Someone needed help, so I offered this video screen capture demo of how to create decent lofts in Blender 3D.
1. Create Bezier Curve (loftbase)
2. Create Bezier Circle (loftprofile)
3. Create 2nd Bezier Curve (lofttaper)
(rename them appropriately if you like)
For loftbase, add loftprofile as the BevOb, and lofttaper as TaperOb. Then move around control points as needed.
Explore adding lattice, and using 3D paths instead of curves.
Well, maybe it’s not a tip, but for me, it’s all new. I’m not really well versed in skinning and rigging, yet, so I learned something quite useful while watching a YouTube video.
first, put an armature modifier on the mesh so that it’s linked to the rig. Then select the rig. Then shift-select the mesh. (oh, the rig should be in ctrl-tab pose mode). Then go back to the mesh (both selected), and enter weight paint mode. Now you can select the bone (right click it) and start painting your skinning weight for that bone. You can enter f-key for painting mask – this lets you select certain faces that you can paint on, effectively masking your targeted area. Great for fingers and toes and tight spots. You can rotate/move the bone a little bit to make sure it’s influenced properly, and keep painting in real-time to make sure it’s all skinned properly.
I did an emperor penguin model and rig, with plans to animate it one day. It’s the first skinning job I’ve done (outside of auto-skinning/envelope bones), so hopefully it animates well.
One of the best (one of the only) magazine for 3D artists is 3D World. It’s a nice thick magazine, that costs $20/month if you buy it at a local stand. Annual subscriptions run at about $120 USD, which actually gets you 13 issues, as they publish a bonus issue in December for subscribers. 3D Worldmag.com
This magazine offers 3D tips, technical specs for new and recommended hardware, reviews, movie making how-tos, and the like. It also contains a great resource CD full of textures, models, light probes, software (some trial, some full versions) and stuff. For most months, the CD is worth more than the cost of the magazine. And at roughly half price for the annual subscription, more than worth it!! The magazine also has a section of a featured 3D modeling or animation tutorial for one of the mainstream apps each issue.
As I use Blender and 3DS Max, they are both featured applications that get plenty of coverage in the magazine. I think I’m going to subscribe very soon.
These are the embarassing stats of my existing entry-level/budget video card. It works for Blender, since blender is so happy with any resources, and is not a resource hoggy type of an app. But for 3DS Max, that’s another story. Hence the coming of the ATI. It should arrive anytime now, according to the tracking info.
The Nvidia handles 3DS Max objects pretty well, but when you get large scenes, with hundreds of objects, and then complixify it with animation, the display struggles. Lower FPS than is acceptable. (I’d be ok with 15-20fps for a large scene, but the one in question runs at around 3-5).
Now The New Radeon
Radeon HD 4870 1GB 3D Mark Stats
Ok – so the Radeon is definitely better. It whopped the Geforce 8500, which was expected. Interestingly though, the CPU score with the Radeon is a little lower. I’m not sure if that’s reflective of the extra bandwidth being used, or something else. Anybody with comments?
So the Radeon is also definitely faster in the 3D viewport in 3DS Max Design 2009. It’s hard to give any exact test numbers for comparison, as I didn’t record anything officially with the Nvidia. But it is faster – no doubt about it.
It’s also faster by a couple orders of magnitude in the GPU based Folding@Home program. Again, no official numbers, but waaaay faster.
So for only $230 after mail in rebate, It’s definitely a worthy card. My bottleneck now, I think, Lies in my motherboard’s budget abilities, and my budget ram. Even though the q6600 is overclocked, it’s not fast enough due to mobo limitations.
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