My First Model - Need help with Arc's

[Jentham2000]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am trying to create my first model of a Winnie the Pooh Character. I imported the Rotoscope and began to draw the required ARC's to match 1/2 of the face. The problem is that when I create the Arc that I want, I also create an Arc I don't want. I'm not sure how to explain this, I think the picture will do the best job.

 

Also, my plan for creating this character is as follows, does it make sense?

 

1. Import the Rotoscope (Front View)

2. Outline Half of the Face

3. Mirror the Half Face at the Center Line

4. Then do Left View, and import Rotoscope of Side View

5. Outline Side View

 

6. then I'm not sure what to do next.

 

 

Thanks again, Bob

[KenH]

You need at least 3 cps to create an arc. So, if you delete the bottom one, it'll be a line. You could play around with the bias values, but I would advise:

 

Select part of the arc that you want (highlight the line and not just the cp).

Press the Y key to make a new cp in the center of the line.

Now you can delte the bottom cp.

 

But why didn't you continue the spline down the cheeks to draw half of the face? And on that note, why haven't you go your roto lined up with your spline. Then you can just trace the line exactly with the spline.

[Jentham2000]

Thanks Ken, I really appreciate your help!!

 

Here is my New Pooh, thanks to you!

 

I never realized the importance of control points unitl you pointed it out.

 

This project is for my daughter and I would like to do a great job.

 

 

Thanks again, Bob

[Eric2575]

Looking at your outline, I get the impression that you might have quite a few extra cps' that you don't need. I'm guessing you could delete almost half of the cps' and still get the same outline you have now. Go ahead and make a copy of what you have and then experiment with that copy to see what can be deleted. In AM the addage "keep it simple" really does apply.

[Jentham2000]

Thanks, I will.....

 

I should have my next step done later today.

 

So far I have completed the front and side views. Looking at the top view, the front and side views intersect in the middle of each other at 90 degrees.

 

I'm running into a problem while trying to extrude the side view. It keeps wanting to extrude up and down, instead of right and left.

 

 

Thanks agian for Everyone's Help!

 

Regards, Bob

[largento]

Bob, the best way to do this would be to do only half of the front/back view and the whole side view, so that you end up with one side of the model to build. Then when that side is done, you copy/flip/attach it to make the whole.

 

Having so many control points along your spline is going to make the model very difficult to keep "smooth." Already, I can see some uneven parts in your spline along the bottom of Pooh's face.

 

I would start by making just as many CPs as I need to make the shape:

 

 

This will give me a nice, smooth surface. The other thing I'd keep in mind is planning for things like the ear. See how I've put a control point above and below where the ear would go and then one in the center? By doing that, when I've got the side of the head built, I can go in and add a ring of splines:

 

 

Delete the center point & it's splines, and I've got the place to attach Pooh's ear.

[Jentham2000]

Thanks Largento, this makes a lot of sense....

 

I'll work on it today and post the results tonight.

 

Thanks again, Bob

[Jentham2000]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am modeling half the face and when I extrude the side view, the extruded sections are being placed on the wrong side.

 

Attached are a few pictures to help explain.

 

Thanks again for your help....

 

Regards, Bob

[largento]

Not positive on this one, but I believe it's in your settings. Maybe the modeling tab? There's a place to indicate the offset. If you make both values zero, the extruded CPs are created in the same spot as the originals. At least I think that's the case. I know it does that for copy/paste. I've had mine set up that way for so long that I don't remember how it worked when it wasn't that way. :-)

 

Hope that helps!

[Jentham2000]

Hi,

 

That was it!!

 

I made the changes as shown in the Units Tab of the Options Box.

 

I then clicked on Extrude and then on the right side of the centerline and it extruded once, I then repeated it a few times.

 

I thought the each extrusion would intersect each CP on the front view, but it doesn't look like it did.

 

I have to confess, I'm stuck on the next step....

 

Do you have any suggestions?

 

Thanks again for your help!

 

Regards, Bob

[largento]

Although I suppose you try scaling each of those splines to match the front view, I don't think you'll get the results you're hoping for.

 

Instead, it's a matter of stitching them together. Luckily your subject matter isn't *too* complex.

 

This is the fun part. :-)

 

You'll need to go back to just having the side-view spline and the front-view spline and stitch them together. To start, find a CP on the front of the face and connect it to a similar spot on the side of the face and then continue that spline to a CP on the back of the head.

