Exercise 11: Giraffe

[Rodney]

He looks lonely Al.

[Tunames]

NAME: Steve George

EXERCISE: #11 Giraffe

INSTRUCTOR:

REMARKS: Heres a buddy for Als Lonely giraffe

 

 

[aj2]

Not so Lonely,,,, anymore,,,,,,

Good job . on the Giraffe

[totlover]

Hello people,

 

I know that you have all been waiting for my next piece of art. jk. but...

 

i am having trouble with my giraffe. i am not complaining but whenever i try to copy flip and then attach it always crashes. I have had problems with the project file ever since the first time i saved it.

 

is one half good enough.

 

Name: Caleb Gunby

 

Exercise: 11 Giraffe

 

Date: Feb, 11, 2007

 

 

 

if you give me somthing else to model i will do it to redo this exercise.

[Caroline]

One half looks really good, but I'm a bit worried he might fall over.

 

Do you want to post the project? (So that if this happens to you again in a future model we might know how to fix it?)

 

There was another discussion about Copy/Flip/Attach problems here:

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26231

[totlover]

well it might be the copy/flip/attach problem but i think i know what happened.

 

When i was modeling the giraffe earlier on at one point it ended up saying something about error in spline count or something. then from there on out it just messed up. i couldnt copy anything. i dont have problems with any other projects though. and if i do i will be sure to post again that i am having problems. being the first time really using copy flip attach i think i know how to do it. i have been using it a little more.

 

but if it does i will make sure people know.

 

Thanks Caroline,

 

Caleb

[Raffi]

Name: Ralf Kampp

Exercise: #11 (Giraffe)

Completed: March 2nd 2007

 

Remarks: The attaching of the legs was an extremely helpful exercise. I am proud that I managed it and even prouder that I managed to connect the horns and ears by myself (although I did not manage without slight creases).

[Logrus]

Name: Big E

Exercise: #11 Giraffe

Completed: March 23nd 2007

 

Comments: This project started out fun til i got the attaching the feet, Then for the life of me i could not get it to work out or look like. It was exactly the way the book had it look. But on my model it was fugly.. The other thing with this project is so many weird things happened it wasnt even funny. I had my model perfectly straight on its axis lines. but when i retrieved it from being saved it was on a funky angle. My 5 point patchs at times was not becomming available. It took me on some attempts to work were around 8. Sometimes my model had spots that were caved in, which is odd cause i wasnt even working anywhere near that spot.

 

On a final note. Much Much love goes out to Caroline who carried me for the back part of the stupid leg. Without your help id still be struggling with it. Thank so so very much...

[Caroline]

Well that's one fine looking giraffe, Logrus - both ends are looking magnificent - congratulations.

 

You know, if you started again from scratch, I bet you would have no problems at all this time. Once you get the hang of spline modelling it's so elegant.

 

And I'm glad to be of help - I always learn something - this time I learned how to use Camstudio (and how not to use it!).

[Logrus]

Its odd but i didnt even have to use the top decal, Everything lined up very nice from the side view for the top of the giraffe. Only bad part of the decaling was the underside of the neck came out blurry. I guess my dreams for a really thick giraffe wasnt ment to be when it came time to decaling..

 

Thanks Caroline for the comment on my giraffes sexy legs An congrats to you for learning how to use Camstudio..

[AJS007]

Name: Alan Selby

Exercise: #11 (Giraffe)

Completed: April 4th 2007

 

Remarks:

General: Lessons are always going to be difficult without the video tutorial for assistance, but the book goes into good detail about patches etc.

 

Difficult areas: Attaching the legs and those pesky 5 point patches that looked great in render, but went to pot when you applied a decal - the patches looked 'swirly'. I tried removing CP's and reconnecting them but that was no help, in the end I fixed them with hooks.

 

Lessons learned: Use the Hide key often - some areas get so congested, you don't know where you are. With Flip and Paste - make sure nothing overhangs the centre line otherwise you get two halves and not one whole giraffe :-o

 

Further assistance required: I tried compositing the Giraffe into a Safari scene but cannot create transparent areas in the picture (TGA) - I saw the demo reel use a similar trick with Victor and Blit but cannot recreate the same - any suggestions?

