qolelis on 28/9/2014 at 13:05
Quote Posted by Renzatic
I'm planning on doing a lamp for my next tutorial, but there's something I need to know before I start.
...is anyone actually following along with these tuts?
I am. :D
Renzatic on 28/9/2014 at 17:14
Quote Posted by LarryG
...But it's interesting to see how you model in Blender.
What I'm doing right now doesn't show off Blenders capabilities. The flow and process isn't all that different than how you'd do things in Anim8or. Maybe a little quicker, but not much different.
(
http://vimeo.com/26339130) It's when you start dipping your toes into the higher end that Blender shows off what it can do (yeah, that music is annoying). I'm showing this off not just to show it off, by the way. I'm planning on using splines to demonstrate one method to make the lamp as an alternative to good old fashioned box modelling.
It's amazing. 5-6 years ago, I didn't think Blender was worth the effort you'd have to put into learning it. It was crap, I thought it was crap, and I happily told everyone it was crap. Nowadays, I'd say that (looks to see if Judith is around) it's a better overall modeller than Max and Maya. It's come an astoundingly long way in a relatively short amount of time.
R Soul on 28/9/2014 at 18:24
Quote Posted by Renzatic
In short, it's easier overall to throw caution to the wind, and clean it up later than it is trying to play it safe while you're building. You'll save yourself a ton of headaches and pointless struggles modelling this way.
It's never been an issue for me but I see your point.
Quote Posted by Dale_
sometimes I'd manage to get the object through 3ds to e to bin conversion but when loading it, Dromed would shout "object has too many polys!"
Sometimes more polys are created when splitting those that intersect, so maybe that pushed it over the limit.
Quote Posted by Renzatic again
It's amazing. 5-6 years ago, I didn't think Blender was worth the effort you'd have to put into learning it. It was crap, I thought it was crap, and I happily told everyone it was crap.
I first tried version 2.49 and I hated the interface. When 2.5 came out things looked a lot better, and I watched a few videos from (
http://cgcookie.com/blender/cgc-courses/blender-basics-introduction-for-beginners/) this page which really took the mystery out of it.
Renzatic on 28/9/2014 at 19:40
Quote Posted by R Soul
It's never been an issue for me but I see your point.
Truthfully, it only really becomes an issue when you start dealing with higher poly counts. For Thief, it'll never be that big of a deal.
BUT...
One of the things I'm trying to do is get everyone into the habit of leaning on higher poly workflows. If you can get into that mindset, then anything low poly is pie to do. I can whip just about any Thief ready model (minus UVing) in about 20 minutes or so. It's not because I've got some mysterious extra talent everyone else lacks (well, besides practice, but everyone gets that in time), but because I'm used to building, working, and detailing dense meshes. Because of that, Thief modelling is, to me, like calling it finished after I've done the prepwork on the base geometry.
I'm actually gonna be pressing this in my next tutorial.
Oh, and I saw your earlier question about transparencies in Blender. The guy missed a step. You turn on Blender Game up there at the top, turn on GLSL, go to the Game Settings dropdown under Materials tab, and look for Alpha Blend. It's set to opaque by default.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Alpha.jpgRenzatic on 29/9/2014 at 03:03
INTERRUPTION
This next part's a big one, too. It's almost as large as the other parts combined, and I'm only at part 1 of 3.
Prepare. :mad:
Renzatic on 29/9/2014 at 03:11
Next up: a kerosene wick lamp!
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_1.JPGFor this tutorial, I'll be doing some things that might seem strange or counter intuitive at first glance. For instance, you think you'd want to start with a cylinder for a rounded object like this, right? Nope! I'm gonna start with a cube, and subdivide it.
The one thing I'm always trying to impress upon you all is that modelling is a series of refinements, going from simple to complex. I remember back when I first started learning the ropes, I'd try to make it as complicated as possible starting out. If I was looking at a super smooth, rounded object with tons of little grooves, knurls, bobs, dips, and what have you, I'd try to model those in as I was building. It's like if I were sculpting a bust, I'd try to carve in all the wrinkles and details as I was moving down my block, rather than making the basic shape, and adding from there.
All it did was make the process far more frustrating than it should've been.
What you do is start cubist, and work your way towards smoothness. Yeah, that might be self evident for some, but I had to learn this lesson the hard way.
In the case of our kerosene lamp, you'll want to look at it not as it is, and try to model up from there, but as a low poly wire cage that'll act as your base.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_2.JPGFor complicated objects, it sometimes helps to draw out a rough cage over your image to get an idea of its basic shape. It gives you something to help you work towards.
I'm gonna show you three ways to do this. First, with edge extrudes. Next, with loop slices and scaling, and lastly, by making a 2D profile, and using the Spin Tool to construct a 3D shape.
