Simple program to learn meshes

[jyoung]

Udemy has an online course on Blender which is pretty good. Also, dogwaffle.com has a recommendation for a program called Archipelis Designer which looks very interesting. Can make 3d objects by tracing objects. I've not tried it but it looks pretty cool. So if you are just looking to learn modeling I would recommend the Udemy course and learn Blender as it is free.

[Ron Duke]

Thanks theinonen.

[Ron Duke]

Udemy has an online course on Blender which is pretty good. Also, dogwaffle.com has a recommendation for a program called Archipelis Designer which looks very interesting. Can make 3d objects by tracing objects. I've not tried it but it looks pretty cool. So if you are just looking to learn modeling I would recommend the Udemy course and learn Blender as it is free.

Thanks Joe!

[angelize]

Have you had experience with a program other than Blender?

No, I've only used Blender. But I bet if we ask nicely maybe Gary Bouton will chime in here. He would be much better to ask about 3D modeling than me.

I'm also wondering if it's truly 3D modeling you want to learn and not vector mesh fills if this thread wouldn't be better in the 3D forum? Let us know and a mod will move it.

[Gare]

Hi Ron—

I see two questions here:

…recommend a program that is simple to use for learning how to use meshes?

“Simple to use” is an incredibly subjective phrase. You know that I’m sure, whenever anyone has asked you about Xara. You, a phenomenal artist, naturally is going to downplay the learning curve to Xara—it’s easy for you, but has taken you a while to refine your skills, right?
Let me be presumptuous for a moment and assume that you want to use some modeling program that:

• Makes sense to someone with not just Xara skills, but also Windows conventions, such as mouse wheel-dragging, and using Ctrl, Alt, and Shift as shortcut modifiers.

• Provides as visible an example as possible for understanding how 2D vector paths in a 3D space can be moved, revolved and otherwise twisted in space to create that 3rd D.

Let’s set aside the term “meshes” for the while, because depending on the program and terminology the program uses, “mesh” is sort of an ambiguous term. You’re seeking to create the most elegant, visually descriptive, and detailed renders of objects you make and pose, with the least amount of effort?

Were I to teach modeling, and God help any student dumb enough to trust me, this would be lesson #1 or #2: by creating a very simple vector cross-section shape of a coffee cup, and then telling the program to revolve that path 360 degrees around a fixed point, you have a pot shape, a lot like the result of sitting at a potter’s wheel and making the path’s profile in 3D space by moving your hands around. Not to over-simplify the art of pottery, mind you!

The handle? Imagine a lozenge shape I tell the modeling software to travel through space in an arc.



To flash forward, you choose a camera angle, and angle that looks good to the artist’s eye, usually 2 or three point perspective. You set up one or two lights. If you’re a photographer, you’re aware of how a white card can help bouncing light, and many inexpensive modeling/rendering/animation software will allow light sources to bounce off a geometry and illuminate the far side of a scene. Lights come in different types, such as a bare lightbulb and a spotlight, and you can choose for the light to cast shadows or not.

Finally, to once again oversimplify, a model needs a material, and you can make your model look glossy, like a brick wall, like glass, or even like a hand-drawn cartoon, as shown in the figure above.

Then, just as you need to make a bitmap copy of a Xara drawing in order to share it on the Web, you need to make a bitmap copy of your model to be able to share it. This is called rendering. Alternatively, you can set keyframes in the program, move your object around and then render an MP4 or AVI movie. But this is getting way ahead of where it is I think you want to go at the moment, Ron. Let me walk it back a few miles now.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Back in 1991, when I was able to convince MacroMedia to give me a copy of their $4000 MacroModel software because I was an Influence Peddler in the Tech World (insert LOL here), I had a strong reason for wanting to take on “3D”, even though our computer processors were pathetic by today’s standards, and without a good subsystem on today’s graphics cards, 3D rendering would still be a hassle.

Regardless of yesterday’s processing requirements, me, the physical artist who knew what a pencil can do, and had a fair idea of what a software program’s pencil could do, I wanted it all, as far as photorealism goes, and I wanted the computer to help me calculate the stuff I didn’t have the time, patience or skill to do on my own.

That’s what a modeling program can do, and what it’s mostly used for today…to add that extra dimension that visually explains stuff so a piece of work is quickly assimilated and enjoyed by the audience.

Brace yourself now. The real reason I’ve kept up with modeling for going on a quarter century is:

When you model something, it’s only one investment in labor that can yield multiple versions. For example, you model a snowman (entering Stage Left very soon). Okay, if you draw a snowman, and your client would like it facing the other way, or more dimly lit, or in green or other Seasonal Colour, you’d mostly have to go back to square one with your drawing, right? Yes. But not when you model the snowman. You simply (and I detest the word “simply” when addressing novices!) change the color (takes 2 seconds), change the camera angle (another 2-3 seconds), and the lighting, and the rendering process, the program making a bitmap copy of your vector structure, is generally what take the most time. But as a bench, Ron, rendering a high quality picture from a scene to, say 2K, takes less than 5 minutes in 2016, and my everyday machine only has a Sandy Bridge architecture.

