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Thanks! I feel like I'm following you around tonight! :)
Haha maybe we are following each other! I am up way past my usual bedtime too which might have something to do with it. Speaking of, I'm headed that way now since I can't see straight anymore lol.
Wow those wine glasses turned out fantastic! I was going to do one of the tutorials, really wanna do the teddy bear, but discovered I hadn't installed Blender on my desktop, only on my laptop, so spent the better part of the evening doing that and now have the newest version 2.77a installed and reading all the improvements on it. I always take my laptop to work with me and when I have some downtime I spend my time trying to learn DS, blender, silo, PS, or Filterforge, then when I get home I turn on my graphics PC to put into practice what I learn, but forget what I have installed on which...sometimes it feels like I am losing my mind lol.
Yep, I'm headed toward the direction of my bed, too. @Kharma Make sure you post whatever you make so we can see how you did! You, too, Sonja! Once you get the laptop back, try one of the tutorials and post what you make. I saw that teddy bear tutorial and I SO want to do that one, too.
So, I spent the day off and on, in between running errands and doing stuff with the boys, exporting my models out of Blender and into DS and then applying shaders to the surfaces to my models. Here are a few things I've learned. I don't have to do anything with UVs to export and bring into DS. Blender will include them. I think the only time you need to worry about UVs is when you want to export the UVs to an image so that you can take it into GIMP or Photoshop to add textures there. Otherwise, it isn't necessary. The other thing I learned is that you really should give descriptive names to you materials when creating an object!!! That clock has about 5 materials and I had to color code everything in DS so I could figure out what surface was what for add the different shaders. I'll have to go back into Blender at some point and fix that. I'm not sure if it is normal or not, but my models came into DS and none of the materials I used in Blender exported with my model, just their material zones. The model itself was just a clay model with no textures.
So, the basic steps are:
Make your model
Export to wavefront .obj using the options that @TabascoJack listed above from @Sickleyield's tutorial
Import to DS and select the DS scaling option as the Blender's rotation is messed
Scale up because the model is the size of a toothpick (I still have to figure that one out!)
Use shaders on all of your surfaces
I did find a really good tutorial on Blender's UV Unwrapper to get started for when you need to print out an UV map for texturing purposes. This is just a basic introduction to UV Unwrapping.
It took a few tries to get a decent UV for the wine glass, but it looks pretty good, I think, but I'll may have to work on it because the foot of the glass could be a little better. I still have to take it into GIMP and add something to it to see how it works when I apply it in DS. I'll do that sometime tomorrow. My morning is already shot as I have a plumber coming to possibly take out the old hot water tank and replace it with a new as the old seems to have sprung a leak. We'll how long that takes and if I manage to get into DS to do anything tomorrow.
So, here are my models rendered in DS:
Coffee Cup
Clock
Wine Glass
I did a little extra thing while I had the wine glass all set up in DS. I went to File>Save As>Support Asset>Figure/Prop Asset and saved my model as a DS .duf file for easy use again later. It brought up a dialog box and I put information in there like my name, categories and stuff like that for my model. After that, it was really easy to add another copy of the wine glass into my scene and it had all of my materials set just like the first one. So, of course, I had to run a render with the original and the glass added from the .duf file.
UV map for wine glass
I love Sickleyield's tutorial and I really hope she does some more in Blender because I'm actually starting to like it. It would be nice to have some more Blender tutorials specifically geared to us DAZ Studio users. So far, though, using Blender this time around has been fairly easy with the tutorials I found by Tutor4u and the one tutorial that Sickleyield did recently on doing clothing morphs in Blender. I'll keep playing with. I plan to do all of the other tutorials by Tutor4u because they look interesting and I really like his teaching style. He goes at a pace that is just right for me and he explains everything concisely, but thoroughly.
Ah, yes, that definitely has depth. Don't know what that mistake you mention is though. But then again, I'm newly awake and my brain is slower than usual.
I did something that cause a sharp edge inside the cup. If you look closely, there is a line about midway down that really shouldn't be there. I'm not quite sure what I did wrong there, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.
Huh! That's how I feel! I stopped in to see what's going on, and KM is working on modeling a wine glass in Blender. Me too! Well, not in Blender.
I've been working on modeling in 3DS Max, and I'll tell you what! Max is the most complictaed program imaginable! I didn't get around to UV mapping or texturing, or any of that. I just exported the .obj to Studio, and added shaders, etc.
Then I set up an Iray scene to show it off. (All I modeled was the wine glass) I'm amazed I actually figured it out!
See...there was this tutorial... Wait...I'm sure you know how that works.
And no, I'm not going to be making a coffee cup. I don't drink coffee.
Clearly, I need to make a wine glass.... lol. My laptop went to the shop today (boss was on vacation last week and since I am boss #2 guess who got to work extra hours last week lol). So I couldn't get it to the shop til my half day today. We shall see what they say. They did mention that it was a really nice laptop and worth saving. I also asked if they could add more memory to it.... Yup, I've got it bad lol.
