LucasMichel's Work
polycounter lvl 7
Hey All,
I wanted to make a thread to post up my sculpts and models. I'm a 3D artist and graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design with my BFA in game design and I'm currently working at a graphic design company in New York as a Packaging Designer. Feel free to comment, all critique and responses are welcomed and desired! Hope you like my work.
Cheers,
Lucas Michel
***3D Artist seeking aid from fellow 3D artist with scripting subclass: Need advice on making inter-program scripts/macros - I need a [[Button/Application/Program]] that performs an action in Maya (Like File>Export Selected) then follows up by opening a secondary program (Like Keyshot6) and performing another action (Like File>Import)***
^I have a very very basic understanding of C++, and the only scripts I've ever actually "made" were within Maya (Python?), and only by activating a command then going to the script editor and copying that command and turning it into a shelf button.
If anyone has an Artists scripting solution or suggestion on a place to start I sure would be grateful for you wisdom! I'm not looking for anything too complex, I've put most of my skill points in the Creative skill tree and only put a few points in Software/Tech so I'm struggling with some things I KNOW I could automate. HELP MEH PLEASE!
LucasMichel.com
(3D Enchanter and Blacksmith)
Also, I am seeking the solutions to a few problems that are plaguing my solo-3D-Artist life. If you happen to have a solution to any of the following issues I will prostitute myself to you for the answers!
As of January 2017:
In Photoshop: PDF's save out by default with layers embedded and it's annoying to manually change every time. I'd like Photoshop to change the default Save setting to "As a Copy" for all PDF's, there must be a way in preferences or something?
In Maya: (Solved) Is there a face/vertex/edge selection tool within Maya that is similar to the selection lasso/polygonal lasso tool that exists within Photoshop? Using the rectangular marquee to select curved surfaces is a bit cumbersome.
Yes, It is the Icon directly underneath the standard selection Icon on the left hand toolbar
In Maya: (Solved) I'm sure this is simple but I've hotkeyed the "UV Editor" window set to pop up when I hit "Control + 7", Is there a way to make that a 'Toggle Open - Toggle Close' instead of just 'Toggle Open'. I.e. I want the 'Control + 7' hotkey to open the UV window as well as close it.
^Solution: This is the script for toggling on and off the Hypershade window, but the format is identical for the UV editor (except replace hyperShadePanel1Window with "polyTexturePlacementPanel1Window"). Using an If-Else statement... It's kind of like being back in C++ class all over again.
In Maya: (Solved) Is there a way to lock your cameras PHYSICAL position while still allowing you to "look around" inside your geometry. If you mouse wheel zoom in far enough you can spin your view around without moving yourself, if you are zoomed way out, right mouse holding and looking around spins your physical position. I can manually zoom in and lock myself in place so I can look around but there must be a button somewhere to lock me down! I know my English are great in this last sentence but you know what I mean. Looking around inside a model often throws you outside your models geometry, THERE MUST BE A WAY TO BOLT MYSELF DOWN!
^SOLVED!!!!: Alt+X activates the walk tool which locks the cameras physical position allowing you to look in any direction without shifting your position.
Additionally I am seeking an answer to a bit of simple Maya scripting. I am working on a script to store a "Quick-Save" slot of my model in a single "Save" display layer. The script ideally should make a duplicate of the current model, Move it 10 units to the right, add it to a display layer named "Save", overwrite that "Save" display layer and object if one already exists in that "Save" slot display layer, and finally hide the layer or turn it off/invisible. I have reverse engineered the first three simple parts of duplicate, move 10 units to the right and add to a layer from checking the script editor after doing those actions, but the overwriting, deleting and hiding parts I'm stumped on. Mostly because I can speak script/code/Mel about as well as I speak Spanish, which is to say "Que?". So not well.
