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Hey ,
It is great to see you guys modeling in Carrara's VM room and those are nice models too.
A really great start diomede :) but i would use corrosion with the smooth-convert button, it intends to add too many polygons and makes it more difficult to model objects, using it once on a mesh that is only a few polygons is a great way of adding the geometry you need to get the basic shape of what you are modeling, then it's just the matter of adding more edge loops for details. :)
@Jonstark, it's great to see that you are getting interested in 3D modeling :) Modeling wine glasses and coffee mugs is the best way of getting started with Carrara's Vertex modeling tools, Carrara's Spline modeling it's great for some basic shapes but... anything that can be made with it can be modeled with greater quality using the Vertex modeling tools.
Thanks for the tips. Keep them coming. A couple of ways to get extra detail that I eventually plan to play with are (1) displacement painting in the 3D paint room, and (2) the magnet tool within the vertex modeler. But for the moment, I'm still at the point/edge manipulation level of modeling.
Dart
Thanks for the uvmap suggestions. Likewise, keep them coming. Again, so far, the uvmapper within Carrara has seemed similar enough to other uvmapping that I haven't felt terribly constrained - plus I can model with the uvmapping in mind, paint directly on the model, and go back and forth in the assembly room to make small adjustments. However, still not experienced enough to run into the kinds of problems that Roygee describes - and I know those problems are out there!
Headwax
Yes, I plan to add a tongue - and teeth and eyes also! Stay off my lawn!
Dartanbeck,
I tried to follow the process explained by you to create a zone of morph target.
I created a simple sphere in Hexagon then extruded a facet.
I transferred in Studio via DZ Bridge.
I want to transform this extruded facet into morph target, what can I do?
I do not know at all Studio 4.6 and I do not find the means of seeing the facets and even less to edit them.
Hexagon seems easy to me to use, except it is not very stable (a few crashes during my tests…)
Daz Studio… it is horrible compared to Carrara and I have no time to learn it !
Do you know the process with Poser?
I was talking about conforming figures, like clothes and hair - as the quote I took from your post seemed to be talking about morphing beyond the rig regions in store-bought content. I use that method to get the ability to "ADD" a new morph creation area across the whole model, where in Carrara, we would normally have to make a morph for the chest area, then the abdomen, etc.,
Lets just say that I bought a shirt. I wanted to add new morphs that spanned from the neck region down to the hip region, which includes both the chest and the abdomen. I try to do that in Carrara - and since the morph crosses all of those regions, I select "figure" from the morph target list. I try to push "+" and nothing happens.
To have Daz Studio give me a simple way of adding that morph target area, I start in Daz Studio. I start in Daz Studio because:
A) the item is a conforming figure that can open as a conforming figure in Daz Studio
B) Daz Studio is the tool that will add what I need - a new morph target area that spans all polygons of the model
Once it's open in Daz Studio, I select it and go: File > Send to Hexagon
Once in Hexagon, I need to make at least one change to the mesh without adding or deleting any polygons. If I don't make a change, Daz Studio will see the same item coming back, and just let it come back. But If Daz Studio detacts a change in the shape - even a small change, it will prompt me with a dialog. This dialog is asking how I want to save the new morph. If I want, I could save it within one of the existing domains. No. I am less concerned with the morph itself, but the new morph target. For me, I name this new Target "Dartanbeck". Then I name the morph something like "chest-fix01".
Now I look in the shaping tab and find my new morph and dial it to 0.00 before I save it.
Now I export the shirt into the same runtime or Daz Studio library location that I got it from, with a new name.
Since my only experience with doing this what with V4, I always exported a CR2 file. Which is a Poser Figure file.
For Genesis, I don't remember the exact method of saving, but it works - I've tried it. I got my instructions for that here.
Dartanbeck,
My starting idea was to be able to create morph target on any polygonal object.
What would be necessary to make to arrive there? Should one build a whole hierarchy identical to an existing character (bones, constraints…) ?
How are the conforming figures built?
Your first explanations will be very useful all the same for me (and with others also).
It really no problems if one could create soft selections on an object and be able to apply several of them to the same area but, perhaps is this impossible technically or perhaps in version 9 will have there???
Thanks.