 

Sort of like this:

 

 

As you add more splines, you'll begin to see how to make it work.

 

Of course, you'll need to add more vertical splines in, too.

 

Although the tutorial covers a much more complex face, it wouldn't hurt to spend some time studying Colin's face tutorial in your manual.

 

What helped me immensely when I started was getting Barry Zundel's excellent Training Disks. He sells them here.

 

Barry's DVDs cover modeling a figure, rigging the figure and then animating.

[Jentham2000]

Excellent, thanks....

 

I ordered the DVD's this morning.

 

In some cases, I think the book relies too much on someone's experience and there seems to be too large of a gap at times in between the key modeling steps. It would be nice if some of the areas were spelled out a little more.

 

I've been modeling with Pro/E (3D Mechanical Software) for about 7 years and this is very similar to thier surfacing feature. This all makes sense, it's just new.....

 

Thanks again for your help, I'll have a new version tonight.

 

Regards, Bob

[Jentham2000]

I ran the horizontal splines from front to back.

 

It's apparent, I need an easy example to practice the skills I need to accomplish with this model.

 

Do you have any ideas for a very simple?

[largento]

Well, the first thing to do would be to delete all of those extruded splines, so that you're just working with one sideview spline and one front view spline.

 

A VERY good idea is to save your model incrementally (pooh_001.mdl, pooh_002.mdl, etc.) so that you can go back if something doesn't work out.

 

I'm sure getting Barry's DVDs will be very helpful to you. (They were to me!)

[KenH]

Keep the mesh as simple (spline lite) as possible while you block out the shape. Then you can add more if necessary.

[Dhar]

Your method of modeling is more appropriate for a polygon based program than spline. Not that it can't be done, but if you don't have experience it'll be near impossible to accomplish a satisfactory result.

 

Getting Barry Zundel training DVDs will speed up your learning curve tremendously.

 

Good luck.

[Paul Forwood]

If you just outline one side of the head, leaving out the ear, and then select one CP and press "L" to lathe an object you should have a good starting point. You will still need to break some of the splinage and stitch in the detail.

 

[Jentham2000]

Thanks Everyone, I appreciate your help....

 

I ordered the DVD's on Friday morning.

 

I thought my experience in Pro/e would speed up the learning curve even though it's polygon vs spline modeling.

 

Once I recieve the DVD's, I'll give it another try.

 

Thanks again, Bob

[Jentham2000]

Thanks Paul, this is a great idea!

 

I'll give it a try today...

 

Thanks again, Bob

[Jentham2000]

Eureka!!

 

I have a shape, I know it's not the best and I will have to redo it, but I have a shape!

 

This will hold me over unitl the DVD's arrive.

 

Thanks again for everyone's help....

 

Bob

[BUDDHABUCK]

DID YOU DO THE FACE EXERSIZE IN THE BOOK?

IT COVERS ALL THE PROBLEMS THAT YOU ARE HAVING.

KEEP AT IT.

KEITH

[Jentham2000]

Great news!!

 

On Thursday, I recieved the Barry Zundel DVD's. I'm only half way thru the first DVD (Modeling) and it's as if someone just turned on the light bulb

 

Thanks again for everyone's help and recommendations!

 

Bob

[largento]

No problem, Bob! That's exactly the same experience I had when I first watched Barry's DVDs and that's why I'm such a big fan of them.

[Jentham2000]

Thanks again, everyones help is greaatly appreciated.

 

I created my first winnie the pooh head. I modeled half and then copy/flipped it.

 

There are a few points that did not regenerate correctly, I took care of most of them.

 

Have you ever had one corner that would NOT attach to the other half's corner? Here is a picture of what I talking about. I peeled one corner back a little bit to make the problem more obvious.

 

Also, here is my first pooh head. it needs tweaking, plus the eyes, and the mouth cut in. I am also wondering if I have TOO many splines.

 

Thanks, Bob

[Dhar]

Delete the two splines and simply connect the two CPs by addoing a spline.

[Jentham2000]

Thanks Dhar, that did it!

 

I thought it would automatically sandwich all of the splines together creating the 1 spline and control point.

 

Thanks again, Bob

[Serega-198323]

Greetings to all. I too wish to thank those people which helped on this page Jentham2000 and me. Excuse if I am expressed not so correctly, I very badly know English language. All many thanks.

[Serega-198323]

If I have questions on modelling, you can help to understand to me it?