Cineversity

Hello!

I’m trying to figure out how model something based on this sketch.
So far I have tried with hair and with MoGraph on a cylinder while trying to apply a texture with black lines on a white background.

Hair:
Hair seemed very promising as I could groom them and have total control. It also has some nice shader level controls to deform each hair.
But… I haven’t figured out how to texture wide hair (in X-axis(?)). The gradient in the shader only seems to work along the hair splines.

MoGraph:
I came pretty close with this approach but I can’t place them precisely enough. I get all kinds of intersections that doesn’t look very good.
Also I need quite a lot of clones to not get any holes in to cylinder.

Anyone got any good ideas?
I’m just experimenting so I’m up for any good idea.

Franck

Hi Franck,

• The sketch is also the final aesthetic?
• It is more graphically than photo-realistic?
• The end of the “trunk” is fringy not full cylindrically?

Let me know, there is certainly a way.

Talk to you soon

Sassi

P.S.: perhaps just a little idea. I hope it helps. The preview is just a simple render from C4D.

I kept the file active as much as possible, so it is all adjustable. :o)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e46kgkv23gmaodd/CV2_r15_drs_14_MGil_01.c4d.zip

This is pretty good starting point

To answer your questions, I was thinking of keeping the sketch style. So yes I want to keep it more like an black and white illustration.
As for the end of the trunk not being whole, I haven’t really decided yet, but I think I will make a whole tree and change the layout to something else entirely.

You chose the MoGraph way.
Good idea with the camera deformer! I haven’t really used it much as I often need to go around objects.
If I start using the tree from different angles, the clones start to intersect. Same problem as I was having…
If I start adding branches I am a little lost on how you can easily keep the “hairy/shelly” parts to naturally grow from the trunk and not have intersection.

This is why I tried some test with hair…
Do you think it is possible to solve this type of design with the hair module? It has the possibility to groom the hairs.
Also, is it possible to texture hair in the X axis? (If that is actually the right name)
I know you can add gradients along the hairs and use a texture to colour individual hairs, but can you texture them in X?

Hi Franck,

The Camera Deformer might have pulled some details away from each other. I was already thinking to use two Camera Deformers. Yes, the Bend would leave a seam if not done carefully. But do you really move the camera 360º+ around the tree in one take?

Hair has so many options, it would take some time. However, to make a pattern and break it for twigs and such is certainly manual work.

My main idea was to create a flat structure, where I can see that there is no intersection. Perhaps I should have had made one large flat one instead of bending it and then multiplying it. So, create a large flat structure and bend it.

Then you have two options, to make it editable and care for single parts—OR—you use the MoGraph selection and exclude some of the elements and replace with with an invert “MoGraph Selection”

I was thinking about a complete graphically approach as well, with displacement (SPD) and textures, as well Bump textures for “light based details. With some fine tuning in BodyPaint 3D you might get there as well.

Good luck

Sassi

Thank you for your thoughts!

I am going to try those two directions you mentioned (hopefully this weekend).
You are right… I don’t really need to go all 360 around the tree. I just wanted to try it because of the exercise of making a whole/finished tree model in that style.
I didn’t fully understand this though:

“Then you have two options, to make it editable and care for single parts—OR—you use the MoGraph selection and exclude some of the elements and replace with with an invert “MoGraph Selection””

I understand the part about removing some of the elements, but not fully the last part with the invert selection.
Would you care to eleborate?

While experimenting with hair I also found another aestethic that I will use for another illustration though:)
I just want to ask one more time as nobody answered this:
Can you apply a gradient/texture to a hair in X-direction (or U or whatever it is called)?

Franck

Racecar - 13 August 2014 05:34 AM

... and replace with with an invert “MoGraph Selection””
I understand the part about removing some of the elements, but not fully the last part with the invert selection.
Would you care to elaborate?
...
Can you apply a gradient/texture to a hair in X-direction (or U or whatever it is called)?

Hi Franck,

I have attached a scene, where I have four elements under the Cloner (set to sort). This allows then a Plain Effector to use the “Modify Clone”, to select one of the Cloner Object’s “children”.
To limit that effect for the Effector, you can use the MoGraph Selection. If you want to use the other child for clones in the same way, you set up a second Effector as well as set to “Modify Clones” and with the MoGraph Selection (this time a copy of the “MoGraph Selection Tag”) you can use the “Invert” option to have exactly the selection inverted. See the file, and each Effector has one Selection applied to it.
Besides that, you can have a lot of children under the Cloner Object and with select you place on certain areas a specific clone then. Note that the total number of child-objects is related to the slider position of the Effector>Modify Clones! If you are not certain how many objects you will have on the end, perhaps you use some placeholders under the Cloner Object, Nulls, Polygons Objects (e.g., empty ones) etc. So the total number is the same, just swap the placeholder with a new one.

With the Hair Question, allow me to just attach a screen-shot from the manual. There are too many options to use color and textures. I hope this one fits to your question. Read the part in the gray box!

All the best

Sassi