Jack O' Lantern help

[Telvak]

http://www.digitalproducer.com/pages/jack_...tion_master.htm

 

I tried this tutorial about 7 times now, I follow it word for word and I keep hitting the same snag over and over, I sail smoothly through it then I hit the part where I'm supposed to see the inside of my pumpkin through the eyes; nose and mouth.

 

I keep reading over and over and try different things but it just doesn't want to work. One thing I don't get, is the face supposed to be the color of the inside of the pumpkin? Or is it some "window" effect through the facial features I need to create? Knowing that would help a great deal.

 

I really wanna do this thing properly, I've been at it for so long giving up on it isn't an issue anymore, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[heyvern]

It seems pretty clear to me.

 

Are you certain you understand the steps? You can read them over and over but if you don't understand why you are doing something or how it works any tiny mistake will just be a strange unknown frustration.

 

For instance I know exactly what those "face steps" in the tutorial are for and how they work. I've done it many times before so I understand the process.

 

It involves boolean cutters and assigning points to bones. If you are a very new user this might be a bit tricky. Also I don't think the boolean cutters show up in preview although I could be wrong about that... I can't quite remember. Have you tested with a quick final render to be sure the boolean cutters are working?

 

What is happening is the face elements are extruded and closed into "solid" shapes. These are then placed so that they poke through the surface of the pumpkin like a giant "cookie cutter" that pokes holes in the shape of the face shape. Then the face shape/s are turned into "boolean cutters" by assigning those points to a bone that has the boolean cutter checked in its properties. The face as a boolean would be "invisible" but would cut a hole through any surface it intersects. The face surface properties are then "transfered" to the surface it is "cutting". So the edges of the holes would have the surface properties of the boolean cutter (the face) and the rest of the pumpkin would keep its own surface properties.

 

IMPORTANT!

A boolean shape MUST be completely closed. You can't leave any of the "ends" open. It must be completely and totally closed. For instance you can't use a simple extruded cylinder and scale the end splines real tiny so it "looks" closed. You have to "cap" the ends. You can't use a sphere primitive either. The ends aren't closed. There are tiny holes at each end. The shape used as a boolean must be closed. You can't have any splines that "dead end". All splines must connect to create a closed patch. Sometimes this is harder than it sounds.

 

I would read up on boolean cutters and experiment with something very very simple first then return to this project.

 

-vern

[heyvern]

Here is how booleans work:

 

The box is a simple 6 patch box. The "holes" are lathed closed shapes.

 

 

You can see that the shapes go into and through the box to create indentations and holes.

 

 

-vern

[Luuk Steitner]

If you really can't find what you're doing wrong you may post the project file so we can take a look.

[Telvak]

Thanks a lot for the help heyvern, I read carefully what you wrote and I was able to recreate what you did with the big orange rectangle myself.

 

I had the circles closed and all, I can't figure out what I had done wrong, I think it had something to do with the boolean cutter, or I didn't render it to see the results. Like you said, you can't see the results in Shaded. I'll take your advice and read on more about cutters, figure it properly before I try the pumpkin again.

 

Much appreciated people

[johnl3d]

I tried a simple boolean in 14a and got starnge results maybe someone could try this also

 

 

the cutter starts "cutting"before it was on the target and then again when it was on target with different results

 

 

sphere with red back being approached by sphere with cutter bone

 

check on the project frame 6-7 before sphere gets to target we see red circle then later the cut with mixed results

 

btest.mov

 

btest.zip

[Telvak]

Hey, was wondering if you guys could clue me in again. I did the cutter thing and it works, looks like, but I get this weird result, I've added two pics to explain the result, 1 is in Modeling and 2 is in Choreography. 3 is the item itself, closed off at both ends.

 

You guys know what's causing this?

1.bmp

[phatso]

Dunno, but if you had done that on purpose it would have been really impressive!

[heyvern]

As John has pointed out there may be "issues" with the latest version and booleans. This may have something to do with it. I don't have the latest version so I can't verify this.

 

Another option is to use more splines in the cutter. You have two gigantic 3 point patches right on the ends. Try adding a few more splines to see if that helps. Just a guess.

 

Another option would be to make sure the normals are facing out on the boolean cutter shape.

 

-vern

[Telvak]

Even if I wanted to do it again I probably couldn't, lol.

 

I'll take your advice and add more splines to my shape and verify the direction of my normals, but I feel I should mention I'm using V.10.5 2003. Maybe get a more latest version would help my case.

 

Thanks again for all your help.