New plugin : Cutouts and Blimps

Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
edited June 2018 in Carrara Discussion

I decided to release a new plugin finalized some month ago, but for which I haven't had the time to make a proper presentation. I don't have more time now, but decided to release it anyway.

It's called cutouts and blimps. You can see a small demo here:

A cutout is a plane on which an image is mapped and the transparent parts removed. Why would you say ? Just because because the renderer doesn't like transparency. So trading polygons for transparency is usually a good bargain. For instance, a tree where leaves have no transparency renders 10 times faster than a tree where leaves are a rectangle with transparency.

A blimp is an inflated cutout, similar to the "organic" operator in the vertex room. It's useful when you want to use cutouts to populate background (a common practice) and you want a better response to light. You can see the difference in this post I made in back in February.

You can also use it as a starting point for modeling from a drawing, given that UV mapping will be Box front and back. You can also use it for titling with round, cartoon like fonts.

You can download the plugin from the usual link : https://sourceforge.net/projects/carrara-time-savers/files/

For now, there only the Windows version. I'll try to compile theOSX version tomorrow.

 

Post edited by Philemo_Carrara on
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Comments

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,579

    Many thank-yous !!!!!!

  • Persona Non GrataPersona Non Grata Posts: 1,365
    edited March 2021

    .

    Post edited by Persona Non Grata on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198

    oh WOW much easier than painfully  manually tracing and organically modelling like I did my pillow puff animals!

    Now I can make whole puffy pillow scenes and gingerbread cuttout people!

    Must try cars and stuff too!

    I wonder how my alpha brushes will look as puffies!

  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    th3Digit said:

    oh WOW much easier than painfully  manually tracing and organically modelling like I did my pillow puff animals!

    Now I can make whole puffy pillow scenes and gingerbread cuttout people!

    Must try cars and stuff too!

    I wonder how my alpha brushes will look as puffies!

    @th3Digit  You're the one to thank. It's the dog prop you uploaded in sharecg that gave me the idea. I found the process very interesting, but tedious. Thus the plugin.

     

  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    edited June 2018

    Do you see the file in Sourceforge.

    When I look, I see it as "pending":

     

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    Post edited by Philemo_Carrara on
  • It says 8 files - but only shows 7... C&B is missing indecision

  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175

    I suppose it's waiting for virus and bloatware verification. First time it took so long. I'll keep you posted when it's finally released.

  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    Philemo said:

    I suppose it's waiting for virus and bloatware verification. First time it took so long. I'll keep you posted when it's finally released.

    Archive is available now for download.

     

  • CelluloCellulo Posts: 60

    Thanks Philemo !

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311

    Incredible work Philemo :)

    Thank you.,.. and th3Digit :)

     

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198

    THANK YOU heart

    it is much better than Zbrush alpha to mesh

    I am still playing but impressed

    so many uses, replicator distribution maps can be made into solids etc

     

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165

    Wow, Philemo, I can't keep up with all of your amazing creations.  Not one, but two enthusiastic thumbs up.  yesyes

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198
    edited June 2018

    is awesome but can anyone export an obj?

    I cannot

    get an error has occured

    tested can a 3ds, FBX as well as car file

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    th3Digit said:

    is awesome but can anyone export an obj?

    I cannot

    get an error has occured

    tested can a 3ds, FBX as well as car file

    Have you tried first to convert to a Vertex model object ?

    Anyway I'll make some test and try to see where the problem could lie

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198
    Philemo said:
    th3Digit said:

    is awesome but can anyone export an obj?

    I cannot

    get an error has occured

    tested can a 3ds, FBX as well as car file

    Have you tried first to convert to a Vertex model object ?

    Anyway I'll make some test and try to see where the problem could lie

    yes

    other formats work as I said just not obj

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    this sounds fantastic.  i been lamenting transparency to render leaves.

    Thanks!!!!

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198

    rather silly first go video

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,985

    oh dear fantastico!! thanks so much !!

    heres one with vwd drape rough and ready but think of the lace patterns etc etc

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  • JamyJamy Posts: 192

    Well done Philemo,
    Carrara stays alive thanks to people like you :-)

    Maybe a Mac version one of these days?

