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

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  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    I tested a morph load against the object file I started with (IE: not modified), and it's fine. The facets are showing the same values. I've shut off smoothing and everything I can think of to keep it the same.

    I'm flummoxed.

     

  • MarkIsSleepyMarkIsSleepy Posts: 1,496

    I tested a morph load against the object file I started with (IE: not modified), and it's fine. The facets are showing the same values. I've shut off smoothing and everything I can think of to keep it the same.

    I'm flummoxed.

     

    Usually if morph loader won't load something it means you either added/deleted a vertex somewhere or somehow changed the vertex order. Hard to say without seeing the two models though.

     

  • MarkIsSleepyMarkIsSleepy Posts: 1,496

    Can you bake displacement maps to a mesh? If so, how?

    What I want to do is come up with a displacement map for a figure, bake it to the figure in a low poly mode to get some of the effect, then add the displacement on top for added detail.

     

    I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to do here.

    It sounds like you want to use the displacement map to actually permanently change the object to a sort of half-way version of the low poly and the high poly and then use the displacement map again to sort of fake the rest of the high poly detail? That's not really "baking" but if that is what you are trying then you can sort of do it in something like Blender by shrinkwrapping the low poly version to the high poly version then saving that out to get your half-and-half version, which you could then apply your displacement texture to to get the rest of the detail.  You might even be able to do that in DAZ Studio - I seem to remember seeing a shrinkwrap script somewhere (maybe mcasual's website?).

    If you are just trying to use the high poly vesion to generate a displacement map that you can use in a material on the low poly one, that's pretty easy and there are a bunch of ways to do it.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    It was G3M model, attempting to 'bake' displacement maps onto the mesh

     

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited May 2017

    A concept design for CarrarArtist. (Suggested by Misty)  I''m hoping to get time to make one in Typtool3 also... planning on making a font object of both the whole word "CarrarArtist" as well as my logo design style idea.  Note this is it's first debut... so it's a bit rough still.  I've included a vertex room view... there are a lot of edges that won't be needed for the final version... when I create the template they come in handy for Adding Thickness...seems to save me time by making the lines right on the template first.

    When I get them finished I'll make both available as fonts as well as vertex objects.  Folks might want to use them for their Artwork anywhere including Carrara Challenges... well assuming they like what I come up with.

    Critique and suggestions are always welcome.

    [edited for spelling and grammer]

    CarraraArtist_badge_02.png
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    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,194

    yes

     

    .

     

    wgdjohn said:

    A concept design for CarrarArtist. (Suggested my Misty)  I''m hoping to get time to make one in Typtool3 also... planning on making a font object of both the whole word "CarrarArtist" as well as my logo design style idea.  Note this is it's first debut... so it's a bit rough still.  I've included a vertex room view... there are a lot of edges that won't be needed for the final version... when I create the template they come in handy for Adding Thickness...seems to save me time to make the lines right on the template first.

    When I get them finished I'll make both available as fonts as well as vertex objects.  Folks might want to use them for their Artwork anywhere including Carrara Challenges... well assuming they like what I come up with.

    Critique and suggestions is always welcome.

     

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited May 2017

    Thanks Diomede,  I'm hoping to add a bit of flair to the left A leg to make it look like a painters brush stroke... it will sweep up and get smaller... will have to see how it looks. While the C looks ok I might change to a rounded C... either that or give it a bit more tilt... as is it doesn't have quite enough.  I'll also make the original a bit thicker which can always be adjusted later by the CarrarArtist.

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

    A Simple Intro to the Vertex Modeler:  This goes from adding the Vertex Object to Smoothing it... plus a render to showing a way the object can be used.

    Shown is how to add a vertex object, a simple intro to the Vertex Model room and more... all the way to a final render. I even created the Terrain... you will see that I made the object, a sphere, into a few rocks shown at the lower middle of the last pic which I rendered.  It's ok... go ahead and make fun of how the object and Terrain shaders look... I didn't spend long trying to adjust them to my liking.

    To learn to create Terrains and what all the settings do check out Building Carrara Terrains Intro by Dartanbeck... a must read.

    Feel free to let me know if you notice something wrong... I can easily make changes... even if just spelling.

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    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Nice intro - the only thing that I would change is that Smoothing in Carrara = SubD in Daz Studio.  So if you have a smoothed object in Carrara, turn off the Smoothing to export from Carrara as an OBJ. Import into Daz Studio and apply SubD to the object and you will get the same effect as having Smoothing in Carrara.

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311

    Hi Will :)

    Morphs are a change in the existing geometry,.