In Keyshot/Keyshot Pro: The standard texture scale for all of the internal materials inside of Keyshot is set to massive. So when I drag a material onto my OBJ I always have to go to Material > Textures > Scale > and Reduce the scale from the standard 1 to roughly .1-.2. Now that may not sound like a big deal but if I rapidly want to throw 6 different textures onto my model to see what it will look like with each individual material on it, I have to stop on each material and alter the scale changing what would be a 15 second process into a 3 minute process. Its a big time sink for me and it makes the process heavier, causing me to sometimes skip looking at the material on the OBJ because it just isn't THAT necessary and I'm in the thick of designing and fixing problems and I don't want to lose my flow. SO! Does anyone know of a way to globally lower the scale of all of Keyshot's materials? Or make it so my models import into Keyshot at a larger size which is proportionate to Keyshots default texture scale? (I have tried scaling up my models inside of Maya before exporting them but I didn't notice a difference)
^Update: It's not quite a solution but now, every time I create a new polycube to start the modeling process, I scale the polycube up to 15 times larger than the default scale. I do this for a series of reasons but one of the effects is that the scale of 80% of all the default and downloaded keyshot materials are closely proportionate to the Object files I build. (Another reason is that it improves the quality of the shadows rendered! ((The shadows can look blocky and low res if the model is small in comparison to the scene size)))
Lastly,
Is there a way to give a both sides of a single poly plane separate UV's? So that I can have one side display, say, a label, and the other side display white? I know everything technically has more than 1 polygon thickness including paper, but I am trying to render a label on top of a glass and I'm getting some quirky effects with a polygon thickness of 1 or more on the label. I know this is almost certainly a no, but if by chance there is a way it would be useful for me.
I wanted to make a thread to post up my sculpts and models. I'm a 3D artist and graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design with my BFA in game design and I'm currently working at a graphic design company in New York as a Packaging Designer. Feel free to comment, all critique and responses are welcomed and desired! Hope you like my work.
Cheers,
Lucas Michel
***3D Artist seeking aid from fellow 3D artist with scripting subclass: Need advice on making inter-program scripts/macros - I need a [[Button/Application/Program]] that performs an action in Maya (Like File>Export Selected) then follows up by opening a secondary program (Like Keyshot6) and performing another action (Like File>Import)***
^I have a very very basic understanding of C++, and the only scripts I've ever actually "made" were within Maya (Python?), and only by activating a command then going to the script editor and copying that command and turning it into a shelf button.
If anyone has an Artists scripting solution or suggestion on a place to start I sure would be grateful for you wisdom! I'm not looking for anything too complex, I've put most of my skill points in the Creative skill tree and only put a few points in Software/Tech so I'm struggling with some things I KNOW I could automate. HELP MEH PLEASE!
LucasMichel.com
(3D Enchanter and Blacksmith)
Also, I am seeking the solutions to a few problems that are plaguing my solo-3D-Artist life. If you happen to have a solution to any of the following issues I will prostitute myself to you for the answers!
As of January 2017:
In Photoshop: PDF's save out by default with layers embedded and it's annoying to manually change every time. I'd like Photoshop to change the default Save setting to "As a Copy" for all PDF's, there must be a way in preferences or something?
In Maya: (Solved) Is there a face/vertex/edge selection tool within Maya that is similar to the selection lasso/polygonal lasso tool that exists within Photoshop? Using the rectangular marquee to select curved surfaces is a bit cumbersome.
Yes, It is the Icon directly underneath the standard selection Icon on the left hand toolbar
In Maya: (Solved) I'm sure this is simple but I've hotkeyed the "UV Editor" window set to pop up when I hit "Control + 7", Is there a way to make that a 'Toggle Open - Toggle Close' instead of just 'Toggle Open'. I.e. I want the 'Control + 7' hotkey to open the UV window as well as close it.
