Wizaerd Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 I know these are most likely going to be very basic questions, but we all gotta start somewhere right... I would know how to do these things in a polygon modeling app, but with splines are a bit different, so even the basics sometimes are a bit misleading. I want to build a very small, very cartoony building. Big enough for maybe two people to stand in. The front of the building needs to have a working door, that opens to show the inside of the cude, as well as a hole for a window. No glass in the window, just a hole that someone could lean through if they were inside. Something similiar to the GIF file attached... So how would I start this? Oddly enough, I've already built a character (albeit very very simply), but the simple things like a building is eluding me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddustin Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 I know these are most likely going to be very basic questions, but we all gotta start somewhere right... I would know how to do these things in a polygon modeling app, but with splines are a bit different, so even the basics sometimes are a bit misleading. I want to build a very small, very cartoony building. Big enough for maybe two people to stand in. The front of the building needs to have a working door, that opens to show the inside of the cude, as well as a hole for a window. No glass in the window, just a hole that someone could lean through if they were inside. Something similiar to the GIF file attached... So how would I start this? Oddly enough, I've already built a character (albeit very very simply), but the simple things like a building is eluding me... The easiest way is to start with primitives from the CD. Most of my mechanical projects contain a lot of primitives. Be sure to save the pimitive to your hard drive as you won't be able to save the modified object back to the CD. I usually create a project directory, then sub directories for models and images etc. Save the project file in this directory and the primitives in the model directory. Hope this helps, and welcome!! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizaerd Posted August 4, 2006 Author Share Posted August 4, 2006 The easiest way is to start with primitives from the CD. Most of my mechanical projects contain a lot of primitives. Be sure to save the pimitive to your hard drive as you won't be able to save the modified object back to the CD. I usually create a project directory, then sub directories for models and images etc. Save the project file in this directory and the primitives in the model directory. Hope this helps, and welcome!! That's what I had in mind as well, but the cube is rounded, and there aren't too many buildings with rounded corners (although I can figure out a way to sharpen them up), and then cutting a hole for the door and the window is what's really eluding my I suppose. I know this is probably most basic, but I'm not sure where to begin, even using the primitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pengwin Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 The easiest way I know to make the front of the house you have shown in your pic would be to create a mesh as in the attached picture and then extrude it. You need to be aware though, that to create a hole, you need more than 4 control points around it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddustin Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 The easiest way is to start with primitives from the CD. Most of my mechanical projects contain a lot of primitives. Be sure to save the pimitive to your hard drive as you won't be able to save the modified object back to the CD. I usually create a project directory, then sub directories for models and images etc. Save the project file in this directory and the primitives in the model directory. Hope this helps, and welcome!! That's what I had in mind as well, but the cube is rounded, and there aren't too many buildings with rounded corners (although I can figure out a way to sharpen them up), and then cutting a hole for the door and the window is what's really eluding my I suppose. I know this is probably most basic, but I'm not sure where to begin, even using the primitive. Actually you want your edges to be rounded. If you get in the practice now, you will be much happier later on. Just position the splines so the edge has less of a radius. If you don't take this approach your animations will have artifacts when you render them. By making a few panels with rounded edges (save it as a sepperate model) you can easily create walls with holes in them (lower panel, verticals and upper panel). Really it works and you'll be done much faster in the long run. Attached is a simple rectangle that I use as a building block for most of my geometric shapes. David [attachmentid=19263] rectangle.