LightWave 3D 8 1001 Tips & Tricks phần 4 ppsx

Versions: 6.5-8 407 Rob Powers, Robin Wood | UVs | Intermediate Make the UVs First to Save Time When you create a UV map for your object in Modeler it will apply that UVmap based on the

Versions: All

406 Robin Wood | UVs | Beginner to Intermediate

Make UVs During Primitive Creation

When possible, choose Make UVs as you create primitives (You’ll have tohave a UV map associated with your model to enable this command If youdon’t, click the T button in the VMap bar at the bottom and choose (New) fromthe menu to create one Uncheck Initial Value when you do.) You’ll know whenit’s possible, because there will be a Make UVs check box in the Requester orNumeric panel when you create the geometry

This makes a flat map, which is a lot easier to color If you don’t need theUVs, you don’t have to use them But having them might be handy later on

Versions: 6.5-8

407 Rob Powers, Robin Wood | UVs | Intermediate

Make the UVs First to Save Time

When you create a UV map for your object in Modeler it will apply that UVmap based on the current state of the object Any further modifications to thatobject (except for adding points or polygons) will not alter that UV map Thiswork flow is what gave rise to using endomorphs to create a specific UV map onyour object You create the endomorph to edit or flatten out your object and thencreate the UV map when that endomorph is applied The method has been men-tioned on many web sites and tutorials before, but another slightly different waythat I take advantage of this technique is by creating a UV map on an organicobject prior to performing a jitter or twist effect in Modeler This will keep the

UV map clean even when the actual geometry has been distorted

pro-When you select polys to make UVs, make sure the appropriate cube face isselected too, and you’ll have a perfect, undistorted UV map If you leave thecube there while you select other parts to map, they will all be proportional toeach other, too.

Then, when you’re ready to arrange the final map, delete the cube (Paste itinto a working file, to be extra safe, in case you decide to remap something.)After that, you can arrange the parts to your liking, scaling them and otherwisemanipulating them as desired

Versions: 6-8

410 Leigh van der Byl | UVs | Beginner

Planning and Creating UV Maps Efficiently

If I had a dime for every occasion that someone has asked me how to dotheir unwrapping, I would have … well, a lot of dimes The fact is that planningand executing your UV maps is simple brainwork And you have a brain So youhave no excuse for not being able to figure it out It is mostly with organicshapes (especially characters) that people struggle to figure out their differentprojections

The first tip I can give is this: Whatever you do, don’t try to unwrap theentire model in a single projection It’s simply not going to work and you’ll only

end up bashing your head into the wall And don’t feel tempted to use the Atlas

option — you will destroy your sanity

When creating UV maps, you need to look at the shape of the object you aretrying to unwrap, and divide it into logical sections that roughly form conven-tional, unwrappable shapes Let’s take a look at an example and examine whatshapes can be found in it

If we break up a character like the one at the top of the following page intological sections, then the task becomes more manageable Let’s look at eachbody part

The head is a simple shape It is roughly spherical or cylindrical in shape,extending down toward the chest This means that ideally one should unwrap thehead in that fashion, as it is a logical shape for it Of course you could also goand unwrap the head in a planar fashion, but that would create more seams todeal with and you might end up with more editing to do if you go that route Ofcourse unwrapping the head cylindrically or spherically is ideally done on the

y-axis, so that the seam runs down the length of the model instead of tally across the face or something equally annoying Since the head essentiallyextends up the y-axis from the body, unwrapping it along that axis makes themost sense.

horizon-Let’s move on to the torso A human torso is roughly box shaped or cally shaped Either way is fine If you unwrap it cylindrically, you will have to

cylindri-do it on the y-axis since, as with a head, the torso extends along the y-axis

If you unwrap the torso in a planar fashion, you’ll ideally have to do it intwo separate operations — once from the front, selecting only the front-facingpolygons, and once from the back, selecting the back-facing ones Doing it oncethrough the entire section would result in a mess of overlapping polygons thatcould take a while to edit If you constructed your character facing along thez-axis, then ideally you would unwrap the planar projections along this axis.

Moving downward toward the legs now Legs are simple They are cal Their length runs along the y-axis, so you unwrap them along that axis It’salmost too easy.

cylindri-Generally, the easiest way to do the feet is to unwrap them in a planar ion Once from above and once from below The same applies to the hands ofthe model

fash-As for the arms, we have the same situation as the legs, although generallyarms would be unwrapped cylindrically on the x-axis if they have been modeled

in the usual hands-outstretched pose

As you can see, once you start to analyze your model, you’ll always find thatthere are logical ways of dividing the model into sections that can be

unwrapped All you need to do is use your brain!