That's a very nice wine glass, too! :) As for the coffee cup, I don't drink coffee either, but I do like a spot of tea now and again. What I don't drink is wine. I don't drink alcohol. I usually just cook with it. But, when I did drink on the rare occasion, it was usually a Tom Collins so I might have to model a Collins glass soon now that I sort of know what I'm doing.
Very nice render. Thanks so much for sharing! :) I have the student version of 3DS Max, but I haven't actually used it yet. It's on the list of things to try out, though. I have modeled in Hexagon 2.5. That is the program I started using because I got it for about $3 in the DAZ store. It was very nice introduction to modeling and I still using for morphs and clothing fits that Fit Control can't handle which is rare.
So, what are you modeling next? You can't stop with just one glass! You have to try it again.
I'm currently working with my UV map to see if I can get some personalized engraving on my wine glass. We'll see if I can figure that out in GIMP.
Well, I expect a model out of you once you get the laptop back, Sonja! You have to join the fun!
I don't drink alcohol either...other than the occasional shot of Nyquil during the cold and flu season. Tea...? rarely. Mt. Dew is my speed. Diet, please. Cooking? When it's my turn to cook, I take the family out to Wendy's, or somewhere. Needlless to say, when it's my turn to cook, there are no complaints!
Maybe I will make a tumbler with some ice cubes, and a half a glass of Diet Mountain Dew. (I actually saw a tutorial for that! Caustics, and everything! Errr...I think it was whiskey, but no one will know the difference, and I ain't talkin'...)
I've had Hexagon for probably 2 years, and never made 1 thing in it! I should get my $3.00 back...
Yeah, I have the educational version of 3DS Max too, but I can't seem to stay with one program long enough to actually master any of them.
Sonja, you're playing catch up here. The class is moving on.
@dHandle My drink of choice is Diet Mountain Dew, too! Mostly, I drink water these days, though. I'm trying to limit the soda to one a day.
Well, I'm quitting for tonight. Apparently, I need to work on my uv mapping because that uv map I made didn't do diddly or I suck at texturing and I've failed miserably at getting a texture on my wine glass that I thought would be really cool. I'm going to have to go back through @DestinysGarden's thread and refresh my memory of how she did that. Tomorrow, though. I've had enough of playing with uv maps tonight!
If Sonja's lucky the laptop will be done by the end of the week. I think she'll be able to catch up. :) Tomorrow, I'm working on my entry for the Suicide Squad contest which is going to involve doing Harley Quin's makeup. We'll see how that goes. I'm going to be in Photoshop creating my own skin for that. I managed to find an old copy of CS2 so I could try out the Build-A-Babe Skin Texture Merchant Resource. I'll let you guys know how that goes. So far, the only thing I've done in it is load up some of the MR skins I've purchased.
edit: forgot a sentence
It's great to see more people getting into modelling. I thought your clock looked great, though the face was a little low poly. A good way to check UV mapping is to use a grid such as checker board. These will show up any warping fairly clearly. I bought UV Layout severl months ago. It isn't the cheapest program, but if you intend on modelling a lot I highly suggest it.
Thanks for dropping in, @Jim I'll keep in mind the UV Layout program. I don't know how much serious modeling I'll get into, but it's nice to know what options are out there. As for the clock, I noticed that, too. I was thinking of upping the poly count when I go back in at some point to fix that back and put proper turnkeys and stuff on it. The tutorial didn't add those and I'd really like to have the back of the clock look like a clock.
Ok...I made another wine glass. And jazzed up the scene a bit.
HA! No, really. I need to get started on my tumbler with ice and diet Mt Dew. Maybe today...maybe not.
How are you finding Blender? I've used it a little. It has some nice modelling tools and it has some physics sims options I don't get in Lightwave. The UVmapping tools aren't bad too. UV mapping in Lightwave is horrible.
UV mapping in Lightwave isn't HORRIBLE.....though it isn't as full-featured (at least in the version I'm running) as in other apps. Blender is powerful, but the UI is way to cluttered and confusing.
Lightwave UV mapping is relatively simple. You have to do manual adjustments if you try to do any automatic unwrapping. And the undo/redo functions can be very inconsistent within it (my biggest peeve with LW UV work.)
I'm still back on LW3D v9.5, though......not sure what may have changed over the years. I can't afford to upgrade to the latest, though......
Compared to UV Layout it is horrible. I've used it successfully, but find other programs much easier to work with. The ABF unwrap added in 11.5 is very handy. I actually quite like UV mapping with Hexagon.
Such a romantic scene! I love it! I definitely want to see that tumbler full of Mt. Dew!
The tutorials I linked that I was following are pretty good so I haven't had much trouble yet. I kind of botched the UV mapping thing and I'll have to try that again. Overall, I like Blender so far. There are lots of tools I haven't used yet. I'm just following all of the tutorials I can and we'll see how I feel about it in a month or so. I have to say that it is much better than the last time I tried Blender when I first got into DS a couple of years ago. That experience is why I ended up getting Hexagon which I like, but there are just certain things I've seen done in other programs that I wanted to try that I couldn't figure out how to do in Hexagon. The relatively new GUI Blender has is a little better for me to understand than the old version. I think finding the right tutorial for me, though, was the biggest improvement and why I'm having such an easy time of it this time.
