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Showing posts with label 3D Design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3D Design. Show all posts
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Building a Castle - Basic Polygonal Modeling
Friday, February 15, 2008
Dining Table Free 3D Model
Download the Free Dining Table Model for your Dining Room Interior Renders. The zip file contains .3ds and .max (3ds max model. If you wish to download the sketchup Model for the Dining Table see the below Link
Download Free 3D / CG Wallpapers from CG Artist
Download Cool and free 3D / CG wallpapers calendar for your desktop which are submitted by CG artists for 3D artists. We live in a beautiful world of computer graphics where every day many artworks are made but only some of them stand out to be the best. Here you will find some cool and free CG wallpapers calendar for your desktop which are submitted by artists for artists in various sizes 1280 x 960 (works for 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864), 1280 x 1024 (works for 1600×1280), and 1680 x 1050 (works for 1440×900, 1280×800). This calendar featured the artworks of Bartek Jurkowski, Soa Lee, Dani Garcia, Claudius Vesting, Dragos Jieanu, Kerem Beyit, Marco Lazzarini, Alon Chou, Don Dixon, Tom Krieger, Vlad Kuprienko and Hau Ming Li.
3D Spikes
1. Start by going to Objects > Primitive > Platonic.
2. Structure > Make Editable.
3. Select the polygon tool.
4. Edit > Select All.
5. Structure > Extrude.
6. Now on the right you have 3 tabs you want to select the Active Tool tab, and use uncheck the Preserve Groups box then hit apply.
7. Objects > Deformation > Explosion FX, then click and hold the Explosion FX and drag to Plantonic until the arrow points down then release.
8. Objects > NURBS > HyperNURBS.
9. Now click and hold the Platonic and drag to HyperNURBS until the arrow points down then release.
10. Now you can click and hold in the middle of the explosion and drag Northeast as far as you like to get a spikey render.
11. Now go to Render > Render Settings
12. Under Output make it any size you wish, than under Save use the following...
13. Render > Render to Picture Viewer
14. File > Save as
My Final:
What is Gimbal Lock and why Does it Occur?
What is gimbal lock? Gimbal lock is the phenomenon of two rotational axis of an object pointing in the same direction. Simply put, it means your object won't rotate how you think it ought to rotate. Gimbal lock is frustrating problem that every CG artist will face sometime in their career and it always happens at the worst possible time. Gimbal lock occurs when animating an object with a rotational matrix known as Eular (pronounced Oiler) angles. It's a general limitation of that type of rotational matrix.
Any system that uses Eular angles (Maya, Max, Lightwave, Softimage) will have problems with gimbal lock. The reason for this is that Eular angles evaluate each axis independently in a set order. In the case of 3DS Max that order is generally X,Y,Z (you can change the order to whatever you'd like however) meaning ... first the object travels down the X axis. When that operation is complete it then travels down the Y axis, and finally the Z axis. The problem with gimbal lock occurs when you rotate the object down the Y axis, say 90 degrees. Since the X component has already been evaluated it doesn't get carried along with the other two axis. What winds up happening is the X and Z axis get pointed down the same axis.
Here's a sample of that phenomenon in 3DS Max. If you download and open the file, select the dummy and rotate it down it's local Y axis 90 degrees you will actually see it's matrix gimbal lock. If your going to use Eular angles (and every 3D package has them somewhere) your going to have problems with gimbal lock. The only advantage to using Eular angles is that they are much easier for an artist to read and conceptualize than a Quaternion Rotation.
Quaternion Rotations are far more powerful and robust. In Max, TCB controllers use Quaternion math to find their orientation. Quat rotations evaluate all three axis at the same time to find a direction to travel and a fourth value (the w component or up vector) to tell the matrix how far to travel. The advantage to using Quat rotation is that you never have to worry about Gimbal Lock. It simply can not happen because all three axis get updated at the same time. The down side to using Quats is they are far more complicated to read and conceptualize than an Eular angle. RotationScript controllers in Max are Quat rotations which makes them far more powerful than Eular angles and expressions but they are also much more difficult to use and understand.
I generally chose to use Eular angles on my puppets because they are easy to understand and animate with. You just have to keep in mind that an Eular angle, no matter what you call it (Local Eular, World Eular, XYZ Bezier) is still an Eular angle and as such, has severe limitations.
A few things to keep in mind when working with Eular angles to keep you from going Postal:
- If your object only needs to rotate along one axis, change the order of axis to match i.e.. if your rotating down the Y axis make the order of axis Y,Z,X.
