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Modelling a Disco Ball with Random Values
Posted: 16 September 2022 03:01 PM   [ Ignore ]  
Total Posts:  8
Joined  2022-08-22

Hey everybody,

I’ve been tasked with modelling a disco ball, and it’s proving to be a bit of a struggle. This is mainly because in real disco balls, they use glass squares which are glued on to a spherical surface, leading to slight variations in both size of the glass squares and rotation.

I’m thinking about the best way to achieve this. My first thoughts are to extrude out each segment from a sphere, then normal scale them down. I could then split the polygons off from the sphere to get the glass pieces. However, I can’t figure out a way to assign random values to each square polygon (or glass piece). I know this would be quite easy with a cloner, as I’d just assign a random effector to the cloner children, but the cloner route wasn’t really working for me here.

So my question is - is there a way to assign random values to a set of polygon islands? If you could show me with a file using the disco ball example that’d be a bonus! I’m still at a bit of a loss in general as to how to model the damn thing.

Thanks a bunch guys,

J

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Posted: 16 September 2022 03:57 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
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Hi J.,

The simplest way would be to use a PolyFX with a Random Effector on a Sphere. Quick and easy, but also not really a disco-ball, going by your text above (Attention to detail)

My suggestion, first build a “matrix” and then clone squares on it. I have illustrated that in files…_11.c4d and …_12.c4d.

The idea is to have equal distance nulls on an arc. Those are revolved, and the “matrix” is created via Tracer. I set the play to “Simple”, so I can harvest a spline from the Tracer on the last frame (Current State to Object).

This is then used in a Cloner. The Pole areas need a tiny bit of attention.

The orientation of the mirror squares is based on the Random Effector.

All of that allows for an equal distribution of the squares.

Files
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ftbeddd1yw1b9/CV3_2023drs_22_MGdb_01-11-12.zip?dl=0

Cheers

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Dr. Sassi V. Sassmannshausen Ph.D.
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Posted: 17 September 2022 01:57 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
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P.S.: Here is the same, but merged into a single object. (Cloner: Current State To Object, Select all, Connect and Delete).
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iv48inknnmncavz/CV3_2023_drs_22_MGdb_14.c4d.zip?dl=0

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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

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Posted: 17 September 2022 10:08 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
Total Posts:  8
Joined  2022-08-22

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

Have a busy weekend ahead of me, but will get to those files when I have a chance early next week.

Thanks again.

J

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Posted: 17 September 2022 04:36 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]  
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Thanks for the reply, J.,

Have a successful weekend!

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

Photography For C4D Artists: 200 Free Tutorials.
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Posted: 01 October 2022 11:19 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]  
Total Posts:  8
Joined  2022-08-22

Just coming back to say thanks so much for this - I’ve had a good look at the files now and they’re perfect for what I need.

Jack

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Posted: 01 October 2022 04:39 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 6 ]  
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Thanks a lot, Jack.

My best wishes for your project!

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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

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