mapping a wooden horseshoe

[Ls3D]

Lofted mapping is unique in that it follows the loft path. From one woodworker turned 3D Artist to another, Loft it.


-Shea

[RedZep]

Easy. Make your horse shoe just a tube (or whatever) no bending or moving verts. Now map it, then do your bend, or modeling.

[jeb]

yup, definetly loft it. it will be mapped automatically and it takes no time.

[nikana]

My apologies for the max file link not working. It is now fixed. (http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Eumastolf/mapping2.max)
Once downloaded, you will notice that the object is lofted.

I am going to try RedZep's suggestion, however the object has an elliptical cross-section, which perhaps can be applied afterwards as well. Hopefully I can obtain a desirable amount of accuracy.

[Ls3D]

Once downloaded, you will notice that the object is lofted.
Then use the loft's mapping, not world space or whatever is sending down the road you are on now. Sorry I can't open your max 6 scene.

-Shea

[nikana]

Yes Ls3D, that is what I did, but this is what it does.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Eumastolf/mapping2.jpg

I'm trying to find a way to save the file in Max5 format (assuming that is waht you're using), but I don't see anything. Perhaps someone's made a maxscript.

Anyway, loft mapping acheives the curved mapping at the top, but this is obviously not accurately depicting the material that will be used (as shown above).

[Ls3D]

Looks like you have a twist in your loft path,.. maybe lay out the path in a 2D fashion, and use mods (bend, FFD, etc) to get it into the orientation you need. There is also a twist deformation setting in the loft parameters, but I'm sure a cleaner path is better than trying to figure out just the right twist amount. You may be able to rotate the verts of your path to clean up?.. If you can turn up the lights and include a wireframe and all may be revealed :)

-Shea

[nikana]

I'm going to try do one better. The famous Bobo has a script that will supposidly let you open the file

You can get it here :
http://www.scriptspot.com/bobo/darkmoon/bff/

The data files you need for it is zipped here. (http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Eumastolf/mapping2.zip)

And, in the likelyhood that it the script won't work, here's a screen capture of the wireframe as requested.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Eumastolf/capture.jpg

[Ls3D]

Sorry for the delay...

http://www.ls3d.com/FTP/dothetwist.jpg

[nikana]

Thanx Ls3D for all your help and patience so far. In terms of the delay, I treat any help I receive on this board as a privilege, not a right.

As for the questions you post. There is a twist in the loft, but those segments with the tesselations are phantom to me. Yes, there are two shapes in the loft, and the second one (which occurs at 50% has a twist).

I'm going to post a 3DS file that you should be able to open here (http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Eumastolf/loft.3DS). Even though I selected to 'preserve mapping coordinates', the desired object won't have the loft and mapping properties associated with it.

You'll find in the 3DS file :
- the shape path (which was simply created in the front viewport, then curved in the top and left viewport)
- two shapes, one of which is in the shape of a "D" and is used at 50% of the path (as previously mentioned)
- a mesh of the loft

I don't know if this bit of information will help you, but this is going to be the backing of a chair. (Perhaps it will explain the complex curves.)

[Ls3D]

I just had to reset the xform of the basic ellipse, and then rotate the second shape in loft sub-object. The viewport that you create shapes in, and the coordinates space of shapes can have a big impact on the results of the loft, including the path, which I was luckily able to trace from some floating verts (via .3ds output). Render should link to max file, and I have put the render time in (3Ghz Box) just for fun, a lot of people download the scenes I post, so now they can benchmark too.

Hope this the solution for you!

-Shea

http://www.ls3d.com/FTP/chairbackloft.jpg (http://www.ls3d.com/FTP/chairbackloft.max)

[nikana]

Thanks Ls3D for pointing out how to clean up the mesh, but I see there are still those sections in it that have the tesselations. (It rendered for me in max6 in 1:53)

Anyway, the problem still exists; the dreaded, widow maker mapping problem.

[Ls3D]

The apparent 'tesselations' you refer to are because you do not have the exact same vertex order & number in your shapes... I think max is doing a great job at interpolation there.

RE: the mapping, seems to me you should have enough control to combine top/forward projection with the lofted mapping, to achieve the look.. this will require multiple mapping channels and ID's but with some tweaking I think you could nail it.

If you really need a solids like solution more in line with the way the real part is produced, then I would start playing with booleans and shapemerge after laying up some curved extrusions just like the (baltic birch?) plys.

Caio!

-S

[nikana]

In terms of the tesselations, I brought it up because you questioned them in my mesh, which they also appeared in yours. I have no critisism for max in that regard. (Btw, I did reconstruct the loft, being careful to order each vertex, but got the same results.)

My critisism for max however is in it's innability to map this object. So, after all that, I'm back where I started from (as stated in my first post a week ago); "a highly unattractive mesh."

/considering going back to the beta team

[nikana]

Ok... here's an update...

I cleaned up the mesh, quite nicely I might add. I got rid of those unwanted triangular tesselations by not optimizing the shapes.

I thought I'd try a different approach. By subtracting the that whole mesh from the laminated vaneer, it seemed that both objects were too complex. I started thinking about simplifying the process by 'slicing' the chair mesh into little pieces that resemble the individual laminates. Here's what I got.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Eumastolf/boolean.jpg
As you can see... I've tried matching the vertices of both meshes as much as possible. However, 'boolean' operations are still really ugly. The example on the far left is by using 'split', which is close, but I can't get it to have inside/outside planes.

I still don't like the idea of modelling the look I'm after, because there are places where the 'glue' laminate inbetween the vaneer will be fairly pronounced due to the curvatures of the sculpted wood. (see first picture posted) So, I'm thinking of trying to work with a bitmap. We'll see how that goes.

[nikana]

/taking thumb out of mouth, and pulling pants up

Well... I FINALLY got it. I used a bitmap to do it which doesn't satisfy me very much, but I'll have to live with Max's mapping limitations for such an irregular shape and style.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Eumastolf/chairback.jpg
Thanks to Ls3D for the encouragement to continue on. If I get any requests, I'll perhaps make a tutorial. Now if someone can console my girlfriend who was neglected, and put back the hair that I lost over this, I'll be forever grateful.

[nikana]

here's a wireframe
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/%7Eumastolf/final-wire.jpg

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