As for Lightwave, I've never used it so I have no idea. @Hphoenix Thanks for dropping by my little corner of the world.
This is turning into the Blender thread.........Here's my latest effort, a much more advanced jewelry tutorial.
@TabascoJack That looks very nice! I have a couple of jewelry tutorials on my list, but haven't gotten to them yet. That ring looks complicated! :) Did you figure out how to parent a prop, too? I still have to sit down and figure that one out.
Okay, folks, I worked hard on this entry and, of course, with my lack of time management skills, I submitted with about 10 minutes left to the deadline, but I did submit my entry to the Suicide Squad contest. I hit the render button for the final time at about 3 am and I must have done something to move the hair because I noticed some poke through after I submitted my entry. No way was I going to be able to fix that and submit another entry. So, it is what it is. I hope @DestinysGarden sees it, though, because that Harley Quinn outfit could not have been done without her texturing tutorials! I amazed even myself with how well that turned out. Once I recover from the stress of my entry, I'll have to post a before and after of the outfit because it does NOT look like the same clothing. It's amazing what you can do with underwear and a shirt. I used RawArt's Clown Clan on Harley's texture with a few modifications in GIMP and I don't think I did too badly. I do still need lots of practice in GIMP. I was going to do the skin from scratch, but just couldn't wrap my head around it in time. I'm still learning Build-A-Babe, but I just couldn't do it for this skin texture. So I had to use @RawArt's skin which was really stunning before I got ahold of it. Anyway, if you want to look at my entry, click on the link:
https://www.talenthouse.com/i/911/submission/218461/3001da30
TabascoJack you ring looks fantastic, could you share a link to the tutorial? Knittingmommy your entry for the contest is really good, you've really put all those lessons to work! I couln't leave a comment on the site as it says I need to log in and I just can't sign up for one more, I can't remember the ones I already subscribed to ...lol
Since we've been discussing blender a whole lot, I've noticed all the tutorial I have watched so far, when they fill in a circle its all triangles, and they leave it like that instead of changing to quads. Is that ok? I was under the impression from tutorials for other software such as Silo and Hexagon they are always manipulated to quads. Don't triangles mess with uvmaps or texturing or something like that?
@Kharma, Certainly! It's here!
It's a silent video but has some captioning to help explain, as well as whatever recording widget they use to record mouse clicks and key strokes.
It took me about 4-5 days, since I had to keep rewinding, trying to watch the mouse cursor, the key stroke widget, and the captioning all at the same time to figure out what he was doing. That said, I think I learned a lot about both blender and how to use it to design. I'm going back through it to create my own list of steps for individual tasks of design (like what an accurate ring geometry looks like, how to create a jewel setting, how to fit a curve to a projection, etc.)
The same artist who did this also has a jewelry design add on for blender, which is what I used for the gemstone.
Thanks so much for the link, I am not a fan of silent videos but I will give it a try. It might take me 4 or 5 weeks tho...
Thanks, @Kharma. I don't blame you for not wanting to sign up for another thing. If I wasn't submitting, I probably wouldn't have either.
As for the triangles, I think in some instances you can't escape them. However, I don't know for sure. I think what I've heard is Quads first, Triangles if you have to and N-gons should never be used. But, I'm still learning and those places in the tutorials where they left them as triangles, got left as triangles in my models because I wasn't sure how to turn them into quads if they needed to be. Maybe in some tutorial down the line I'll learn that. For the most part, I try to stick with quads whenever possible, but if the tutorial has triangles in their model then mine will too, for now.
Thanks for the link to the tutorial, @TabascoJack! I'll check that out because I do like the ring. I'll add it to my growing list of tutorials to try.
Laptop should be done early next week...
Yay!!!!
I'm not either. But the model looked intriguing enough I thought I'd give it a try. He has another one with voiceover that I'm going to try next.
Looks to have some similar concepts.
So, I was working with my entry for this month's New User contest and decided I wanted bubbles in my portrait with the kids, Makenna and Toby. The problem was that I only had one bubble product and I was a little disappointed that there was only one basic shape for the bubbles. So, I did a search for a YouTube video to see if Blender could help me out eaily. Turns out it has something called a Metaball which kind of acts like bubbles in that when two balls are close together they try to stick to each other and you can get some interesting shapes. You can also turn those into meshes which you can then export. There is a slight problem with them if you export. They have a ton of triangles and DS seems to really hate that! Five bubbles practically sends my system to its knees if you start and stop too many renders. They seem to be highly resource intensive little buggers. I managed to crash my system twice while trying to do renders with them. So, not something I'd recommend. I definitely need to figure out how to convert them to a low poly non-triangular version if I'm going to import them into DS and use them on a regular basis. But, they look kind of nice, so, I'd really like to see if I can get the look of bubbles that I want with a much lower, resources intensive version that won't have DS groaning every time it tries to render them. It would also be nice to have more than just a few. I tried doing some instances and had too many and crashed my system again. I'll play with them and see what I can do in the future. For now they kind of work for what I needed them for with my entry. If I plan to keep them in the entry, I'll have to make some changes to the geometry.