Okay, so now that we have an object we want to make, a basic idea of how to construct it, and a nice little image to reference, let's begin.
We'll start simply enough by creating a thin square to work as the base.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_3.JPGSwitch to Face Selection (CTRL+TAB for reference), select the topmost face, and delete it by hitting X, then selecting Faces.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_4.JPGLittle aside, if your polygons show up two-sided, that's because you don't have backface culling on. If you want to turn it off like I have it, hit N to bring up your toolbox, go to the Shading dropdown menu, and check the appropriately named Backface Culling (also, while you're there, you can activate and play with the matcaps for fun).
Now we're gonna start extruding. Jump into Edge Select, grab the edge loop surrounding your now empty space with ALT+RMB, hit E to activate Extrude, immediately hit either LMB or Enter to commit it without moving your mouse, then hit S to scale your new lip inward slightly.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_5.JPGNow do the same thing again, but this time we're extruding upwards slightly. ALT+RMB to select your edge loop, E to extrude, then drag your mouse upwards. Hit Z to constrain it, if it hasn't done so already (Oh, and I changed my selection colors between taking that last pic and this one in case you're wondering)
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_6.JPGRepeat the process. E to extrude, drag it up slightly, hitting Z to constrain it, then hit S to scale it in, giving it a nice inward slant.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_7.JPGHit E, then Z, and drag it upwards.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_8.JPGRemember to eyeball your reference image to see if you've got everything in proportion. As long as everything isn't severely out of whack, you're good. It's better to wait til you're done to make small adjustments, since you'll have the entire object to compare and contrast with.
Now, do it all again. E to Extrude, Z to constrain it, then S to scale it in.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_9.JPGAnd again! E, Z, and S.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_10.JPG...the more perceptive among you should be noticing a pattern. E, Z, and S. Occasionally G and Z to adjust. From here on, I'll just be posting pictures with the occasional quip.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_11.JPGRenzatic on 29/9/2014 at 04:05
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_24.JPGOnce you reach this point, hit F to fill in your empty space with a face.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_25.JPG(
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_26.JPG) Now let's compare and contrast.
Hmm. Not bad looking. But see that part just before the inset towards the wick? It looks like it bends upwards and inwards slightly, rather that straight in. Let's fix that with an edge loop right fast.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_27.JPGInline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_28.JPG...and now that bend inwards looks a little too steep. Let's fix that, too.
Start by switching to Face Selection (CTRL+TAB), and selecting the topmost face.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_29.JPGNow hit CTRL+NUMPLUS, and grow your selection...
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_30.JPGTo right here...
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_31.JPGNow, hit S to scale, but hit SHIFT+Z to constrain it to X and Y (remember, SHIFT+{axis} excludes that axis), and tweak it so that angle isn't quite so steep.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_32.JPGThough now our wick section looks a little fat. Hmm. Hit S to scale, but this time constrain it to Z, and thin it up just a bit.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_33.JPGGaw! All that scaling on Z pushed into the body of the model. Eh. Move it back into position with G+Z!
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_34.JPGEasy enough. Now let's see how it compares.
(
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_35.JPG) Hmm. Not too bad. Some parts could be tweaked a bit, but hey...now you know how.
Renzatic on 29/9/2014 at 04:07
If you need to adjust whole sections, grab them with CTRL+NUMPLUS, or ALT+RMB to select loops to adjust curvature. Pretty simple.
Now we have our base, and it's time to round it out and start getting weird. I'm going to introduce you all to Subdivision Surfaces.
Honestly, 98.999% of the time, Subsurfing is absolute teetotal overkill for Thief. Each subdivision quadruples your poly count. Right now, our little blocky lamp is 170 tris, so subdividing once will jack our poly count to 720. Once more after that, 2880.
So why are we bothering with it? Because sometimes you'll run into that 1.01% of the time when it'll come in handy, and the resulting cleanup we'll be doing segues in nicely with the merging tutorial I have planned after this.
Remember the little bathroom set I made for Thief awhile back? The one that included CORN SINK!
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/corn_sink.jpgYeah, I subdivided the toilet and sink, then cleaned up the resulting geometry to get that nice, smooth shape. I could've spent a bit adjusting my verts and edges to get the same results, but why do all that nudging and adjusting when you can just fire off a modifier, apply it, and do a few edge loop deletes?
That's what we're gonna be doing here. Plus it fits in nicely with my technique before efficiency thing I'm going for here. Once you learn the various tools and technique you can use to achieve a desired result, efficiency comes naturally.
Alright, enough of my lame excuses. It's time to go overboard! And I'll start my jump by explaining exactly what subdivision surfaces do.
