Miriel Enfield

I've got a problem with Blender. No, I mean beyond the unspeakably terrible UI.

Here's the thing: it doesn't always bake my sculptie maps properly. Most objects bake just fine, but if I start shrinking vertex rows down too small, it begins to have issues. As an example, here's something I was working on tonight (it'll eventually be four tree branches, if I can get it working):



Those rows of vertices in the middle are shrunk down to zero, so that they don't render when the sculptie is in world.

Here, however, is what Blender baked for me:



It's tiny, but I'm sure that you can see what a mess it is.

Is there a way around this? Do other programs do this? While I guess I could spend hours and hours doing the branch map manually, I'd rather not.

Raindrop Drinkwater

What does it look like in-world? Is there some vertex vomit?

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Miriel Enfield

Yeah. You see all that jagged noisy stuff in the sculpt map? That shouldn't be there.

Aodhan McDunnough

One thing is I never overstress the mesh. I'm guessing that you compressed the middle portion in two dimensions so there must be a serious stretch from the tops and bottoms to the focal points.

What I would do is change the branch "splitting" approach.

Nurbs surfaces don't like too much abuse. I try to keep vertices spaced apart as even as I can even when I have to compress stuff.

EDIT:

Tried it just now. Can't replicate the white spots.

Miriel Enfield

I'm trying to save as many prims as possible, though. I'll be selling these trees (assuming I don't delete them in a fit of artistic pique), so keeping prims down is important. And there's no reason my branches need 32 vertices along their circumference. If I could just get Blender to bake these things properly...

Raindrop Drinkwater

It might be worth waiting for the tessellated thingamaggic, so that you can have more vertices where you really need them.

Aodhan McDunnough

I know you are. What I mean by changing the split strategy is to manipulate the sculpty in a different manner that has less stress.

But really, was trying just now to replicate your work and all I see in those spaces is a somewhat even gray.

Miriel Enfield

Were you using NURBS? I just use meshes, myself. Never got the hang of NURBS.

EDIT: I just read up. You baked the image and didn't get the white dots? In Blender?

I considered that, but I'm not sure if the older clients will be able to display the non-square sculpties. I'd still have to shrink some rows down to zero even then, but it might be easier to manually correct in PSP.

Siyu Suen

Where's Aminom when you need him?

You're right, that uck shouldn't be showing up, and just on an offchance, it might be worth checking out if any other program exporters do it. Try exporting the same object in sculptypaint, or maybe wings3d, rokuro, milkshape, any of the other cheapie/freebie sculpt tools. It could just be blender.

But it could also be a very misplaced and unnecessary "smoothing" effect caused by the actual act of exporting it into a texture, which would be irritating and the only way to fix it would be to do the texture over in photoshop at a larger resolution, like the aforementioned Mr Wizkid Aminom does

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Miriel Enfield

I don't know how to use any of those. I'd been hoping that someone who does use them could say whether or not they've ever had this happen, so I knew whether to bother learning or not.

Aodhan McDunnough

Correct. I've always done my sculpties in blender and am using the Dominodesigns blender sculpty script.

Thing is even when I was using Levitsky's approach I still don't get those white things ... it's almost as if you have one vertex cluster pulled away from the bunch all the way to white.

Miriel Enfield

What version of Blender are you using?

I just tried rebaking in 2.45. Still a mess, but slightly less of one.

Aodhan McDunnough

Get 2.46

The Dominodesigns script is not guaranteed for the earlier ones. I changed from 2.44 to 2.46 so have no idea if it's because of 2.45 incompatibility.

Miriel Enfield

I'm using 2.46. And I always use Levitsky's method.

Aodhan McDunnough

Try redoing from scratch. Watch out for stray vertices.

Apart from that I can't suggest anything since both DD and AL approaches work for me.

Miriel Enfield

I don't see any stray vertices, and this kind of thing always happens when I shrink rows down too small, but thanks anyway.

Aodhan McDunnough

Aki Shichiroji

This is all one object, right? why do you have 64 vertices?

Also, how old is your copy of the domino scripts? the most recent one should allow you to create 4 different sculpt types by going through Add>Mesh>Sculpt Mesh, and to play around with multires (which helps with LOD issues).

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Miriel Enfield

Yeah, one object. And you mean why is the sculpt map 64 x 64? That's the recommended size for them.

Like I said, I don't use those scripts.

Aodhan McDunnough

She's using Amanda Levitsky's method.

Thing is neither method does that to me.

At any rate I do recommend going with the new Domino scripts.

Aki Shichiroji

i did at one point use Levitsky's method, but at some point got fed up with the process being way too complicated and began using Lex Xiaoying's method instead ( I Ramble... Sorry: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Blender (Almost) ) .

I have since moved on to use sculpts made with Domino's scripts exclusively because they come out perfect pretty much every time. I no longer have to worry about rotated vertices that so often come with the unwrapping process described by Levitsky OR Xiaoying.

And my question is not why is the sculpt map 64x64 - i'm looking at your screencap. The two columns are one piece, connected by the vertices in the middle, right?

By my count, you should only have about 16 vertices on either side if that is the case, not 32.

Miriel Enfield

I never managed to get Xiaoying's method to work for me. I could never, ever get anything resembling a neat grid of vertices. I've never had issues with Levitsky's method, though, and given my track record with Blender, I think I'll stick with something I know how to use.

Wrong middle. I did squish the middle of the cylinder to make those two tubes, but not down the middle you're thinking of, if that makes sense. Those tubes only have 10 vertices each around their circumferences.

Aki Shichiroji

Here's a sample of what I mean. Notice the difference in vertices on each side compared to your original screencap.

It's really been too long since i attempted to follow Levitsky's method, to be honest, so I have no clue how to reproduce what's going on with your sculpt.

I do remember ending up having way more problems with it than Xiaoying's. Even with Xiaoying's, my sculpts turned out a bit lopsided because the vertices would inevitably shift.

With the new functionality in the Domino scripts, I don't have to worry about any of that.

Attached Images

twocylinders-sample.jpg (49.1 KB, 106 views)

Aki Shichiroji

OK - so you are squishing the sculpt the other direction? Gave that a try with my current workflow and I'm still not coming up with anything similar to the problems you ended up with.

Attached Images

twocylinders2.png (3.0 KB, 108 views)

Miriel Enfield

I guess I can try the Domino scripts later, though I'll be honest: I really fucking hate Blender's UI. Nothing with it is easy for me. Any time I try to learn to do anything new with it, it takes me days, even if I have a manual in front of me. I've never used scripts much, and I really, really don't care to deal with the hours upon hours of frustration that it will very probably involve.

I managed to get some branches that worked (manual editing of the map plus breaking up the cylinder different), but I'll consider the scripts next time I'm dealing with something like this, if it's too hard to fix manually and there's no workaround.

EDIT: I attempted to install the scripts. The directory I am supposed to install them into doesn't exist. The directory it's supposed to be inside doesn't exist. Fuck this stupid program; I'll continue to muddle through the way I have been.

EDIT II: But thank you to everyone who's attempted to help!