The Area

How to deform areas of a character mesh according to the strength of its grayscale texture map?

2012-01-03T23:35:49+01:00

Hi all, I'm picking up Softimage after a hiatus of quite a few years so that makes me a n00b to this forum, but hopefully I'll get to contribute more as I pick it up again! I was wondering if any of you, have any thoughts or ideas on how to solve a problem I'm stuck on: Using a single, template character mesh I'm going to unwrap a grayscale texture map. The real challenge I'm trying to solve is how to deform areas of the character mesh, based on the strength of its grayscale texture map? That is, if you paint the texture map's belly and thighs dark black, then the mesh will deform to look like a fat man and if you paint the texture map's forearms and chest dark, the mesh will look like a body builder. Is there any existing tools to enable this with enveloping or ICE? Or does anyone have any ideas on how to create this? The solution has to use the grayscale texture map as a basis for deformations. Any help would really help get me started as I've been stuck on the solution for a while. Thanks a lot!

Parametric Formula Plugin

2011-12-22T13:50:23+01:00

With this thread, I will explain the Parametric Formula plugin. [b]Motivation.[/b] I design the plugin to fill a need for generating shapes using parametric equations found over the internet. The plugin was as much an experiment with NURBS as it was with math formula. [b]Installation[/b] Download the plugin here at the Area Download section. The plugin is called, of course, Parametric Formula. The plugin was coded using Softimage 7.01 so it should work with this version up. I have not tested the script with earlier version. Decompress the file and Install it in your plugin directory of Softimage. This is a self-install plugin, it should be detected by Softimage on startup. If not, use the plugin manager to load the plugin. You will found the plugin in your primitive selection menu. [b]Math functions[/b] When the UI open up, you will notice the default setting of the sphere primitive. The plugin is coded in JScript and most math.functions have been implemented within. You will notice that formulas don't have the math prefix. That is because the plugin is coded to accept both version such as math.cos(n) or just plain cos(n). Also coded are new math functions such as cosh, sign, ln and several others. In my next post, I will provide tables of these math functions and parameters. [b]Limitations[/b] This plugin is slow. On my low spec machine (AMD 4400 X4 Dual core), I generate complex NURBS in approximately three to four seconds with subdivisions set at 100 for both u and v. I have limited the u and v subdiv to a maximum of 1000 (that is 1,000,000 Control points evaluated on 14 formulas/subformulas). If you want to stess test your machine, go ahead, but don't blame Softimage or your computer if they go on strike or worst, stand up and walk off your desk in protest. The plugin does not include a complex number function. So if you provide formula that generate complex number such as sqrt(-1), you will not see a nurbs surface on screen or in the quick render. Some formulas can be made to remain within the real domain by restricting the u min, u max, v min and v max. Check the kiss surface preset for an example where v max was restricted to less than 1 to prevent the formula to calculate imaginary numbers. The plugin create one Nurbs surface. If you need to generate multiple surfaces, you will have to generate the object in piecemeal or, if you are a programmer, modify the code to feed the nurbs count of AddNurbsSurfaceMesh2. Be aware that the plugin will create self-intersecting surfaces, non-manifold and internal control points, edge and polys. Softimage and Mental Ray will throw warning during render, but so far, it has provided good render for me. Your render will show a nasty seam, that it because I have coded the surface to overlap control points in order to close the surface. You can avoid the seam if you generate the surface with linear degree, or use the nurbs to mesh to convert it to poly (work sometime). [b]Presets[/b] I have provided approximately 121 presets with the plugin, open them up and check them all to see how to enter formulas and generate nurbs and meshes. Don't forget to lock the UI if you want to experiment. Start with the plane and simple formulas like the saddle. Because you are working with Nurbs, you will notice the x, y, z, and w in the interface. The w parameter control the weight influence of that control point on the nurbs surface. In most cases you will leave the value to it's default of 1. One preset for the sphere has an example where I fed the w with a sine function. The result was a slicing of the sphere. The w is an interesting twist in generating parametric equations. So have fun with NURBS, mathematics and parametric formulas in Softimage! Cheers! Dan

auto assign multiple textures to deck of cards ..