Ah, that makes it very clear! I was thinking only in vertical or horizontal lines; diagonal hadn't really even occurred to me but of course I'm guessing *most* organic things aren't going to be on straight vertical or horizontal lines. Thank you for the quick explanation; it immediately enabled me to envision the limitation you are talking about :)
Hmmm, just got an email offer that Dreamlight is offering a one-day 80% off price for his (their?) 3D Model Master course, making it $29 instead of the usual $140+.
It seems Carrara is one of the softwares he teaches how to use (along with Hex, Wings, Blender, and Lightwave), and it seems geared for the the beginner modeler (like me), teaching the basic concepts.
I'm torn; I don't usually go for video tutorials; I would love to get Philw's and Mark Bremmer's but I just can't justify spending so much money on it as this is just a hobby for me, I don't have that much extra cash anyway, and I also have this niggling feeling that I could learn all this myself through buckling down with hard work and researching the forums, manual, other tutorials. However I am *very* cognizant that there is a *lot* I don't know about modeling, and since the price is much lower than usual I'm thinking maybe I should pick it up ($29 is still pretty hefty IMO, but it's just on the very edge of what I feel it would be ok to pay, considering this is just a hobby for me).
I did a search through the forums and found a post where Garstor mentioned buying it and concluded that although the narrator rambled quite a bit that it was ultimately worth it:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/4225/
I wondered if any of you guys that have already mastered modeling have any thoughts?
He actually had horrible spam from them and it eventually turned him off to them. Your mileage may vary.
Yeah I saw that in the thread, but then again I'm already getting bunches of spam from this guy, it all goes to an email account I never use/see, and I only saw this offer by absolute accident (I was resetting a password to someplace, and had to go into my email). So the spam (though it's annoying) isn't really a sticking point for me.
And you can tell by his sales page that he's a (not very good) Internet Marketer Extraordinaire!! Choose the right 'hot' sales words and make people buy!! It actually made me lol at how 'carnival huckster' the whole sales copy was.
But... just glancing at the products he sells in his store here at Daz, it does look like he knows how to model... Again, I'm torn. I do want to learn the basics of modeling, and I'm sure I could go it alone, but is $29 worth shortening the learning curve? I'm leaning towards yes... but only if it actually is useful and actually *does* shorten the learning curve...
Sloooowly working on a (base) Tree.
It will have several morph targets for the branches, stump and roots (girth and length so far). I will just have to see how far I can take it.
The plan is to put bones in every branch and root, so it can be really versatile as a fantasy tree.
I will use a replicated tree for the small branches
McGuiver, very cool. I can't tell from the angle, but is it made using symmetry? Looks like the top and bottom have the same number of branches in roughly the same location, and they look similar, but I wasn't sure.
Greetings Jonstark
try this
http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc/joanmenu.asp
if you do this then you will be up and running pretty well by the end
It's not for Carrara specifically but it should translate !
the leg starts off with box modelling
the head starts off with a poly and builds the mesh by extruding edges (from memory)
if you listen it will tell you about edge loops as well (from memory)
see how you go :)
Head wax, thank you! That's excellent, after glancing through the tutorial (I haven't yet started it) I think I finally understand what people mean by 'box modelling'. I'm thinking it means starting with a simple primitive cube, bending it around a bit and scaling/rotating it's sides/edges/points, then extruding the next cube and doing the same... I was looking just at how the tutorial shows to build the feet and legs and it just gave me an 'aha' moment, where I was really struck by how much you can do starting with a simple cube. :) Definitely going to give this one a try.
I did plonk down the dough to pick up the dreamlight 3d model master course, and immediately I had that sinking feeling of foreboding that you get when you feel like you may have made a mistake.
I started watching the vids, but if anything Garstor was underselling how much this guy rambles. Almost seems like he's playing for time. I don't need a 25 minute pep talk about overcoming my fears and how 80% of everything is to just get out there and do it... Holy cow.