[Logrus]

Nice giraffe AJ, But in the model version it loooks like your giraffe has a boo boo on his neck.. I had a problem with placing my giraffe in a pic so i left it out. Im so lazy lol

[Caroline]

Further assistance required: I tried compositing the Giraffe into a Safari scene but cannot create transparent areas in the picture (TGA)

 

You'll need to create an alpha channel in external software for this. I use Photoshop Elements, others use Photoshop or Gimp or Paint Shop Pro. In Elements, I make a selection, then save the selection. When the file is saved as a tga, this selection is saved as the alpha channel, so the rest of the photo is transparent.

 

If you had that vehicle as a model in A:M instead of a photo, you would render it to a tga against no background in A:M with Alpha Channel turned on, so that the tga looks like just the vehicle, with a black background, that would be transparent when reused in A:M as a layer.

 

Nice giraffe - the only thing that you would want to avoid in the future is having a Control Point that has more than two splines crossing. Your back leg and your front leg have control points that have 5 lines coming out of them. This will cause creasing in more complex models.

 

Edit: Tutorial on Alpha channels:

http://www.am-guide.com/TinCan/AM_&_Alpha.htm

[Logrus]

Nice giraffe - the only thing that you would want to avoid in the future is having a Control Point that has more than two splines crossing. Your back leg and your front leg have control points that have 5 lines coming out of them. This will cause creasing in more complex models.

 

Dont feel to bad AJ, Caroline busted me on the same thing with my giraffe. Nice link Carol i was looking for something that explained how to do it.. You an Rodney are the Masters of the Turts...

[AJS007]

Nice giraffe - the only thing that you would want to avoid in the future is having a Control Point that has more than two splines crossing. Your back leg and your front leg have control points that have 5 lines coming out of them. This will cause creasing in more complex models.

 

Dont feel to bad AJ, Caroline busted me on the same thing with my giraffe. Nice link Carol i was looking for something that explained how to do it.. You an Rodney are the Masters of the Turts...

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm sure that the spline issues would haunt me in animation and I'd probably blame it on my rigging if it wasn't for the 'heads up'.

The neck 'boo boo' only showed up in the 'cap' - I've noticed that Jeremiah had the 'swirly' patch problem in an earlier post but it wasn't in the neck area that shows up in my pic.

Thanks again ... and onto the next one ;-)

[Logrus]

I had a swirl on my one side near the back of the giraffe, Odd part is i didnt have it on the other side. an its a copy paste with both the body an the decal..

 

Good luck on the next project. They are interesting an fun..

[Chrury Sanson]

Name: ME

 

Exercise: This one.

 

Teacher: TAoAM version 2007

 

Random number: 35496541

 

 

Notes: Long time no see! (In this area of the forums anyway) I took a few extra days to model the head and add the fringe. I haven't done the hair exercise yet so it could be better. Maybe I'll come back to it.

 

I like how the head turned out so much that I'm going to show a detail shot.

 

Oh, I learned the value of flipping normals. My 5-point patches have never looked better!

[mouseman]

Wow, it's been a while since anyone's posted in the Giraffe thread. Here's my effort.

 

I found the modelling quite easy, although a few minor glitches. (Extruding from the side view, I didn't realize that my leg kept sticking farther and farther outward with each extrude. Heh.) The hardest part for me was getting the decals looking good. I forgot to hide the rest of the model, so the decal wrapped around it in unappealing ways. I also went through the effort of trying to get the decal on the inside of the giraffe's legs. I ended up not using the top decal, because I couldn't get it to line up with the other decals, plus I got good enough results without it.

 

Also, using "Edit" on the decal really let me improve the coverage.

[Caroline]

That looks good - this is one of those make or break exercises like exercise 6, but it has been awhile.

 

Of course you know about N S and R? I quite often have little bits of my model that are in the wrong place and the wrong angle, so you can highlight that little bit, use the N key to move, the S key to scale and the R key to rotate. Sounds as if your extruded legs needed an R.

 

In addition, although for some reason I don't do this much myself, you can click Window Menu > New Window, then Window Menu > Tile Vertically, so that you can have two viewpoints of the same model at the same time.

 

I tend to add points and use the T key to turn the model. But then I'm a lot slower and less talented than a lot of people here!

