Realistic Embroidery (C4D to 3dsMax)

#3

The knitting concept outlined in the Vimeo tutorial for C4D isn’t using anything that couldn’t be reproduced logically in 3dsmax with Splines. In fact, it would appear everything there could be directly copied using similar tools in Max. However, there are some tools for Max which could assist in certain aspects of the process. For example, this maxscript…

Spline Fibers Maxscript

There are also some other Maxscripts out there which can do similar things. I would also take a look at MCG, which seems to have all the necessary tools to create something very specific for the task as well.

#4

hey john,
thanks for the post, i got a bit lonely talking to myself, :smiley: i already had a look on the spline fibers script before you posted it but couldn’t produce what i wanted, also i think i’ll have to spent more time on it. get’s really frustrating. tried to “copy” the steps in the C4D tutorial too, but somehow i might just suck at this or don’t get the workflow for max.

i found one of the MCG instruction videos on the FB page of particle scull while looking for a particleflow solution for my problem, but found out then, that this is a feature for/with max 16, i’m using 15.

so long, I’ll still tinker around and try not to get nuts, if you have any specific spline tutorial to help me out, i’ld be glad!

ps: i love your tutorials, they helped me a lot getting a fresh perspective on forms :))

#5

Well, you can use any pattern making tool to create the effect as well. Simply model one tileable knitted knot by hand with splines, then use Vray Pattern, Corona Scatter, or Multi-Scatter plugin to populate that across a surface. This isn’t the perfect solution, obviously, but in versions of Max which aren’t MCG capable, it may be one of the only ones outside of a custom Maxscript.

Alternatively, there is a knitting MCG which creates these shapes automatically for you. It’s called MCG Knit. Combined with MCG Pattern Maker , or one of the aforementioned scatter tools, you should be able to reproduce the effect exactly as it is in C4D.

Attached is an example using MCG Knit tool, combined with the MCG Pattern Maker (32 bit). I didn’t create that model. It was made by someone using MCG Knit.

PS: thank you for checking out my tuts. Glad you found them useful.

#6

hi john
sweet stuff! but i’m more looking for 3D stitched effect. kinda achieved it with guides along my sportsteam logo and let hair&fur grow along it. not the desired outcome yet but getting there.
i’ll make a post when i’m happy with it, thanks for your help!

cheers!

#7

so here it is. first draft still tweaking the shaders.

i actually just did what i did in the beginning. formed a guide in the form of an upsidedown “U” and placed it by hand where it should be. let hair grow over it and that’s it.

thank you so much for your help john!

#8

I see now what you were looking for. That turned out excellent. You can probably add a few frayed strands or loose stitches by hand with splines, or perhaps with the Hair/Fur modifier as well. Very good technique.

#9

yep i did more than one hair modifier. just cloned them over one another so that i have a variety of random hairs in thickness and played with the kink and frizz numbers. still tweaking. i might post the whole project when i’m done :slight_smile:

#10

Would you be willing to make a tutorial on how you managed to get that embroidery look? I need to replicate that look for my job and I would love a tutorial or some help with getting there. Thanks!

#11

hey aj,

so i actually just did what i explained before.
made some splines, attached them together into one spline object
and then put the hair and fur modifier on top of that

that’s it, play around with the frizz etc.

hope that helps

#12

Awesome, thanks. I’m gonna play around with this tonight and see if I can get it looking good. Thanks for the help!

#13

This thread is very informative.
I would like to ask one more aspect.
What if we want to apply this embroidery effect on a massive scale (with max 2017 for instance), like, say a big flag with lots of patterns in it? Doing it by hand is too much work.

#14

May I ask you what is the post in his facebook page? or date? Or how can I find it? Sorry for the noob question, I don’t use FB and just made an account solely for reading this info.
Thank you.

#15

hey,

you could try to scatter your geo on the flag with plugins like itoo forest pack or with particles in max.
particle skull has some awesome tutorials on particles in max https://www.youtube.com/user/ParticleSkull

FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/particleskull/?fref=ts

can’t remember when it was - sorry :S

good luck!

#16

Thank you very much cege :slight_smile:
The problem with embroidery is that, for instance we a written text (like on the New Era hat), the fibers are perpendicular to the text path.
The fibers could be scattered this way, but by creating a spline that follows, so the scatter could be setup to bank and follows accordingly.
But how to scatter this way on a collapsed geometry of a pattern which are made of polygons?

#17

hey boumay,

eeehrm i’m not sure if i understood correctly. can you draw a quick sketch of your problem ?

#18

Sure, here it is:

#19

So here, the trick is to have the embroidery follow the presumed flow of the text while the text isn’t splines anymore but a static, crude mesh, which has no information of vectors directions whatsoever. We know how the flow should be, but the computer/3dsmax/plugin doesn’t.

I wonder if there was a quick way to mock up vectors by hand drawing them over the mesh. Maybe with zbrush fibers, and exporting them to max, or max built-in fur?

#20

aaah well … this is exactly the problem i had and i didn’t know how else to solve it than the way i described it :smiley: maybe try the hairfarm plugin? i think it’s possible to let hair grow around a certain mesh, the thing is or what i think might be a problem is that you have to groom it by hand - give them the right direction with a grooming tool…

i don’t think the built in hair and fur can solve your problem other than with the solution i came up with, but i’m not an hair and fur expert so - there might be like a real easy solution for that problem?!

i’m pretty sure that normally one would use houdini to solve that problem professionally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmScphbUWa8

that’s a knitting solver even though i think “our” problem could be solved in a similar way.
so if you’re familiar with coding vex or juggling with node solvers you might wanna give houdini a try?

#21

lol, well that’s the problem :smiley: , I don’t know coding at all, don’t even have houdini, nor hairfarm/ornatrix.
But I do have forest pack :slight_smile:
I also have zbrush and I was wondering if I could reproduce the grooming workflow you mentioned with zbrush fibers?

#22

well you can try :smiley: i never used zbrush fibres so i can’t help you there