Modeling Roots/Vines
I was wondering how to model vines / roots like the ones in this chap
http://www.mutantspoon.com/portfolio/vinewallhp.jpg
Let me know if im close, or right :P, I draw a swirly line and use a sweep modifier and then taper it to get the small to large.
But when i do this i can never get the taper to work right.
Also are the details done in z brush you think or can i achieve that via modelling?
http://www.mutantspoon.com/portfolio/vinewallhp.jpg
Let me know if im close, or right :P, I draw a swirly line and use a sweep modifier and then taper it to get the small to large.
But when i do this i can never get the taper to work right.
Also are the details done in z brush you think or can i achieve that via modelling?
Replies
then id either colapse it down and manually taper the shapes with a smooth selection or use an FFD.
Method 1)
"Extrude along path" inside of edit poly works a lot like sweep but it has, Rotation, Taper, Taper curve, and twist settings, great for this type of thing. But has one Achilles heal (more on that later).
- Move your swirly shape to the first knot in the spline that will be your path.
- Add the Edit Poly Modifier (this is important if you ever want to tweak the path later)
- Select the poly
- Click the box next to Extrude Along Spline
- Pick the line and play with the settings
BUT there is one set back to this last method, if you want to tweak the path, the extrude won't follow. You'll need to delete edit poly and re-extrude. Depending on how close you can align the shape to the path in the beginning determines who closely it will fallow the path. Both kind of annoying so I choose to do...
Method 2)
Like Jordon pointed out in the link Pea posted. You can then use PathDeformWSM to place a piece of geometry on a spline. Depending on how you create that piece of geometry it can make for some VERY customizable rope, cable, vines ect... I'll go over my particular workflow because Jordon didn't cover it great detail and there are a lot of tiny tips and tricks that make things super easy.
- Create your shape, for rope, cable and a jumble of vines I start out with a Star Spline > convert to edit spline. Round out the points using chamfer.
- Select all vert/knots and set them to smooth (helps to space out the segments)
- Apply Edit Poly modifier.
- Apply Shell, adjust the inner or outer amount to give it length, crank up the segments.
- Apply Twist
- Apply Taper
- At this point you can create copies or instances of these base straight shapes put them on their own layer and come up with a mini library of straight pieces to pull from.
- Create your path spline, on flat objects like a wall, turn on auto grid, OR use Neil Blevins spline painter script, which lets you paint a spline on the surface of any object. AWESOME for this kind of thing.
- On the instanced copy apply PathDeform(WSM), pick the path spline you just created, click move to spline, and adjust the XYZ settings so it aligns properly then adjust the % along path.
The great thing about this method is if you need to adjust any of the settings they are all there in the modifier list. You can also adjust the path spline at any point and the geometry will follow.
Method 3)
Lastly lets not forget about the freeware Ivy Generator It's starting to become over used, once you know about it, you see it everywhere.
Also check out Neil's wire bundle script, it can do some pretty interesting stuff too.
sorry about back blackground too :P