1 Select the polygons you want to remap

2 Unweld points for the current selection

3 If you’re going to make an Atlas projection, merge back points for the rent selection

cur-4 Select Map tab>Make UVs, and choose a projection method and the currentVMap

5 Unweld points for the current selection

6 Fit the new mapping, moving, rotating, and scaling if necessary

7 Merge points for the current selection if needed.

Once you’ve created a new mapping for a group of polygons, proceed as lows to stitch together the new UVs and create a continuous mapping:

fol-1 Unweld the currently selected polygons and move them near the polygonsyou want to stitch them with

2 Check if points are continuous by selecting a border point on the UV Textureview and Shift-selecting the highlighted point in the Perspective view

3 If they’re opposite, then select all points of a group and apply the Flip ture Map UVs command, choosing the “V” option in this case.

Tex-4 Keeping the current point selection, select the Snap Drag tool, access theNumeric options panel, and set the Drag Set option to All Points

5 Click and drag on any of the selected points and move it near the sponding point on the other group.

corre-6 As a final step, apply the Merge Points command using the Automatic optionand checking Keep 1-Point Polygons

Here’s the result of the operation:

Versions: 7-8

413 Robin Wood | UVs | Beginner to Intermediate

Symmetrical UVs

When you have two symmetrical objects that need matching UV maps, such

as the two sides of a head or the right and left hands, don’t make two maps.Instead, simply map one, then select the matching part and delete it Mirror the

mapped part without merging points, and use Flip UVs to flip the UVs on themap Then drag the new portion to the correct place on the map, and merge thepoints Both halves of the object are now mapped, with a minimum of work.

Versions: 6.5-8

414 Jonny Gorden | UVs | Beginner

Editing UV Maps

To edit UV maps using symmetry:

1 In the Map tab, select Transform UV

2 Check Offset, enter –50% for U, and press OK

3 Turn on Symmetry and edit your points

4 When you’ve finished editing, select Transform UV again and enter 50% for

U to restore the map to within the UV boundary

Versions: 6-8

415 Leigh van der Byl | UVs | Beginner

Successfully Working with Discontinuous UV Maps

UV maps created in LightWave are discontinuous by nature This means thatwhen the polygons in your model are unwrapped and flattened to create the UVmap, areas where the model has become separated by the unwrapping processwill remain locked in place to ensure that they do not become very badlyunaligned during the editing process You’ll notice that some points of the UVmap are not visible and cannot be moved around when you move surroundingpolygons or points around This generally prevents you from editing your UVmaps properly, so you need to unlock these points so that they can move aroundfreely

To be able to do this you need to disconnect the polygons within your UVmap from one another while maintaining the points that connect them on eachpolygon We use the Unweld command (Ctrl+u, or Detail>Points>Unweld) to dothis Unwelding the points creates multiple copies of those selected points (or ofall the points in the model if none are selected) so that none are shared by twopolygons

Each polygon is given its own copy of the selected vertices, making thiscommand essential to being able to edit discontinuous UVs correctly andefficiently

Of course, you mustn’t forget to merge (hit “m” or Construct> Reduce>Merge Points) the points again once you are finished editing

Versions: 6.5-8

416 Jonny Gorden | UVs | Beginner

Editing UV Map Points

Once you’ve created your UV map using a default projection, you shouldedit the points of the map so that the polygons are roughly the same aspect andscale as the model Editing the points also allows you to fix overlapping poly-gons If you base your UV map on a cylindrical or spherical projection, make

sure you unweld the points at the edges of the map so you avoid having a seamwhere the left and right edges of the texture meet Once you’ve finished editing,weld the points back up.

