Finally got him rigged. (Yay!)
Thursday, 20 July 2006
Friday, 7 July 2006
Another setback (yawn!)
Okay, so I've spent a long, long time working on the texture for my lizard character, using Wings' built-in UV function. Now I export the figure as a Wavefront file, and import it into Poser, and the blinking texture is fine - EXCEPT THAT IT'S GOT ALL THESE BLUE LINES ALL OVER IT DIVIDING THE TEXTURE INTO SECTIONS!!!!!!!!!! Don't ask me why it's doing this, when the texure looked perfectly fine in Wings.
On a related note, I've tried using (as described earlier) Hexagon, and the demo version of Blacksmith Suite, and a shareware package called Tattoo, to try and paint textures directly onto a model, and they all had issues with the limitations of my graphics chip/card. The question is really whether this is sufficiently frustrating to warrant upgrading to a better PC.
On a related note, I've tried using (as described earlier) Hexagon, and the demo version of Blacksmith Suite, and a shareware package called Tattoo, to try and paint textures directly onto a model, and they all had issues with the limitations of my graphics chip/card. The question is really whether this is sufficiently frustrating to warrant upgrading to a better PC.
Saturday, 1 July 2006
Report
Haven't posted for a while, so thought it would be a good time to check in. Still no joy with Hexagon - despite having followed the instructions, the texturing still doesn't work. Maybe the next build will yield better results....
Still working on texture for lizard character. My goodness, it takes a long time. It is fun, though, a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle, and I enjoy seeing the texture finally coming together on the character.
Still working on texture for lizard character. My goodness, it takes a long time. It is fun, though, a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle, and I enjoy seeing the texture finally coming together on the character.
Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Hexagon Progress
Well, DAZ have made a couple of updates available for Hexagon - one to fix problems with version 2, and one to update it to 2.1 (free for purchasers of 2.0). So far so good, I can open the program and use it without any problems, but haven't really had time to play around with it properly.
Have been busy backing up everything on my computer - models, pictures, documents, everything - onto CDs. It's something I've been meaning to do for a long while, just because if my PC explodes or crashes, there's a lot of irreplaceable stuff on there, particularly my Wings models. My disk drive, however, is decidedly un-compliant at times, and only reads CDs or DVDs when it feels like it. I've had to contact the Dell support line and ask for help - having paid for the computer's warranty, it seems foolish not to take advantage of it. They got me to download new drivers for the disk drive, which hopefully will fix the problem.
Finally, an update regarding my lizard character. Have started texturing, using the UV mapping facility in Wings. It's about the closest you can get to real-time mapping outside of one of the expensive packages - create texture from figure, export it as bitmap, open it in paint program, make changes, then save bitmap and refresh it in Wings to see the results. It's painstaking but fun - a bit like doing a jigsaw. You have to try and work out which of the little bits and pieces on the map corresponds to which patch of the model. The most practical way I can think of to do that is to colour each bit, one at a time, a really loud colour, like bright pink, then look for that bright pink patch on the model. Having located it, it can then be painted the correct colour.
Have been busy backing up everything on my computer - models, pictures, documents, everything - onto CDs. It's something I've been meaning to do for a long while, just because if my PC explodes or crashes, there's a lot of irreplaceable stuff on there, particularly my Wings models. My disk drive, however, is decidedly un-compliant at times, and only reads CDs or DVDs when it feels like it. I've had to contact the Dell support line and ask for help - having paid for the computer's warranty, it seems foolish not to take advantage of it. They got me to download new drivers for the disk drive, which hopefully will fix the problem.
Finally, an update regarding my lizard character. Have started texturing, using the UV mapping facility in Wings. It's about the closest you can get to real-time mapping outside of one of the expensive packages - create texture from figure, export it as bitmap, open it in paint program, make changes, then save bitmap and refresh it in Wings to see the results. It's painstaking but fun - a bit like doing a jigsaw. You have to try and work out which of the little bits and pieces on the map corresponds to which patch of the model. The most practical way I can think of to do that is to colour each bit, one at a time, a really loud colour, like bright pink, then look for that bright pink patch on the model. Having located it, it can then be painted the correct colour.
Friday, 2 June 2006
Mighty Morphin' Power Freak
My first experiment with using SharpConstruct to produce morphs for a Poser figure - specifically the Freak. I've added morphs to the head, chest, shoulders and forearms, to produce a fishy character. At present I'm working on another set to turn DAZ's troll into a rhinoceros-like creature.
Tuesday, 23 May 2006
SharpConstruct
Have made some progress with SharpConstruct. The program has been throwing up the following problems so far:
(1) When I import one of my own Poser figures from Poser 6 (as in, one of the ones I have made in Wings, imported into Poser as an .obj file, and rigged, then export it as an .obj file and open it in SharpConstruct, it turns invisible - well, bits of it, anyway.