    Baking displacement will create a much higher resolution mesh.

    what you're doing is making a completely different mesh (by converting displacement to mesh)

    Use Displacement map's and Normal Map's applied to the models shaders,.. that's the best way to displace the mesh, or create the appearance of a highly detail mesh from a lower poly model.

    Carrara has Displacement painting tools in the Vertex modeller,. 

    you'll need to add a few levels of smoothing to the model, so that you have enough "Virtual mesh" to create a detailed displacement effect,.

    Hope it helps :)

     

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Hi Will,  I was just going to say what Andy (3DAGE) said, you can use Carrara's displacement painting in the vertex modeller to create a dispalcement map by using higher levels of smoothing, it also moves points on the base mesh which you could export to use as a morph. So you have a morph at the base resolution of the mesh and a displacement map for the finer details, which I think is what you are after. Carrara's tools for this are nowhere near as comprehensive as say Zbrush (you bascially have just displace in or out and smoothing), but for a simple job, they will do.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited May 2017

    Thanks Phil,  I'm changing to your suggestion and hope to have it replaced quickly.

    [edit]  Done... I edited and incorporated your post... hope I got it correct. :)

    [edit the edit]  to be more clear in previous edit.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    Phil: What I wanted to do is paint a displacement map, then bake out the morph of the basic displacement, with the map on top to more finely refine it. That just didn't work, so I'm back to morphing by hand and painting the displacement in addition.

     

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Fair enough - it seems from playing with it that Carrara's displacement painting could do that, but I haven't gone the whole way to exporting it all to see if it works on the other end.

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311

    Will,. When you add displacement,. that normally means adding subdivision smoothing to enable displacement,.

    Exporting that displaced mesh to create  a morph target,.. will convert any virtual geometry,  to real geometry,. which will make it different from your Source figure's geometry,. and so,. unusable as a morph target,.

    Try,. Physically altering the original mesh (not displacement) to get the rough shape,.

    then Paint displacement on the smoothed model,. (export that as a displacement map).

    Ideally you would also create a "Normal" map to create the finer "bump" details,.

    Hope that makes sense :)

    Andy

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    I absolutely want to avoid that second workflow, because it greatly complicates the process. (Because then I have to go back and forth to get things to line up, etc)

    Ah well. Disappointing. :/

    By the way, when doing displacement, what filtering should I use? I realize 'not fast mipmap', but...

     

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    I see the problem. Applying displacement, it's changing the mesh from quad to tri. nnngh

    So there's no way to tell it not to do that, huh?

     

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

    Nice intro -

    That means alot comming from you... it finally hit me yesterday that it came from, perhaps, the Top Video Tutorial maker.  Kewl!

    PhilW said:

    the only thing that I would change is that Smoothing in Carrara = SubD in Daz Studio.  So if you have a smoothed object in Carrara, turn off the Smoothing to export from Carrara as an OBJ. Import into Daz Studio and apply SubD to the object and you will get the same effect as having Smoothing in Carrara.

    Could I instead... with Smoothing On use the Convert buttton?  That would turn Smoothing off.  Would I still need SubD in Daz Studio afterwards or would it no longer be required?

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    If you convert, your converted mesh becomes the new base mesh. You can still apply smoothing to that, or you can work on the new mesh before smoothing further - that's how a lot of detailed models get made.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited May 2017

    Thanks Tim... that's what I was thinking.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    Trying to move portions of the UV map in Modeling around. Is there a way to enter something numerically rather than click-drag?

     

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    And on a related note, are there any easy ways to set up/convert UV maps for UDIM?

     

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Good question Wil,  It would certainly help... but I've only adjusted by Dragging.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,194
    edited May 2017

    In the uv room, if you select a point on the uvmap, you will see a menu on the right with numerical values.  Selecting a point and change the u or v.

    .

     

    Trying to move portions of the UV map in Modeling around. Is there a way to enter something numerically rather than click-drag?

     

     

     

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,194

    Cant help with UDIM

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    What is UDIM?

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,022

    Diomede: Uh, that's great, but I need to select like several hundred vertices and move them all the same amount... ;)

     

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Thanks Bunyip.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited May 2017

    Add Thickness twice acts strange sometimes... I'll make a template... select it then choose Add Thickness... I've gotten into the habit of doing this twice to give me a center polyline for an object... occasionally when entered the 2nd time it will require to be a negative number such as -1 ft instead of 1 ft else when it reverses with 2 positve numbers the 2nd thickness will end up atop where it started. Note that I did not un-select anything so the new polys are selected.  I'm thinking that I might have encounter this in the Left view... I think it always works properly in Directors Camera View but not sure. Anyone know why?... It's only happened to me recently and not always.  surprise

     

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
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