[Rodney]

Wow, it's been a while since anyone's posted in the Giraffe thread. Here's my effort.

 

Very nice!

 

That giraffe gets the best of just about everybody. He's a tough one alright. And he looks like he'd be easy to build and texture.

I'm planning to screen capture myself as I try to model him later this year. I'm already picturing my embarassment as that giraffe gets the best of me.

 

I simply can't recall what we did before we had the UV Editor.... wow... that must have been painful to tailor those decals into the right place. I must have blocked out all those painful memories.

[mouseman]

Of course you know about N S and R? I quite often have little bits of my model that are in the wrong place and the wrong angle, so you can highlight that little bit, use the N key to move, the S key to scale and the R key to rotate. Sounds as if your extruded legs needed an R.

The bad thing about R is that it rotates. I just wanted to shift the points over, but rotating them would tilt them as well.

 

In addition, although for some reason I don't do this much myself, you can click Window Menu > New Window, then Window Menu > Tile Vertically, so that you can have two viewpoints of the same model at the same time.

Smart! I never think of doing that.

 

I tend to add points and use the T key to turn the model. But then I'm a lot slower and less talented than a lot of people here!

I went through the tutorial pretty quickly even with the little mistake. I did all the splining in probably 2 hours.

[MasterFunk]

Name: Sean Concannon

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 11

 

Date Completed: Feb 26 2008

 

Instructor: Manual

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement: none

[Caroline]

Hi, Sean - nice contributions. As you know the decals are a bit too stretched on this and the previous one. I think everybody finds that, as there is only side and top. When you come to make your own models, you will have more decals and be able to match them better.

[youngman]

Name: Jason Young

 

Exercise completed: Exercise 11

 

Date completed: 22-7-2008

 

I'll be honest with you.i did not take to this exercise well.The modeling was not too hard but i just could not find the enthusiasm to do this,which is why it's taken so long to post this from my last exercise.I supose there are some exercises which are like that.On a more positive note i'm looking forward to 11.5 which should be a good challange.

 

Jay

 

[Caroline]

That's a great treatment. Is that done through lighting, and/or material with edge threshold?

 

i did not take to this exercise well

I had exactly the same with the aeroplane. Just wasn't attractive to me. Still, it's improving self-discipline, which will make you more successful

[youngman]

Hi Caroline,

 

That's a great treatment. Is that done through lighting, and/or material with edge threshold?

 

The material is the Darktree MetallicPaintShader.dts with no tweaks applied.The render was done as Ao,all the settings were set at 100% intensity,occlusion and sampling.

I had just one Kleig light in the Cho.

 

 

Even though i wasn't that enthusiastic with this,i always wanted to do a good job on it no matter how long it took me to finish..

 

Jay

[Caroline]

[ Party noises off - celebrating 1000 posts ]

 

It's certainly an interesting render.

 

I shall have to try and remember that technique.

[TheSpleen]

Name: The Spleen / Robert Thompson

 

Exercises Completed: Eleven

Date Completed: Saturday October 4th 2008

 

Instructor: Manual

 

Remarks/Suggestions for Improvement:Biggest lesson learned was to make sure my spline points are ready for attachments. Decal work needs more practice but deffinantly learned alot to add on to the plane lesson.

I can model!!!

 

 

[robcat2075]

Name: The Spleen / Robert Thompson

 

Exercises Completed: Eleven

Date Completed: Saturday October 4th 2008

 

that looks giraffe-like ... If you post a shaded wireframe of that someone may be able to tell if some spline continuity problems are causing the decal trouble.

[TheSpleen]

Name: The Spleen / Robert Thompson

 

Exercises Completed: Eleven

Date Completed: Saturday October 4th 2008

 

that looks giraffe-like ... If you post a shaded wireframe of that someone may be able to tell if some spline continuity problems are causing the decal trouble.

I know I had some minor splinage problems but also a couple decal ones.

the decal just would not fit the model right when I went to decal it. Although the model was built perfectly to size of it.

[TheSpleen]

BTW: Thanks RobCat

I am sorry if I dont post back some things fast enough but I do my work on a different computer than what I use to get to forums.

I will try to get you that wireframe soon as I can. But like I said I myself know there are some spline problems and maybe a funky patch or two. LOL

[TheSpleen]

[robcat2075]

See the spots where more than 4 lines are heading into a CP? That will always be trouble and make a crease.