(2) When I export part of another Poser figure as an .obj file (for the purpose of using SharpConstruct to make morphs for that figure), the body part appears in SharpConstruct facing in the wrong direction, and rotating the part causes it to fly off the screen.
(3) When I make a figure in Wings and then export it into SharpConstruct, it appears left of the centre, so that modelling symetrically doesn't work.
I have, at least, managed to find a way around problem number 2. When I have tried exporting part of a Poser figure, say, the head, and opened it in another program - Photobrowser (a handy little utility for viewing 3d objects and images) - it opens facing the same way that it does in SharpConstruct. However, when I try opening the same file in Anim8or, it displays the right way up.
Why this should be, I don't know. It also appears that when I export a part of a Poser figure like that, it is retaining the part's location in relation to the rest of the figure. This is probably why, when I try to rotate around the head in a program like SharpConstruct or Anim8or, the part moves off the screen, because the program thinks it is rotating around the entire model rather than just that part.
Anyway, the way round this, as I found last night through a lot of trial and error, is:
1) Export the body part (head) from Poser.
2) Export the entire figure from Poser as a separate model (there is a reason for this).
3) Open the head in Anim8or.
4) Rotate the head forwards 90 degrees so it is facing you.
5) Choose Edit - Locate - Centre about origin.
6) Export the head.
7) Import it into SharpConstruct. Produce your morph.
8) Export again.
9) Import the entire figure that was exported from step 2 into Anim8or.
10) Import the morphed head into Poser
11) Cut and paste the morphed head into the same object window as the entire figure. The head will be lying, face down, between the entire figure's feet. Now rotate the head backwards 90 degrees so that it is facing you. Then move the head until it is in the same position as the head of the entire figure.
12) Delete the entire figure.
13) Export the head.
14) Import the head into Poser as a morph target. Hopefully, this will now work with the figure in Poser.
(1) When I import one of my own Poser figures from Poser 6 (as in, one of the ones I have made in Wings, imported into Poser as an .obj file, and rigged, then export it as an .obj file and open it in SharpConstruct, it turns invisible - well, bits of it, anyway.
(2) When I export part of another Poser figure as an .obj file (for the purpose of using SharpConstruct to make morphs for that figure), the body part appears in SharpConstruct facing in the wrong direction, and rotating the part causes it to fly off the screen.
(3) When I make a figure in Wings and then export it into SharpConstruct, it appears left of the centre, so that modelling symetrically doesn't work.
I have, at least, managed to find a way around problem number 2. When I have tried exporting part of a Poser figure, say, the head, and opened it in another program - Photobrowser (a handy little utility for viewing 3d objects and images) - it opens facing the same way that it does in SharpConstruct. However, when I try opening the same file in Anim8or, it displays the right way up.
Why this should be, I don't know. It also appears that when I export a part of a Poser figure like that, it is retaining the part's location in relation to the rest of the figure. This is probably why, when I try to rotate around the head in a program like SharpConstruct or Anim8or, the part moves off the screen, because the program thinks it is rotating around the entire model rather than just that part.
Anyway, the way round this, as I found last night through a lot of trial and error, is:
1) Export the body part (head) from Poser.
2) Export the entire figure from Poser as a separate model (there is a reason for this).
3) Open the head in Anim8or.
4) Rotate the head forwards 90 degrees so it is facing you.
5) Choose Edit - Locate - Centre about origin.
6) Export the head.
7) Import it into SharpConstruct. Produce your morph.
8) Export again.
9) Import the entire figure that was exported from step 2 into Anim8or.
10) Import the morphed head into Poser
11) Cut and paste the morphed head into the same object window as the entire figure. The head will be lying, face down, between the entire figure's feet. Now rotate the head backwards 90 degrees so that it is facing you. Then move the head until it is in the same position as the head of the entire figure.
12) Delete the entire figure.
13) Export the head.
14) Import the head into Poser as a morph target. Hopefully, this will now work with the figure in Poser.
Saturday, 20 May 2006
Hexagon and SharpConstruct
Well, so much for Hexagon. It doesn't work on my computer, and if the posts on the bug tracker forum are anything to go by, it's not too good on other people's computers either. The displacement mapping function and the painting function don't work at all.
As for SharpConstruct, I'm sure it will be fantastic once it's been developed a bit, but at present there are issues - one in particular with importing models from Poser. One of the things I'd like to be able to do with this program is produce morphs for figures, but the program won't display them properly. I might post something on the SharpConstruct forum to ask if the developer could build in some kind of function to centre the model in the window.
As for SharpConstruct, I'm sure it will be fantastic once it's been developed a bit, but at present there are issues - one in particular with importing models from Poser. One of the things I'd like to be able to do with this program is produce morphs for figures, but the program won't display them properly. I might post something on the SharpConstruct forum to ask if the developer could build in some kind of function to centre the model in the window.
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