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Asri Falcone

ok guys lol I know im a troller here hehe I am just not good with posting but Im desperate. I have tried every 3d software known to man in the last 11 months....but i need help! I have even taken a course in maya but daymn im still struggling. I can at least now create sculpts im happy with and can do some basic texturing. I am sooo not satisfied. I have come to the conclusion that i need real help, the hand holding kind. (well maybe not hand holding ...lol but daymn close) the occasional tips help but I get stuck more then id like to (took me 3 weeks to realize i shouldnt export as jpg...) I love shoes...I love to make shoes but not just any shoes...good shoes. Is there anyone here that can help me? I usually model with curves /lofting/birail ect.... cause if you give me a lump of clay im screwed. Zbrush is cool tho surprisingly but getting sharp outlines baffles me to no end. I know im so close....i can taste it, but like the remote control sitting on my bed is JUUST out of my reach! lol unfortunately i cant tell you one thing i am having issues with....because hell maybe its something ive never heard of that i could be doing that would make my sculpts flawless dunno. If anyone can offer assistance id appreciate it. lol and responses like "well what exactly are you having trouble with " doesnt help...lmao....I think im pretty far in this just not where i want to be.


lol as i said...lol im not very good at posting so if it comes out crazy lol dont mind me im just freaking out

Cristiano

I told poor Asri how helpful everyone is here and she was brave enough to post so you better help her!

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Ten

Hey Asri I'd answer you if I knew how! Hopefully someone else will.

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LoganBauer

Ok! Hi Asri, what exactly are you having trouble wi...


Ok... Hmm, I don't know anything about Z-Brush, and pretty much only use maya at this point. Your shoes look good! Were those done in maya? I'm gonna assume that they were and that you know how to bake a texture with the hypershader... Also they look pretty accurate, so I'd guess you already are uploading them lossless?

If you haven't used "nonlinear deformers" yet, there's a decent tutorial here:

Also, same goes for the "sculpt geometry tool"
Maya Sculpt Geometry

Other than that, looks like you are indeed pretty far in, but if you're not where you want to be... where do you want to be?
I can't really think of any other "general tips", but of course if there's something specific that stumps you let us know. I'd suggest playing around with a nurbs sphere and working from that "lump of clay" anyways, just so you have multiple ways to approach things, but that's just me personally.

Asri Falcone

well for instance after i loft the sides i get stuck lofting the top and bottom acurately, and id like to get closer to the sample image but dont know how....then there is the fact of how to make straps and clasps im stuck...then making all the peices seamlessly line up in sl tho the do in maya . what happens is i get a prim overlap i didnt have in maya. also my xp in rendering sucks i just know how to fake it but id like to learn how to perfect it. Im not sure which options i can use to create the crispness i desire...like bevel and such and if not what else is out there as an option.as far as the ones im making now they are to me...just practice. Maya is still a bit new to me, I think im under-using its capabilities for sl and Id like to know what else is possible. BTW how the hell do you get acuracy based on the sl foot without the model in maya ? (which is an issue im having with soles and straps and more contoured body of the shoe that compliments the foot and translates well from the source image. LOL as you can see im all over the place i just get stuck along the way. btw ty for the video im checking it out now. the lump of clay idea tho i tried but all i got was a elfin boot looking lump of clay...lol like one of those boots you find in a box at good will all deformed at the toe

FlipperPA Peregrine

Hi Ansi, I'm sculptie stupid, but just wanted to say HI and WELCOME!

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Cindy Claveau

Sorry, Asri, I'm a Zbrush and Maya newbie, too. I tried Maya but the interface was so complex I ended up going over to Zbrush. And now I'm starting at square one

I hope the answer to your questions is posted here. I'll read it. And I'm sure I'll be asking YOU questions, too -- because, you know, one person's newbie is another person's pro

And welcome!

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Eboni Khan

Asri,

One thing you can do in Zbrush that will make things easier is to turn symmetry on. you turn that on under transform. This will help cut your sculpting time in half and make it easier to keep everything the same and even.

Sharp lines in Zbrush come from masking and using the deformation tools. There are some excellent tutorials on Shiny Life that will help you with the basics on deformation and not screwing up the active points, which can be easy to do. You can also look at the tutorials on the Zbrush site.


Please try to avoid smoothing in Zbrush unless you are really comfortable and know what you are doing. You can smooth a sculpt later in Photoshop using Gaussian blur set to 2.0 which is safer and will avoid you losing points.

Try the new exporter from Zbrush by 2K Suisei SL Forums

Make sure that you are exporting from Zbrush as an object, then using the converter. Also save your tools along the way you can use those as a base along the way for other items. Also the object file is a better way to back up your work as it is "universal" and you can use it in programs.



Also remember you don't have to make things perfect. Once you get the shape smooth and recognizable in Zbrush, subdivide it up 4-6 times, check it out and see how it looks. When you bake your textures bake them on the higher points, about 1 million. I use Material Baker by David Ikeda but I have modified it some. I paint on the model to get the lines, then export out the color to texture and export the PSD file, then I take it into PS and try to make the lines as clean as possible, then I bring it back into Zbrush, to see how the cleaned lines look on the model. A lot of tutorials I looked at people baked just the material then put it as an overlay in PS. I like to bake each color, it makes for more work but I think it has better results and looks higher quality.


