#Lofting Problems
17 messages in this thread
Hello Phil,
Fresh from the previous triumphant solution you provided, may I ask a more
general question about 3ds lofting principles?
I need to loft a simple truck (and specifically it's cab) from a 2d plan, DXF
(again!). i.e. a hollow, complex, holed (the windows/windscreen) object.
Is there a recognised "right" approach or way of doing this? Given that I have
front and side 2d views of the truck's cab, should I be lofting the Front and
individual "Sides" of the cab and then trying to join them ? I can find no
simple and obvious way under 3ds to join the corners of the objects without
using "Boolean". What I want 3ds to do actually is create a smoothed set of
faces between the disparate "corners" (looked at from on top) of the lofted
cab's front and it's two lofted sides' front edges.
Can 3ds do this or am I way off-beam on the approach here? How do the
professionals do it? How was an object such as the Roadster from the WCT
actually created? Was it scanned somehow? Or was a full-blown ACAD used to
originate from scratch?
All suggestions on principles would be again most gratefully received.
Asking incredibly nicely again … ; )
Thanx
Reynolds
>> I need to loft a simple truck (and specifically it's cab) from a 2d plan, DXF
>> (again!). i.e. a hollow, complex, holed (the windows/windscreen) object.
>> Is there a recognised "right" approach or way of doing this? Given that I have
>> front and side 2d views of the truck's cab,
Scott,
PMFJI, but the first thing that comes to mind is DEFORM FIT. I think it is
one of the most underused and powerful commands in the Lofter.
Basically it takes a shape and lofts it constrained to the bounderies of
the Fit X and Fit Y polygons (or top and side polygons if you will). You'll
probably have to tweek your front and side views in the shaper as the fit
shapes have special requirements.
See the manuals 3D Lofter chapter under Deform Fit. The "Inside 3D Studio"
book also has some good insight.
Ralph
Thanx Ralph, the problem I have with Deform Fit is it doen't allow more than
one shape – therefore the truck doors/windscreen scenario isn't handled and I
end up with a more-or-less solid square shape for the cab, i.e. not
hollow,don't I?
Thanx for your help (remember I'm a novice)
SR
Since Ralph helped me a little recently, let me jump in here and try to shed a
little light on this, Scott.
While building a piece for Rebel Assault 2 last year, I had to model a
complicated body (the Speeder Bike) and Deform/Fit seemed the only way to
approach it, even though I knew I couldn't loft the exact body in one shot.
I began to treat the piece as a sort of sculpture, and used Deform/Fit to
"block out" the model before "carving" it out with Boolean operations. In other
words, using Deform/Fit I lofted a kind of rough piece that had to have pieces
drilled out of it and chunks carved out of it. It even had to be hollowed out.
I know there has been some "bad press" concerning 3DS's Boolean ops lately, but
I had absolutely no problems with this process. Remember that Boolean ops work
best with single-element objects with no long, skinny faces and you should do
quite well.
To make the "template" for Boolean "carving", I used the 3D display in the 2D
Shaper to draw outlines that would loft into objects that would then shape the
body properly using Boolean subtractions.
If there are pieces to be added on to the main piece, loft these seperately and
attach them later, if need be.
I'm willing to bet that if you took this approach with your truck body, you
might find some success. I think both MartinF and RalphF have done animations
concerning truck bodies recently. Maybe they can elaborate more.
Have fun!
-Alan
Thanx Alan
It's great to know I'm not the only one who has had problems with this issue. I
find that generally 3DS is so complex, the hardest decision to make is often
which particular way to skin a cat, not whether or not it can be done!
My Son Simon is going to be _really_ impressed that I've been in touch with
someone from the Rebel Assault 2 Team – That's LucasArts Isn't it?
I must just say once again how great everyone out there has been at supporting
me with all these silly little issues I'm coming up against.
BTW which FMV playback engine does RA2 use? Proprietary, I bet.
Or perhaps RenderWare, even?
Regards
Scott
Surrey, England.
Hi Scott,
You're right about 3DS having many ways to "skin a cat". I believe it was
designed to let us really stretch our imaginations and that's a great feeling.
I was actually on the RA2 team for only a short time as a freelance animator
until they hired some new folks up there at LAE. I'm sort of "on call" when
they need another body. I really enjoy living in San Diego County and will stay
here (in the sun!) as long as I can make a good living.
I'm glad you find the AMMEDIA forum to be a informative, friendly place. Many
folks work very hard to keep it that way, and I'm honored to be a part of it.
Re the game engines used up at LAE, I'm not sure but would be suprised if it
wasn't at least partly proprietary. Maybe someone else here has that
information.
Best of luck, and say Hi to Simon for me (has he ever played The Seventh
Guest?)
-Alan
Simon wants to know whatever happened to "The Dig"! I'll ask him about The
Seventh Guest when he's back with me next.
Thanx again Alan
SR
Scott,
I have done a very detailed model of an F-350 dually pickup and I
understand your frustration. I originally started with Deform/Fit and Boolean
to create the cab and after many frustrating hours of great progress followed
by the "unable to complete boolean operation , please adjust geometry" error.
It would be going great but as the cab geometry and my lofted shaping tools
became more complicated, it would inevitably end in an error. I finally gave up
and lofted the cab in sections, roof, doors, side and rear of cab. Then i
placed together and attached them to the floorpan. It turned out pretty good
but still needs some tweeking.
Good luck with whatever method you end up using.
-Matt (Active Media Graphics)
-Matthew Vaughn
Thanx Matt, I had a horrid feeling that this was going to be the case!
Hmmm, think I'll just stew for a while b4 making a decision about how to
proceed.
Thank you for supporting me,
Scott
Surrey, England
Scott,
I concur with everything everybody else has said. I had to build several
configurations of the new Kenworth T100 medium sized truck for a marketing
video. There was no CAD data or blueprints so I had to use photos (what's
new?). I used deform/fit and then spent several days using the face, vertex and
edge tools. I'm not a big fan of boolean. I think I used it once to cut out the
windscreen and the rest was a lot of modify/edge/divides to add detail where it
didn't exist. I found it helpful to work on just half of the truck, because they
are fairly symetrical lengthwise. Once you've got a perfect half you can do a
mirror clone and weld the other half on. You really need to break it down into
manageable pieces.
Martin
Thank you Martin, I' take the point about halving and cloning – I think that's
a great principle.
SR
Yes Scott, Deform Fit does have it's limitations (as booleens do) but if
you break it down, (as AlanI has explained so well) and think of the resultant
deform fit mesh as the rough mold from which to add and carve from, I think
you could have great results with your cab model.
Remember to think in terms of final resolution, and how close the model will
be to the camera as to which parts need to be modeled verses mapped.
Good Luck!
Ralph
Thanx again Ralph.
Ralph nailed it – use Deform/Fit.
– Phil
Guys, I still don't get it! However it's 12:30 am here and my brain's
overloaded; assuming you guys are in the states i should be back with more
crazy and stupid questions on this topic by the a.m. your time.
Astonished by the ongoing support by everyone out there…
Reynolds (again)
Scott:
Maybe you are already past this question but my first take was why model the
truck? (I usually do architectural stuff so I don't want the vehicles in
scenes to look better than the buildings.) Anyway, if a pre-made truck will do
the trick you can download a few from the AVALON internet site.
– Bob Ritger
Yum,yum.
Avalon, eh? (roxy music fans?)
Thanx Robert
Reynolds