Modeling Objects in Carrara - Q&A - Come One and All

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  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,009

    The fact it's free makes it pretty worth it to plug gaps. It also might be more stable now... not sure.

    Sometimes I really prefer a more point/adjust modification like Carrara does. Sometimes something hands on like Sculptris; the Smooth tool, in particular, is something I've had huge trouble trying to pull off in Carrara.

    Still hoping to find a better UV mapper app; Sculptris makes too many islands. Carrara's uv mapping is probably about as good as it gets for unwrapping, but I wish it was easier to manipulate the result. Like unwrap a head, it'd be nice to trigger some sort of 'center this and make it symmetric' or a more powerful relax function to smooth out the size of mesh.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,168
    edited September 2017

    Thanks for the tips on Sculptris, etc.  Did not realize Sculptris has a paint function also.  Will have to dig it out of my folders and take another look.

     

    I am having a symmetry problem.  I modeled a right boot.  I moved the working box to x=0.  I used duplicate with symmetry to get the left boot.  I restored the working box.  But when I enable symmetry and select polygons on the right boot, the left boot polygons are not selected.  The symmetry symbol appears to be in the correct place.  I tried selecting all and using the "center symmetry on selection" command.

     

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,168

    Solved - although inelegant

     

    To restore the symmetry function, I selected  corresponding polygons on both meshes and then used the bridge function to connect.  Both boots are now part of the same mesh, even if the connection is subsequntly deleted.

    There is probably an easier way.

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    tt03 now symmetry restored.JPG
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  • yeah your screenshot cut off did look to see if you had two meshes

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited September 2017

    Crazy John's Alternative "Duplicate With Symmety" possible fix:  After reading Diomede's problem, before finding he fixed it, I just had to try out a solution that might work... see pic.  Please let me know it this will cause problems later... I could not find any during my quick testing. cool

    "This is a test... this is only a test... do not attempt to adjust your screen... we have control of what you see".  :) 

    Question:  Diomede... how do you set the working box to "X=0"?  I've never messed with changing the working box other than it's size and/or grid size.  I'm nearly certain it would be "View/Send Working Box To..".  I really need to learn the things not know yet.

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    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2017

    Crazy John's current toy... A Walker - the start:  Tonight I made a path and swept a 1" circle along it to create my crude beginning of one side.  Next I'm going to add two support bars and design the lower adjustment tubes, currently it is longer at the bottom... the actual sides move up and down for user's height need... then I'll need to make a simple, hopefully, wheel for the front leg.

    Modeling is funnnn!

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    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,168

    Usually, I have modeled half the mesh.  There are usually some vertexes along what would be the middle of the object.  Make sure at least one is at X=0 of the grid.  You can move the working box by using [control]-click on a vertex (or command click on a Mac, I think).  So, hold the control key and left-click on a vertex at X=0.  That moves the working box to X=0.  When done, go to the View menu and use RESET WORKING BOX.

    .

     

    wgdjohn said:

    Question:  Diomede... how do you set the working box to "X=0"?  I've never messed with changing the working box other than it's size and/or grid size.  I'm nearly certain it would be "View/Send Working Box To..".  I really need to learn the things not know yet.

     

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2017

    Thanks Ted,  I'll go play with it now.

    [edit]  play over... figured it out per your directions

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2017

    Crazy John's current toy... A Walker - with added a brace:  I've still got one more brace below this one, about 6+ inches, to add which is designed different... the next brace bends somewhat like the top but gets flattened against the large frame... hangs down.  Note that one leg of frame is shorter for the currently nonexistent wheel.  Oh... the brace shown is supposed to have a slight bend at center... the one I've not done yet is straight across with bends only where it mounts to main frame.

    [update - Oct. 8, 2:15am]  I just couldn't leave it alone so went ahead and added the 2nd brace.  Now have the adjustable height tubes for front and rear of main frame...  can't wait to start the wheel which should be interesting.  So far have 4 polymeshes in one vertex object... the handle, main frame and 2 diff support bars.

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    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2017

    Question:  Is there any program similar to Marvelous Designer that isn't so darn expensive?  I find myself needing/wanting to start modeling clothing since I've not been able to find anything close to what I'm shooting for.  That's not entirely true... I did find and grab something for V4... yet it will need to be modified.  I'm hoping to convert it to Genesis2... I do have a utility/script that will convert it from G1 to G2... I suspect that the morphs might be lost from Gen 4... I'll have to see if my morph conversion script will handle what I want to do.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,202
    wgdjohn said:

    Question:  Is there any program similar to Marvelous Designer that isn't so darn expensive?  I find myself needing/wanting to start modeling clothing since I've not been able to find anything close to what I'm shooting for.  That's not entirely true... I did find and grab something for V4... yet it will need to be modified.  I'm hoping to convert it to Genesis2... I do have a utility/script that will convert it from G1 to G2... I suspect that the morphs might be lost from Gen 4... I'll have to see if my morph conversion script will handle what I want to do.

    yes, but you may not like the answer

     

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    It might work but it still looks pretty clunky comapred to MD's workflow.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Thanks Wendy and Phil.  I'd had my eye on MD for years but just learned the price yesterday... too bad they don't sell a version for someone like myself who only wants to play with it in their spare time.

    The Blender video looks like I should be able to accomplish everything in Carrara.  I'd learn Blender but Silo is next on my list of things to do... until then I'm satisfied with Carrara's abilities.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Crazy John's current toy... A Walker - *now has lower adjustment legs*:  After a few wrong starts and a problem I now have lower legs for the walker.  The earlier length of the upper ones was too long so I shortened them... you might notice the new bottom of on seen through the adjustment holes in the lower legs.

