I’m trying this tutorial again. The fist problem I’m having is after I outline the fork with the Bezier Tool and use the mirror function (Set to World and ZY coordinate system per the tutorial) it creates the mirrored fork but offset on the X axis by quite a large amount. I’m not sure how to proceed from here as it will change the symmetry of the fork if I try and use the move tool to bring in the mirrored side (that is if I’m not super accurate). I tried the different coordinate systems but it didn’t change the outcome.
If someone has any thoughts about why this could be happening I would love to hear it.
The two open ends of the Spline (start and end of the Spline) needs to be on the “blue Line” as Patrick mentions there, which is X=0 for these two points.
If not at the zero point, the Mirror-Tool needs to be set to “Object” and then you need to go with the Mirror-Tool to one of the points that will be on the “Symmetrical Axis”. A little white line [see orange arrow in the image below] will show up and inform you about the orientation of the axis in use.
Use the tool in the Top View, and set to Object (Considering the half profile of the fork is in the Top view)
To go with the Mirror Tool into the Perspective view and have the Attribute Manager>Mirror-Tool>Coordinate System>(set to) Screen, things might look random.
Think of the mirror tool as a real mirror, and how you would need to hold it to get the half object in the scene to a complete object.
Let me know if that helps to make it work for you!
I’m sorry to be such a pain but I followed the instructions to the letter. I made sure that the start and the end points were set to zero (as the tutorial instructed) with both points on the (Z) axis. Using the mirror tool (again following the tutorial) I set it to World and ZY but the resulting mirror was way offset from the reference photo of the fork. I don’t know why this just doesn’t seem to work for me. I don’t think that the Cinema 4D application is mangled but may be I need to delete the library preferences folder. Anyway, I’m stumped!
You are not a pain, not at all. We all run against the wall—soon or later. If we don’t clear these little things, we will always delay any further steps. So it needs to be cleared to allow for a better progress in the future. It is not the tool here, it is something that is more or less abstract that might be in the way. What ever it is, let’s go through it and over it. OK! :o)
My suggestion, please share the file that you have, compress it to a “zip” file and attache it here. Just the plain simple spline in the file, no image ... nothing else. I have a look into it and try to figure out the best way to mess it up, to share my findings with you.
I’m sorry I had to step away for awhile. I’m not sure how I attach a file to this post? I don’t see a button or anything that says upload fie or something similar.
Boy I must be a real idiot because I’m not sure what you mean? Where do I choose file? I’m sure you don’t mean File on the browsers interface. The only buttons I see when typing this message are Fast Reply, Compose Reply, New Topic and the Submit Post buttons.
Thanks for the file, Paul. Works great here. (Each message should have the option to attach files, not only new ones, but my account might be different as instructor/moderator). I merged the two threads.
1—create first half. In this case the half fork aligned with the z axis on first and last point.
2 —call up the Mirror Tool (M~H) and with this view (top) and the axis nicely aligned, the ZY plane (as a real mirror would be in space) is perfect already, World.
3—click on the first point and see if teh resulting line is straight with the Z axis. It is.
4—done.
Please let me know which step is not working and we go from there.
Well I got back your file and it looks like it does when I perform the mirror operation. I wanted to send it back to you with the image this time so you can see how off it is when it mirrors on the (X) axis. I tried to go back into the tutorial to attach the file again but it says I’m not authorized to do that. So if you could just take the file you created and load the reference image and set it to 1000 on the (Y) axis you will see how off the resulting mirror is. In the tutorial when Patrick does the mirror step it lines up perfectly on the other side of the image. So I’m not sure why it is not behaving like in the tutorial.
Paul, If the fork is vertical along the Y axis, and follows in its horizontal dimensions the X axis, hence it looks good from the “Front” view, you stick with the ZY plane. No X axis. The size doesn’t matter.
Have a look to the clip which I have recorded. It works just fine.
Let me know where the results goes against your idea.
Imagine where a real mirror should be, the two axis that describe the mirror-plane are to choose.
Here is what I was referring to. Here are a couple of screen shots showing the file I sent to you in which you did the mirror operation on. I just loaded in the reference image so you could see the difference between how it lines up compared to the tutorial screen shot.
Paul, you wrote that the Spline after mirroring is all over the place. The image [screen-shot] shows very clearly that the application is working very well. The spline is very accurately mirrored.
The image is not. There is the problem. In the tutorial Patrick introduces this [Modeling a Fork, Part 1: at time 2:46] with the setting of the rotation. In that way the image will be aligned properly, and follows the mirror process.
The image is a reference and has no connection to any tool. It is for the artist to check the proper placement and the results. Hence, forks can be bend in real life, which is not possible to re-create with the Mirror-Tool. This would need then a Deformer, after the Fork would be created.
I was interested in the core of the problem. As long as this was not found, real progress in learning is difficult, as success is not given. I believe deeply that any “dark spot” during learning will have an influence to everything that comes after this. It needs to be cleared, so one can focus on the next step, without an “weird” feeling that something was not perfect. If too many of such “dark spots” exists, stress during work might be the result, with no feasible reason to know why. It is not the little stuff that makes me pay attention, it is the consequence from it, if not cleared. Hence I see it even with long time users—long story.
I hope we could clear this one. Great that you sticked around to solve the “puzzle”. :o)
Thank you so much for getting back to me. Please don’t hate me but I guess I’m living in one huge “Dark Spot” because I can’t get the same results as the video. After forgetting about the mirroring issue I moved on several times with this tutorial to see if I could model this fork using polygons. Even though a follow exactly what Patrick is doing (i.e., placement of points and deleting of certain points etc.) my resulting polygon mesh is totally different. I kept just trying to move on but when he got to the section in the video about making the grooves in the fork and then turned subdivisions back on mine was a complete mess. I just don’t under stand why from the get go my n-gons look totally different than his. Oh well, I’ll just keep playing with it but I not very encouraged by my progress (or lack there of).
Take care and I hope you have a great weekend!
Paul W