 

A CP in the middle of a mesh like that should have 2 splines traveling thru it like they were making an X.

 

You don't want any more hitting it so it looks like a * or a ¥

 

Too bad there's not a video version of this exercise. The big deal here is learning to weave two parts together like a leg and body so they make one mesh. Five-point patches and Hooks are used to connect meshes that don't have an exact 1-to-1 match-up of splines.

[TheSpleen]

See the spots where more than 4 lines are heading into a CP? That will always be trouble and make a crease.

 

A CP in the middle of a mesh like that should have 2 splines traveling thru it like they were making an X.

 

You don't want any more hitting it so it looks like a * or a ¥

 

Too bad there's not a video version of this exercise. The big deal here is learning to weave two parts together like a leg and body so they make one mesh. Five-point patches and Hooks are used to connect meshes that don't have an exact 1-to-1 match-up of splines.

did I do good enough to move on?

Yes I figured that out but then I had spots I had to repair and finally got it looking good.

I deffinantly understood the lesson and realise now when modeling to try and set my cp's up to accomodate the attachments.

[Rodney]

did I do good enough to move on?

 

I'd say you did but... definitely keep Robert's suggestion close at hand.

 

While progressing through other tutorials keep modeling other things on the side (the simpler the better I say!) Having made some errors here, and having recognizing them, you'll soon find yourself placing splines where they best fit.

 

Of course when the splines don't work as you might expect them to... post images and questions and find out why!

 

Your long term (additional Ex: 11) assignment: Model more animals before you die.

[TheSpleen]

did I do good enough to move on?

 

I'd say you did but... definitely keep Robert's suggestion close at hand.

 

While progressing through other tutorials keep modeling other things on the side (the simpler the better I say!) Having made some errors here, and having recognizing them, you'll soon find yourself placing splines where they best fit.

 

Of course when the splines don't work as you might expect them to... post images and questions and find out why!

 

Your long term (additional Ex: 11) assignment: Model more animals before you die.

Robcat is great

he is lucky we cannot private message on here or he would get bombarded LOL

[number]

Name: Tim Roberts

 

Exercise Completed: Exercise 11: Giraffe

 

Date Completed: Oct. 18, 2008

 

Instructor: Manual, forum

 

Comments: I had some problems w/ groups and adding CP's to the group. I'd select and then go back to the group, yet the points were unselected. Is there some issue w/ too many groups or subset of groups? I also noted that the stamps for the decal would overlap (the CP's that is). Is this expected? Added some bones for the neck, head and tail and composed a bit of Africa! Can't wait to start building out more complex sets and animations.

 

I tried the depth of field feature w/ my image. Still learning the ropes here.

 

 

exercise_12_draft7.mov

[Caroline]

Nice rendition. I like that DOF.

 

Adding CPs to a group - select the group in the PWS, hold the Shift key while selecting to add more to the group, and Alt to remove CPs from the group. I do not know of any issues.

 

When decalling, you can hide CPs that you do not want in the decal. Click the group to select the CPs, then press the H key. All except selected will be hidden. Press the H key to bring them back again.

[Rodney]

Nicely done. Very interesting DOF effect.

Reminds me of the old Viewmaster slides with a blurry/3D effect.

 

Exercise 11 may be the best place for us to insert a 11.25 exercise covering A:M's UV Editor.

If you haven't investigated the UV Editor its well worth the effort.

If nothing else it'll help you understand those overlapping decals.

 

One of the easiest ways to learn decaling is to pick an old model that has decals applied and experiment. The older the better I find as many of the newer models lean toward more realism. Keep it simple until you feel ready to progress.

 

Attached is a screenshot of the giraffe's decals in the UV Editor.

Accessing the Editor is as easy as Right clicking on a Decal or Stamp in the Project Work Space.

From there grab some Control points and move them around.

Look at the results.

Adjust again.

If you don't like what you come up with... don't save the Model or Project and... like a bad dream... it'll all go away.

 

Am I the only one that doesn't like the name 'UV Editor'.

Should I refer to it as the 'Decal Editor'? (You can only adjust the placement not edit the decal image there)

[number]

Thanks for all of the feedback.