Versions: 6-8

417 Robin Wood | UVs | Beginner to Intermediate

For Sharp Edges, Hide Before Merging

To get a sharp edge on a model, you might find that the best way is to cut thepolys and paste them back in As part of the mapping process, though, you’llprobably have to unweld points to move the map parts around After that step,you’ll need to weld them again Make it easy on yourself by selecting all theparts that aren’t supposed to be welded and hiding them before you hit “m” tomerge the points Those parts will remain separate, and your edges will staysharp It’s probably easiest to select them on the map or assign them to partsbefore you start the mapping process

Versions: 6.5-8

418 Leigh van der Byl, Todd Grimes, Jonny Gorden | UVs | Beginner to Intermediate

Placing Your UV Seam Initially

When unwrapping your models, you might want to initially place your seam

in a convenient place For example, if you are unwrapping a head, you mightwant to unwrap it so that the seam initially runs down the back of the head, asopposed to one side, as most people usually experience if they model their headfacing forward along the z-axis

Naturally in a situation like this it is preferable to have the seam runningdown the back of the head, since that area is invariably covered with hair, mak-ing it a convenient choice.

To position the seam down the back of the head when the model is

unwrapped (this is using a cylindrical unwrap on the y-axis), you need to rotateyour model prior to unwrapping it

Select the polygons that you want to

unwrap Hit “y” to select the Rotate tool and

“n” to bring up the Rotate tool’s Numeric

panel Enter in a value of –90° in the Angle

field, select the y-axis as the axis on which to

rotate, and hit Apply

This will rotate the model around in your

viewport Leave the Rotate tool’s Numeric

panel open While the polygons are still

selected, hit New UV Map and choose your

projection type (in this case a Cylindrical

pro-jection on the y-axis), and click OK Then go back to the Numeric panel for theRotate tool, enter in a value of 90° in the Angle field, and hit Apply This willrotate your model back into position You now have an unwrapped model withthe seam running along the back

This particular example only applies to a head, but the same concept andtechnique can be applied to any model Once you have become comfortable with

UV editing, the initial placement of the seam becomes a moot point because youcan actually place the seam anywhere you want when you edit the points, butthis can nevertheless be an efficient way to initially create your UV map since itsaves you a minute or two of work!

Versions: 6.5-8

419 Leigh van der Byl | UVs | Intermediate

Dealing with Seams in UV Maps

This is probably the most overrated problem in the history of CG Seams arethe areas in a UV map where the model is split, so when you paint a texture ontothe map, you need to make sure that the seam is not noticeable

People are always freaking out about seams when in fact they are easy todeal with First, you should endeavor to place them in a convenient place whenediting the UV map initially This means that you should try to place the seamwhere it will be the least visible For example, on a head or a leg the seamshould run down the back Simple

Then, once you have finished your editing and have taken it into your ing program, all you need to do is make sure that the two sides of the seam willmatch up correctly And this is really simple You can use a cloning tool (such asAdobe Photoshop’s Rubber Stamp tool) to match up the colors on either side, oryou can even just judge it by eye (what I usually do) Alternatively you can evenmake a selection of the painting from one side, create a new layer of it, move itover to the other side, flip it into position, and blend it into the surrounding area

paint-so that the two edges become mirrors of one another, thus ensuring they willmeet up perfectly

Some 3D painting packages, such as Maxon’s BodyPaint and Right sphere’s Deep Paint 3D, have tools specifically for covering up seams as well.You can even create additional textures to blend between the seams Making

Hemi-a texture thHemi-at hHemi-as Hemi-an Hemi-alphHemi-a chHemi-annel thHemi-at looks more or less like the followingimage, placing it as a layer above the main texture in the Texture Editor inLightWave, and positioning it directly over the seam can help to blend betweenseams

The following image shows a texture I created for a head with a seam thatruns directly down the middle of the back where I simply matched the edges byeye Notice that the seam is not at all visible It really is that easy

Versions: 6.5-8

420 Robin Wood | UVs | Beginner to Intermediate

Endomorphs Ease UV Mapping Tasks

Endomorphs make UV mapping much easier You can use them to line updifferent parts of your model to allow the simplest mapping, without harmingyour actual model at all

For example, if you are using cylindrical mapping on the y-axis, the cylinderwill usually “break” on the –X side of the model If you would prefer the seam

to be someplace else, all you need to do is make an endomorph (call it Mapping)and rotate the part of the model you are mapping so the place you want the seam

is at that point Since it’s an endomorph, the UV information will be stored onthe model but the physical rotation won’t

You can also use the endomorph to uncurl a ribbon so you can get perfectplanar mapping, or to change the angle of a fish’s fin so it’s square to the axisbefore you map, or to line up a bunch of bolts so you can map them all at once.The possibilities are endless

When you are finished mapping, just delete the Mapping morph, leavingyour original model untouched