^Solution: This is the script for toggling on and off the Hypershade window, but the format is identical for the UV editor (except replace hyperShadePanel1Window with "polyTexturePlacementPanel1Window"). Using an If-Else statement... It's kind of like being back in C++ class all over again.
if ( `window -exists hyperShadePanel1Window` )
deleteUI -window hyperShadePanel1Window;
else
tearOffPanel "Hypershade" "hyperShadePanel" true;
In Maya: (Solved) Is there a way to lock your cameras PHYSICAL position while still allowing you to "look around" inside your geometry. If you mouse wheel zoom in far enough you can spin your view around without moving yourself, if you are zoomed way out, right mouse holding and looking around spins your physical position. I can manually zoom in and lock myself in place so I can look around but there must be a button somewhere to lock me down! I know my English are great in this last sentence but you know what I mean. Looking around inside a model often throws you outside your models geometry, THERE MUST BE A WAY TO BOLT MYSELF DOWN!
^SOLVED!!!!: Alt+X activates the walk tool which locks the cameras physical position allowing you to look in any direction without shifting your position.
Additionally I am seeking an answer to a bit of simple Maya scripting. I am working on a script to store a "Quick-Save" slot of my model in a single "Save" display layer. The script ideally should make a duplicate of the current model, Move it 10 units to the right, add it to a display layer named "Save", overwrite that "Save" display layer and object if one already exists in that "Save" slot display layer, and finally hide the layer or turn it off/invisible. I have reverse engineered the first three simple parts of duplicate, move 10 units to the right and add to a layer from checking the script editor after doing those actions, but the overwriting, deleting and hiding parts I'm stumped on. Mostly because I can speak script/code/Mel about as well as I speak Spanish, which is to say "Que?". So not well.
In Keyshot/Keyshot Pro: The standard texture scale for all of the internal materials inside of Keyshot is set to massive. So when I drag a material onto my OBJ I always have to go to Material > Textures > Scale > and Reduce the scale from the standard 1 to roughly .1-.2. Now that may not sound like a big deal but if I rapidly want to throw 6 different textures onto my model to see what it will look like with each individual material on it, I have to stop on each material and alter the scale changing what would be a 15 second process into a 3 minute process. Its a big time sink for me and it makes the process heavier, causing me to sometimes skip looking at the material on the OBJ because it just isn't THAT necessary and I'm in the thick of designing and fixing problems and I don't want to lose my flow. SO! Does anyone know of a way to globally lower the scale of all of Keyshot's materials? Or make it so my models import into Keyshot at a larger size which is proportionate to Keyshots default texture scale? (I have tried scaling up my models inside of Maya before exporting them but I didn't notice a difference)
^Update: It's not quite a solution but now, every time I create a new polycube to start the modeling process, I scale the polycube up to 15 times larger than the default scale. I do this for a series of reasons but one of the effects is that the scale of 80% of all the default and downloaded keyshot materials are closely proportionate to the Object files I build. (Another reason is that it improves the quality of the shadows rendered! ((The shadows can look blocky and low res if the model is small in comparison to the scene size)))
Lastly,
Is there a way to give a both sides of a single poly plane separate UV's? So that I can have one side display, say, a label, and the other side display white? I know everything technically has more than 1 polygon thickness including paper, but I am trying to render a label on top of a glass and I'm getting some quirky effects with a polygon thickness of 1 or more on the label. I know this is almost certainly a no, but if by chance there is a way it would be useful for me.
Replies
Maya: Dropping cloth on a table -
ZBrush: Setting Bracket keys to brush size -
More here: http://www.lucasmichel.com/project-dungeon.html
www.LucasMichel.com
Thanks All,
Lucas Michel
(^ Level 24 Modeler LFG!)
P.S. Your website is looking pretty sharp, sir (love that tank)
A 3-session speed creature sculpt. Half Dragon, half Hydralisk play around
Winter Knight character dev. Fighting through the ugly phase!
(+1 for Rackham Mini's)
Fleet Captain Minos
Star Star
(And if you don't use spotify, GET ON YOUR GAME SON! It's like itunes and pandora combined without the flaws of either. Like Pandora but with unlimited skips, like itunes but you don't have to pay for anything!)