 

I've been using the UV Editor and that is where I see multiple copies of the CP's. I guess that I have multiple copies of the decals? But I would expect that the Stamp only show the associated CP's, but I see more after moving the CP's around. I'll check, but I think that I see the other CP's in the Stamp:Edit view even though they are hidden in the model view.

 

I've figured out how to control the DOF by enabling and adjusting by selecting the camera. I'd expect the values on the "Render to File Settings" dialog box to change as well, but they didn't. I'm not sure how they all work together, but I need to research.

 

Latest good DOF. I was able to keep all of the giraffe in focus and fall off by the closest trees.

 

 

Weird DOF w/ MultiPass (4 passes). Didn't repro w/ Final quality and DOF. How the heck does this happen?

 

[Rodney]

I see more after moving the CP's around.

 

I believe you are seeing the other side of the giraffe?

If they are all connected this is probably the case. If separated you must have applied a second decal stamp.

 

The technical glitch on x4 Multipass... not sure 'bout that.

[mtpeak2]

That's how DOF works with multipass. For better results, render with more passes. The camera pivots from the DOF settings, causing the background to be rendered multiple times. The more passes rendered, the more the background will repeat in various positions to give a blurred effect.

[Zidim]

Fun exercise.

 

I had problems closing in the patches under the legs. Moving the camera around a lot helped find the holes. When I was having a problem with the 5 point patch it was normally because one of the points I had selected was from a different area.

 

I couldn't figure out why my first few renders didn't look right. Finally realized that I had forgotten to add a tail.

 

This is one I will be coming back to later for animation. Giraffes have a strange way of walking that will be fun to try.

 

Want to do more with this one but I'm running out of time.

 

[gamekommander]

I certainly hope this forum isn't dead... My questions may have been answered already but I don't want to read 10 pages of posts. I am having a rough time with this giraffe. I can't even get past modeling the legs. I have been fine for the most part up to this point (plane took me some time because I had to start over), but these legs are going to be the death of me. It doesn't help that I'm somewhat of a perfectionist, but when I follow the instructions in the book (create 6 point spline in top view than extrude in left view) but it comes out looking nothing like a giraffe leg. I know tweaking may be necessary but I have been tweaking with these legs for who knows how long. I've even rotated it using the advanced manipulator to make it look EXACTLY like the picture in the book (down to control point being the same exact place) to no avail. It usually comes out too fat, or too blokish, even though I follow the rotoscope and the images in the book. When I scale it down, the side view gets skewed too much and then the top looks too fat. Another problem is the knee. I can maybe get it to look kind of like it is supposed to, but then the leg gets skewed. Please someone help? I'm supposed to be two to three exs ahead of this complete (in a class). I don't know if more ref pics would help or what, but any advice what so ever.

[robcat2075]

I don't know if more ref pics would help or what, but any advice what so ever.

 

show us some pics of what you have. There's at least a million ways you could be off but we can't tell from a text description.

 

Screencaptures posted as JPGs woudl be best.

[Rodney]

I certainly hope this forum isn't dead...

 

I can assure you the reports of TaoA:M's death have been greatly exaggerated.

 

As Robert suggests... post some images and we'll be happy to assist you.

If you get stuck consider advancing to your next exercise (assuming you can) and then returning to this one.

 

If you can meet us half way... we'll go two thirds.

[gamekommander]

Thanks.. I'll try and get some images next time I'm in class. What all do you want? I sadly can't move on to the next ex until this one is done.

[robcat2075]

Thanks.. I'll try and get some images next time I'm in class. What all do you want?

you're having trouble with a leg? show us your leg!

 

show us the 6 point ring you make

then show us after you extrude it

 

 

I sadly can't move on to the next ex until this one is done.

 

ya know... for $79 you can have A:M at home and not have to worry about waiting for the school's computer lab to be open.

[gamekommander]

I meant like shaded or wireframe, which view, do you want me to rotate the 6 point sline when I extrude it etc.

[robcat2075]

I meant like shaded or wireframe, which view,

 

whatever shows it most clearly. Shaded wireframe is usually best.

 

 

 

do you want me to rotate the 6 point sline when I extrude it etc.

 

Do what the directions in the exercise say to do.