WIP Boolean Globe

[hashlister]

http://greenwith.envy.nu/

 

My first WIP post. This is a stylized globe, using booleans to 'cut' the land masses into a sphereical shape. I am rendering a :20 rotation as a video element, it is taking 17 minutes per frame...

 

A:M's booleans are quite powerful though...

[DarkLimit]

Hi Helen- this is great stuff I like the results you got. Am very interested in knowing how you accomplish this with boolean!!!!

 

keep up the good work..

[hashlister]

Thanks Dark! I've added some doodles to the page describing how the booleans got me there...http://greenwith.envy.nu and hit refresh.

 

Also--- since you asked...here is a snip from my lengthy post yesterday in the general discussion area 'looking for boolean tutorial' topic. (below)

 

 

 

 

I am in the midst of creating a 'boolean-earth' and it is looking fantastic. Here's what I did in a nutshell;

 

Client wanted an earth- not a photoreal earth but a stylized 'newsy' earth. Booleans to the rescue!

 

Using map art in Photoshop, I traced the shape of the land masses separately using the vector pen tool. Using the 'export' function, I save each land mass as an .ai file, bring into Illustrator and assign color (black) and use 'exclude' tool, so the Great Lakes, for example, will be reversed from the shape. Save as a v8 .ai.

 

In A:M, I import that shape using the .ai wizard, which is a POWERFUL TOOL. I learned that I must always put bevels on my shape so the boolean operation will not be fooled by internal patches. Looking at a side view, I delete the middle set of cp's, so there is basicly just a 'extruded' version of my land mass.

 

I then compress (scale down) the backside of my extrusion to a very small size, go to bones mode, assign all this to bone 1. Not a boolean bone.

 

I then lathe a perfect circle, place its axis where the rear land-mass points have been shrunk down to, go to bones mode, make another bone, assign the spheres points to it, and make it a 'boolean' bone. Now, looking at the model in render mode, You will see the sphere has taken a round 'bite' out of the continents shape, forming the backside to the shape. Assign the sphere a cool color for the 'inside' of your globe.

 

Next, I need another sphere that will cut the shape once again, but in a negative sense of the first sphere. This time I lathe my circle sphere a bit differently. I create a semicircle (half a circle, slightly larger than the previous) but before I lathe it into a ball, I continue the points to make a large box connecting with the top and bottom of my semicircle. Now lathe that. Make sure the semicircle shares the same axis point as the first sphere, and flip the normals. In bones mode, assign this mass to the 2nd boolean bone. Assign a color to this 'face' of your continent, and have a look thru render mode. With some tweeking you have a perfectly rounded land mass, ready for more land masses.

 

The downside: Render time. On my dual proc P4 PC at D1 res it is taking about 15 minutes a frame. In the chor, I added a smaller 'ball' with transparency, bump and reflectivity for the blue oceans. Rendering it with an alpha so it can be used as a video element down the line...

 

If any interested parties, I can share some imagery tomorrow, as it is rendering on my work machine right now. For a :20 loopspin, should be done by Monday...

 

My Maya friends said Maya booleans are unstable, and were quite impressed. A:M BOOLEANS ROCK!

 

SJH

[ZPiDER]

neat way of doing this!

i would have spent days modeling that and would probably have had to write a plugin along the way to do it

http://www.kci-group.com/z/images/globespin2.swf

[Rodney]

Hashgurrl...You are the one that rocks!

A:M BOOLEANS ROCK!

 

This is a statement I wouldn't have imagined ever quoting....ever. You have made it not only possible to quote BUT have demonstrated HOW they rock!. Before today... nobody (except a few lonely souls) seemed to like A:M's boolean implementation... until... that is....TODAY!

 

The endless possibilities of A:M booleans operations have just been revealed in a powerful way. I can now say, "A:M boolean render-time implementation is equal if not superior to model based boolean implementation... and here's why .

 

Today you have achieved official guru status!

(You were before... perhaps just not commonly known to all.)

[DarkLimit]

Helen - Thanks alot for the detailed information... This will help me design some of my underwater props..

 

cheers!!

[Zaryin]

For some reason it reminds me of the Sixtys. I really like it.

[gschumsky]

Anywhere those of us late to the party can check this out? I went to the site and got the 3D Farmington, MI slide show (now where are my 3D glasses when I need them?).

 

Also, can you post the project?

[gschumsky]

Anywhere those of us late to the party can check this out? I went to the site and got the 3D Farmington, MI slide show (now where are my 3D glasses when I need them?).

 

Also, can you post the project?

[Sacman]

I'm with Greg, I am getting some stereo pics. With all the discussion I want to see what the hoopla is about.

 

Thanks I hope,

 

Wade

[Rodney]

I apologize gents. I should have checked to see if the tutorial/demo was still online.

 

While waiting for the experts to chime in I'll post some additional information. I'll even check to see if the links work!

 

Boolean Globe project description

[Rodney]

A general description of Specified Booleans

[Rodney]

Examples of Boolean Morphing effect - by JohnL3D

 

and direct links to the projects in the dicussion:

Thom gets a boolean treatment

 

and

 

Arnold to T1 boolean morph

[Rodney]

Discussion on using booleans to Cut holes in the walls of buildings - Pros/Cons and other information

[Rodney]

Vernon Zehr's Basic Boolean Tutorial with project file and animation