Comments and critique appreciated!
Thanks Polycounter's!
-Lucas Michel
The graveyards are full of middling swordsmen. Best not to be a swordsman at all than a middling swordsman.
-Back to the grindstone
The modeling, UV'ing, and rendering side of it only takes about 3 or 4 hours from poly cube to finished shot if all goes smoothly. Creation of each master design takes between a few days to a week to flesh out. However a single master design covers between 30 and 40 product types (Candles, lotions, aprons, ect) and must be revised and scrutinized many times until its deemed "bulletproof"
And thanks, that zipper and bag were surprisingly simple to create and look decent enough. Zbrush and normal maps for the bag and some basic high poly modeling for the zipper. Also, it helps that the model itself isn't being used so I can be gluttonous with my poly count.
EDIT: Actually I probably grossly undershot the time duration of each of these tasks, as I am wont to do. The hard surface stuff, sure, might take only 4 to 6 hours of hard modeling to finish to it's final state, but that's certainly not the end of the process.
Once the textures are applied, and the first render is finished I send the shot to my sub boss for revisions. And there are always revisions; The company I work for is very precise, so no errors or discrepancies of the model or textures are acceptable. the revision process is very scrutinous (Is that a word? If it's not I'm pulling a Shakespear and making it one). By the time I'm done I've usually sent each model through keyshot ten or 11 times, PER design style, for various revisions and reasons. That means each model demands the better part of a day to get from "Completed - Redlight" to "Completed - Greenlight".
I should also note that it's likely that if I, myself, were both more precise and experienced, I imagine it would need to make fewer revisions; which would cut down on unnecessary work time. I'm still currently in that fumbling adept phase of learning to model and hitting a decent amount of time-sink potholes along the way. However, I can feel myself speeding up as I repeat this process over and over. When I started a month ago on this particular volley of models, my turn around time was probably around a day and a half. Now, By the final model, I've cut the time demand of hard surface models down to roughly a day (Two days for soft surface if I'm being honest, it just demands more time and a bit of ZBrush).
Small things like being more precise in the early stages of modeling, stumbling on better and more efficient ways to UV the model, and removing unnecessary steps from the process have had drastic effects on production time. (Trial by fire and such)
So I've snagged myself on a topology barb and I can't seem to wrap my head around a solution: I am currently modeling the nozzle of a liquid soap dispenser, and the shape isn't even that complex, but I can't seem to figure out what a clean topology solution would look like, Here's a photo of the Nozzle:
That section where the horizontal nozzle merges with the vertical down stem part is really giving me guff. Here's where I'm at so far:
I know, I know, the topology is a mess, but I assure you, once I figure out a good topological flow, the effect will look similar to the following:
I just enrolled in an online modeling class over at UArtsy with Paul Liaw, so if I can't figure it out within a few hours I'll switch to a different model and hold off till I get a chance to request an assist from the teach, but dag nabbit, I don't like being bested by software, models or otherwise!
Sigh* I'm going to blindly attempt to figure out this fix/troubleshoot the topology, but if you happen to see the solution and wish to save me some hours of fruitlessly ramming my head into the problem, lemee know!
Cheers Counters,
Lucas M
Bottle will eventually be clear with a seal and wrapped label on it, but that's for the next step a few days down the line
Here is the planning and some shots
And all rendered out in Keyshot:
As you can tell, its an imperfect solution and there is pinching caused by extra edges where I don't want them but cant seem to find a way to get rid of them. I'm roaring abit about this but all in all, dropped in keyshot and dolled up it looks just fine, and you almost can't tell there's pinching going on, but it's still bugging me a bit... a lot... whatever I spent too long on this one model as is and I'm whipping myself to move on, but dammit.... Backslash Aggrivated.
