CompuServe Thread

#Organic Meshes

17 messages in this thread
#165220From: Bruce CoyApr 17, 1995 5:22 PM
Help ! I am trying to model a human face but not having much luck does anyone out there have any tips or samples on how to do this I have Digimation's Smooth PXP wich should help but havent been able to get very close to anything resembling a realistic face yet Thanks, Bruce Coy
#165261From: LEE STEELApr 17, 1995 9:35 PM
Sounds like you need Metaballs!
#165333From: Cal HainesApr 18, 1995 3:43 AM
Bruce: Have you tried a generic head with a photo mapped face. Usually works for me. For an example, look at the world creating toolkit, in the vendors directories, under I-STAR (I don't think thats right, but its close). Ther are two model, names are something like WSTATLEO and MSTATLEO for, I Guess, Woman-Statue-Leotard and Man-Statue-Leotard. If you can't find them, give me a holler and I'll get the exact path. Cal -Cal Haines
#165507From: Mark YankeeApr 18, 1995 8:42 PM
Cal, << Ther are two model, names are something like WSTATLEO and MSTATLEO for, I Guess, Woman-Statue-Leotard and Man-Statue-Leotard. >> Don't forget that the model of Bill Clinton's head found in the libs uses the same technique. Mark
#165835From: SyndesisApr 20, 1995 12:59 PM
Actually, I think the "STA" is for "standing", the others are "SIT" for sitting models….
#166211From: Mark YankeeApr 22, 1995 4:44 PM
John, << Actually, I think the "STA" is for "standing", the others are "SIT" for sitting models…. >> Umm, I think this was for someone else I didn't make any reference to "STA" or "SIT". Mark
#165350From: Philippe DesmaraisApr 18, 1995 8:34 AM
Hi. I strongly suggest you check out DISPLACE, by Yost Group. What this does is simple: based on a bitmap ( say in your case, a FACE ), it will create relief ( don't get confused with bump maps, which are very limited…) in real-time. You just pull the bitmap out from aplane or a sphere or any other primitive as much as you like. Amazing, if you ask me… 🙂 Phil
#165463From: DAVID CAMPApr 18, 1995 5:06 PM
>I strongly suggest you check out DISPLACE, by Yost Group I don't think Displace would be much help in creating a face unless you already have proper map (with the high spots like the nose, white, and the low spots, like the eye sockets, black) After seeing the wonderful "wizard" on last years Siggraph reel, I tried to duplicate the Displace modeled face for about a week, I spent most of the time in Frac. Design Painter trying to make a decent map. Most of the faces turned out pretty cool looking, but not that realistic. I suggest you get Crestline Software's Humanoid and modify the faces included with it to get what you want. COOL TIP OF THE DAY….. Take the Humanoid face (Stern works good, so does smile) and use Smooth.PXP (Included with BonesPro) and smooth it a few times for a GREAT LOOKING ALIEN BEING!
#165537From: Tim Krego, [pro.image]Apr 19, 1995 12:55 AM
>>>I don't think Displace would be much help in creating a face unless you already have proper map (with the high spots like the nose, white, and the low spots, like the eye sockets, black) After seeing the wonderful "wizard" on last years Siggraph reel, I tried to duplicate the Displace modeled face for about a week, I spent most of the time in Frac. Design Painter trying to make a decent map. Most of the faces turned out pretty cool looking, but not that realistic.<<< Have you seen the Photoshop plugin called CyberMesh? It works like displace to create a 3D mesh file DXF.
#165576From: Judy WellerApr 19, 1995 8:03 AM
What is the source of this Photoshop plugin? WHo is it from? Judy
#165666From: Tim Krego, [pro.image]Apr 19, 1995 4:05 PM
>>>What is the source of this Photoshop plugin? WHo is it from?<<< It is from one of the guys that wrote Photoshop. I've seen it in various catalogs for $49.
#165700From: DAVID CAMPApr 19, 1995 7:34 PM
>What is the source of this Photoshop plugin? WHo is it from? It's from KNOLL software. I've seen it in various catalogs. Try DTP direct at 800 890-9371 ( I'm not sure, I don't have one of their catalogs handy, but I think they have it.) Bye David Camp
#165697From: DAVID CAMPApr 19, 1995 7:29 PM
>Have you seen the Photoshop plugin called CyberMesh? It works like >displace to create a 3D mesh file DXF. Yes, I played with it for a few hours. Same problem… if you don't have a proper map, you can't get good results and I don't know of any easy way to get a really good map. I got so-so to Ok results by using SEEZ. I set up a camera in front of a face and it does what you need, but SEEZ doesn't yet have variable resolution so I had to scale up the face to a giant size just to get to almost work. Maybe you could use SEEZ to experiment and get better results than I did. Good luck David
#165766From: Kyle J. McKisicApr 20, 1995 6:47 AM
David, <<I got so-so to Ok results by using SEEZ. I set up a camera in front of a face and it does what you need, but SEEZ doesn't yet have variable resolution so I had to scale up the face to a giant size just to get to almost work. Maybe you could use SEEZ to experiment and get better results than I did.>> really? I've had great results with SeeZ. and I've rendered views at resolutions from 320×200 to over 2000×2000. One thing you have to do to get good shading is render the view with antialiasing turned OFF. -Kyle
#165877From: DAVID CAMPApr 20, 1995 5:36 PM
>really? I've had great results with SeeZ. Really? when you use it for a map for Displace? I'll have to spend a lot more time playing with it, because I must've been doing something wrong. Maybe it was how I used displace, not SeeZ. It just seemed that there wasn't much difference in grey shade unless there was a lot of units for SeeZ to see. Is there a way to tune Seez? Thanks Kyle David
#165889From: Kyle J. McKisicApr 20, 1995 6:32 PM
David, The image that you get out of SeeZ is relative. By this, I mean that the closest part of any geometry in the scene is going to be white (255,255,255). Places in the image where there is no geometry, will be black (0,0,0). If geometry fills the entire image area, stuff that is furthest away, will be black. Everything else is a flat interpolation between the two extremes. So it doesn't matter if your camera is 30 units away, or 3000 units away, the foremost part of your geometry be white, and the furthest will be black. And the ranges on your camera have absolutely no effect on SeeZ. There is no sure-fire way to get a perfect fit through Displace. You have to play with it for a little. at the max, it takes me maybe 4-5 tries to get the displaced shape to match the original. You might look at CARMOR.ZIP in the ipas lib – it's an example of how I used multiple SeeZ maps to displace some pavement. <<Is there a way to tune Seez? >> no. If you want to have something say, slowly emerge from darkness. Change the materials to white neon, and render the view with your camera ranges set up and Distance Cue atmosphere to (0,0,0) going to 100% at far range. Then use this image, or set of images as a mask for your nicely rendered geometry. -Kyle
#165918From: David J. MarksApr 20, 1995 9:46 PM
>> If you want to have something say, slowly emerge from darkness. An alternate solution ships with TSE. I wrote a sample script that has similar functionality as SeeZ, but gives control over near and far limits and colors. Keep in mind though, that as an interpreted script rather than a compiled program, it does run noticibly slower. An advantage is that you can customize it to exactly fit your needs. – Dave