So here is the most honest test I could think of to “sell” you on the idea of spending your spare time working with paths in 3D. I chose a program that’s open source and free; out of several, including Blender, I chose Art of Illusion. It does not have an award-winning UI, it’s not 100% intuitive, it looked like it had some possibilities when I chose it.



My quest: how long would it take me to produce something recognizable from Art of Illusion, given my good but finite understanding of modeling, no pre-understanding of the software, and given the documentation is “typical programmer’s documentation.” :)

It took me almost exactly ½ hour to produce this admittedly crude snowman. The most difficult part was the stovepipe hat: I couldn’t find the icon for scaling something disproportionately. The limbs are vector paths that have has a circle swept along it (“tubing” in AOI) to produce the third dimension.



So we also have spheres and cylinders. Aligning the parts was easy because like many modeling programs, you have four simultaneous views you can see and work in, not being able to physically step into the program.

How big s your monitor, in case you can do this in 2017? :)

This animation on YouTube is only to show some of the possible angles from which you can render your snowman. I exported the snowman to the OBJ file format, brought it into Cinema 4D because I didn’t care to learn how to animate in Art of Illusion. And except for crude surface areas I didn’t bother to refine—because then someone might say I cheated using my talent, I didn’t really, this is raw WIP artwork(!)— this is “showtime”.




From idea to finish line, this is how I’d recommend to someone not experienced with working in 3D how to begin. Oh, and check out this image I took from their gallery without the artist’s permission.



Download Art of Illusion

Keep in mind that a surface in real life s a lot of times more visually interesting than its geometry, and modelers know that and we use a lot of photos of surfaces in the real world, like the burger meat and bun. Ask yourself how interesting a highway is. It’s just a geometric plane, right? But you need to add cigarette butts, and spilled liquids and the grain of pavement and other things to get a “simple plane” looking like a photorealistic highway.

I’ve gone on longer than enough or to be appreciated! :) Ask csehz about modeling; he’s only just started a few months ago and he’s shown me some very impressive things he’s done using Blender.

My Best,

Gary

[MarcT]

Hi Ron,

Silo is an "easy" to learn subdivision modeler, flexible and not expensive.

Otherwise, Moi3d is quite unbeatable for a curve-based solid nurbs modeler. Very simple, very effective, very fast.
It also doubles as a 2d geometric drawing software, for the CAD things you cannot do in Xara. You can also export your 3d objects contour in 2d vector shapes.

Marc

[Albacore]

Hi Ron. If it is only how to use the tool, these tutorial should help. Picked the second to show how you can use the tool in your type of drawings: http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials...r--vector-1423 http://www.automotiveillustrations.c...ient-mesh.html

It must have been about 4 years ago when we had a discussion on the gradient tool when you were doing the French Horn I think. I have used this tool in Illustrator many times but always thought it was a slow way to draw. You have to have a good understanding of colour and how you want to apply it and think it out beforehand. I am not good at that as I prefer to use transparencies but as you know up until recently transparencies don't print well especially when you add a feather area to your trans. This is why programmes like Illy introduced the Gradient Tool. I am not sure but I think the gradient tool in D/Plus is an RGB effect tool but I could be wrong there as don't have an up to date copy. To go back to Illy and its gradient tool I found it a slow way to draw highlights and shadow lines but I did do a Tibetan boy which I was really proud of a goodly number of years ago.

As for 3D modeling, I found it very difficult to get into and I was off and on it for 6 moths with only a small amount of success. It is far easier now to use 3D programmes and being a technical teacher as well as being an engineer by using a CAD type programme called Inventor from AutoDesk. You draw in orthographic projection and expand it into a 3D rendered view with nearly 2 clicks of a button into any material and texture that you can think about all done from libraries. AutoDesk makes this Inventor programme available to every School free to use as well as all students can also have this programme installed on their own computer at home for free.

[Gare]

Hi Ron—

I thought earlier that my keyboard had run out of words, but I was wrong.

IF: what you really want to do is to be able t manipulate the subject of your drawings in 3D space to get the right perspective ands angles, and even reflections and stuff...

THEN: You buy or download the models you seek at places such as TurboSquid, who often have free, good models, and then you enlist someone who can work with the file and give you what you want for a render you can then draw.

Example: I needed to set up a faux classical music scene about ten years ago, which included a mode of a French horn.



When I have a visual idea, I consider what software would be of the most use. If you're a Xara Kinda Guy, then you probably don't want to go through years of education so you can model something you then draw. That's what cameras are for! :)

Is this making any sense, or should I go back on my hallucinogens?

My Best,

Gary

[Ron Duke]

Gary,
You're a boatload of information and even more generous than that!!!!!!!!! Thank you!

Frances, Peter and Marc..... Thank you so much!

Where to begin....hmmmmm....

[Gare]

You're welcome, Ron.

Can you be more specific about what it is you want to do?

If you have a nail, I'd recommend a hammer.

:)


-g