Also I don't need a 25 minute video trying to sell me Lightwave for $1500.00 bucks and convince me that I shouldn't think I can't afford it just because I'm a hobbyist. I guess he thinks the only people who would ever buy his course are those who expect that they are going to make tons of money selling props and models they create in the Daz store :) but I'm completely uninterested in ever becoming a vendor, I'm a hobbyist, and I'm don't even like the way Lightwave renders look even in skilled hands, why on earth would I want to buy it if his point is I can use any halfway decent modeler I'm comfortable with ;)
Also I've gotten through the series of vids where he touches on different kinds of modelers, and it's obvious that he really knows lightwave well, but some of the others he touched on (including Wings, Blender, Hex and Carrara) it looked like he wasn't really all that familiar with, Carrara and Blender specifically. When he was showing Carrara, he didn't even mention switching into the Vertex modeling room or highlight that it's a different room than they assembly room, of course I already know that but I'm thinking of someone who is totally new to Carrara and is trying to follow along might be completely confused. Somewhat less than inspiring of confidence, lol, but I'll keep on watching, hopefully there will be tons of applicable general knowledge (once he actually gets to it) that will be useful to me...
I would say what a ........................................ idea that was - but the seeing eye will pull it .
jonstark,
Actually, I converted a tree from the plant modeler to a vertex object (only allows up to 3 main branches), copied and pasted the tree, flipped it and resized it to make roots.
It may have been a mistake to use the tree modeler, since it took alot of time to clean up the mesh. The branch intersections were hideous!
I should have just inserted a cylinder, then, use dynamic extrusion to build upon the cylinder......next time!
May still change the main branch / root quantity....time will tell. :)
McGuiver - you are amazing. In your first step, you already rocked my world. I tried the branch replication method for an earlier monthly contest. I started with a cylinder, then extruded. After converting the replications to instances, I ended up exporting as an obj then reimporting, but I suppose you could try some weld command, or a boolean.
Anyway, here are some samples in my progression.
diomede64,
I avoid booleans whenever possible......they make messy intersections.
My goal is to keep the base tree simple, and use the power of the tree modeler to fill in the detailed branches and leaves.
I may add in a morph or two for an entrance into the trunk.
I did a little testing with the morph targets and bones & found all should work well. Nice to be able to wrap the roots around a rock formation, or make the tree walk.
This project will take me some time, since I have been elsewhere for several years....a little here, a little there. :cheese:
jonstark,
Actually, I converted a tree from the plant modeler to a vertex object (only allows up to 3 main branches), copied and pasted the tree, flipped it and resized it to make roots.
It may have been a mistake to use the tree modeler, since it took alot of time to clean up the mesh. The branch intersections were hideous!
I should have just inserted a cylinder, then, use dynamic extrusion to build upon the cylinder......next time!
May still change the main branch / root quantity....time will tell. :)
Or start in the spline modeler and then convert to vertex.
Really? Once I figured out what booleans were, I thought they were a cool tool and I was actually planning to use booleans with a straight edge of a cube as a workaround for not having the knife tool Head wax had mentioned earlier that sounded so useful.
Didn't realize boolean operations left a mess :( Still, going to play around with them a bit.
I decided, apropos of absolutely nothing, to experiment in building a boat. I'm no that into boats in real life and it occurs to me there are probably a lot more basic shapes I should try to model first (and I haven't even started on the tutorial mentioned earlier to put together a human figure) and, probably as anyone would expect, I didn't get very far, but wondered how someone much more skilled and experienced than me would approach such a thing (making a speed boat, for example).
I started by drawing a simple curved shape with a polyline (the straight polyline, not the any of the curved ones, perhaps ironically, as I felt I had better control that way) then I did a path sweep of a small square plane to form the 'backbone' of the boat, then started with symmetry trying to dynamic extrude, then move the sides. I had limited success as you can see, and I'm thinking there must be some better way I'm not thinking of.
Hi Jon :)
My favourite method for complex, flowing shapes like boat hulls and motorcars is surfaces modelling, either ruled or Gordons. In the case of a boat hull, I would use ruled, which is thw simplest. Basically, you draw a series of profiles using a polyline to outline the hull - you need to have an equal number of points, so I draw one, copy/paste and resize all along the length at points where there are size changes. Select the surfaces>ruled surfaces tool, then click on each of the polylines in turn, making sure you click the same point.
Viola - it builds a mesh between each of the polylines as you go.
