#MeshPaint w/ skin/blobs?
10 messages in this thread
I am a recent owner of MeshPaint and have a quick question before I buy any
other IPAS routines. What I'd like to know is: Will it work w/ sliced and
skinned (YG's disk 6) or MetaRes'ed blob objects? That is to say, will I be
able to bring them up and interactively paint on them (ie: will they look
right)?
Thanks in advance!
– Ernie Jackson, Written 21-May-1995 @ 13:00:33
Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.6
The skin/slice modeling solution uses UV mapping to apply its
textures, so you wouldn't be able to accurately use Meshpaint on
objects that are skinned because you can't apply UV mapping to a
general mesh object, and Meshpaint works directly from mapping
coordinates the YOU apply in the Editor.
Metaballs, however, LOVES Meshpaint – because you are outputting a
polyginal mesh that is treated the same as anyother sphere or cube,
it will work. It will not work on metaballs that are being generated
through an axp in the keyframes for each frame. hope this helps
point you in a direction -Kyle
Thanks for the reply but, having not used MetaBalls before, I'm still
a bit
(that's an understatement <g>) clueless.
>> Metaballs, however, LOVES Meshpaint – because you are outputting
a polyginal
mesh that is treated the same as another sphere or cube, it will
work.
I take it that you mean that a Metaball model created in the 3D
Editor, at frame
0, is MeshPaintable. Right?
>> It will not work on metaballs that are being generated through an
axp in the
keyframes for each frame. <<
…but that a Metaball model that has it's balls move around and is
morphing over
time will not be paintable because it's shape is changing and it
can't really be
mapped by traditional means?
Please pardon my ignorance. I'm am relatively new at all this.
Thanks for the help w/ this!
– Ernie Jackson, Written 21-May-1995 @ 19:43:43
Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.6
Ernie,
I'm sorry, I just assumed that you were pretty familiar with metaballs.
Here's the scoop:
Metaballs can be used in two different ways – First is by creating
reference spheres that are used to generate ONE mesh in the 3D editor
through the use of a .PXP routine. the mesh that you get from this
is treated just like any other mesh (cubes, spheres, etc.) you can
optimize it, scale it, rotate it, etc. as a mesh – without affecting
the reference spheres. This mesh is stationary. Second, there is the
ability to animate your reference spheres in the keyframer and a NEW
MESH is created through an .AXP routine EVERY FRAME. This procedural
geometry is only created at render-time, so you can never see it in
the 3D Editor, or do anything with it – except for what the .AXP
routine lets you do.
So if you want to have a mesh that you will paint in MeshPaint, then
you would create your reference spheres and generate one mesh in the
3D Editor that you would apply mapping coordinates to and paint on.
<< …but that a Metaball model that has it's balls move around and is morphing
over time will not be paintable because it's shape is changing and it
can't really be mapped by traditional means?>> Correct, to a certain
extent. Texture mapping metaball geometry in the keyframer IS
possible. IPAS lets the software engineer generate mapping
coordinates and apply them to a procedurally created mesh. the
problem with this is that since NEW geometry is being created every
frame, there is no way to "stick" the texture to the ball (yet <g>).
And because the geometry never exists in the 3D Editor, how would you
paint it??? <g>
Mostly, I use Metaballs to create character mesh objects that I can
Optimize, paint, and animate with Bones Pro.
I hope this clears things up for ya 🙂
-Kyle
>> Metaballs can be used in two different ways – First is by creating
>> reference spheres that are used to generate ONE mesh in the 3D
>> editor through the use of a .PXP routine.
Ahhhh… I see. This is probably how I would use it most often.
>> Second, there is the ability to animate your reference spheres in the
keyframer and a NEW MESH is created through an .AXP routine EVERY FRAME.
Hmmm… I can see how that would be difficult to map. I would think that
only solid colors or some type of procedural texturing would be just about
the only things that work very well.
Does anybody make many procedural textures for 3DS? I know about KPT's GD but
some sort of fractal noise like on the laser beams in B5 would be pretty cool.
>> Mostly, I use Metaballs to create character mesh objects that I can
Optimize,
>> paint, and animate with Bones Pro.
[Blink! On goes a small light in my head.] I just put 2 and 2 together and
synced your name up w/ the article in the newest Planet Studio!!! Hey, duuude,
great article! Your "face hugger" looks way-awesome! It's scary just to look
at it. Your explanation of how you did it is great. Thanks for the excellent
information.
That article is what's making making me think I better get MetaReyes soonly.
Not to mention TSE, and… and…
>> I hope this clears things up for ya
Yes. Big-time. Thanks a mil, bud!
– Ernie Jackson, Written 22-May-1995 @ 13:39:17
Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.6
<< Does anybody make many procedural textures for 3DS?>>
yes, Yost Group Boutique has a bunch of 'em, Schreiber has some too. Or,
search the forum using "SXP" as a keyword and you'll find some freebies.
<< I just put 2 and 2 together and synced your name up w/ the article in the
newest Planet Studio!!! Hey, duuude, great article! Your "face hugger" looks
way-awesome! It's scary just to look at it. Your explanation of how you did it
is great. Thanks for the excellent information.>>
Hey, thanks! I'm glad you got something out of it. I think Metaballs is
soooooooooooooooooooo cool!
Glad I could help ya 🙂
-Kyle
>>The skin/slice modeling solution uses UV mapping to apply its textures, so
you wouldn't be able to accurately use Meshpaint on objects that are skinned
because you can't apply UV mapping to a general mesh object, …
If you are creating objects in the lofter for use with
slice/skin, then you could just loft the shapes with uv mapping on,
then make a copy of that object prior to slicing it. Now use that
copy to bring into meshpaint (it will read the uv mapping applied in
the lofter), and paint away, then use the newly created map on the
skin object. There may be differences between the lofted and skined
objects, but the relative shapes/details should be close, and at
least it will be much more accurate than trying to paint the map
blind… (ah, the good ol' days…)
I haven't tried to do this myself with skin, but it should
work. I do find myself using uv lofting coords on anything that will
go into Meshpaint… it makes things much easier to paint (less
streaking, distortion, etc when applying paint).
Doh!! You're absolutely right. And a good tip! becuase to get a
skinable object, you usually need to create it through the lofter.
thanks for the good ideas on meshpaint
Ed
Kyle is correct. Kurt McKeever posted a sample MeshPaint image called
PSSST.JPG in the IPAS Usage library. The model was made with
Metaballs.