Creating a simple rowboat... Which lofting method?

WsCG

Hi all, 

So, I'm working my way through the different methods of creating and editing mesh objects, while loosely following along in the Help PDF.

My favorite way of testing and making sure I understand what I'm reading/learning, is to try to create something using what I just read/learned. If I get it right, then I know I understand it and will "graduate" myself on to the next thing. If not, well... then I need to learn about it more.

I'm hitting a bit of a block with this one task, though. I'm trying to loft a rowboat in the mesh editor, and I'm not sure which method to use. I suppose I could create shapes representing cross-sections along the length of it and then skin those together (similar to a plane modeling tutorial I was checking out earlier). However, I'm curious if there's a way to do it using multiple profiles as well?

Thanks!

wgdjohn

Miltovo you migtht want to take a look at Carrara Challenge #26: “Caustics and Nautical” which is the WIP thread... There is at least 1 if not more boat building techneque mentioned for my own first feeble attempt and a better way to model what I wanted to do... I found it very helpful. There may be more but there are a lot of examples of different boats/ships. I went another direction entirely and abandoned boat or rather postponed it for the future.

Also check out HMS Endeavour for some profiles on ship building building and some "do's and don'ts".

Whether you are new to modeling, in between or an old pro check out my own thread, Modeling Objects in Carrara - Q&A - Come One and All, I've found it to be very helpful as I often have questions... I've also some links to other disscussions on modeling, YouTube tutorial videos and pay tutorials. Surprising to myself is that there are so many well known modelers, Artists and PAs who model who post answers. I also throw in some examples on how I use some methods, mini tutorials, as well as some renders of objects that I've come up with. Anyone is welcome to post a question, answer or their own tutorial whether it be text or visual pics of how to achive anything. Note that I don't recall building a boat being mentioned yet.

Dartanbeck

Mitovo said:

Hi all, 

So, I'm working my way through the different methods of creating and editing mesh objects, while loosely following along in the Help PDF.

My favorite way of testing and making sure I understand what I'm reading/learning, is to try to create something using what I just read/learned. If I get it right, then I know I understand it and will "graduate" myself on to the next thing. If not, well... then I need to learn about it more.

I'm hitting a bit of a block with this one task, though. I'm trying to loft a rowboat in the mesh editor, and I'm not sure which method to use. I suppose I could create shapes representing cross-sections along the length of it and then skin those together (similar to a plane modeling tutorial I was checking out earlier). However, I'm curious if there's a way to do it using multiple profiles as well?

Thanks!

That's an excellent way to learn Carrara! Awesome manual isn't it? Man, I love that tome! I printed the whole thing out in draft mode (printer settings) to help keep from using up too much ink... but I did that back before I bought Carrara - knowing that I would buy it as soon as I saved up enough $$ for it. 

I still have that tome and just love it. It is certainly written to inspire. But, yeah... it might get a little vague at times. But it does do a good job at showing us a lot of what Carrara has to offer.

Anyways, I really thing that this will help you with exactly what you're looking for:

Part 1

Part 2

If you want, check out more of the tutorials from that playlist... Dimension Theory really knows how to get the most out of Carrara!

You might also find some fun inspirational help and fun here:

Learning Carrara and need some help? - which is a fun little thread all about learning Carrara. Because Carrara is so immense, we'll never stop learning! ;)

Well Mitovo, 

It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Dartanbeck, many people around here just call me Dart for short.

Rock on!

If that doesn't answer your question, give us a quick screen shot and an explanation of what you want to do - or what the problem is, and we can show you exactly what you need to know. There's a lot of expert Carrara modelers here ;)

WsCG

Dartanbeck said:

Mitovo said:

Hi all, 

So, I'm working my way through the different methods of creating and editing mesh objects, while loosely following along in the Help PDF.

My favorite way of testing and making sure I understand what I'm reading/learning, is to try to create something using what I just read/learned. If I get it right, then I know I understand it and will "graduate" myself on to the next thing. If not, well... then I need to learn about it more.

I'm hitting a bit of a block with this one task, though. I'm trying to loft a rowboat in the mesh editor, and I'm not sure which method to use. I suppose I could create shapes representing cross-sections along the length of it and then skin those together (similar to a plane modeling tutorial I was checking out earlier). However, I'm curious if there's a way to do it using multiple profiles as well?

Thanks!

That's an excellent way to learn Carrara! Awesome manual isn't it? Man, I love that tome! I printed the whole thing out in draft mode (printer settings) to help keep from using up too much ink... but I did that back before I bought Carrara - knowing that I would buy it as soon as I saved up enough $$ for it. 

I still have that tome and just love it. It is certainly written to inspire. But, yeah... it might get a little vague at times. But it does do a good job at showing us a lot of what Carrara has to offer.

