Xara plus Blender questions

[angelize]

My apologies if this is not the right place for this post, I'm not sure exactly where to ask this.

Inspired by some of the Xara/Blender creations posted by James I decided to see if I could manage to learn to use Blender and see if I could create something.

To start I'd like to ask about importing my xara work into Blender, and how to use it once I have it in there. I am sure I will have more questions along the way, already I am finding blender's learning curve much steeper than Xara's.

[handrawn]

I'll move it to [general] 3D graphics as its a blender question....

[pauland]

I think the major thing to realise is that Blender and all other 3D programs build their own world as a visualisation of surfaces. So the cube is six surfaces arranged to form a 3D cube . With Xara you effectively build 2D planes that sit over or under each other and can mimic the appearance of 3D (if that's what's required) or just look flat (2D).

To use 2D artwork in a 3D environment, you essentially need to apply a 2D texture to a 3D surface. So returning to the cube example you could map some Xara created artwork (exported as PNG perhaps), and map the artwork to the faces of the cube, then you would be able to see it.

So, essentially working with 2D artwork in a 3D environment is about mapping 2D textures to a 3D surface. You build a 3D world then apply 2D textures to it (either from basic colours within the software or imported artwork).

I think that you would find it easier having a simple goal in mind when trying to get to know Blender, then you can target your questions towards a specific goal. I haven't used Blender much, I used to use Lightwave quite a lot.

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Hello Frances,

There are several ways to integrate Xara with Blender.

First is a special add-on (included) with Blender...you only have to make sure it's turned ON in User Preferences. It's called "Import Images as Planes". You can import images manually (but why?), however this add-on makes sure that the created plane has the same aspect ratio as the original graphic. Also, as you go to import, you will see some options on the lower left of the screen for using the alpha channel, for premultiply and for shadeless. The alpha channel you want clicked if there is ANY transparency in the original that you want to preserve. Also, if so, click premultiply, it will make the edges look better. As for shadeless, that makes it so that the graphic is shown just as it is, with no shading based on where the lights are, etc. (normally, you want shadeless OFF, since you want the graphic to integrate into the scene) If you're using a (distant) background for something, then you often want shadeless ON so that the graphic looks exactly as it did in Xara. For most planes, you will want to go to the specularity slider in Materials and slide it to the left to turn off specularity. (90+% of image planes will need it OFF)

A second way to pull things into Blender is (as Pauland commented) as textures for objects. All objects need a material and SOME objects need a texture. You only have to decide how you want that texture to be mapped onto the object. For planes, cubes, cylinders, tubes, spheres, or sphere-like objects, there is a direct option that maps it correctly. (find the mapping method on the Textures panel, looks like a checkerboard). For more complex objects that you need to map perfectly, you will have to unwrap the object, which means to have the program convert those faces of the object so that they are laid out flat. Then, when you import an image, it is laid correctly across all of the faces. Unwrapping simple objects is not so hard...the more complex the object, the more difficult the unwrapping. Luckily, the plane (flat), cube, tube, and sphere mapping works for most objects. (You can also paint right onto objects!)

The third way is to activate the SVG saving option in Xara (for DP7, it required a small registry change which I think I got from Mike B, here). With this, you can take your shapes that you make in Xara and pull them right into Blender. The same way that you can create a 3D extruded shape in Xara from a shape, you can pull that shape into Blender and extrude it there. Because of this, it is often easier to make some complex shape in Xara and then pull it into Blender rather than to try and make the shape by placing vertices to make the shape.

If you had a large blue star that you made in Xara and wanted to use that in Blender and it wasn't really close to the camera (ie. the fact that it has no depth is not important, because of the viewing angle), then pulling it in as a SVG works excellently, even preserving the initial (solid) coloring.

Blender is not easy, because there are so many options and settings. Still, tackle it one piece at a time and it all starts falling into place nicely. Really, there are a finite number of "tasks" that you are likely to need (for anything that you're "building" in Blender)...so learn it once, and use it forever.

One more thing, Blender uses keyboard shortcuts extensively, so it pays to print a listing out (available at Blender.org) for reference.

One other little tip...in User Preferences, there is a checkbox for something like "Dynamic Space Bar". When you start a New document, click this checkbox and then hitting the space bar gives a menu with many of the mostly used functions. If you don't know this, then you have to go search everything out in the menus.

I agree with Pauland that it is a good idea to start with SOME idea of what you want to make and then work to learn the functions that you need to make that happen. For example...say you wanted to make a small scene with a ground surface, a cylinder (with say, your image wrapped on it) and a mirrored sphere next to it. For this scene, you'd need only 3 objects. (not including lights and camera, of course) The ground, you would likely load in using "Import Image as Plane", but make sure specularity is OFF. The cylinder and sphere are primitives that you can get just by going to the Add menu (or using the dynamic space bar menu that I mentioned above). Once you create the cylinder or sphere, you will likely want to turn on smoothing just so that they don't appear faceted. To make the sphere mirrored, just give it a new material, turn the coloring darker and give it some amount of mirroring (0.5 to 0.9). For the cylinder, create it and then go to Materials and give it a new material. Go to Textures, choose New and then choose "Image or Movie" and Open the file that is the image. Tell it that you're mapping the image to a tube and then, with the cylinder selected, hit R (for Rotate), Z to constrain it to rotating about the Z-axis and then 180 and hit Enter. This will rotate the cylinder so that the seam (where the left edge of image meets right edge of image) will be in the back and invisible. If you are using a seamless image, of course, you can leave out the rotating. For a plain, photo image, you will need to rotate it.

