A new version of Cineversity has been launched. This legacy site and its tutorials will remain accessible for a limited transition period

Visit the New Cineversity
   
 
Mortar Generation
Posted: 17 June 2022 03:00 PM   [ Ignore ]  
Total Posts:  72
Joined  2021-08-07

Hello all,
I’m looking for suggestions about how to approach a particular generation of an object. The main item in the scene I am considering is a building with external walls created with stones and mortar. Consider buildings in rural Europe constructed 2-3 hundred years ago. I’ve attached some reference images.

My current thinking for the stones is to use a Cloner (or a few Cloners) to distribute a number of stones in some random pattern. However, creating the mortar between the stones might prove difficult, given my current skill level.

I do want to stay away from textures as much as possible and keep the materials as procedural as possible.

One idea I have for creating the mortar is to use xParticles to fill the gaps. The stones would be xP Colliders and then use fields to keep the particles within the space between the stones. Or maybe another plane with random displacements as a collider and pushed up against the stones.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Greg

File Attachments
gallery-1472214985-converted-barn-mijke-mijke-7.jpg.zip  (File Size: 203KB - Downloads: 56)
stone-house-4.jpg.zip  (File Size: 165KB - Downloads: 61)
Profile
 
 
Posted: 17 June 2022 06:21 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the examples.

Growing up in a European construction company has undoubtedly helped me have a passion for old walls and the skillset needed to create those. We had one of those masters of “Bruchstein” (quarry stone) on our staff. I worked on such stone walls (renovating a house from 1592 over a long Sommer). Even later, my Professor taught me to read old walls, as they store a story in them, and each change is typically visible.
Why I’m telling that, as I believe just to put some “looks like that” stuff out isn’t providing the feeling. The options given with the Voronoi Fracture and Volume are great to get that storytelling into the wall. The repairs, the changes, the damages.

Please have a look here, a very simple setup:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/INd1q0UxoHuasMk3ICNV7kuvehwqCrn4PddPil9Y2Ao

The idea is that the finer details are then in the procedural material, as you mentioned., But the main shapes are already there.

All the best

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 18 June 2022 01:21 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
Total Posts:  72
Joined  2021-08-07

Thanks Dr. Sassi,

The use of Voronoi Fractures for both the rocks and mortar is certainly clever. I think I saw a tutorial doing something like that a while ago but had forgotten. I tried several kinds of sources for the points but, imho, it seems difficult to get the right balance between the regularity and irregularity of the individual rocks and rows of rocks.

I was thinking more along the lines of the example below.

https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/054OWSIUusLv_A1jBfQ3RXrfA#RockWallClonerThenBullet.c4d


In the example I put a few rocks in a Cloner and arranged in a grid, vertically. CurrentStateToObject on Cloner and hid the Cloner. Created a container around now individual rocks with 5 cubes. Added RigidBody tag to each rock and Collider tag to the cubes. Fiddled with the parameters of the rigid body tags a bit. It would still need some fiddling but it’s closer to the organization of the rocks that I would like to have. Ultimately, I think the choice of rocks will be important. Maybe even doing some procedural rocks in RS nodes.

But, now the issue is the motar. How can I fill up the spaces with mesh?

Please let me know if there might be any underlying issues with my process that might cause problems at scale.

Thanks,
Greg


Thanks,
Greg

Profile
 
 
Posted: 18 June 2022 03:30 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the file. My only tip here would be to create low polygon Proxys and place those into each Dynamic tag as shape.
Currently, it is set to box, which will not result in anything useable.

The “skill” to create those walls is not just to place stones on each other and fill the gaps with mortar. The considerable skill that these crafts[wo]men had was to see what was needed to fit a stone top, bottom, left, and right while keeping in memory what stones were on the pile. To make that point super clear, they solved a natural puzzle. Changing a single stone’s shape can take a while, so that is not an option.

I haven’t said it in a while, but I have done so often in the past 18+ years of mentoring that one can only simulate what was understood before starting it. If you like to show that you can recreate those, the mortar between these stones should be as equally as possible.

Once this quality is understood, the critical eye is enabled, and anything else will look less appealing.

If you like to come close quickly, the Voronoi Fracture was the most automatic that I can think of with Cinema 4D. Yes, I know without some more care and detailed materials, that looked more like a toy wall.

The example below is again the first step. The idea is more to create a complex spline. To demo the outcome, I have added an Extrude. However, the created Spline can be the base to tweak the details more, then extrude it and go from there. (Deform, Volume, anything.)
I animated one Field to show the effect. It blends among four elements. Whereby the outline of each element needs to be the same. Inside, the changes happen. After the Spline is harvested, those previous outlines can be tweaked.

Example:
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/ahU3NluhNmYgq9L1bewlAfQDTx6J1yvxDpJOPf58Fpl

All the best

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile
 
 
Posted: 19 June 2022 01:15 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
Administrator
Avatar
Total Posts:  12043
Joined  2011-03-04

P.S.: Here is a quick way of producing unique patterns while the stones are laid out like a puzzle.

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/S1U1yXjHAox3BVVN1QnKdS3J65oBlT41ug3gkjEYZad

This is just a quick sketch, but you might get the shape you need with some adjustments. Even Windows or doors can be just painted.

 Signature 

Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
Cinema 4D Mentor since 2004
Maxon Master Trainer, VES, DCS

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DrSassiLA/playlists

NEW:

NEW: Cineversity [CV4]

Profile