Now you all know what subdividing is, it adds geometry and smooths at the same time (without smoothing, it's a faceted subdivide FYI). Subdivision Surfaces allow you to preview a higher level subdivide while still allowing you to adjust your initial geometry. It allows you to fine tune your shapes without having to deal with hundreds of verts before you commit.
But subdividing, and by extension subdivision surfaces (or subsurfing, as the cool kids call it), rounds things out. How do you keep sharp edges and whatnot? Easy. With edge loops and bevels. It's hard to explain, but easy to show in example, so I'll do just that.
Here's a little thing I made.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_36.JPGKinda janky jagged looking.
Here it is subsurfed at 3 levels.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_37.JPGNice and smooth. It rounded off the ends, and allowed each jagged angle to transition smoothly into each other.
If I grab an edge and move it around...
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_38.JPG...it still maintains that smoothness. Changes that would've taken a lot of adjusted verts were done with a simple edge grab. If I add an inset cavity...
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_39.JPG...well holy crap. It came out round! Looking at the base, unmodified geometry...
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_40.JPGIt's back to janky jagged.
So if it smooths everything, what's the point of using it for hard surfaces? That's easy. Like I said above ou can control what it smooths by adding edges and bevels to constrain the flow. Like say I want my inset to have a sharp termination on the edge, and a flat back?
Add two edge loops. One here.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_41.JPGAnd one here.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_42.JPGThe closer the edges are together, the tighter the transition. If I want to make those smooth transitions along the ribbon a little rougher, I'll just add some edge bevels, like so...
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_43.JPGInline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_44.JPGAnd it looks like this...
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_45.JPGThe tighter I make those edge bevels, the sharper the resulting transition.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_46.JPGRenzatic on 29/9/2014 at 04:07
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_47.JPGIf I were to add a single edge loop down the center of my ribbon...
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_48.JPGIt'd make my inset slightly more square.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_49.JPGWhen I apply the modifier...
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_50.JPGI get a high res mesh, waiting for more detail to be added.
That's all well and good, but what the hell does any of this have to do with Thief? This is all way too high poly, right? Well, we're about to do it to our lamp model, but we're only going to go with one subdivision level, so it doesn't produce too many polys. After the cleanup process, you'll probably end up with 500 tris (or even less if you want), and still have a nice smooth shape. All without having to do much work on your end.
To turn it on, head over to your toolbar on the right, and look for the little wrench icon. That's your modifiers menu.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_51.JPGFrom there, click Add Modifier, and look for Subdivision Surfaces.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_52.JPGClick it, and you'll see this.
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https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_53.JPGThis is showing your subdivided geometry overlaid with your initial geometry, AKA your cage. You can make changes to the cage that'll show up on the subsurfed geometry underneath. Normally, I don't using the cage, since it tends to get in the way and intersects when you're editing more complicated models. But here, I think it's going to work pretty well.
If you want to turn it off, I'll show you how to do it, and explain the subsurf window while I'm at it.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_54.JPG1. The Eye – Shows and hides the modifier. If you want to look at your original geometry, click this.
2. Three-Vert Triangle – This shows and hides the cage. When you hide the cage, it gives you the wire mode I showed above.
3. View – Shows the levels of subdivisions in the realtime window. Set it to 0 to turn it off, or go higher for finer levels of details (and more polys)
4. Render – Same thing as View, except it only applies to rendering. Useless for Thief.
5. Subdivide UVs – Self explanatory. Subidivdes your UVs to conform to your new geometry. You wanna keep this on.
6. Optimal Display – Only comes into play when you're looking at a wireframe display. With it off, the underlying geometry shows as it'd be properly subdivided. With it on, it only shows the base geometry.
Oh, and don't worry about clicking Simple. If you're going to use this, use Catmull-Clark subidvisions exclusively. They're the Pixar guys who all but invented all this crap. They know what they're doing.
So anyway, we've got our model subsurfed, but it looks a little mushy. That's because you don't have any constraining geometry. You want your sharp transitions to be sharp, so you're going to have to add some edge loops.
This isn't any different than what you've done previously. We'll start with the base. Hit CTRL+R, select an edge near your base, and bring it on down to the very far edge.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_55.JPGInline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_56.JPGNotice how the model changes along with your edits. Neat, huh? And don't worry about making coplaner verts and edges. The process of subdividing itself will push those edges apart.
Now, do the next edge up, where your angle transitions into the domed shape. Hit CTRL+R, and push the edge loop right against the edge at the bottom of the dome.
Inline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_57.JPGInline Image:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3018396/Blender_Tut_Lamp/Blender_Tut_Lamp_58.JPG