Anyways, I really thing that this will help you with exactly what you're looking for:

Part 1

Part 2

If you want, check out more of the tutorials from that playlist... Dimension Theory really knows how to get the most out of Carrara!

You might also find some fun inspirational help and fun here:

Learning Carrara and need some help? - which is a fun little thread all about learning Carrara. Because Carrara is so immense, we'll never stop learning! ;)

Well Mitovo, 

It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Dartanbeck, many people around here just call me Dart for short.

Rock on!

If that doesn't answer your question, give us a quick screen shot and an explanation of what you want to do - or what the problem is, and we can show you exactly what you need to know. There's a lot of expert Carrara modelers here ;)

Hey thank ya! Nice to meet you as well! I have seen a bunch of your work around here, and on YT.

It's kind of funny, and I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually kind of happy that Google influences search results and recommended videos based on what you've looked at previously. When I first started looking for videos about Carrara, I was getting the same small handfull of results. All of a sudden, there's all these other videos and channels popping up, that I hadn't seen yet. Almost my entire 'Related Videos' column on YT is Carrara vids now lol.

That's a good problem to have when you're trying to learn something for sure! Especially since it becomes easier to kind of "stumble" on to solutions to things you may not have thought of yet, or may not know how to ask about if you do. Sometimes knowing what to ask in the first place can be just as difficult as what you're asking about.

And yeah, that guide is pretty packed with info. I do wish it went into more specifics about "here's how you do it" in many cases, but I guess that's where videos and forums step in.

Take care!

 

WsCG

wgdjohn said:

Miltovo you migtht want to take a look at Carrara Challenge #26: “Caustics and Nautical” which is the WIP thread... There is at least 1 if not more boat building techneque mentioned for my own first feeble attempt and a better way to model what I wanted to do... I found it very helpful. There may be more but there are a lot of examples of different boats/ships. I went another direction entirely and abandoned boat or rather postponed it for the future.

Also check out HMS Endeavour for some profiles on ship building building and some "do's and don'ts".

Whether you are new to modeling, in between or an old pro check out my own thread, Modeling Objects in Carrara - Q&A - Come One and All, I've found it to be very helpful as I often have questions... I've also some links to other disscussions on modeling, YouTube tutorial videos and pay tutorials. Surprising to myself is that there are so many well known modelers, Artists and PAs who model who post answers. I also throw in some examples on how I use some methods, mini tutorials, as well as some renders of objects that I've come up with. Anyone is welcome to post a question, answer or their own tutorial whether it be text or visual pics of how to achive anything. Note that I don't recall building a boat being mentioned yet.

Excellent! Thanks! That turned out to be a great resource. One of the last posts on the first page, from diomede, actually shows exactly the process I was considering using, using Ruled Surfaces (I'd forgotten what they were called). I was also curious if it could be done with one of the other lofting types as well. But, maybe that's just making it more complicated than it needs to be.

Alrighty! I'll have to dig in and work on that more when I get home from work later (TGIF!). Then I can move on to the next set of features and learn about them.

Thanks again!

Dartanbeck

Mitovo said:

 

I was also curious if it could be done with one of the other lofting types as well. 

Probably. Try it once and see :)  You'll love the experiment even if it goes all caterwonky on ya! ;)

wgdjohn

Mitovo said:

And yeah, that guide is pretty packed with info. I do wish it went into more specifics about "here's how you do it" in many cases, but I guess that's where videos and forums step in.
 

Exactly... I use all 3 methods to learn. Can't very well ask the manual or a video to "explain this further"... so in steps the Forums...great for getting answers.

For different methods check out the two videos Dartanbeck mentioned which show the modeling tools and methods they both explain a lot and very well.

Also see ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄  - "All things Carrara. Look under Modeling and keep an eye out for the many links."

TIPS:

1. When learning how to use a tool I sometimes to repeat the proceedure and move on to another but I always go back every so often and use tools that I have already used. For myself repetition is important... otherwise the learnig or anything gets lost.
2. Always keep paths, which I consider templates. I have 2 files that I only use to refer to or rename and modify, the path/template file and the finished object file. Neither of these ever get changed, purposely.

Dartanbeck

Yeah, inside the >>> Carrara Information Manual <<<, there's a table of contents in the second post. What wgdjohn is mentioning "Look under Modeling", he's referring (I think) to looking within this: ► Forum Help Links which is within the Table of Contents. 