I think if I were to start this model over again, I would increase the number of divisions of the main vertical cylinder structure at the very onset, because the weld required a lot of complex arcitecture in a small space on the model, and a more verts and edges to work with would have been beneficial. Balanced polygon density always seems to be the key to my problems. I made it work but there are definitely some 6, 7 and 8 pointed star verts hunkered in that complex weld-area nozzle bit...
A close up of the problem area because I just can't stop gnawing. My main issue is that there are these sharp angles that need to immediately terminate when they come into contact with the smooth rounded surface, but what should I do with the extra edge loops? I collapsed them down as well as i could, (Which negatively affected the roundness of the cylinder) but by doing that I created a series of star verticies, is this unavoidable? Rawr Rawr Rawr
Wax on... Wax off... Wax on... Wax off...
*On a side note, anyone know if there is a way to make a a plane have two different sides and accompanying UV's? IE the inside of the front lable/decal is displaying the texture that is only supposed to go on the outside, the inside should be pure white, I know I can extrude a thin width but I would rather use a flat plane if possible*
I LOVE photoshop actions, but I am new to their usage and am fumbling around a bit with trying to automate a series of button clicks and presses for altering large batches of files of layers. So heres whats up:
First iteration: I have 15 Layers, with each one I need to: Show Layer "A" > Save As > Layer "A" JPG > Hide Layer "A" > Show Layer "B" > Save As > Layer "B" JPG > Ect Ect Ect for 15 layers.
My issue is that If I were to create a photoshop action that Saved out a Layer with a name, the Action would always Over the exact same JPG file. So instead of having 15 files in one folder I would have 1 JPG that had been over-written 15 times. So basically what I'm saying is that I need to Iterate the saves, (although that may not be possible with photoshop actions)
^ If anyone knows a way to make this work, or has a more practical solution I would love your feedback! I am working on a Mac specifically, but I did look lightly into basic script creation. And while my "Scripting" skill level may be something like Rank 13/100, I have a high INT modifier and "Computer Use" skill which adds a +4 synergy speed bonus to learning new software and software techniques.
If this were an MMORPG I would say I need to figure out how to set up some macros for these three games I'm playing: Photoshop, Keyshot, and Maya.
Secondly: I need to use Keyshot to render out a single OBJ with multiple different skins, so I need to extract from Keyshot about 15 different Image files/JPGs in total. If anyone knows a way to make this work? (Edit Material "A" > Load New Texture > Select Targa "B" > Load Targa "B" > Wait 15 Minutes for resolution > "Screenshot" > Edit Material "A" > Load New Texture > Select Targa "C" > Load Targa "C" > Wait 15 more minutes > "Screenshot" > Edit Material "A" > Load New Texture > Select Targa "D" > Ect Ect Ect. I know the Keyshot Pro version of Keyshot allows for batch rendering but I don't know if that is exactly what I want, or If I even really need to drop the additional Cash on the upgraded version. (It seems to me there is a better solution to this situation short of building my own robot, Id bet I could find a free 3rd party program that would allow me to "record" my button presses and location of the presses on the screen < This would be an inelegant solution but whatever will get me from point A to point B in the fewest button presses will reign)
Let me know if you have any thoughts or solutions!
- Lucas
P.S. Also still trying to figure out If it is possible make a "Single-Polygon-Thick" flat plane have two different sides, or not display the backside, and How to get the "shimmer" effect that makes silk look like silk in 3D - specifically in Keyshot (There is no "Silk" material in keyshot).
I'm trying my hand at creating a small script in Maya to better protect my models, but I've hit a bit of a snag. The script I'm working on is supposed to do the following: A - Duplicate the Selected Object. B - Move the Selected Object 10 units on the X axis. C - Create a new layer and Add the Selected Object to the new layer. D - Hide the new layer. E - Delete the old "new layer".
I want the script to delete the old "new layer" because I want this script to function as a quick save of sorts that only stores one layer. It should be a button I press right before I'm ready to smooth the model out.
