Birthday Project
 

I haven't finished my last one but here it goes...
This is a small tribute for a friend

This is what I've done so far:
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/1811/tempyy6.png
Some NURBS balloons with sss fast simple shader.
C&C please

And two questions:
*What's the best way to create strings? Anyone ever tried this?
*Can I use dynamics to make them arrange themselves naturally? Will it be easier then doing it manually? Thing is I want to create a dozen balloons more or less, and I need this one by a deadline (21st).
Thanks in advance,
Benny

PS
I'm having strange problems with Maya's render window not saving images (It creates blank image files)... I'll experiment with it tomorrow. now it's printscreen and paste into paint...

Some progress:
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6268/tempvi0.png

I decided learning dynamics for this project will be a waste of time... Just arranged the balloons manually.

I still need help with the strings though. I thought about creating a small low poly cylinder but it doesn't look too good...

BTW, I can't save an image to .png for some reason... .tiff works fine. Anyone knows why this might happen?

Thanks in advance,
Benny

" I decided learning dynamics for this project will be a waste of time"

Most of the time learning never is ;)

You could do the strings with a dynamic hair curve and extruding a nurbs circle along this curve?
If you really want to save time you can use a sampler info node connected to a ramp for transparency, reflectivity etc. instead of SSS,I've tried SSS a couple of times now (emphasis on tried)and i can say to you that unless your a Gnomon apprentice or a maya god it will take some time to get it right with all the variables, likely more then the days you've got so i would fake it (maybe even with translucency etc) and make sure to get the movement of the balloons right.(use turbulence fields and stuff like that to get the irregular movement.
Also do the test with only one balloon and if it looks right duplicate it and change a setting slightly(upping the mass etc)

Good luck:beer:

Thanks mastone,
I know that but I don't have enough time for that right now.
I haven't quite understood what you suggested but it sounds like it's supposed to be an animation. I'm going for a still image so I'm only interested in how to model a string.

I started experimenting some more but my computer works like s*** so I'm currently trying to fix some issues...

Benny

you could use the cv curve tool and make the profile of the string then make a nurbs circle and shift select the curve and the circle and extrude. Then you scale the circle down until the curve is the size of a string. Then you can give it an string texture.

step 2

step 3

step 4

hope this helps you out

when you have the string the size you like delete history.

oh you can also make the output of the string a polygon when you extrude so it will be easier to texture then smooth it.

Thanks, That's useful...
I had no idea i can do this with two curves...
I'll see what I can get with it and post some progress soon.
Thanks again,
Benny

just wondering if you have lights behind your balloons? its just that i don't see much sss happening. :confused:

I have a couple of lights, not directly behind the balloons but I have a back light there...
I don't know too much about sss but I thought it would be the right approach.

banksta: That trick didn't work... ended up creating the strings from polys. This time I applied a texture with varying transparency ans specular color. Still needs refinement though.

Here's a rough sketch:
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/9490/tempcl2.png
Lots to do yet...

I found out the problem with saving the file is actually caused because the sss shader has 0 alpha for some reason :confused:
Can someone post a tutorial on sss? Google turned up with lots of pretty much useless stuff :( . I remember seeing one in highend3d but it seems to be down right now.

Thanks in advance,
Benny

I think you need a bit of transparency on the ballons

I'm currently going over the SSS tutorial on Highend3D and I have a question - Can I connect all of my sss Materials to one shading group?

And one more thing: It says there -
"Light Linking Mode' - This is a common parameter on Mental Ray material shaders. Mode 0 means all lights are included in shading the object. Mode 1 means that specifically connected lights are the only ones used. Mode 2 means that specifically connected lights are the only ones NOT used. Mode 0 is the fastest to render."

what are these 'specifically connected lights'?

Thanks in advance,
Benny