    In the meantime, we can always go to this app online:
    http://www.smoothie-3d.com/site/page_index.php

    Have a good day

    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    Bravo Philemo,
    Carrara reste vivant grace à des gens comme toi :-)

    Peut-être une version Mac un de ces jours ?

    En attendant, on peut toujours se diriger vers ce soft en ligne :
    http://www.smoothie-3d.com/site/page_index.php

    Bonne journée

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,050
    edited June 2018

    this will be a cool toy to muck around with..

    thankyou yes

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    Post edited by Stezza on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198

    my video

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198

    and in one piece

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,985
    edited June 2018

    wonderful Wendy!

    Philemo, this is a terrific plugin.

    What chance of it being applied to surfaces of an existing model I wonder?

    I just finished a scen with about 60 people in it the other day.

    Tjis wouid have come in handy!! Heres a few cutouts made with your program thanks!

     

     

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    Post edited by Headwax on
  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    Jamy said:

    Well done Philemo,
    Carrara stays alive thanks to people like you :-)

    Maybe a Mac version one of these days?

    In the meantime, we can always go to this app online:
    http://www.smoothie-3d.com/site/page_index.php

    Have a good day

    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

    Bravo Philemo,
    Carrara reste vivant grace à des gens comme toi :-)

    Peut-être une version Mac un de ces jours ?

    En attendant, on peut toujours se diriger vers ce soft en ligne :
    http://www.smoothie-3d.com/site/page_index.php

    Bonne journée

    @Jamy (and other mac users),

    OSX version has been uploaded to https://sourceforge.net/projects/carrara-time-savers/files/

    La version OSX a été remontée dans https://sourceforge.net/projects/carrara-time-savers/files/

     

  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    th3Digit said:
    Philemo said:
    th3Digit said:

    is awesome but can anyone export an obj?

    I cannot

    get an error has occured

    tested can a 3ds, FBX as well as car file

    Have you tried first to convert to a Vertex model object ?

    Anyway I'll make some test and try to see where the problem could lie

    yes

    other formats work as I said just not obj

    @th3Digit

    I love your video.

    I couldn't reproduce .obj export crash before conversion to vertex model. But I could (only once) after conversion.

    I'm afraid it will be a tough nut to crack...

    Could you PM me an archive with a car file and your reference image so I can see if, using same parameters, I can reproduce the issue?

     

     

  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    head wax said:
     

    What chance of it being applied to surfaces of an existing model I wonder?

    @head wax

    I'm not sure tu understand your question.

     

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198
    edited June 2018

    I did not keep any of them sadly but obj export using save as rather than selecting the item and using export as, worked fine the latter ones I did including the ones in that video so no idea what happened before.

    It was after conversion too BTW

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198
    Philemo said:
    head wax said:
     

    What chance of it being applied to surfaces of an existing model I wonder?

    @head wax

    I'm not sure tu understand your question.

     

    maybe he means create mesh from a map?

    I actually did that with a dress using it's opacity channel map making a single sided blimp, then moving the back half around in the vertex room to form a dress, was thinking dress patterns could be constructed into clothesthis way.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,985
    Philemo said:
    head wax said:
     

    What chance of it being applied to surfaces of an existing model I wonder?

    @head wax

    I'm not sure tu understand your question.

     

    sorry Philemo - for example at the moment it works on a plane - so is there a chance it might work on eg a cylinder - and by extrapolation the mesh of eg a piece of clothing? 

     

    Philemo said:

     

     

    th3Digit said:
    Philemo said:
    head wax said:
     

    What chance of it being applied to surfaces of an existing model I wonder?

    @head wax

    I'm not sure tu understand your question.

     

    maybe he means create mesh from a map?

    I actually did that with a dress using it's opacity channel map making a single sided blimp, then moving the back half around in the vertex room to form a dress, was thinking dress patterns could be constructed into clothesthis way.

    great idea wendy - you could use blenders sewing (?) feature to sew it together ?

     

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