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sleep sweetly sleep

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:51 am
by sculptor
Image was prepared in a paint program as a coloured depth map.
Had to redo it several times till i got the hang of where to lighten and darken to suit the inflate.

Then simply inflated in the curvy beta.
I really liked the fine art type of result.

Image

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:10 pm
by Mr.Nemo
Incredible! It's quite amazing to see how all that was just drawn on a 2d plane and then just "inflated" to create that. Sculptor, would it be possible to post the depth map? I would like to take a look at it so I can figure out how I can apply it to my own techniques. If so, thanks!

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 6:07 pm
by sculptor
Maybe seeing one i have only just started may be of more use Mr Nemo

Image
in a paint program smooth gradients will curve objects out (horses head and neck)
Then i use a lighten brush or a darken brush to pull things forward or push them back.
Gaussian blurs for smoothing etc etc
So in essence its the same as using curvy maps.

Simply keep in your mind --- is this part of the horse closer or further away than another part ?
If it is closer its got to be lighter.


Black backgrounds will make freestanding objects.
You probably want to save the image at some early stage to use as a final texture because the best depth map will probably not make the best texture.

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2009 11:05 pm
by Mr.Nemo
Right. I'll just have to experiment and see what I can come up with. Thanks for the info!

Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:46 pm
by sculptor
here is a link to a nice depth map and there are many more on the internet to see what we are aiming for

http://www.so-room.com/contents/color/c ... edepth.jpg

image Copyright 2005-2008 by SO

http://www.so-room.com/topeng.php

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:17 am
by Vanrailey
Cool stuff Sculptor. By the way, do you think you could give me some pointers on making a gun with inflate? Or a video tutorial of how you go about making a inflate mesh. You just seem like pro at the inflate tool. I can't seem to get results like yours.

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:30 pm
by sculptor
Here are the basics Vanrailey
I have not done a gun before so i've based it on one modelled by fusebulb (thanks fusebulb http://www.sharecg.com/pf/fusebulb)
here is the depth map
I suggest you don't keep reinventing the wheel, wherever possible copy and paste sections from other depth maps, use gradient fills etc.
Image
here is the inflated curvy (done with relief-> smooth -> mirror to make back faces settings )
Image
here is the z scaled (scale with finger on z)
Image
here is the smoothed model (if required)
Image

Then texture to suit
you could curvy map to increase details etc (like Monsoon does)

viewtopic.php?t=1957

Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:43 pm
by Vanrailey
Thanks a bundle man, this helps loads.

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:30 pm
by sculptor
I myself had missed the use of the mesh scale z in the inflate dialog box

so by reducing this value the step shown above of z scaling can be by-passed.


also realized
some inflates can have more detail preserved by reducing the quad size to 1

Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:07 am
by sculptor
experiment using one of meshlabs samples to create a depth map
then applying a gamma tone curve in a paint program to spread the mid tones around the centre point of the histogram
This resulted in more realistic meshes when relief inflated



Image

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 2:56 am
by sculptor
untouched mesh
produced by combining our depth map with abstract gradients in a paint program :-

this method automatically saves the effort of tidying up back edges


Image







depth map based on a 3dscan by visual computing lab
of
Ippolita Sforza bust by Francesco Laurana 1430 - 1502

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:29 am
by sculptor
for those interested here is an inflate of just a photograph
of the laurana sculpture.
notice how the shadows on the face distort the inflate.
These areas of the photograph would have to be brightened to gain any success.
Image

here it is greatly improved (but not finished)
nose, right eye and left cheek still need work
Image

hope this has been of interest to someone :)

just think of the potential to bring people out of old photographs and paintings :idea:

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:35 am
by granada
That looks reall cool.

Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 5:07 pm
by Mr.Nemo
If only there was a way to fake a map behind the inflate so that it would auto tie up the mesh but yet, be invisible. Kind of like a .gif with transparency information. I know that the inflate only does .bmp's. No transparency info kept.

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:38 am
by sculptor
THE NOSE (using beta)
one of the most difficult things i find with curvy is modeling the human nose.

Here is one very simple answer
http://homepages.tesco.net/sculptor/bead.bmp
(a bmp image of picture below)

relief inflate with a z value of about 0.8 (these values can be played with)
use a smooth of about 100
mirror to form back faces
This can then be s-merged smoothly with your head lathe.
Suggest you play with my image until confident then start
making your own inflate images by modifying it
Image