If anyone reading this is decent with Maya scripting and knows how to do this I beg you to help me out! I've been googling "How to select a new layer/top layer script maya" for the past hour and a half to no avail.
Here's what I have so far, as you can tell, its as basic as my understanding of Mel is, but it completes the first three objectives, It duplicates, translates, and adds the selected object to a new layer, but I can't seem to figure a way to select the new layer that I've created.
The basics:
duplicate -rr;
move 10 0 0;
createDisplayLayer -name "Save1" -number 1 -nr;
Hope you can help!
Lucas
Edit: Still seeking a fix but someone mentioned that immediately after using extrude he switches directly to the move, scale or rotate modifiers instead of using the "Extrude Modifiers". It's not perfect but pressing the "W" "Q" or "R" keys immediately after an extrude seems to a hair less aggravating.
I am trying top figure out iteration within Photoshop actions. Currently, if you add a "Save As" function to an action it will always overwrite the same files instead of making multiple file like this: Filename001.PSD, Filename002.PSD, Filename003.PSD, ect ect. I KNOW there is a simple way to go about this, if you have any insight I would be soooo grateful.
-Lucas
Keyshot 6: This is the outside of a bottle I'm working on. The geometry is a very simple poly-cube-made-cylinder then subdivided 2-3 times with a Cylindrical Mapping. It's the "Refractive Glass Dense" Material with a Refraction index of 1.3 and a Horizontal Stripped bump map applied to it to achieve the ridging. Does anyone know whats up with the white speckling going on near the mid-to-mid-left of this image?
I've set the lighting to 64 "Ray Bounces" and 34 "Indirect Bounces" and a 5 for Shadow Quality. I also tried it with my ray bounces set to 128 but I didn't notice too drastic of an effect change. Anyone have any Ideas? At first I thought that a day and a half of rendering would clean up the white speckling going on but they remained in the final buttery render, to my great dismay.
Let me know if you have any ideas or potential solutions!
-Lucas M
-Maya: To fix the "Object 'function' not found" error where basic tools, tool manipulators, and tool settings wont display, (and handful of Maya's other glitch twitches) save the scene, restart Maya and import it into a new scene. Stupid Simple, but I generally just soldier through the glitches when a cure was readily available, which is stupid because the fix is so simple.
-Maya: CTRL + SHIFT + Clicking on Any Function creates a shelf icon of that function. Center Pivot, Freeze Transformations, Delete-All-By-Type>History, and Export Selection make a wonderful combo addition to the shelf. My own other personal favorite additions to my shelf are: Insert EdgeLoop, Delete Edge/Vertex, Extrude, Slide Edge, Combine, Smooth, and Multi Cut. (anything you use frequently and even better if its buried deep in menu's
-Maya: The 'File>Increment and Save' function is your friend. I think of it as something of a carefree save function or an iteration quick save; each time you hit I.A.S. Maya creates a new save in the same folder but adds a single number to the end of the file name (File001, File002, File003, etc.). If you are the type of person who gets terrified by saving a file for fear of potentially overwriting some small but critical change, this bad boy is for you. (*Note* File folders can get a little large so be sure to delete old project iterations if your tight on computer space)
-Maya: If you need exact proportions and measurements, use a 1:1 cube in Maya, the add your measurements into the channel box/Layer editors "Scale" Information. I have always manually built and measured using the measure tool then modifying then measuring then modifying but it is much simpler to imput the measurements once and have them be exact, couldnt figure out the easy way to do this but ive figured it out * To be edited
-Photoshop: SHIFT + OPTION + the "+" or "-" keys on a Mac switch the layer style (normal, multiply, screen, pass through, etc) of the selected layer(s) to the next or previous layer style. There isn't a way to rapidly "Scroll Wheel" through layer styles like there is on the PC version of Photoshop (God knows why) but this hotkey is still a better option than manual selection.
This image: