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Showing results for '"snap to surface"'.
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Hello Bryan... Most polygon models make very poor candidates for conversion into spline models but you can import them to see what happens. If you import it as a model A:M will make an attempt to convert all the separate facet edges into continuous splines but this is never a perfect conversion. This is a very slow process. The density of polygon models makes them mostly impractical to use with A:M rigging concepts. You can also import a polygon model as a "Prop". This is fast but this result is not editable, it is only for use of the rigid shape. There is a Snap to Surface tool now if you wish to use the imported shape as a template for recreating the model in proper A:M splines.
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Hi there, I am currentlz remoddeling a very complex polygon model using the snap to surface function. My idea was it, to cut my polygon modell into pieces, save them as individual models, import them into my modelling chor, and then switch model by model visibe or invisible as i need it. But, as far as I know AM does not know steady pivot points, and every model i Import has a different pivot, which makes it very anoying to asssemble my parts. Any Idea how i can maintain the pivot points of the importet polygon modells? cheers Heiner
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Looking good Mark! I foresee that in time you'll be cutting that 'few hours' down to a matter of minutes. I confess that I need to explore 'Snap to Surface' in the Chor. Up to this point I've mainly been using proxy shapes to guide the snapping to surface in the Modeling Window. Take a bunch of premade shapes and move them around to form a shape/character... lock them into position with the Lock tool... then spline all over the top of those while scrolling around in a 3D environment. Fast and fun! Your spline layout looks optimal.
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Transparent materials don't display transparent (v17)
NancyGormezano replied to pixelplucker's topic in Animation:Master
My understanding is that Direct X is not the same as Direct3D. Does your card support Direct3D? I experience the same transparency problem with PROPS and transparency that you do, when trying to see the patches of A:M models thru the PROP. I have not tried Direct3D yet with 32 bit ver17. However I just don't get this retopo stuff...Whenever I select patches in the chor of the model I am trying to create using an .obj prop as a 3D template - and I select "snap to surface" - I invariably get CPs that jump to the wrong surface. Some are correct - others are wrong. I must be doing something wrong, or not understanding the process at all. -
Doesn't the OBJ importer work fine as long as the model is all quads? Isn't it always an issue if there is an n-sided face in the obj? There were tests done before and I believe people found with sub-division models that used the doo sabin worked better than the more common catmul clark method. Not sure where that post was. For any mechanical models as obj files coming in to AM in the modeler I never had much success especially with complex geometry, for organic/character models, they seemed much better. I did try the Troer converter but have yet to get it to work without either a crash or spaghetti. Alternatively, if the model is sloppy in the first place it is probably better to use the snap to surface feature and just trace over the model in AM. This can be less work and give you a much more optimized model verses fiddle farting (technical term for correcting garbage) with an imported model.
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There is no sample model. I just create a new (empty) model and try to add a few splines into it. That is why I suspected it was only on my end. It prevents me from modeling anything. I will test out some previously saved files (Thom would make a good test subject) and see if I can add new splines to those without any issues. I first noted this after starting to test a slew of methodologies for rapidly splining a body and face. In this I occasionally locked some splines down.... hid some splines.... used lathing... used extrusion... standard modeling stuff/nothing too strange. Then when I went in to simply draw a head/face from the front view I found I could no longer draw/spline anything without the problem appearing. I do recall having to turn off the Snap to Surface icon... thinking it was strange that it was activated because I hadn't been using it. I may go back and try to repeat what I was doing in those steps because perhaps I locked myself into some mode unintentionally and I just think I'm in a normal modeling window. Recall that I did 'reset' A:M, and later reinstalled after seeing the same results in 32 and 64 bit and confirming the problem wasn't occurring in v17g so that is what is so odd in this case. It's got to be something simple...something I changed specific to v18b on my end. The only change to my computer system that I am aware of was reattaching an external (second) monitor although I need to scrub through my installed apps to make sure nothing was recently installed that might be grabbing hold and not releasing memory. Update: It is occurring with previously saved models as well.
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Hi, thanks for your answers. wedgeeguy, I can't do as you say, because I don't use a polygon modeler, but a free scult modeler (Sculptris). The result, is an OBJ model, that comport 550 000 triangles. And I think, It is better to rethinking the topology of a polygon model, so for me it is faster and better to remodeling it, in AM. jakerupert, "...that you could redraw splines ontop of a polybased 3D rotoscopes with the help of a "snap to surface" function similar to the "snap to grid" button...." yes, this is! "I don`t know anything of programming, but maybe it`s doable with a reasonable amount of work?" I don't know too... That idea come to me, when I used the props as 2D rotoscopes, and see the video of resurface plugin. It is just an idea "On the other hand, I think it would be more important/usefull to make the AM displacement "animationsafe", so that one could use the polygon sculpting tools with AM for animatable characters as well.... " All right this animation diplacement problem is more important and usefull.
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As far as I understand this discussion, Malo thinks, that a kind of retopology tool or plugin for AM would be great, working in that way, that you could redraw splines ontop of a polybased 3D rotoscopes with the help of a "snap to surface" function similar to the "snap to grid" button. I don`t know anything of programming, but maybe it`s doable with a reasonable amount of work? On the other hand, I think it would be more important/usefull to make the AM displacement "animationsafe", so that one could use the polygon sculpting tools with AM for animatable characters as well....
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Nancy Thank you very much for your helpful reply. Gosh you're quick ! I will try to change it straight away. The path was animated because, when originally laid out, the wheel of the unicycle came off the ground at places, or into it at others. I'd wondered afterwards if 'snap to surface' might have prevented that but, I'm still getting used to that with the Charlie model (who is going to dance with the Bear next) currently underway during the week. regards simon This was the ground model Snow_Ground.mdl and this the map you kindly supplied the other week.
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Nope. It isn't your imagination. While technically termed 'Snap to Surface' it started life circa v17 known as 'retopology'. Fuchur has a tutorial on his site on here's a short article to get started: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=44299 Impressive work Jirard! Pardon me jumping in here, but this was something I had wanted to try but didn't have the chance before. I have followed up Rodney's link to the tech ref page and started the process. It is going to take a long time. Using a 3DS model, its been stuck at 2% for the past 30 mins, that has happened before, its a sunny spring day here, so the seaside is calling while that gets underway. However, I also started the process using an obj model. That imported really quickly but, when trying to turn to modelling mode ( f5) that option is greyed out and unavailable. Is there another way to go about it ? regards simon PS I tried to find the tutorial on Gerald's site but to no avail could you kindly post a link to it ?
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Nope. It isn't your imagination. While technically termed 'Snap to Surface' it started life circa v17 known as 'retopology'. Fuchur has a tutorial on his site and here's a short article to get started: http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=44299 Impressive work Jirard!
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That sounds like a great idea, but UNfortunately- I think it defies how this feature works. From MY limited exposure, I have noticed that the 'Snap to Surface' tool- which is the underlying new mode behind the 'retopology' feature, only works in a PROJECTION manner... meaning- whatever surface lies behind the point(or group of points) to be applied as retopologized data, from your immediate POINT OF VIEW- will be where the points will be reassigned to. With this in mind, it is hard to see it working in a cylindrical manner. HOWEVER, I have not tested your idea yet. COULD WORK! but I doubt it.
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Much like Scultpris but this sculpting application is WebGL and Javascript based. If you need to make some quick topology for use with the Snap to Surface tool in A:M this might do the trick for you as it exports to OBJ etc. Very interesting. http://stephaneginier.com/sculptgl/ Source code is hosted on github: https://github.com/stephomi/sculptgl Added: A quick paint job on Thom...
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Then i think we should report some Snap to surface issues. It ought to work fine in modeling mode in a Pose window. I find it works much of the time but not 100%
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UNFORTUNATELY, the snap to surface does not work inside a pose window. Well...maybe some, but it is flawed for some reason. I found that out a while ago. I've built 5 facial morphs so far. By hand. It Looks massively impressive because of the detail in the mesh. My retopo version with reduced splines just isn't the same. Plus...with my morph targets already done from the other place....it moves things very well once the cp's are lined up.
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I'd never tried a Pose with Snap to Surface before (thanks for the suggestion!). Good news and bad news here... The bad news: The S2S doesn't appear to work outside of the initial percentage (i.e. I was able to get it to S2S on 0% but then couldn't get it to work on any other percentage). After messing around it then wouldn't even work on 0%) The good news: S2S does work for me in an On/Off Pose so I'm getting two states of S2S in an On/Off Pose. That could be very handy for animating things sliding across surfaces. Update: I may have spoken a little too soon on the On/Off Pose. Sometimes I get proper S2S and sometimes I don't.
