobbiness can be controlled by adjusting the 'n' factor.
Besides that, it uses only distance estimates, and also works for unsigned distances. It also has the nice property that it will always add to volume, never remove from it.

[DarkBeam]

Fantastic ... Thanks for those replies

[fractower]

The formula I originally provided returns a value with a lower bound of min(r1,r2). To get the blobby stuff you will need a formula the treates min(r1,r2) as an upper bound. This can be done by using a harmonic addition.

r_min ~=  (exp(-a*r1^2) + exp(-a*r2^2))/((1/r1) * exp(-a*r1^2) + (1/r2) * exp(-a*r2^2))

or

r_min = 1/(1/r1 + 1/r2).

I usually protect against devide by zero with 1/(r+.00000001)

[DarkBeam]

Anyway, reading the original blob article, I think that the accurate fmla shoul depend on a min and max radii.
under the min rad nothing should happen (so we can take safely min(r1,r2)
over it we can start mangling. I think that syntopia's approach is good, edventually fixed with an exponential function? To emulate the "thin bridge" effect (the plasticity should be adjusted with a max/minrad factor in the original blob method).
To see things clearly anyway I need more images and to test by myself. There is no hurry

[KRAFTWERK]

Wow... This sounds tasty! 

[DarkBeam]

Wow... This sounds tasty! 

Sure! Think about a blob-based folding or sphere inversion or decombine
For now decombines are "static" anyways