1 Tutorials LightWave 3D Motion Designer: Making Curtains Qua Jan 26, 2011 3:11 am
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Download source files here. |
We will be using Morph Maps & Motion Designer for this tutorial. This tutorial assumes you have basic knowledge of LightWave 3D. The thumbnails lead to screen captures that are 1600X1200 and are fairly compressed, but if you are on dial-up and do not wish to view the images you may not have to as I will try my best to describe as much as possible in text. Click Here to See Final Animation (DIVX 5.0.2 - 1.46MB - 640X480) |
Step 1: |
First we'll start off in modeler by making a cube. "WTF? A cube? I wanna make a curtain!" I know, just go along with it okay? I made one that is 3m x 3m x 3m. Press F2 to center the cube if its not already. |
Step 2: |
Next we'll use the Julienne tool and set the divisions to 80 and Y axis. Click OK and it should slice your object 80 times up and down. Then click the Julienne tool again and leave the parameter at 80, but this time change the axis to X. Press OK. Your object should now look something like this (A dense subdivided square mesh). |
Step 3: |
Now we want to rotate the model 45° on the Z axis from 0,0,0. I would suggest doing this in the Numeric Panel so that you know its exact. Once its rotated, repeat the same Julienne operations (80 X and Y) from step 2. Now rotate the object back (-45° from 0,0,0). You should now have a crisscross pattern of subdivided polygons, perfect for deformation. If you haven't already, delete the data from all of the layers that the Julienne tool created. Save the File! |
Step 4: |
Now lasso-select all of the polygons that face the -Z axis and then press Shift + ' or " to invert your selection. Then press Delete. F2 to center geometry. You should have something that resembles this. A flat highly crisscrossed subdivided plane. The reason we started out with a cube is that the Julienne tool works a lot better when used on an object with a thickness. |
Step 5: |
Now press Q and give the surface a name like ohhh....Curtain? Save. |
Step 6: |
Now we want to select two rows of points near the top of the Curtain. I chose the 5th and 6th rows down from the top so that I leave some fabric above to give it that frilly foo foo stuff at the top of most curtains. I chose to lasso-select from the side view. |
Step 7: |
Now copy and paste those points into a new layer. Use the Points to Poly's tool to convert those points to 1 point polygons. Now press Q and give the surface a name like ForMorph. Doesn't matter what color, were not going to see these in final render anyway. Save. |
Step 8: |
Now cut these points and paste them into the first layer where the curtain is and merge points by pressing m. Make sure you have Keep 1 Point Polygons checked! Press OK. |
Step 9: |
Select all the 1 point polygons via the Polygon Statistics by clicking the + next to either the category of '1 Point Polygons' or by Surface Name. Press Shift + j or J to bring up the Jitter dialog. You want to make it so that it will only jitter the selected points back and forth in the Z axis. I chose to jitter it by 2.5 cm. You should have something similar to this. |
Step 10: |
Now with all those points still selected, create a new morph map and call it Curtain. Open. Use your Stretch tool and stretch all those points to the left side as shown in the screen capture. After you're done stretching, return the morph mode back to Base. Save. |
Step 11: |
Now to layout! Load in your Curtain model and position the camera however you'd like. Open the Property Panel of the curtain model. Goto the Deform tab and choose the displacement plug-in called Morph Mixer. At frame 0, leave the morph at the default of 0. Goto frame 30 and drag the slider 100%. Now close the morph panel. Change the end frame to 150 or so. Save your Scene. |
Step 12: |
Now goto the Scene tab and click on MD_Controller. Then click on Property. Double click Target to turn the object On. Note: This may take a little while to process depending on the speed of your computer. Do not Double click more than once as it will turn the Target On, and then back Off. Now that the Target is set to On, goto the Surface tab and click the model name to reveal the surfaces in it. Highlight Curtain and at the bottom right above the Continue button, choose Cotton(Thick). Note: You can if you wish turn on Self Collision, this will make the simulation more realistic, but it drastically increases the calc time. Now highlight ForMorph and the only thing you're going to do for this one is double click Fixed to turn it On. Now goto the Environment tab and only change the top-middle field to -2. Press Continue. Save your scene. |
Step 13: |
Now all you have to do is press the Start button, sick back, and watch LightWave calc away at it. This may take a while depending on your machine. |
Step 14: |
Lastly, do not forget to save your motion designer motion(s) unless you want to recalculate every time you open the scene. |
Couple of 1 Pointers: |
To make those 1 point polygons not show up in final render you can either: Make all surface parameters of ForMorph - 0% except for the Transparency which should be 100%. OR After you are happy with the motion you have and have saved the motion file, you can delete the one point poly's from the model (this will not effect the motion). I would suggest making a copy of the model first (so that you have the original if you need to re-calac the motion differently) and then just replace the object with your newly saved one that has no 1 point poly's. Happy Rendering! For questions / comments or to report misinformation / bugs [email=ctrl_alt_del@imadjinn-cgi.com?Subject=Curtain%20Tutorial...][Tens de ter uma conta e sessão iniciada para poderes visualizar este link][/email] |