Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 2
This course will look in the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. It's aimed at people that have some modeling experience in Maya but are having trouble with complex objects.
# 91 29-04-2012 , 12:20 PM
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That looks good


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# 92 29-04-2012 , 08:01 PM
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Yes that does look good...............dave




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# 93 29-04-2012 , 08:35 PM
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Here is a version I made to quickly show how you can do it with a single poly plane and a transparency map. I am still trying to figure out how to do an AO render because by default the AO ignores transparency so this is just using a directional light and FG.

Forgive the modeling I tossed something that looked similar to what your image together and I was pretty sloppy.

First I created a tileable pattern in PS.

Then there are three renders to help you visualize things. The first is just the single poly plane where the grill will be with a default lambert shader applied.

Then I made a shader (lambert) and applied the tileable texture to the color and in the place2dtexture node I set the u and v repeat to 15 and the rotation to 24. With this render you can see the pattern. The white will be visible and the black areas will be transparent. This is just to visualize what will be masked and the size of the grate.

Then I created another lambert and this one I assigned the tiileable image to the transparency and left everything else alone. Once again set the u and v repeat to 15 and rotation to 24 in the 2d-placement node and left everything else default.

You get the illusion of the grill and it also works with lights as you can see the shadows inside the box.

NOTE: One important thing to remember when using transparency with mental ray. You must go to the file image mode and in the color balance section check luminance is alpha or you'll just get a render with no transparency.

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Last edited by ctbram; 29-04-2012 at 10:52 PM.
# 94 29-04-2012 , 10:31 PM
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What I have been investigating is a way to give some thickness to this. From the right distance this technique works well but get too close and you can see the mesh has no thickness. What I was experimenting with was using a displacement map + transparency map to try and give the wire cage some thickness.

I could not get the transparency to work in conjunction with displacement but I could generate the displaced geometry and then just delete the faces for the holes. This of course will produce large poly counts but for this mesh I was getting just over 1k polys displaced which appears to be lower then the modeled version and is of course much faster and easier to create a variety of grate patterns.

Below is the shader network. The repeatable file texture is plugged in the lamberts transparency. You can also use a blinn but remember you must also plug the transparency map into the spec.

The place2dtexture node of the lambert controls the u and v repeat of the image as well as rotation.

The color balance of the file node - remember to check lumanence is alpha or you will get no transparency when rendering in mental ray. This drove me crazy when I was first playing with transparency maps.

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Last edited by ctbram; 29-04-2012 at 10:46 PM.
# 95 29-04-2012 , 10:49 PM
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Something else I was considering to create a grate with thickness would be to bring the grating in as a illustrator vector outline and then use bevel plus.


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# 96 29-04-2012 , 11:03 PM
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Wow Rick, thanks for reply and tutorial. Yea, it could be much faster to render and has less poly count as well, but those techniques look kinda hard to me as I've never been working with maps and textures at all, but I think I'll try that this way too. Anyway, thanks again, I'll definitely use them in the future. Today I have been working on exhaust system; there it is.

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Last edited by Creck; 30-04-2012 at 05:02 AM.
# 97 30-04-2012 , 06:44 AM
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Rick if you make a copy (white bits only)of the grill in PS and in the layer style put a inner glow on it change the colour to dark gray and the mix to normal that will give the look of a occlusion render...............dave




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# 98 30-04-2012 , 07:08 AM
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Thanks Dave,

I am thinking the inner glow style could also be used with a bump to give the illusion that the wires had thickness. But, I was playing with the transparency map texture approach and it does not hold up well for long shots. It becomes barely visible.

It really needs thickness and although the poly count is lower 1 poly vs 18k for an accurate model of the grate the render times are within 1 sec and for close shot the surface beats the texture.

So for the best renders I think modeling the surface is better unless there is a way to add thickness to the transparency map which I have found no easy way to do in maya.

What would be nice is being able to apply both displacement and transparency (as I have seen done in rhino with vray it was very impressive). Using a texture for applications like this has an advantage that you can easily change the pattern, rotation, repeat, offset of the grating.

Anyway it was fun exploring the transparency approach and it could have some applications although I lean towards a modeled surface for the best looking renders.

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Last edited by ctbram; 30-04-2012 at 07:27 AM.
# 99 30-04-2012 , 08:21 AM
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Rick
Did you try creating a normal map using the high poly mesh.............dave




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# 100 30-04-2012 , 08:32 AM
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No I did not try that Dave. I am not the best with normal maps and I have had little luck finding any decent tutorials that really break them down well. So every time I have tried them I get all kinds of crappy results.

But if you want to break the process down I'll give it a try. I have given up on trying to follow normal mapping tutorials as every one I have tried is either not applicable to what I want to do or they just plane suck and leave out critical information so you waste time and get crappy results and cannot sort out why!


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# 101 30-04-2012 , 05:56 PM
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Hey mates, do you have any suggestion how to create a metal rope on back? I know how to create a rope, but how to coil it around those holders.

reference


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Last edited by Creck; 30-04-2012 at 06:01 PM.
# 102 30-04-2012 , 07:25 PM
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I know you are not to much into texturing but for me this would be the way to go, I would create the shape of the rope with a nurb circle (by using a nurb circle it will UV it as it goes) then convert to polys, then use the texture (I made in maya and photoshop)for the rope you will need to adjust the texture for your needs like rotate and cut back, Rick Im sure will show you how to model with a nobbly circle and a curveuser added image............dave

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# 103 30-04-2012 , 08:51 PM
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Yes, I must agree with Dave that a texture would be the most efficient way to do this.

So from least to most geometry you could....

1. start with a cylinder and use a texture + bump + displacement

2. start with a polygon helix and delete the inner faces and merge verts to create a silhoutte and then texture and bump

3. start with a polygon helix, pull off a curve, create the "nobbly circle" as dave calls it and then extrude that along the helical curve and then use the extrude revolve attribute to twist it. (although I prefer to extrude a poly plane and use the twist attribute as it is more predictable).

4. take 3 and make a nomal map on to 2 or 1

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# 104 30-04-2012 , 11:09 PM
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Ah guys, thanks very much for tut user added image However,i t's too late now and I am pretty tired, but tomorrow going to give it a try


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# 105 01-05-2012 , 08:34 PM
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Well, as have been off for almost a whole day and have no time for the rope, I just recently done track cell that was in-progress

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