421 Leigh van der Byl | UVs | Intermediate

Eliminating Stretching and Squashing in Your UV Maps

For most organic models, as well as some nonorganic ones, you will ter a certain degree of stretching when creating UV maps This is simplybecause the unwrapping process is bound to make some changes to the sizes ofsome of the polygons when it lays them out flat One of the best ways to checkhow much stretching is occurring in your map is to apply an image with acheckerboard pattern to the model using the UV map This immediately showsyou where the map is stretching or pinching

encoun-Eliminating this stretching is generally quite straightforward All we need to

do is go to those areas of the UV map and push and pull the vertices around inorder to size the stretched polygons correctly in relation to the other polygons.Interestingly enough, this method of eliminating stretching requires you toalmost think backward This is because the way that you move vertices to elimi-nate them is actually opposite to what may seem logical to you

Let’s look at the following area on this unwrapped head where we can see alot of stretching occurring

The reason that I say we need to think backward is because stretching in a

UV map does not occur because the texture is stretched over too many polygons(as would seem logical to those of you who are not UV-savvy), but because thetexture is actually stretched over too few

Let’s look again at the model and focus specifically on the areas where thestretching is particularly bad I have circled the polygons in the UV map wherethe stretching is occurring

Now, the reason that this area is stretching so badly is because the littlechecks in the image are being stretched over too small an area within the poly-gons in the UV map A good analogy to describe this is that the polygons in the

UV map basically act as a container into which that particular portion of theimage that lies beneath it is fitted Sometimes we need to adjust the size of thatcontainer in order to allow more of the image to fit into it, and sometimes weneed to adjust it so that less of the image fits into it and instead overflows intothe surrounding containers

So what we need to do to fix this is to stretch the polygons in the UV map

outward so that more of the image is contained within them, instead of a small

area of it being stretched to fit inside the polygons

Likewise, in areas where the texture is being squashed, we need to do the

opposite to eliminate this, since essentially the squashing is caused by too much

of the image being put into the containers of the polygons

So in that case, we simply push the polygons in the UV map inward so that

the image is overflowed into the surrounding polygons instead In doing so we

have less of the image being fitted into the polygon.

Basically we need to look at the sizes of the polygons in the actual model,and ensure that they retain relative proportions to one another within the UVmap as well This is probably the most time-consuming part of editing UVmaps

Versions: 6.5-8

422 Leigh van der Byl | UVs | Intermediate

Assigning Multiple UV Maps to a Single Model — The Really Lazy Way

For some reason, LightWave just doesn’t like it when you have more thanone UV map assigned to a single surface on a model Layering your different

UV maps in the Texture Editor tends to result in only one of the UV maps ally rendering correctly on the surface, with the remainder of the surface black

actu-There are a number of workarounds for this, but to be honest they are really

a pain and involve far too much effort My personal method of dealing with thisproblem is simple I just use a separate surface for each UV map assigned to amodel So if, for example, you have a model of an arm and hand, and have sepa-rate UV maps assigned to the arm part and the hand part, all you need to do isselect the polygons in each map and assign their own surface So you wouldhave an arm surface for the arm UV map, and a hand surface for the hand UVmap Simple as that No fuss No effort No rendering problems!

Versions: 6.5-8

423 Emanuele Salvucci | UVs | Intermediate

Texture Guide Tool

To create additional mapping in your UVs you can use the Texture Guidetool instead of using the Make UVs command Texture Guide lets you interac-tively create several types of projections and “save” the result on a UV map

To start using the tool, have an object in the foreground layer, select thepolygons you want to map or none if you want to map the whole object, activatethe Texture Guide tool, and press “n” to open the Numeric options panel.Choose a projection type and axis and a handler will appear The handler’sshape is different for each projection type, but as a general rule by dragging withthe left mouse button on the handle’s borders you’ll scale the projection, whileit’ll translate dragging the small cross in the middle of the handler

To rotate the projection, drag the bigger cross in the middle Rotation is ited to the projection axis

lim-All parameters are available in the Numeric options panel

To create UVs out of the current projection simply turn on the Make UVsoption You can either start a new UV map by typing a name into the text box, oradd the projection to any existing UV map by using the drop-down menu.Once you’ve created new UVs in your UV map using Texture Guide, it’srecommended to Unweld the currently selected polygons and Merge them backagain using the Automatic option This is because Texture Guide doesn’t takeinto account discontinuous UVs By doing this final operation Modeler creates aproper UV map out of your new projection

Versions: 6-8

424 Robin Wood | UVs | All Levels

Let the Spider Find Your UVs

Yes, it’s better to make the UVs before you modify an object, but sometimesyou don’t When that happens, all is not lost If the object consists largely of par-allel rows of quads, you can use UV Spider to map it!

