'Wrap/Lay' meshes onto another mesh in Max
Hey all, got a bit of a question for you technical guys.
I'll preface by saying this is an Arch-Viz job so realtime optimisation isn't important, just what looks best.
I'm working on a job which involves a house with a fairly complex roof plan. Unfortunately I can't post any blueprints for obvious reasons, I probably shoulda taken a screenshot of the roof mesh but I didn't get the chance before I left work for the day.
Basically, the roof surface is curved across two planes (a gentle curve if viewed from the top, and very slightly arched if viewed front on). Now the roof is to be finished in slate tiles, just rectangular, flat tiles. Initially, I thought I'd just use a texture which actually looks ok from a bit of testing I did. However, I haven't got the final camera positions/views from the client yet and I'm concerned that there may well be some roof detail shots which would look far better if the tiles could be modelled.
Is there a script/plugin/modifier/simple method to get the tiles to 'fit' to a specified surface? For example, I'd create a bunch of tiles, laid as they are supposed to be, but flat. Then run a script or modifier and select the surface, and have the tiles wrap to the surface?
I've tried lining them up by hand, tweaking one row at a time but it really isn't working out well, not to mention incredibly time consuming.
If anyone has any ideas, it'd be much appreciated!
I'm using Max, but could possibly get access to Maya if needs be.
Cheers!
I'll preface by saying this is an Arch-Viz job so realtime optimisation isn't important, just what looks best.
I'm working on a job which involves a house with a fairly complex roof plan. Unfortunately I can't post any blueprints for obvious reasons, I probably shoulda taken a screenshot of the roof mesh but I didn't get the chance before I left work for the day.
Basically, the roof surface is curved across two planes (a gentle curve if viewed from the top, and very slightly arched if viewed front on). Now the roof is to be finished in slate tiles, just rectangular, flat tiles. Initially, I thought I'd just use a texture which actually looks ok from a bit of testing I did. However, I haven't got the final camera positions/views from the client yet and I'm concerned that there may well be some roof detail shots which would look far better if the tiles could be modelled.
Is there a script/plugin/modifier/simple method to get the tiles to 'fit' to a specified surface? For example, I'd create a bunch of tiles, laid as they are supposed to be, but flat. Then run a script or modifier and select the surface, and have the tiles wrap to the surface?
I've tried lining them up by hand, tweaking one row at a time but it really isn't working out well, not to mention incredibly time consuming.
If anyone has any ideas, it'd be much appreciated!
I'm using Max, but could possibly get access to Maya if needs be.
Cheers!
Replies
SlideKnit is pretty cool, I think it's fallen on hard times and been abandoned by its creator and from what I remember it was kind of buggy. There might be something similar floating around script spot? If not try this...
I haven't tried it out but you could use TexTools UV/3D function to warp your 3D object into flat shapes then skinwrap your tiles to the flattened pieces and warp it back.
You MIGHT need to break all the seams first and create a morph target with it flattened to get it to warp back if it doesn't follow along when you convert it from 3D back to UV.
Ok I'm gonna try SlideKnit, if that fails, I'll report back and may need some further explanation of the TexTools option. I use TexTools almost every day but have no idea about the function you're talking of Vig, I only use a few of its core features, so I may need some clarification.
Am I even doing this right, lol.
Create a bunch of tiles, laid out, overlapping nicely, but flat.
Select roof face, run SlideKnit.
Add Skin Wrap mod to roof tiles, wrap to SlideKnit face object.
Nothing happens.
I'm missing something surely, but I'm not sure what!
Had to move things around a bit, and resize too. I'm not sure if this is an issue but the scale factor thing was possibly causing problems. I'm working to scale on this scene and Max is set to mm. SlideKnit seems to max out at a scale of 1000, I'm not quite sure what that means but I had to go all the way up to 1000 and then resize the resulting wrapped mesh even further.
Thanks guys, definitely easier than placing by hand!