Hmmm ... don't know how to round the corners ...
WillowRaven
Posts: 3,787
in The Commons
I am sorta Frankensteining a UFO out of a few props and I want to soften the corners but I don't know how. I thought adding the smoothing modifier would be a starting point, but when I applied it, it caused areas to disappear, so I undid it. Any ideas?
screenshot ufo 1.jpg
1920 x 1080 - 543K
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Comments
You could try to add SubD. That usually softens features.
Scene tab=> Right Click => Edit => Geometry => Convert to SubD
In the parameters pane you can set the amount of SubD you want to add. This does make the prop more heavy so don't add to much.
It Did a lesser thing than the smoothing modifier did ... made some areas gap or disappear. I rendered just in case it only happens in the viewport, to make sure, and this is what I got.
Another question ... how do I keep the shader I'm using from 'stretching' on the sides of the raised areas?
You need to look at its UV mapping.
lol ... I just make art out of the models. The modelers are the real geniuses. So how do I look at its UV mapping? And once I do, what do I do to fix it?
In Surface pane select the surface for those parts of the model. In Viewport change to UV Map view, it is the option that let you change from say Texture Shaded to like Wire Shaded. The model has polygons that are not joined that is why it separates when Sub-D is applied. The model propably would need a lot of work done in a modeller to get it to work well in DS.
Naturally ... lol. Guess all the work I've done so far was a total waste of time. Back to the drawing board. Thanks, guys.
Naturally ... lol. Guess all the work I've done so far was a total waste of time. Back to the drawing board. Thanks, guys.
As pointed out, you won't be able to fix the mesh or the UVMapping in DS, that requires a modeling app like hexagon or blender. Really surprised since you make a living out of 3d/2d you have learned the basics of a modeling app yet
Definitely sounds like a job for either Blender, Hexagon or my personal favorite ZBrush. I'm biased as heck but couldn't help myself mentioning that ZB has recently added a bevel brush which should make fixing that UFO easy enough.
I stay behind schedule just making the illustrations. I've often wanted to learn how to model and make my own dynamic clothing, but I just haven't had the time.
In Blender, what you want to do is probably: selecting the edge loop the alt-LMB, hitting ctrl-b, moving the mouse a bit to adjust the bevel size, and scrolling the wheel to the desired level of detail. About 3 seconds.
The choice is of course yours, but think about the rationality of saying that you don't have the time to save time. You could do as much or as little of the Donut Tutorial as you wanted to in a sitting.
My understanding was that Blender has a high learning curve for someone who's never modeled. So I never tried it after I tried Hex and never got anywhere and bought Poser and never got farther than opening it .... same for Bryce ... I do good keeping up with Daz changing all the time. I'm just now starting to experiment with iray and gen 8, lol.
It does to many, but you never know till you try it out, just any other software app.
If I ever get caught up on my commissions, I'll venture into some new stuff. :) Until then, I have no problem paying or using stuff made by those who know a lot more than I do.
In that case, you might want to try this: https://www.daz3d.com/ufo
It's a PC item, and it looks like it does most of what you might want.
You could try the round corners setting: in the Surfaces, select the relevant surface, scroll down to the Round Corners Radius and try various radii to see if you can get a satisfactory result. I'm not sure if the fact the polygons on the greebling are disconnected will have an impact on the result but it'll just take a few seconds to try it out.
I had a model of a wrecked aircraft fuselage once that always looked faceted until I did what Frinkky suggested, putting in the fuselage radius as the Round Corners Radius, and suddenly the fuselage looked smoothly curved. It can work well if used judiciously.
You may also need to change the angle between facets for it to take place, it may need to be taken to 120 degrees or more too.
Regards,
Richard
Everyone starts out as a novice in 3D - no exceptions.
Blender's learning curve is no worse than many others and better than some at least. One of its biggest impediments is that everyone knows how difficult it is.
Actually ... that ship is one of the models I'm Frankenstein to make my ship. The client wants something like a classic saucer but not something anyone else will have at the same time. So I'm taking parts from different ships and modifying them into one ship by deleting elements I don't want then grouping the remainder together and using shaders to make everything match. Last image I did somewhat the same thing to make a dolphin's weapons harness by using horse armor and brass knuckles. The client was happy so I'm happy :)
I will try that the next time I play with it. I'm still determined to figure it out, but the client already has the next task waiting on me to finish, so I changed up that section of the ship for another for this scene. But like I said, it's still something I need to figure out how to do since he has me doing stuff like this a lot.
OK ... Will keep that in mind. Thanks :)
I'm sure my trepidation has been influenced by those difficult reviews. And I'm equally sure if I set my mind to it and had the time to learn another program, I'd enjoy the increased freedom and control of not having to work within the limits of what's already out there and available to me. But for now, it's really a time thing. I still haven't really given dforce a real chance yet because I just haven't had the extra time.
Here is the final result of my tinkering ... Onto the next scene :D
a setting that helps with the faceted issue in DS is at the bottom of the surface tab called ANGLE. Changing that setting affects the smoothing properties