"Look under Modeling" can also refer to these as well:

► Cripeman's Carrara Video Tutorials Index
Carrara Community's very own Super Hero takes plenty of time from his busy life to
explore many exciting features of this amazing 3d content manipulation, modeling and animation suite

 

► GK Dantas' Video Manual Index
Carrara Cafe's Die-Hard Instructor - now with an easy-to-use index of links

Ahhh yes... that whole thing was an immense labor of love as a way of me giving back to the Carrara Forum Community for helping me to learn what I needed to learn over the years. We've lost the whole forum that was in place when I first started here, which is a real bummer. We had some amazing information in there. I actually went back in and copied over some of my best contributions into that >>> Carrara Information Manual <<<, and tried to save other things as well - but it was like trying to cut a knife with butter.

Since I've made that information manual, the forum software changed again, and nearly all of the links were lost within that huge thing. I was heart broken and asked that the thread just be removed - but chohole came to my rescue and, while asking that I not have it removed, also asked many people she knows to see if they could help me to fix it.

I've spent a little more than a few days going through the thing, fixing links. So it's kind of okay now, but I think there are still some links buried more deeply that I haven't fixed yet. If anyone finds any broken links, just post in that thread what's broken and I'll try to fix them - if I can find where they were supposed to lead. 

Anyways, I've recently started a new thread that leads into that one and to some other things. This forum software truly is much better than the one it replaced - so we're all pretty happy about that! Here's that new thread... I think I've already linked to it above:

► Learning CARRARA and need some help?

It's still young so I try to add to it when I find the time and inspiration. A lot of the times my inspiration comes from either myself looking for topics or from other folks asking questions. Building that whole Information Manual thread, especially the Forum Help Links has instilled a bit of a memory within me - which helps me to help others find answers from others who have been working out answers together - which was the basis for the Forum Help links in the first place - if new users look for answers in a topic that was once alive with research, and don't find what they're looking for or just have another question, asking in one of those posts sends an e-mail to anyone who may have been following the thread - so the new user gets (possibly) faster and more productive help, since these gurus from that older thread will see the new query.

Having that huge thread with all of those links has been really fun for me. For one, it helps me in a big way when I want to figure something out. Again, I put the thing together, so it usually doesn't take me long to figure out how to find what I'm looking for. In other ways, it's really fun when someone asks a question or is looking for something specific - something that I recall seeing before - I can go digging around in there and find some links. Then I can go to the question's thread and start typing a response backed with links, like:

Pete Gregorio has a wonderful online video tutorial that demonstrates some
wonderful features within Carrara's Vertex Modeler: Carrara 8 Gears Tutorial

Evil Producer Thread Posts - Useful information provided by one of our very own Carrara 3d Artists
Pros and Cons of Carrara DOF Vs. Postworked DOF I was mentioning how long I was waiting for a DOF (depth of field) calculation, which happens after the image is rendered. The image in question was a giant image designed to wrap around a scene as a background image - and was taking a L O N G time, indeed! Thanks again EP!

Sci Fi Funk Has a growing list of excellent Carrara Animation and Optimization Tutorials, that are made as he continues his never ending quest towards meeting his 3d Movie goals.

Eric Winemiller (DCG) put up a new tutorial on getting started with Toon! Pro. Get started with Toon! Pro Tutorial. It's awesome to see developers put some input into training new users on how to get going with the products they make. Very cool! Thanks Jay_Nola for the heads up!

Carrara 8 Training Videos from Infinite Skills
These are explanations of the training videos featuring Phil Wilkes and include some great sample footage from the series. I strongly recommend these products unless you feel that you are an absolute expert at using Carrara.
Learning Carrara 8
Advanced Carrara Techniques

► Carrara Plugins FAQ & Information - By Jay_NOLA
Jay compiled and organized a great measure of info regarding Plugins specific to our
beloved Carrara. FAQ, Information and Links to help you determine which are right for you. Thank You Jay_NOLA!

Bam! Just like that I can slam in some links. It took a LOT of work over a LOT of hours, weeks, months to get that stuff together - but to me, it's all been very worth it. It is my dream that everyone who wants to learn Carrara can find an easy time of it by coming to this forum. I'd like to see Carrara get so popular that the company simply cannot resist putting more urgency on its continued development. Carrara really is my reason for coming to a computer and since I've owned Carrara, this forum has given me a good reason (besides shopping at Daz3d) to come to the web!

Okay... enough about all of that! Take your time, have a look around, don't hesitate to ask questions, start your own new threads, voice your opinions... just don't forget that we're going to eventually be hitting you up to see some renders!!! :)

I'm glad you've come aboard! You're fitting right into our wonderful family just fine and I can hardly wait to see what you come up with!

Hmmm... such a long post could use some pictures. I'll add some images before I hit the Submit button, okay? ;)

wgdjohn

In the last picture Rosie is thinking "There he goes showing off agiain... I'll just ignore him". :)