Hi Pete, this is how I render the 'zmaps' for the level, I use XSI so it may differ from how to do it in Cinema 4d.
After rendering the level as normal you do the following.
1. Set the material for all objects in the scene to 'constant' - we don't want any lighting affecting the colors on the zmaps.
2. Create another orthographic camera which is positioned above the level looking down onto it.
3. Apply the gradient texture (shown below) to all the objects in the scene using a 'projection' from the camera created in step 2. In other words we want the camera to act like a movie projector which projects the texture onto all the objects in the scene as if from the camera's viewpoint.
4.Render the scene from the original isometric camera view. This gives us our first zmap 'scenezmap'.
5.Remove all the objects from the scene except the floor (or walkable areas).
6.Render the scene again from the original isometric camera's view. This gives us our second zmap ('floorzmap')
Here is a copy of the gradient texture:
Here is a view from the isometric camera:
Here is a view from the 'zmapcamera' (the one looking straight down):
Here is a view with the gradient texture applied (note that I have been lazy and not textured the objects within the room - normally they would be as well using the same process.)
After rendering the level as normal you do the following.
1. Set the material for all objects in the scene to 'constant' - we don't want any lighting affecting the colors on the zmaps.
2. Create another orthographic camera which is positioned above the level looking down onto it.
3. Apply the gradient texture (shown below) to all the objects in the scene using a 'projection' from the camera created in step 2. In other words we want the camera to act like a movie projector which projects the texture onto all the objects in the scene as if from the camera's viewpoint.
4.Render the scene from the original isometric camera view. This gives us our first zmap 'scenezmap'.
5.Remove all the objects from the scene except the floor (or walkable areas).
6.Render the scene again from the original isometric camera's view. This gives us our second zmap ('floorzmap')
Here is a copy of the gradient texture:
Here is a view from the isometric camera:
Here is a view from the 'zmapcamera' (the one looking straight down):
Here is a view with the gradient texture applied (note that I have been lazy and not textured the objects within the room - normally they would be as well using the same process.)