Modeling

[thetanman]

I need help modeling. How do they construct a 3D model from a 2D picture? Please I am really needing help on this.

[Caroline]

Hi, TanMan - Have you worked through The Art Of Animation:Master - TaoA:M? This is the manual that came with the software.

 

There is an entire forum dedicated to completing this, and each exercise takes you further along the road.

 

The address of the forum:

The Art Of Animation:Master

 

Exercises 8 - 12 will take you through modelling, and Exercises 10 and 11 show you how to use a rotoscope (that's the term for a 2d picture) to create your 3d model.

 

I'm currently working through TaoA:M myself, and at the end of the book I look forward to receiving a certificate. So I look on this as a full on-line self-paced course to teach me 3d modelling and animation. It's not easy, (Animation:Master is easier than others, though), and if you take it in small steps, you will learn the basics in a few months. And it's fun

[johnl3d]

It also depends on what you are trying to model..start simple and learn the tool as Caroline suggested

[thetanman]

Let's say that I drew a picture. How would I get that on to the Animation: Master to model it? and i noticed that on the giraffe tutorital that it says open data/tutorials/giraffe/mpas/side.tga from the cd

what cd is this and my computer doesn't have tga or at least i have never even seen this in my computer. really i am seriously needing help. i am now starting exercise 10. hope you can help me.

[higginsdj]

Let's say that I drew a picture. How would I get that on to the Animation: Master to model it? and i noticed that on the giraffe tutorital that it says open data/tutorials/giraffe/mpas/side.tga from the cd

what cd is this and my computer doesn't have tga or at least i have never even seen this in my computer. really i am seriously needing help. i am now starting exercise 10. hope you can help me.

The CD currently in your PC while loading AM! You do have an AM CD don't you? TGA is just a picture file type like GIF or JPG or BMP. AM reads in many differnt types of image files (With AM open, open the Project Workspace, rightclick on the Image folder and select import. Navigate to your image and select it to load it. Once loaded you can load it as a camera rotoacopd in the modelling window.)

 

Cheers

[thetanman]

oh ok i get it now do you know anybody by chance that is a really good drawer because i am needing a drawing of a beaver

[nimblepix]

http://www.massstaffalumni.org/images/beaver.jpg

[thetanman]

ok cool i will try and model it later and then show you guys

[goodguy20k]

Dude, don't expect to become an overnight modeller. I have been using A:M for years now. I still can't do the seamless modelling. Start simple, and pace yourself. If you expect to be able to do professional quality stuff in a week, you're going to burn out and give up. Patience and practice.

 

I can't wait to see how your model comes out.

[thetanman]

goodguy how did you model this bear

[goodguy20k]

I lot of luck.

 

Seriously, he's not a great bear model. And it's taken a good... month and a half to get here? I started with this cute teddy bear my family has. It helps to have something you can hold. Something you can turn and see from any angle.

 

Besides that, he's very much built off of the Flower Power lesson. The stem is his body. The leaves are his arms and legs. (Yes, he's not seamless. That's a bugger I'm workin' out.) The head is just a ball, with a oval for a snout. The ears took many revisions.

 

The trick is, what makes PB (that's the bear's name) look good is time. He looked not so great in the first place, but I stuck to it. I added more splines. I removed splines. I deleted whole models... And then I wished I had them back. Still, you like the bear, right? So that means my time was well spent.

 

Try taking the Flower Power lesson, and don't model a stem. Make a pear-shaped object. Also, look at other peoples models. See how they made their stuff. (There are awesome video tutorials around. Just ask Rodney for the modeling links.)

 

Practice, practice, practice!

[Muff]

2 cents:

DOnt forget that there are "markers" that you can set, on the border of the modelling window, so that you can align certain areas of a rotoscope picture (tga/bmp/jpg -all various picture formats), from each view (front/side/top), to make sure that things are equally aligned from each of those views. You can also do an internet search for Rotoscopes already drawn out? And one thing to keep in mind is that a rotoscope really only provides a guide to proportions and outlines of features to be modelled. I think a good mindset to keep (aside from the rotoscope itself), is concentrating on the idea of Shape and Depth from feature to feature of areas being modelled. A rotoscope (pic) will only give you boundries to work within, while Shape and Depth will fill in the spaces providing that 3d aspect. But on each viewport (front/side/top etc), right click within the modelling window and choose from the dropdown list New Rotoscope and navigate to where-ever the Pic is located on the PC. And dont forget that rotoscopes loaded have options also: such as pickable and non-pickable (hand icon), transparency etc.