Thanks Roygee, excellent tip! I knew there had to be a simpler/better way :) I don't know much about surfaces modeling yet, though I remember reading a bit about it in the manual. I understood ruled, but was a bit foggy on understanding coons and gordon :) , but I really forgot about them all.
OK - second try at posting pics :)
I'm hoping some kind reader will explain to me in words of one syllable how to replicate with symmetry in the X-plane, so I can do the other half.
I believe it has something to do with setting the working plane, but have never cottoned on to the method :)
I know I know I know, (headwax jumps up in back of class shaking hand)
cause I do it all the time accidentally
select the poly that you would like to be the centre of your duplication while holding down the ctrl key
the duplication axis will be parallel to that poly (ie you will see the new working box plane at encompassing the poly you selected)
you can also do it with a vertex point but you need first to select a poly with the right alignment to set the working box to that alignment
then select the vertex you want to duplicate around
()
when you have duplicated your mesh go view>reset your working box
Roy you need to uninstall hex so you can come and teach us how to model in Carrara :)
Freakin' awesome head wax! I do that by misake all the time too, but had no idea what I was doing. You've just taught me how to reset the viewing box, and on top of that now I know how to replicate with symmetry! For any others who are inexperienced as I am, you can find the 'Duplicate with Symmetry' function under the 'Edit' menu item :)
pleasure to be of surface :) I only discovered that by accident when it gave me the sh8ts so much that I went and read the manual ....
I'd already read it once or twice and undetrsood zilch because 9from memory it is explained as clearly as mubloagaloacrakatoefungus...
but one day my mouse just clicked - so to speak :)
@Jonstark, good start, or though... there is too many polygons in your mesh and as you add more it will be so many polygons it will become unmanageable and very frustrating, you might want to try box modeling.
Here is a small tutorial on how to box model a simple boat:
1: in the vortex modeling room, insert a cube and hold down the minus key until there are four polygons making up a cube, then turn on symmetry.
2: Start boxing out a boat shape. Scale the cube along the Y-axis, now start to add some edge loops to it, in the menubar go to Model- Tesselate- and click on "Mid-Edge to Center" this will give you a good amount of polygons to box out a boat shape.
3: Adding more edge loops. Select an edge loop on your mesh and use the "Extract along" tool to clone or move edge loops.
The gif image shows a simple boat being modeled with this method. EDIT: There seems to be a problem with the gif image, it's not playing all the frames... try this (link)
:)
Hi head wax - me give up Hex ? Try prying it out of my cold dead hands....!
Better idea - take us to Anim8or and show how modelling is really done :) Anyhow, jonstark is arranging Hex to be ported into Carrara, so then we'll all be smiley!
OK - the working box thing - fine, as long as the poly you select is perpendicular - if not, the duplicate is sloped. Got it right by adding in a temporary perpendicular grid and using that as the selection. Thanks for getting me on the right track, though :)
Here's the completed boat - not quite as smooth as I'd like - should have used more profiles.
Nice one there Gareth - many ways to skin a cat :)
Gareth,
Wow, thank you so much, I'm blown away by all the trouble you and Roygee have gone to just to show me some workable techniques for this. I can't thank either of you enough! That's a very simple and effective approach, it seems so obvious when you did it, but I never would have thought of that approach in a million years.
Roygee,
That looks fantastic! I'm running into a problem when I tried to duplicate the approach. I'm able to draw my polyline and duplicate it no troubles, and selecting the polyline and the one before it seems to connect the two beautifully with a ruled surface, but for some weird reason the polygons for the new section don't seem to be connected to the section right before, so I'm ending up with panels that look connected until I try to, for instance, soft select a poly in one section to maybe push it out or in a bit and make the overall shape more what I want, yet it just pulls that section out and away from the one it looked like it was connected to, revealing the space. Is there some setting I missed which would keep things connected? I tried dragging a loop around all the completed sections and applying weld to it all, but it didn't seem to work. Not sure what I am doing wrong...
Also a general question for anyone who is expert in Carrara modeling: When rotating a polygon or an edge, it by default always rotates from the very center of that poly or edge. Is there a way to change the rotation point? For instance, maybe rotate it so the hot point is along one of the edges of the poly, instead of the center?