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Hey, Yes. That was one of my first solutions in trying to do things by hand. I've been working on it little by little after hours on my laptop though which only has V15 and no "snap to surface" feature. Still.....in order to get the cps into an extremely close position it requires "nudging" most cps with the "arrrow" keys most of the time.
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Hey,Kevin... have you been using "Snap to Surface" when making these pose shapes?
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You guys may have seen my recent post of the fan art model I did. I wanted to test out sculptris with Hash and how well the obj export from it would work in Hash's "Retopo/ snap to surface feature." Since I'm new to sculptris and 3D sculpting in general I was hoping to get the basic shape of Dirk the Daring's head fairly close. I knew that the spline modeling in A:M would work much lighter and smoother. However, I like the way sculptris allows me to get the overall shape. Attached is a video of the progression both in sculptris and then on into hash for conversion to a spline copy based on the obj. The body was all done in Hash. Model_Steps_Sculptris_to_Hash.mov Cheers, William
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Thanks guys. William....Those zbrush tools are really cool. Sculptris seemed like a good place to start for me with sculpting in 3D since it's a free app. Hopefully one of these days I can add ZB into my budget. I have to admit that my first impression and experience with 3D sculpting has been really exciting. It has a really good artistic feel to it. Since I'm not experienced in rigging on other Apps, I just wanted to bring it back into A:M to see how that workflow felt. William is also right......the retopo was not easy. But it actually works fairly well. I've found from using A:M's "snap to surface" tool on this and several other projects that it is a good tool. We all have a wish list of things that would make A:M import polygon models more conveniently, but this is a good backup process if a project requires that you duplicate a model into Animation Master.
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Hey Gang, I finally got a chance to try out the new V17 Retopology Tool, and I think it is pretty well thought feature. Kudos to Steffen! I know at this time V17 is in alpha and a lot of people don't have access, but will eventually and here is my 'illustrated' guide to getting the tool up and running. I started with Fuchurs useful instructions from the V17 thread: 1.) Import a Prop (for instance an OBJ) into the chor-window. 2.) Create an empty model in the PWS and drag and drop it into the chor too. 3.) Good practice is to make everything but the empty model in the chor unpickable. 4.) Now select the model and go to the modeling-mode in the chor. 5.) Click on "Add Spline" and activate "Snap to Surface". > Now you are ready to go. Here is my journey down that road, with notes: FIRST OF ALL, I needed a polygonal model so I went to TurboSquid, signed up, and browsed their free models. I wanted an OBJ but ended-up with a 3DS, didn't matter. Here is the link to the model I grabbed: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/polygo...head-3ds/265937
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Tell us some more about how the new versions are a better experience / more fun. Also if it requires more computer power / resources. Regards, -SB I started with v13 (I think) which wasn't great for stability but now v17 is very stable. Forum help with trouble shooting will be easier with a more current version. Much faster render times now. Netrender. If you have more than one CPU core or indeed more than one computer you can connect to, V17 and up comes with Netrender for free which can dramatically cut down render times! Snap To Surface Tool in v17 for modeling. Basically it allows you to load a poly model as a 3D rotascope to model over. And there's more but this is what sprang to mind first As for computer specs; Having masses of RAM is not greatly important. I'v typically used only 1GB maybe 2GB at most. A:M just isn't that hungry for it. A fast CPU though is always, always a good thing to have!
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If you want to use it for the snap to surface tool, have you tried importing it as a prop? Otherwise, for now... if it works in v16, import it there, save the MDL and reload that in v17
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Hi there, i continue with my questions: If i understand it right, in V17 i can load .OBJ, and remodell them with the snap to surface function, right? How complex can the .OBJs be? Next question: Even in polygonland, a quad is now the best thing to have. I learned to model with quads only, and where you use a 5 pointer in AM, you have five quads coming together. My question: Is there another way to make such a region appear smooth other than using the porcelain material? Best regards, Heiner
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Hi Heiner, I don't know if you have already seen this but Fuchur has a good little video on using the Snap to Surface tool on his website here: http://www.patchwork3d.de/html/page.php?page_id=69
