how do I spin an extrusion in Blender?

[angelize]

I just tried that and it helped but there is still a seam, perhaps because I spun the vase last night but saved it and decided to work on it some more tonight? perhaps the only the end vertices should be selected?

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Hello Frances,

What I normally do is, right after spinning, while still looking from the top, I select "B" (box select) and draw a rectangle around the vertices that are selected. This also causes the doubled vertices (the reason for your seam) to be selected. Then, (just as Bill said) use Remove Doubles and the seam should be gone. Remember that if your object has weird shading that it means that some of the normals are pointing in the wrong direction. In that case, just select all faces and hit "Recalculate".

Note: Remember that when you are doing the box select that you don't just want the vertices that you can see, you have to get all the vertices down through the object, so make sure that "Limit Selection to Visible" is turned OFF.



(Shown in the ON position, but you want it OFF)

You could also just Select All and that will work fine for the Remove Doubles, in this case. My workflow is to box select them, just so I know that only those along that seam will get eliminated. (in case in some model there are very close nodes, but that I don't want to become poles (vertex with too many edges flowing from it, messy geometry)).

James

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Re: Index of Refraction

Since the Index of Refraction makes quite a difference visually (by its effect), I tend to set something close to clear glass and then add more until it looks the way that I want.

Originally, I did pull up the list and would use the list for things other than normal glass. The 1.1 to 1.5 area works pretty well for glass without making too many dull spots. (The dull spots occur when there is a too high (for the image, anyways) Index of Refraction and the glass is warping light in what seems like an unnatural way. You can see a hint of that at the higher values in that simple Index of Refraction anim that I made for your reference.

Like many things in Blender, this is another case where a little bit is good, but a whole lot is not better.

James

[angelize]

Well here is my vase I am quite pleased with it. Thank you James and Bill for all your help. One thing I noticed, I put a couple of objects in my scene (but didn't render them) and set reflections on, boy that increases render time!

[guyke]

Nice one, Frances ! You're way ahead of the other students !

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Hello Frances,

Very cool vase. It's definitely glass! I see you got the seam, etc., problems worked out.

And... now that you've created it, you can view it from any angle, any lighting, etc., and without having to redraw a thing.

I know you...there's bound to end up being some flowers in that vase!

Great job!

James

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Re: Render Time

Yes...any refractions/reflections adds a lot to the render time, since it must bounce rays (equal in number to the sampling) for each pixel that hits a refracting or reflecting object and then trace it on through to its destination. Still though, depending on computer resources of course, I think it's quite fast.

It seems like a long rendering time, perhaps, but I can still remember back around 1987 [using Imagine (originally TurboSilver) and Sculpt-3D (later Sculpt-4D)], when doing this kind of stuff. For even simple scenes (if there were a lot of mirroring or glass) I would start a render in the morning...go about my day and hope it was done when I got home in the evening. Oftentimes it wasn't. Thank goodness the Amiga was a very well-architectured multi-tasking computer.

Back then, it was all scenes...no anims. One could do anims, but I didn't have the computer time to dedicate for all those rendered frames. Now, with today's computers (and software like Blender, ie. more efficient) I can have high-resolution, mirrors and glass, and can still animate without it taking all day.

Peace

James

[angelize]

Yes I was thinking about flowers I actually have and idea but I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off yet. As for render times: An all day render good grief! I thought 4 or 5 mins was long!

[Soquili]

Great looking vase Frances.

Render times have definately improved over the past 20 years. I recall some renders taking 103+ hours.

[ODdOnLifeItself]

Re: Rendering Times (then vs. now)

Not the least of which is computer speed. From MHz to GHz! Multi-cores. The images are much better (more color, better anti-aliasing in general) and take much less time to do. The editing tools are really powerful. If I'd had Blender (as it is now) then, I would have ruled the world.

I'm glad, after these many years to come back to these types of tools. Anything you have the ability and take the time to make, you can see in pretty much any way and can manipulate it and even animate it. And yet, it all still feels like playing.

Bill, I would not have had the patience to let it cook for 103+ hours.

James