2011-11-22T04:41:25+01:00

wondering if anyone has created a script or better still TOPO ICED a way to connect many different textures-> 2000 in all to 2000 different meshes ( they are copies of one)

Is there any good tutorial to make transformer?

2011-10-07T06:55:56+01:00

I am looking good tutorials to build and animate a transformer like from the movie.Is there any food tutorials?

Tips for reducing polygon count

2011-09-20T08:05:52+01:00

Hi, I've recently started playing around with 3d design, so I'm pretty green with 3d modelling. I've been trying to take apart royalty free models and test certain techniques on them. One of the things that I would like to know how to do is take an existing model and reduce the polygon count (to make it more game friendly for instance). Is there a tool/technique to do this in SoftImage, or is the only way to simply delete polygons and replace them with approximations? I should mention that I have seen the poly mesh -> polygon reduction option. I'm wondering if that's considered the best option, or if there are some user tricks beyond that option (or perhaps tricks to using that option). Thank you for any help.

shell / solidify

2011-08-27T13:06:58+01:00

Hello some time ago i found a Solidify modifier addon for XSI, that was the same as the shell modifier in 3ds max, i cant find it anymore, anyone has it please ? <.< Where it can be downloaded ? i dont remember.. Thanks :) In the NETVIEW link doesnt work, it let you download or install the scatter vbs, its not solidify. The movenormal is an alternative, and the kim-aldis is an alternative too <.< Still the one i found was totally the same as 3ds max, but i cant find it anymore

Free Automotive Modeling Tutorials?

2011-08-21T21:04:25+01:00

I was wondering if anyone knew of a place that had some nice Automotive Modeling tutorials? I am on a strict budget and cannot afford Digital Tutors. And so I was wondering if anyone knew of some. If you can help me in any way, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks..

shaping curved end on poly mesh cylinder

2011-07-10T22:38:00+01:00

i am looking to create a revolute joint as per this link http://www.mathworks.com/help/toolbox/physmod/mech/ref/revolute.html i need to know if there is a simple way to create a curved end like this image ? also how would i create the same joint in the base end to accomodate the curve. i have tried various ways to achieve this but think i am simply missing something somewhere. any help appreciated. btw i tried to attach an image but it wouldnt work ? the add button did not appear to do anything - any ideas ? thanks

Is There a "Xray" Toggle Script or Plugin?

2011-07-07T06:27:58+01:00

Does anyone know of a script or plugin to toggle "Xray" in Softimage? I tried to find the command in the keyboard mapping menu but I can't seem to find it. I could only find the "wireframe" toggle command but not the "Xray" command. Basically I just want to be able to toggle Xray while modeling so I can see through two different objects at the same time while modeling. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

other way then loft?

2011-06-15T06:37:01+01:00

I want to make a trophy where each vertical edge has a certain amount of points, (they will differ between 5 and 28). Here's a example where one edge has 5 to make a bit more clear what i want. [img]http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/7293/example2q.png[/img] By the image above it's done by hand. i only don't want to it that way cause i don't like the positions and it's shit to do. If i make a curve that has the smooth detailed outline of one edge then i can select it, then "create" curve > fit on curve and i get the desired result cause i can give it 4 points for example. Here's a image to show, (i don't show the full circle cause it's harder to look at). [img]http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/3692/curve.png[/img] I only need polygons between them, if i loft them i get this: [img]http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/9223/noww.png[/img] As you can see it creates extra vertexes for the loft. what i want is this(no extra vertexes) [img]http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6820/howiwant.png[/img] I did that by hand but it's really hard cause i have to select the curves all the time to see where the vertexes are where i want to snap to. And this is just a simple shape, the shape i want is a bit more complex. So is there a other way to achieve this?