I am working on a tutorial for some basics with shoes in Zbrush, including texture baking and lighting. I spent almost a whole week working 10 hours a day to get lighting to a point it was decent, but not perfect. I might just make my lighting setting available for download here on SLU.

Also you have to remember that you already know 3D modeling, you have been doing it in SL for 4 years, and you were one of the best. You made interesting shoes (you are from Detroit, how could you not ) while other people were making Lands End soccer mom shoes. So you have the talent, you understand how prims work, you understand the flaws of SL. The only thing you have to do is think of sculpts as prims that give you more options and I think you will find it is a lot easier. You can't think of it as real world shoe parts, but advanced prims and I think that will make the transition easier.

If you have any other questions or something I said doesn't make sense let me know here not in SL, my IMs are broke.

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LoganBauer

Yeah, I base most shapes from a NURBS sphere because I haven't really gotten around that hurdle myself. You can use a NURBS cylinder but run into the same sort of issues with the top and bottom of the shape (either all smashed towards one side or pulled out into a point, ect)

I can't find any good tutorials but if you google "Maya 3d Paint Tool" there are a couple pages about it, if you haven't tried it yet (to draw/paint your texture directly on the model)
Actually this PDF looks like it explains it pretty well:
http://www.persistentvisions.com/Tut...ntTutorial.pdf

Also heres a good one with info about baking textures with the hypershader :
http://www.landgasthof-waldschaenke....orial_v1.1.pdf

You should be able to download and import the default model (Ruth shape) from here :
Second Life | Downloads: Avatar Files

Asri Falcone

Thx guys imma try your suggestions and get back to you with my results.

Asri Falcone

Ok guys I tried your suggestions.

as for the non liner deformers I tried after modeling a sole to deform it with the bend technique im not sure if i did something wrong but its not seeming to work on attatched surfaces It totally destorts it and will only bend in like a wedge shape. I have been using the lattice tool to make my deformations up to this point any hint on how or what other deformations may work in this instance? or any hints on how to use the birail tool or wrap I googled it but didnt come up with much.

As for zbrush I went through the shiney life tutorial again altho its fantastic still im not sure how to use the masking to get my edges it always seems to break the geometry when i use it...not sure what im doing wrong there. I use the deformation sliders to get a uniform flatness. I got it to work somewhat but when i start moving it to match my image plane i cant get the side hard edges to remain and i eiter come out with a pancake or a balloon.

Vlad Bjornson

Glad that you are finding my Shiny Life tutorials useful

Masking in zBrush is extremely useful, but can take a bit of getting used to. Basically you can paint the mask on your object by holding down the CTRL key. You can also hold CTRL and drag out a box from outside your object to create straight-sharp masks. Or smooth the mask by holding CTRL and clicking on your object, or invert the mask by holding CTRL and clicking off of your object.

Here's a link to a good zBrush masking video:
ZBrush 3 basics - Masking : Online Video | Veoh Video Network


One thing to keep in mind with zBrush is that it's not really designed to create sharp, geometric shapes - espeically with the low resolution meshes that we must use for sculpties. It's certainly possible, but most of the tools are designed with soft, organic shapes in mind.

You might try creating some Alpha brushes with very sharp edges and use those when drawing your masks.

Not quite sure what you mean when you say 'breaking your geometry'. Do you mean you are seperating your mesh? or maybe adding/subtracting faces?

LoganBauer

Yeah, the lattice tool is very useful, if you are doing a piece for the sole it would be the best approach I can think of also. with deformers I use lattice, bend, flare, and squash mostly... I'll take say a sphere, squash it, delete history, flare or lattice, delete history, ect. Not sure about wrap or birail, haven't really used either of those tools yet.

Asri Falcone

hey guys ok so i have finally made some progress. There is just one problem.... i have the hardest time reassembling in sl. is there some way that i can keep the demensions ind positions and load it into sl auto? Its a reall big problem for me. ie: this one came out pretty good in maya but looks totally different when imported into sl... what can I do to get a closer result?

Tya

work with higher vertices and make sure your mesh is even

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Asri Falcone

im not sure what you mean....i made it with curves....and i couldnt get the trim to line up properly at all. How would i add more vertecies.. im kinda a novice at this....btw is there a particular model i can use or something to line it up closer to the foot shape? so i dont have to crazy resize it in sl and it turns out looking totally different?

Tya

sphere hun... shoes are hard to make with curves. learn to manipulate the sphere...start off with 8x8 vertices until you are comfortable then work your way up. you will find this in your sphere properties when you first make it

vertices are the squares (purple) you see on the prim or in your case - curve

your models in SL will never look the same as they do in maya, unless you are working in high vertices and spans. actually it will never look identical, because you loose detail in SL but it will come close.

Decadent

As an aside, the shape of those is stunning.

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Asri Falcone

ok I know what they are but once I start to manipulate the mesh it no loger becomes possible for me to add more. And the issue of making it the correct demensions for the sl foot comes into play because when i finally import it in i have to re-size the prims to fit. is there a model file available to fit the shoe on in maya? or something of the like?

Tya

the SL avatar model that has been around for a few years, but this is in ruth form.

you just have to practice with the foot and eyeballing it. it takes a while to get but over time you will

Vlad Bjornson