- If your rotating down two axis, change the order of axis to correspond with the first and last axis i.e... if your rotating down the X and Y axis, change the order of axis to X,Z,Y
- If your rotating down all three axis be aware that there will be areas where gimbal lock will occur. Try to place those areas far enough out of the way that they won't be a problem or separate the axis with an additional node (even this isn't enough sometimes)
- In certain specific cases, the parent of an object can actually gimbal lock it's child (I won't go into the math involved here) Try placing an extra Quat node in the chain between these two nodes. You can see a good example of this in 3DS Max if you link anything using Eular angles to a Biped. Instant Gimbal Lock. One workaround is to link a dummy with TCB controllers (Quat) to the biped first, then link your chain to the dummy.
- The first axis evaluated will always happen in the objects local coordinate orientation
- The last axis evaluated will generally happen in a world coordinate orientation
With careful planning and a little fore thought you'll be able to keep gimbal lock to a minimum. Happy animating.
3D MAX DESIGN Human Head
Step 1. This is the biggy. This step dictates the entire head drawing, and or pose for that matter if you are attaching an entire body to this. Start with a sphere, freehand will do, so long as it reads as a ball. You are going to divide the sphere into halves, then fourths. There will be 8 sections total. Think of this as a 3D sphere, which you should do anyway, because what you draw will ultimately be 3 dimensional. Once the sphere has been evenly divided you are going to find the golden cross section that dictates and determines the size, shape, tilt, character, and proportions of the head to be drawn. The cross section determines where the brow line begins, and divides our face plane in half with a centerline. These divisions also help determine where the ear will sit on the side of the head. Amazing how it all comes down to a simple cross section, isn't it?
The centerline of the face is derived from our cross s
ection. This centerline is drawn next. Note that the centerline of the head doesn't follow the form of the sphere once we have established the cross section. Why? Because, the chin extends away from the sphere shape. If our chin was a part of this sphere, we would have a pretty darn round face. It doesn't have to be any particular length at this point, it is only there to establish the two main divisions of the head, or divides the head into an even left and right half.
With a minimal degree of shifting of one feature or another, all faces are fairly symmetrical. I say minimal degree of shifting of features, meaning not everyone's eyes are perfectly even across the face laterally, not everyone's ears are laterally even, etc. Lyle Lovett for example, really asymmetrical. But his face still is evenly divided, and it has all the components required to call it a head.
Once you know the tilt, have found the cross section, and laid in the centerline of the head, your next step is to shave to two side of our sphere on either side of the cross section. This will help you begin forming the side planes of the head. Why shave them? Well, the skull isn't actually round like a ball, but flattened on all sides with a fairly round top for the skullcap. Keeping those round side planes would actually be deceiving, and the skull drawn would end up a little too wide, awkward looking, and the ears would be mounted on these little tiny ends, with no real cohesive attachment to the whole.
Step 2. Now that you have the cross section established, the next thing you will do is divide the head into thirds. This is the golden division you will use to lay all of the feature elements of the skull upon, i.e., the eyes, nose lips, ears, and so on. The primary, or stock look for the average human is even divisions between these thirds. But once understood, these divisions will be your guide to drawing charactures, character types for stories, or whatever. These divisions are as important as the golden cross section that began all this. The upper third is what you start with. This establishes the divisional units of the skull, i.e. it creates the volume to which the other 2/3rds will be measured. The upper 1/3rd is from the hairline to the brow line.
The 2-nd division establishes the location for the nose, ears, and eyes. Remember, when you find the nose, you have also found the ears. They follow the top of the nose, or brow ridge, and the bottom of the nose division evenly with just about everyone. Knowing this will help you. I see many drawings and paintings where the ears look like they were pasted on to the skull after the fact because of little or no understanding of proper proportion, or placement were privy. The middle divisions go between the top of the brow, to the base, or bottom of the nose.
The lower 3-rd sets up where your mouth goes, and finishes the skull with locating the bottom of the chin. Thus, this lower 3rd goes from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin. These divisions of thirds wrap entirely around the skull. These divisions remain evenly proportioned no matter what the tilt of the head is. So if the head is looking straight up, all the divisions will be shrunk down to little segments, but still even in their division. This is soooo important in placing all the features on the head.
The side division of the head helps place the ear in its correct position, to the left of the vertical division line for the right ear, and to the right of the vert line on the left side of the head. This vertical division also tells you where the jaw begins, since it attaches to the skull just in front of the ears.
When it is all said and done, and this golden division of thirds is well understood, and heavily practiced to the point of intuitive understanding, the rules of proper thirds can be broken. This is where character types are created. They don't necessarily follow proper spacing and placing, but rather take on their own divisions. This is valuable information for spacing and placing the features on the face. I can't stress this stuff enough. I see many a drawing and painting that just didn't quite work because these basic principals weren't known. Remember it well, and you will always draw a properly divided, and proportioned head, or head attached to a body in a figure drawing.
Drawing the Human Hand in 3D MAX
The hands, along with the face should recieve careful attention. for one thing, aside from the head, they are usually the only other exposed part of the body. Secondly, they are equally as expressive in gesture, emotion and action. Because of the complexity of joints, masses and planes, along with their expressive nature, the hands can, and usually are, the hardest thing to learn on the entire human form.
The first thing that most artists in trainin
g do wrong is they make the hands too small. Here is where the importance of head drawing comes in. If you know how to proportion the head into its proper units of measure, then you have also determined the units of measure for the hands. If you place your hand over your face, the tip of the fingers will start at the hair line, and the palm will end at the chin. This is your measuring device for the hand.
I hope the importance of figure drawing is really starting to sink in now. If you can draw the figure, you can essentially draw anything for two reasons; one, you have studied diligently in knowing that the human form consists of masses of solid shapes, and two, if you place a figure in a room full of things, you can use the figure as a measuring device to judge all of the objects in that room. You also know that these objects, like the figure, have mass.
Back to the point- Composing the hand The hand has two masses, that of the thumb part, and that of the hand proper, or, the rest of the hand. The double rows of the carpel bones, or wrist bones are fused to the hand, making one mass. The wrist is not a floating mass, or ball joint like those of the wooden art dummies. The hand always moves with the wrist. Twice as wide as it is thick, the wrist gets a bit smaller where it joins the arm. You can also think of the wrist as a universal joint because of its side-to-side and up and down motion as well as all of its rotary movement.
The center of the body of the hand is slightly below the body of the arm. For example, lay your arm and hand flat on a table, palm down, and notice that the wrist does not touch the table top. You will see the mass of the wrist rises from the hand at a slight angle where it joins the arm.
The thumb side of the hand is larger than the side of the little finger. The hand is broader at the fingers than at the wrist: however, at the wrist it is deeper. also notice on your own hand that the palm is longer than the back of the hand. The thumb is set into the palm by an independent and highly mobile "ball of the thumb", giving it a great range of movement independent from the rest of the hand. In the palm of the hand most of the modeling is caused by a system of cushions and pads, nicely "upholstered together. On the front of the thumbs and fingers, as well as a considerable area of the palm, the substance built upon the bony foundation is literally padding. The fingers all taper, with the middle finger, being the longest, forming the apex of the mass. Each finger itself tapers, with a tendency to converge toward the middle finger. Measured outside, the length of the thumb equals the length of the middle finger. The body of the thumb is heavier than the other fingers, but, but unlike them, only the last joint tapers. The sections of the fingers are more square than they would seem at first glance, with the last section containing the nail being quite triangular in shape, the nail with the flesh on either side forming its base. You will do well to memorize the anatomy of the hand and fingers for if you know the bone construction of the ahnd, you will never have trouble in drawing it with character and expression.
It is important to know the joints and their degree of limitation and movement. The first joint of the thumb and the first two joints of the fingers are hinge joints. Movement is limited to up and down, not side to side or rotational. Fully extended, the topmost joint of each finger is bent very slightly backwards. The lower joints of the fingers and the lower joint of the thumb will bend forward to an acute angle, while the upper joints or finger tips cannot bend even to a right angle. Review that really quickly the top two joints of all the fingers and the thumb are hinge joints, 90 degree motions only. The lower joint of the fingers and thumb, as well as the wrist are ball joints. You never need be at a loss for models of hands to study. Even when drawing, you have another hand to serve in that capacity at any time and as faithfully as you choose. The addition of a mirror in front of you in which to reflect your free hand will give you an infinite variety of poses to choose from.
1. To draw the hand in action the first step is spacing and placing. You want to sketch in the action and approximate location of the hand, fitting each part as it appears.
2. Next solidify, or construct the shapes-the block method of drawing the hand is of great assistence in defining the planes and surfaces of the hands and fingers.
3. Next start to add the details. Carefully add the details of the hand and fingers erasing the first two steps as you go, and as they are no longer necessary, or they have already served their purpose.
4. Finally, add the tones, or light and dark planes. Reflective light applies here, so long as the shot calls for it.
Memorize this stuff, get an anatomy book, and study. You will never stop studying the hand as you will probably never draw the same hands in the same pose twice. Every shot is a new lesson in hand construction, and a new journey or exploration into a great adventure of expression. Again, the hands are equally as important as the face. They require equal importance of attention and study as the head.
3D Design Puppets
Having spent several years building and animating both stop-motion and CG puppets I can honestly say that not all characters are created equally. With today's software the same character model can be set up many different ways but, only a few will be useful to the animator. I've made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of lessons the hard way when it comes to creating puppets for animation, so here are a few of the pitfalls to avoid and tricks to learn that will make your job as an animator, a lot more fun.
One of the most basic rules of character animation is that great animation doesn't happen FROM point A to point B, It happens AT point A and point B (meaning the key POSES and anticipation and overshoot are where the good stuff is really going to happen). Some important things to keep in mind when creating a pose-able puppet for the animator are:
- A method to control knee direction independently of the foot and hips.
- Feet should be able to rotate 180 degrees in opposing directions.
- A method to rotate the heel independently from the leg.
- A method to rotate the ball of the foot.
- A method to rotate the toes independently of the foot.
- A method to tilt the hips side to side without having to re-adjust the torso.
- A method to tilt or rotate the upper torso and neck without having to re-adjust the head.
- The right hand should be able to easily touch the left shoulder without shoulder creasing and vice versa.
- Both hands should be able to easily touch the top of the head without shoulder creasing.
- A method to twist the forearm.
- A method to control elbow direction independently from the shoulder and wrist.
- A method to place to hand on a surface and lock it there.
- A method to slide a hand across a surface.
- A method to control the arc line of action of the hand separately from the body.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that automating actions, (i.e.... Hip placement, toe, heel roll) will often result in fighting with the puppet instead of posing it how you wish. Exceptions to this are situations where it will help you POSE the character quickly (i.e.. a slider for rotating all the fingers into a fist for example). Automated actions sound great on paper and look great when your moving a character around to test the puppet but, when it comes time to animate they usually get in the way. When I'm posing a character and I move one of the feet, that doesn't mean I want the hips to move or the other foot to rotate. I'm going to keyframe those motions anyway so let me do my job.
I've seen many experienced animators struggle with a puppet because it wasn't set-up properly (I'm one of them). It seems that many technical directors have been told that setting up a simple, easy to use character, means automating many of the controls so the animators don't have to waste their time looking at extra tracks. This is completely false. A simple, easy to use character is one that is easy to POSE and, doesn't fall apart between POSES. Anyone who tells you otherwise probably has very little experience animating stop-mo or CG puppets. It's important to realize that computers, expressions, math and the most sophisticated algorithms can't produce great character animation. It's the artist using the the computer that creates a great performance. Character animation on a computer is exactly the same as character animation with cels or Stop-motion animation with puppets. Let the animators decide how the characters should move.
Another important factor in character setups is making the system easy to read and understand. Bones and control nodes should be easy to see and select. Also, the animator should be able to read what the characters skeleton is doing at a glance. I shouldn't have to guess or select a node to see its orientation. Believe it or not, this is a very important issue in many off the shelf software packages.
The points I'm trying to make here are:
- Provide yourself with a puppet that is easy to pose.
- Give yourself a puppet that's easy to read, understand, and FUN to work with.
Here's a few tips for creating your own puppet that's easy to work with.
- The hands, instead of animating each joint in the hand separately, create one control or slider to bend each finger. Or better yet, create a system that allows you to capture a hand gesture for later use.
- The arms, using forward kinematics is a simple approach that gets the job done and provides most of the functionally needed in this area. However, it won't allow you to lock a characters hand to an object. If your software has a good IK system and you need your characters arms to stay locked in place, take advantage of it.
- The torso, again FK. Does every thing you NEED it to do. This is one area that probably shouldn't be automated.
- The head should rotate independently from the neck. There are two reasons for this. First, if I want my character to stare at something while he's moving I don't want to constantly have to readjust the head. The second goes back to the traditional principles of animation:
Generally in a head turn, the head will either lead the action or follow the action like a whip. Also the head should generally follow a slightly different arc than the neck. Head turns and eye blinks are one of the most important elements used to convey character and produce the illusion of life.
Best solution: Use the skeletons root orientation in world space to orient the head
- Collar bones, believe it or not this is something that a lot of people overlook. Ever try to raise you hands above your head without using your collar bones and shoulder blades. It doesn't work. Make sure you've got a way to shrug the shoulders and raise those arms up high.
- The knees, there has to be a method to control knee direction independently of the hips and feet or this entire area will be very difficult to work with. If you can't control where the knees are pointing, how do you pose the character?
- The feet, this is a very important area of your puppet, after all, if your using IK to control the lower body of your puppet this area is going to drive most of that action. There are two different schools of thought regarding setting up the feet. Working from the heel of the foot and working from the ball of the foot. I prefer to work from the ball of the foot for a couple of reasons.
- a. Your character is going to need to pivot on their toes from time to time. If your working from the heel this is going to be hard to do and may look odd.
- b. Your going to want your character to spring off the ball of their foot a lot. Have you ever tried to jump or walk with out pushing off with your toes?
- c. Try climbing up a ladder or walking up stairs on your heels and see how far you get.
- d. How many times have you reached for something up high with out standing on the ball out your foot?
- e. Balance, try balancing yourself on the ball of one foot, then try balancing on the heel of one foot, which is easier?
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