Modeling Dragon Wings.

[dmcgrath]

I could make them for you, but that wouldnt be right. :wavey:

Kidding aside, my advice is usually the same to everyone. The answer lies in curves, lofting curves. You can make the boned wing part polys if you want, and then make at least four or five curves between each span. Then loft curve to curve to curve, delete histories on all the lofts, then attach them one by one to each other. Piece o cake!

[CaptRuss]

ah, good topic here. I've built a couple things like that. Does anyone have any ideas how to lend the structure some thickness? a NURBS surface is "paper thin" on the edge, but if I "fold over" the surface to give it a little thickness, that makes the membrane more complex for things like softbodies and skinning.
Any idea?

Russ

[dmcgrath]

The main problem with thickness questions is how often are you going to want to see a wing "edge on"?
Really, if the dragon is flying you will NEVER see it. And if he lands, then typically the wings will fold in close to the body.

If this is very important, you can do more lofting, like I mentioned above. Or you can duplicate the wing's surface, translate it above it a little bit, and then experiment with attaching the surfaces together.

[CaptRuss]

Mmm, good point. Well, will play more with mine. Current one isn't so much a wing as a frill off the back of the head of a critter. have to figure how to rig it so its stiff when erect, but follows the neck when relaxed.

cherio!
Russ

[Grey]

look in Google for pictures of Bat wings.

Use those as templates.

You might also try the National Geographic site

[Peace455]

First off I would like to thank yoyu guys for responding to my post.


Nurbs to model the Wings is a good idea, so when I rig them and animate them they will stretch like real wings do.

Here is a nice image of a Bat wing I found at google.

http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/bats/facts24.jpg

so for the fingers, those could madew via nurbs, not difficult. THe skin in between, thats where it gets kinda tricky for me, would I outline the skin with a curve, then . . . . um . . . I'm not that good with Nurbs yet, but am dedicated to mastering them.

How could I creat the skin in betweeen, and get the thickness to that it doesn't look paper thin, and then how could I attach them to the "Fingers"


thanks for the help .

Peace 455:buttrock:

[dmcgrath]

Modeling a really good dragon wing is probably out of your reach right now. I say, just get in there and start pushing and pulling on verts (cv's) and experimenting. If you come up with something you like. post a screenshot here for some crits and advice.

Good luck, :thumbsup:

[Peace455]

Good advice.

I'll just going to dive in head first and mess around and get down and dirty in Cv's and isoparms, and post what I come up with.


Thanks for all the help guys.


Peace:airguitar

[DesignDawg]

I recently did a production where I needed a character that was flat, but about 1/8 inch thick. This was a full-on rigged character, so, the thickness could have been a problem. The solution I used, and it would be a good idea in your case as well, was to create the thing totally flat, MAKE A COPY OF IT, convert it to polys (or Sub-D, as it was in my case), then model the thickness into it (in other words, create a hollow, closed wing. This way, you can have varying thickness over the whole thing, and also have separate surfaces on the front and back of the wing for texturing.) With the new "thick" wing modeled, simply use a wrap deformer to drive your thick wing fromt he movements of your thin wing. --And animate only your thin wing. That way, you don't worry about the thickness interfering with dynamics, binding, etc... Also, you will not get any intersection between the wing surfaces.
--AND, as an added bonus, you can turn the high-res. (thick) wing off for animations, and on for rendering.

Not a new concept, but I thought it might help you out.

Ricky

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