#Bend and Smoothing?
11 messages in this thread
I want to morph a flat object to a bent object. To make it easy I tried a
simple rectangle. I tessalated it 4 or 5 times with the default settings. Then
copied the object. Now the problems.
I tried to select the front and back sides of the rectangle before bending the
copy and smoothed these faces previous to the bend. I now bent the object to
180 degrees. Problem number one it didn't seem to matter how many times I
tessalated the rectangle there always seemed to be stray faces that didn't fit
the contour.
Problem number 2. On the copy object, once bent, I couldn't seem to get a
smooth surface on the selected faces that had been previously smoothed. I tried
various versions of the above with basically the same outcome. My purpose was
to morph the flat object to the bent object resulting in smooth faces in the
morph. I realize that one of the options of morph is for smoothing but I could
render the bent object by itself to get a smooth appearance.
The object was actually supposed to be the outline of an eagle with spread
wings lofted on a straight line but the rectangle gives the same simplified
problem.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Jerry
<<Problem number one it didn't seem to matter how many times I tessalated the
rectangle there always seemed to be stray faces that didn't fit the contour.>>
Create the rectangle with plenty of segments, rather than tesselating using
either Cylinder with side of 4 and lots of segments or use the Lofter to create
the rectangle with many vertices along the path. The more segment the nicer the
bend.
<<On the copy object, once bent, I couldn't seem to get a smooth surface on the
selected faces that had been previously smoothed.>>
In the Morph Options select Morph Smoothing so that the smoothing groups of the
second morph are used otherwise you'll always be using the original smoothing
groups of the first object which in this case makes a flat surface.
Check out page 8-62 in the Reference manual.
DaviD "Benson and Hedges" GouID
>> In the Morph Options select Morph Smoothing so that the smoothing groups of
the second morph are used otherwise you'll always be using the original
smoothing groups of the first object which in this case makes a flat surface.
<<
I think that statement is misleading… especially in the context in which I
mentioned it…
The manual says when using Morph Smoothing which I suggested after increasing
the number of morph targets (which you do to insure a smooth vertice
transition)….
[As the program renders each frame of the animation, it assigns new smooth
groups to the selected object based on the angle between adjacent face
normals…]
There is no way to select the smoothing group of the second morph object,
you're interpolating between them… which is why I suggested more targets as
it is more likely the smoothing characteristics will be more uniform between
morphs… and hence less of a problem…
Thanks anyway…
John
John:
You have always been most helpful. "This time" however, my problem is not in
the morphing, but rather it's in the copy object!!
It is of course an eagle, outline…. lofted with no steps and bent 180
degrees. I have tried "boooolean" a grid to fit my object. Then bent 180
degrees. Problem still of eratic faces, and unable to smooth.
If you wish I'll E-mail you my "problem child" and see what you think.
As always……, thanks a gigabyte!!!!
Jerry
Jerry,
Just to be clear on something not related… (or maybe related…) you are the
Jerry B. who used to live in N. County… friend to/of Alan I.?
This may or may not have a direct bearing on your sending me the "eagle". <g>
John
Yes, you were right you can't morph from one smoothing group to the second
object's smoothing group. Instead you have to be tricky about what angle you
use.
<<which is why I suggested more targets as it is more likely the smoothing
characteristics will be more uniform between morphs… and hence less of a
problem>>
The number of targest isn't important, you can still have only two targets. The
change in face angles between the first and last will still be uniform, it's a
standard interpolation. The difference is that you will only want to smooth
those faces that are part of the bend and leave the others flat. So using
Animate Smoothing and an angle of 89 would work for the case that Jerry
described. Only the first and last object morph are needed.
A smoother *transition* can only be achieved by having the morph take effect
over more frames.
<<Thanks anyway…>>
No problem.
DaviD "in transit" GouID
David,
>> The number of targets isn't important… <<
I'm not sure about that…
If you have two morph objects and they are radically different in angle and
you're having problems with smooth and uneven vertice movement… the more
morph targets you make for in between, the more control you have over the
interpolation of not only the vertices but the smoothing function as well…
you don't necessarily want to pump up smoothing angles to 89 in many cases as
things can start looking very rounded… more frames isn't going to solve the
basic dilemma which is that without more targets the system does a straight
interpolation to the only other morph object… and the shortest path between
the two may vary well create vertices poking out in places you don't expect
them to.
And it is true that the morph will follow the shape of the objects more closely
the more targets you define in between… if you're going from a 0 degree angle
to a 90 degree angle that's a pretty radical shift in vertices, the way to
control it is to have more morph targets… FWIW.
This has worked for me… in some cases you might be able to increase the
smoothing angle to achieve the same result but there are other circumstances
where increasing the number cause loss of definition in the models
boundaries… like beveled edges…
BTW when are you going to upload the remainder of your beam project tutorial?
There seems to be a lot interest in this stuff… so better get on it. <G>
John (Somewhere in here we're bound to connect… just not sure where. <g>)
John
David:
I really never got as far as "morphing" the object because the copy object I
created was never able to render as a smooth object.
Try an irregular flat object and then bend it. (180 degrees] Smooth and then
see if you can really get a "smooth" object. I couldn't.
Let me know what happens.
Jerry
<<I really never got as far as "morphing" the object because the copy object I
created was never able to render as a smooth object.>>
Do this..
1) In the 2D shaper creat a rectangle(this will serve as the object's cross
section
2) Import the shape into the 3D Lofter then lengthen the path so that it is
longer than the shape.
then select Make.
3) Ensure…
Smooth Length: On
Smooth Width: On
Optimization: Off
Path Detail: High
Tween: Selected
4) Create the object then bend it along the length that served as the path in
the lofter.
You'll get a smooth bent rectangular object.
If you want the entire object smooth select Clear Groups, then use Assign once
on the object. This will assign the smoothing Group 1 to the entire object.
For the morph keys, you can start with a flat non-smoothed object. This isn't a
problem. The second bent object DOESN'T have to appear smooth when you render
it on it's own. But when it is used as the second morph target AND you have
have Animate Smoothing assigned to something like 89, the object will appear
smooth along the bend. The reason is that 3DS is continually recalculating the
smoothing groups as the morph progresses.
DaviD "smooth baby smooth" GouID
David:
<<4) Create the object then bend it along the length that served as the path in
the lofter.>>
The object you describe isn't really the one that my problem is with. Rather
than bending along the path, my object has a very short path and is bend
perpedicular to the flat surface. This happens to be a flat eagle shape, wafer
thin that is bent 180 degrees after tesselating several times. The final eagle
morph object has stray faces and I'm unable to get the smooth appearance on the
surface of the eagle that originated as flat.
As a side issue. It has been brought to my attention that I may have "killed"
messages unknowingly. Since I never knew they could be killed <g>, maybe
someone can tell me how this is done. I have noticed that many times a message
has an answer but the question is missing or other responces. I'm not sure how
this is done.
By the way, this is the Jerry B. from San Diego, friend of the "Big A" (Alan
I.)
Jerry –
Messages to yourself can be deleted by only you and the TMs. Sometimes members
read messages on line live rather than downloading them to read off line and
SAVE MONEY <G>. If you are live and delete a message to you – it's gone. Best
not to so the conversations stay together.
Anne