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizaerd Posted August 4, 2006 Author Share Posted August 4, 2006 Using pengwin's approach, I was able to build my front wall. I'm sure this is heard quite a bit, but spline modeling sure is a whole lot different than polygonal, but I'll get the hang of it... I had thought of using a cube and making a whole building at once with booleans, etc..., but making it wall by wall will work as well... ddustin, what you're saying about rounded corners, could you explain how I'd go about cutting holes for the door and window in your attached wall? And should those holes (door & window) also have rounded corners as well? Thanx everyone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddustin Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Using pengwin's approach, I was able to build my front wall. I'm sure this is heard quite a bit, but spline modeling sure is a whole lot different than polygonal, but I'll get the hang of it... I had thought of using a cube and making a whole building at once with booleans, etc..., but making it wall by wall will work as well... ddustin, what you're saying about rounded corners, could you explain how I'd go about cutting holes for the door and window in your attached wall? And should those holes (door & window) also have rounded corners as well? Thanx everyone... Ok, Attached is a quick wall. The rounded edges are a littl small but you get the basic idea. It is not the technical way to do it but it will work for what you are trying to do. You'll get the hang of things. David [attachmentid=19264] Wall.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizaerd Posted August 4, 2006 Author Share Posted August 4, 2006 Attached is a quick wall. The rounded edges are a littl small but you get the basic idea. It is not the technical way to do it but it will work for what you are trying to do. You'll get the hang of things. Ok, I was confused for a bit... I couldn't quite figure out how this wall was made... Then the bulb clicked on over my head, and I realized it wasn't a single object, but 4 of them.... (ok, I can be a bit slow sometimes...) very clever... Thanx I appreciate your time and patience... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddustin Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Attached is a quick wall. The rounded edges are a littl small but you get the basic idea. It is not the technical way to do it but it will work for what you are trying to do. You'll get the hang of things. Ok, I was confused for a bit... I couldn't quite figure out how this wall was made... Then the bulb clicked on over my head, and I realized it wasn't a single object, but 4 of them.... (ok, I can be a bit slow sometimes...) very clever... Thanx I appreciate your time and patience... No problem, I was a noob once too. Like I said, the right way to do it would be to model the wall, tweak etc. but that is probably a way off for you. Did you by any chance buy A:M recently like SIGGRAPH? David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizaerd Posted August 4, 2006 Author Share Posted August 4, 2006 Did you by any chance buy A:M recently like SIGGRAPH? Bought it from Safe Harbor this last Saturday ($40 cheaper than from Hash directly). Just came in Priority Mail yesterday. I have experience with A:M 98 back in the day, but haven't done any 3D in quite a few years, so it's like starting all over again... BTW, I'm curious about something. You said without rounded corners, I would get artifacts in the render. But with building the wall from multiple objects, I'm still getting artifacts... I've aligned the CPs so they're all correctly aligned (went to top view, selected all the CPs from the front of the wall, and scaled down to 0% in the Z axis, then did the same with the CPs along the back of the wall)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 my first impression is you've created "internal patches", which happens when you extrude a surface and create a legal four-point patch "inside" your model. if that's the case, you can make them all one continuous spline, or not link them in a loop, and the problem will vanish. a hollow wireframe shot would help with the diagnosis. -jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizaerd Posted August 4, 2006 Author Share Posted August 4, 2006 my first impression is you've created "internal patches", which happens when you extrude a surface and create a legal four-point patch "inside" your model. There are internal patches because the wall itself is not a single object, but 5 seperate ones... Was a shortcut method I was using to build my wall... but I'm going to attempt building it correctly... thanx... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddustin Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 my first impression is you've created "internal patches", which happens when you extrude a surface and create a legal four-point patch "inside" your model. There are internal patches because the wall itself is not a single object, but 5 seperate ones... Was a shortcut method I was using to build my wall... but I'm going to attempt building it correctly... thanx... That is the best way. The artifacts you are seeing look like the vertical panels are not over-lapping the horizontal surfaces enough (from what I can tell). Can you zoom in to one of the joints? David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddustin Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Here is another method (if you have Photoshop). I drew the shape as a path in PS then exported the path, imported the path in A:M using the AI (Adobe Illustrator) wizard. It took all of a minute to make it. David (there should be a tutorial somewhere on the forum about it) David [attachmentid=19270] Wall_2.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted August 5, 2006 Hash Fellow Share Posted August 5, 2006 Why you want rounded corners (aka "bevels") on your objects The magic of bevels, explained by Yves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.