Mostly...have fun... don't feel intimidated, you won't break anything.

One cool feature that I wish that Xara had is, when you click Save As, if you've given the file a name with numbers in it (for revisions), then there is a little PLUS button that automatically increases the number in the filename. It pays to save at many points along the way...never know when you think, "oh, I want that shape back the way it was before I changed it to...."

The normal way of working with Blender is to have the right hand (assuming right-handed) on the mouse and the left hand on the keyboard. Even if you don't start that way, you'll end up that way.

Ask if you have problems/questions...I'm glad to help.

Thanks for the nice comments!

Peace

James

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Hello Frances,

To show what I was saying above about importing SVG graphics into Blender:

I made the following in Xara.



After saving (SVG) and then importing into Blender and extruding (literally 2 mins)...



You can see that the "objects" came into Blender, just as they were created in Xara. Here it is from another view.



Lastly, I changed the tops of those objects to show that they are editable objects, free to do whatever you want to with... The snake-like line has a texture applied to only the top faces. The left cylinder has another (Xara-made) texture mapped to it. The right cylinder has a cloud texture applied (to the top) from within Blender.



Using this method, it becomes much easier to have complex shapes that are made with Xara's (excellent) drawing tools and have them imported right into Blender, ready to use/manipulate/position.

Take care

James

[pauland]

Frances,

James has provided some great advice and shown off his skill. Don't be put off that you will struggle to turn around decent results at first. It takes time to switch to a 3D mindset and time to get used to doing all the stuff that goes with it - modeling, texturing and lighting.

Everybody struggles at first. You'll appreciate how easy Xara's 3D tools make it to get a fast result.

Paul

[Hwy101]

Hi, I asked the same thing -I could not find a way to bring in something to start with... seems the program is not 'cluttered' up with lots of potential things to use... but, I will have to re-find the thread here, to remember what I was told to do to turn on being in a format not shown... (I have lost that piece of my mind already) LOL -let me go look. BRB (I want to say it is in Options & you have to 'Turn-On' the Format you want to bring in... seemed strange to me) -- Not Options; but, User Preferences -Here let James say it:

Re: Blender 2.57 Stable version !

Hello Tom

There are many import options in Blender. Some of them you have to turn on by going to User Preferences. (many of the things in Blender are activated this way, so that the software isn't bloated with tons of unused options)

Have fun!

James

[angelize]

Thanks fellas! Ok here is my very first attempt at a 3d rendering in Blender. It's not the greatest but hey it's a start! Both of the textures were created in Xara.

[Hwy101]

I like it (lots better than mine)!

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Hello Frances,

That looks great.

I see that you have found the image mapping (your question from an earlier post).

I can't tell (and so, in this image it doesn't matter) if you've set the mapping for the sphere to Sphere Mapping? Just in case, you find that option here:



For the ground image, you can also give it some bump mapping to look a bit more textured. It's really easy to do, you only have to check the Normal checkbox, (under Influence), give it a small amount, and change the Bump Mapping Method to "Best Quality". Season to taste.



Something else, just so that you know... any images that are used for textures can (of course) control the coloring of an object, but they can also control other things, such as how textured the object appears (Normal), how transparent the object is (Alpha), etc. You can even stack as many as 10 textures (controlling various things) on top of each other for virtually infinite effects.

In the example below, there are no faces removed from the object. It is a simple, red sphere, but with a grid (composed of alternating black and transparent squares). By setting the objects Transparency to Alpha = 0 (obj invisible), and then using the mapped texture image, with the Alpha box checked and set to 1, the object will be transparent, but only where there was transparency in the original texture!



Blendfile for the above image...

Keep at it, Frances; you're already off to a great start!

Have fun!

James

P.S. One other little tip in case you go to use a texture with transparency. If you have a plane (let's say) and it has transparency, it will cast a rectangular shadow (ie. disregarding transparency) UNLESS you go to the Materials tab for the object receiving the shadows and go down to Shadow and enable "Receive Transparent". In the above example image, the floor plane must have this set or the shadow on the floor is of the entire sphere (no holes). Also, the inside faces of the sphere would not have been illuminated unless Receive Transparent is set for the sphere as well. This is one that had me pulling my hair out. I had added an object with transparency, but had solid shadows as if the object had no transparency. Finally had the answer, which I share with you here so you don't have to pull out any hair. (at least over that one)