CompuServe Messages

Chase, >>modeling on a shoestring… As well-mentioned, you can model some amazing things using the deform/fit method. You might also try a shareware program called GIFDXF, which deforms a mesh by using the brightness values in a bitmap GIF file. This is approximately the same effect you can get with the (much more powerful) Yost Displace IPAS. Although GIFDXF is more suited for building things like terrain than organisms, it is possible to paint a face, for example, turn it into a mesh, then manually splice it to a head. BTW, don't discount modelling by editing on the face/vertex level. Believe it or not, many expert modelers spend a lot of time dragging vertices around. All the low-res People For People models, as well as Tom Knight's excellent high-res human (and other) models were done manually. You can start with a basic primitives such as a sphere or cylinder (or a rough Deform/Fit loft) and modify it on the object, face, edge, and vertex level. Set up user-views to work in where appropriate. Use Modify/Vertex/Weld (drag&drop) to collapse unwanted faces. I like to use Modify/Edge/Divide and Modify/Edge/Turn to add and adjust faces where more complexity is needed. (Very powerful but often overlooked functions) You can also use Create/Vertex and Create/Face/Build to add faces where needed. Experiment with operations like Bend, Taper and Scale on selection sets of vertices. Don't be afraid of booleans – they can be used to provide a good starting point for manual editing. Render a lot from different angles as you work. You might also try a small free IPAS that Gus Grubba wrote called View (I think). It will let you swing a mesh object around in 3D in wireframe or with shading – makes it easier to evaluate the true shape of a surface. The Yost Optimize and Displace IPAS routines are good for this (much better, in fact). Another modeling tip – assign the most commonly used functions like Select/Vertex/Quad and Modify/Vertex/Move to function keys. This will improve productivity tremendously. Also, at the risk of blasphemy, some "organic modelers" around here use other, cheaper, 3D packages primarily to supplement the 3DS modeler. There also have been freeware DOS and Windows metaballs modelers available here which you can use to make very organic meshes to bring into 3DS. One last thought – be very careful! You are flirting with the Rendered Side of the Force. I too started this as a hobby but it eventually consumed my entire sense of self and now it is all I do. JKJ