CGTalk - "smoothing" the virtual mirror?

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cloudkj

07-01-2003, 06:28 PM

i'm a newbie to wings3d, and i just completed a pretty good tutorial at http://www.muranon.com/axel/character/tutorial_1/

i highly recommend it to anyone who's just starting to use wings3d.

anyway, after finishing the tutorial, i realized i had to "freeze" the virtual mirror i used earlier in order for both sides of the head to come out. however, after "freezing" the mirror, there's a noticeable ridge dividing the symmetry of the face due to the mirror. the pictures on the tutorial page seem pretty smooth, so i'm not sure how they smoothed out the mirror so it becomes seamless. maybe it's what they used to render? i just used wings3d's default openGL render option, and the ridge is very noticeable

also, what texturing/render program should i use to apply some good 3d textures along with lighting, etc.?

Goon

07-01-2003, 06:45 PM

I have never had this problem. Could you give us a better idea of what your mesh looks like?
It might be the way you did things. Having an peak in the mesh right next to the center of the mirror will cause a peak when the mirror is removed.

Blender handles rendering and texturing fairly well. I hate its interface though :P. Give it a try (Its free).

Then there's Softimage XSI experience (free download, some disabled features, non-commercial), Maya PLE (same), Houdini Apprentice (again), and Gmax (limited but not disabled version of 3ds Max)

cloudkj

07-01-2003, 08:14 PM

My final render looks much like the face here http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73043

notice the ridge at the mouth... it was clearly created using a virtual mirror and just modeling one side of the face.

however, the forehead on my model isn't smooth like the one above.. how do i make it smooth? i want the whole face to be smooth so the ridge will become unnoticeable and look more realistic

blackthorn3d

07-01-2003, 09:05 PM

I use to get a seem like that sometimes. if you look at the nose on that pic notice how sharp it looks that means the center mirror edge in that area is pushed out to far to fix it select a vertex and move it back along z axis till it looks more even or pull out the first vertex 1 right of the mirror. If the seem looks indented then pull it outward. I try not to move the center mirror edge anymore then necessary and if you do try to keep the edge next to it pretty even with the center mirror and it should work fine.

cloudkj

07-02-2003, 03:29 AM

i tried moving vertices, but the crease/seam/ridge is still there.

i am pretty sure this problem has something to do with the virtual mirror. please help! i can't move on to newer stuff until i figure out how to fix this..

maybe a better question is, what approach do you generally take when making a symmetric model? ie. a face, a head

do you make a primitive, mold it a little, then cut it in half symmetrically then use a virtual mirror and then start modeling?

Fuzatron

07-02-2003, 04:25 AM

You may need to post a larger image of a wireframe view.... maybe even the model before anyone can really tell what is going on.

A guess would be that you have 3 edges instead of one along the seam(?) Are you sure your mirror froze successfully, and your selections are no longer being mirrored?

I'll let you know if I think of anything else.
Good Luck!

cloudkj

07-02-2003, 05:00 AM

AH I FIXED IT!

i just have to break it and freeze it again and make sure there's no crease/ridge/seam there when i freeze it!

YAY

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