Advancing from moving premade primitives to making our own models

Two different approaches:

◦ Direct mesh editing: A more traditional approach commonly used by professional modelers

◦ Sculpting: A fast and fun way of shaping a model, also useful for fine details like wrinkles

Modeling

When Blender creates a 3D object, it has to think of the object in terms of a mesh

The elements of an object (like polygon):◦ Origin Point:

An orange dot that appears in the middle of selected objects

The shape of the model is built around this origin point When it is moved, scaled, or rotated, the object

follows along likewise The origin represents the very heart of the object itself Figure : The origin point

What Is a Mesh?

Continue….◦ Vertices:

Around the origin point, the model takes shape as a series of dots known as vertex points or vertices

Figure: Vertices

◦ Edges The vertices are connected point to point by lines

known simply as edges. Figure : Edges (wireframe of Object)

◦ Faces Three edges can form a triangle, and four can

make a square; a face is made when those edges are filled in as a solid surface.

Faces can be colored to make realistic textures on an object

Figure : Faces

Continue…

Edit Mode On starting Blender, you are in object mode. Click

the list and change to edit mode Tab key to switch between object and edit modes Vertex select mode: Now select one of the corner

vertices of the cube by RMB-clicking it Move the selected corner vertex using the G key or

by LMB-dragging switch between vertex, edge, and face modes by

using Ctrl+Tab+1 (vertex select), Ctrl+Tab+2 (edge select), or Ctrl+Tab+3 (face select)

Figure: Selection modes

Continue… Limit selection to visible

On the left, the option is off, allowing you to accidentally select vertices on the opposite side of the mesh. On the right, the option is on, hiding the vertices from the other side.

Some Mesh-Editing Tools Selecting a row of vertices one by one can

be very slow Extrude: one of the most powerful editing

features RMB-select a face of your cube. Press the E key and

then move your mouse slightly. You should find that the selected area extrudes out like a branch.

By selecting multiple faces (use the Shift key) Figure : Extrude in action

Fill: The fill command (F key) creates a new face from selected vertices

select three or four vertices and press F to make a face from the selection

Figure : Filling a square hole

Some Mesh-Editing Tools

An edgeloop is where a set of vertices are connected in a line, or sometimes in a circle

Figure : Adding a new edgeloop

Add Edgeloop

Adding a new edgeloop with Ctrl+R There are a few steps that occur:

1. At first, when you press Ctrl+R, a pink preview of the new edgeloop is shown. This allows you to move the mouse to different positions so that you can decide where the loop should go (the pink line moves with the mouse) before finalizing the move with a single LMB-click.

2. After the LMB-click, the new edgeloop is formed, and mouse movement now allows sliding the loop into just the right position (at this time press the 0 key if you don’t want the line to be moved from the center).

3. A final LMB-click anchors the newly formed edgeloop into place.

Pressing Ctrl+E will bring up a special Edges menu with numerous options. ◦ Edge Slide: This allows the selected edgeloop (or part

of an edgeloop) to be moved from side to side.

◦ Edge Loop: If you have one edge selected, this option will continue the line to select the rest of the edgeloop until it comes to a fork in the edgeflow or a dead end.

◦ Edge Ring: If one edge is selected, using this option selects a parallel ring running perpendicular to the selected edge. In other words, two edgeloops are selected, running through the vertices of the selected edge.

The Edges Menu

Edgeloop Deletion: In edit mode, the X key (delete) brings up a menu of options - delete faces, edges, or vertices

Merging Verticesn: In vertex select mode, you can select a number of vertices and then press Alt+M to bring up the “Merge vertices” menu.

Edit Mode Continue....

This feature is useful for placing blueprints behind an image as a reference for modeling over

N key to bring up the Properties panel. Toward the bottom is the Background Images check box; select it and then click the Add Image button

Background Images

Topology Edgeflow is a term used to describe how the

edges of a mesh should follow the form of the shape, and how they should be positioned along folds so that bending doesn’t crease the faces.

Topology describes the effectiveness of the edgeflow of the lines of a mesh

Figure: Edgeloops of a face should ideally form concentric circles around the eyes andmouth.

Blender provides a mirror modifier: you can model one side of an object while Blender automatically creates the other

The Mirror Modifier

Exercise: Start with the default cube, and go to front view in edit mode. Place your mouse over the top edge of the cube

While still in edit mode, press Ctrl+R At this point, a vertical edgeloop should

appear. When you are satisfied that the edgeloop is in the correct place, LMB-click once only

you only actually need one half of the cube to enter mirror mode, so you need to delete the other side

Continue…

Go to the Modifiers panel on the Modifiers tab (the spanner icon).

Add a mirror modifier now see the cube in full If you make any changes to one half, they’ll

be automatically reflected in the other

Continue…

Smoothing the look of your models

The View field affects how smooth the mesh looks in 3D view, and the Render property specifies the degree of smoothness in the final render

Smoothing a Mesh

Box modeling is a process by which you start with a cube, extrude face by face, and add edgeloops as necessary

Box-Modeling a Man

Sculpt Mode With sculpt modeling, you use special brushes

to warp the shape of the mesh Sculpting can be used to get right down to the

wrinkles of a character Exercise: Default cube- Getting into Position Adding a Multiresolution Modifier Click Subdivide until the preview/sculpt/render

levels in the modifier options reach about 4 or 5.

Starting to Sculpt The tools needed for sculpting (known as brushes)

only show up on the Tool Shelf when you switch to sculpt mode.

With the cube selected, switch to sculpt mode using the drop-down menu on the header strip , along the bottom of the 3D window

Types of Brushes: select different brushes by clicking the image of the brush effect at the top of the Tool Shelf

Once a brush is chosen, you then rub the object over the mouse pointer while holding down the LMB

Tool Shelf to control brush radius and strength

F key, move your mouse to expand/shrink the brush , and then LMB-click to confirm (or RMB-click to cancel)

example of sculpting from scratch: Begin with a cube of multiresolution level 5

1. Push in the eyes with the Draw tool, as shown in Figure

Changing Brush Size and Strength

2. Sculpt in the basic features, as shown in Figure 3. Increase the level of the multiresolution

modifier (e.g., click the Subdivide button in the Modifiers panel) so that you can sculpt finer details, as shown in Figure

4. Keep raising the multiresolution level in order to suit the level of detail you wish to sculpt, as shown in Figure

Continue…

Exercise 1: Monkey Sculpt

Questions ?