    Note that in the 2nd pic below you *do have to choose* the polys to reverse normals where you wish... I later tried choosing a different one which did nothing to the polys on the bottom foot.

    Next up is to make a front tire and 5 spoke wheel with tiny little axle.  That will be fun... never made any of those... for the tire I plan to use a circle for a path and a d-ring shape to spin, path sweep, around it.  Haven't figured out the spoked wheel just yet but have a few ideas to try.

     

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  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Not sure exactly what look you want for the five spoke wheel, but if you start with a 10-segment disk and delete alternate polys, you could then develop it from there. Keep things low poly, especially at the start where you are getting the overall form, and use smoothing where possible to produce curves rather than adding more polys, it really helps in editing to keep it as simple as possible.

  • magaremotomagaremoto Posts: 1,227

    anyone intersted in hair, look at this:

    https://humanalloy.com/create-amazing-digital-hair/

    I think that could be made within carrara too

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Yes I have seen that before, it uses a product called HairFarm, quite expensive and only as a plugin for Maya.

  • magaremotomagaremoto Posts: 1,227

    sure, but what if we find a way to create strands and apply carrara hair on them? we could get a wider control of the hairstyle

    it shouldn't be difficult for modelers

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    I am not 100% sure that I follow you.  Carrara hair works differently to HairFarm hair, so the cross-over learning from one will be of limited use in the other. If you model a strand of hair as a polygon model and then grow Carrara hair on that, you will have hairs starting part way down the strand, which won't look very realistic.  For finer control of Carrara hair, you can set up different growth groups.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,202

    if one had a way to plot segment's guides to follow a mesh along an edge loop one could do this

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145
    th3Digit said:

    if one had a way to plot segment's guides to follow a mesh along an edge loop one could do this

    Ain't gonna happen though!

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,202
    PhilW said:
    th3Digit said:

    if one had a way to plot segment's guides to follow a mesh along an edge loop one could do this

    Ain't gonna happen though!

    apparently it is patented so no

    otherwise I am sure Blender artists would be on it already

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145
    th3Digit said:
    PhilW said:
    th3Digit said:

    if one had a way to plot segment's guides to follow a mesh along an edge loop one could do this

    Ain't gonna happen though!

    apparently it is patented so no

    otherwise I am sure Blender artists would be on it already

    I was talking purely in a Carrara context, but value your extra knowledge on the subject!

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,202
    PhilW said:
    th3Digit said:
    PhilW said:
    th3Digit said:

    if one had a way to plot segment's guides to follow a mesh along an edge loop one could do this

    Ain't gonna happen though!

    apparently it is patented so no

    otherwise I am sure Blender artists would be on it already

    I was talking purely in a Carrara context, but value your extra knowledge on the subject!

    I actually was thinking Zbrush fibermesh too or even LAMH in D|S

    I googled a bit and found out it was patented sadly

  • magaremotomagaremoto Posts: 1,227

    well, I thought that once build up the mesh as in the video, theoretically each segment of guide hair could approximately overlap the main vertical edges of the mesh or use it as reference, then get rid of the mesh and act directly on hair; of course the best would be as Wendy said, follow the mesh

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2017
    PhilW said:

    Not sure exactly what look you want for the five spoke wheel, but if you start with a 10-segment disk and delete alternate polys, you could then develop it from there. Keep things low poly, especially at the start where you are getting the overall form, and use smoothing where possible to produce curves rather than adding more polys, it really helps in editing to keep it as simple as possible.

    Found a good pic of the walker type that zooms in on the wheels with tires HERE at Target website.  Looks like I can use extrusion for the main shap if not more details.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,051
    edited October 2017

    For my Chitty wheels I started off with a cylinder and duplicated it and from those two made the rim and tyre and spokes

    I applied the same to the frame walker wheel here.. then used the bridge tool for the spoke, copied the spoke and rotated it and welded it back onto the rim. Then duplicated the original cylinder again to do the hubs and nut. Then applied smoothing to the tyre and rim to finish off.

    this was the quickest and easiest for me. smiley

     

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  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Kewl,  Thanks Stezza...  you've made quick work of it.  Great work on the Chitty... I was admiring those spokes when seeing it.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    I've discovered that I can't model as fast as Stezza... no surprise to me.

    I also found something that I did not know about Smoothing... well I have noticed it before but it was never a problem then.  Regarding the Walker wheel...  I modeled just the outer part shown above as a test.  First try looked good for an auto tire which is flat on the single outer face.  For a Walker type wheel I had to change to 3 polylines, rings, in order to get a rounder look... similar to some bicycle tire profiles which are more pointed where they touch the ground.  Before taking another attempt I have something to model for my WIP in the Carrara Challenge #36 - Pinups and Cheesecake and Hunks - Oh My! - WIP Thread.

    Below the pics show size after smoothing and then profile of tires... which have an auto type tire in blue and walker tire in grey.

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    WalkerTire_and AutoTire.png
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  • UnifiedBrainUnifiedBrain Posts: 3,588
    edited October 2017

    A big thing that keeps me from further exploring the modeling room is the inability at times to replicate even the simplest thing in PhilW's tutorial.

    For example, I want to make a glass in the spline modeler.

    I load a spline object, center it, select Geometry/extrusion envelope/symmetrical, selct the pen tool, and begin to draw.

    But the second I stop dragging, I get the following message.

    Can anyone explain what I am doing wrong?  I've modeled a glass in the spline modeler before (when I didn't need one!) but I remember this happening in the past as well.

     

    Spline issue.JPG
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    Post edited by UnifiedBrain on
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