This tool is found under Map>Texture: More>UV Spider, and it crawls along

a loop of quads, much like the BandSaw, and maps ’em!

To use it efficiently, first select a row of quads parallel to the direction youwish to map, and change the surface to something bright and easy to see (You’ll

be changing it back at the end, but you have to start each row of quads in the

same place, and this makes it easier.) In other words, if you are mapping a candycane and you want the map to be parallel rows in the U (horizontal) direction,choose a vertical row to surface.

Then select two quads in the direction you want to map, just as if you wereabout to use the BandSaw, and click the tool Choose your UV map and thedirection (U or V) and set the Start and End in the other mapping direction to asmall increment (In the example, the direction would be U, so the V start would

be 0.0 and the V End would be something like 01.) Click OK, and it maps onerow

Select two more quads in the row, change Start to the previous End, andincrease the End by that increment (In the example, V start would be 01 and VEnd would be 02 for the second row.) Continue until the whole thing is mapped

A little tedious but not difficult, and it really works!

As the name suggests, this type of mapping is particularly indicated forobjects made up of quads rather than triangles or n-sided polygons

When you’re making a new quad map, you’re actually mapping each gon to the entire UV space

poly-To create a new quad map:

1 Select all the polygons you want to map

2 Select Map>Poly Map>New Quad Polygon Map

3 In the requester either type a name for a new UV map or select an existingone from the drop-down menu

4 Select the Image Orientation Quads will be rotated that angle in the UV mapafter they’re mapped

5 The Reverse Order option will flip the map upside-down after the operation

6 Assign a texture in the Texture Editor to the UV Quad Map just created.Here’s an example of quad maps:

Since quad mapping orientation isn’t usually the same for each polygon, youmay want to tweak mapping orientation if you need to You can do this by eithermanually rotating quad mapping in the UV Texture view after you have

unwelded points or by applying New Quad Polygon Map again just for the gons you want to tweak and setting a proper Image Orientation or checkingReverse Order to flip the current orientation

poly-Versions: 6-8

426 Emanuele Salvucci | UVs | Advanced

Surface Baker and Continuous Mapping

When baking a texture using Surface Baker we must take pixel blending intoaccount when distancing UVs from each other This is because Surface Bakerwill put an extra two pixels on every UV edge (border) not connected to anyother Pixel blending will smear the last pixel against the texture background,which is usually black, or on adjacent pixels belonging to other UVs

Both situations happen when UV mapping isn’t spaced apart properly orwhen there isn’t enough UV space compared to the generated texture resolution.This may result in an awful “stitching” effect when applying back the bakedtexture

To make an efficient UV map for use with Surface Baker, it is recommendedthat the mapping be as continuous as possible Continuous mapping tends tomaintain polygon connections and edge-sharing order in UV space as well Thisway Surface Baker can draw pixels continuously without jumping too muchhere and there when generating the texture, resulting also in a faster baking.Also, most of those extra pixels can be saved, thus having naturally

increased the resolution of the generated texture

The following figure shows a poorly continuous UV map:

The inner part of the arch is geometrically continuous, but creating the UVmap using the Atlas projection breaks it in three parts

To make those UVs continuous, it’s possible to stitch the three chunkstogether manually or to remap just those polygons choosing a different projec-tion (Cylindrical in this case)

Here is continuous mapping of the same arch:

Versions: 6-8

427 Leigh van der Byl | UVs | Beginner

Combining Separate UV Maps into a Single UV Map

Something that is especially useful when working with game models, butcan be applicable to high-resolution models as well, is being able to create a sin-gle UV map of all the different unwrapped sections of your model so that youcan paint a single image that textures the entire model

Usually while unwrapping your model, it is easier to do all the different tions separately, since different areas require different projection types

sec-However, once you have created all of your separate UV maps, you can combinethem all into a single UV map using the following method

Create a blank UV map by clicking on New UV Map under your Map tab inModeler Uncheck the Initial Value option to create a totally blank UV map, andgive it a name like “Entire Model.”

Then go to each of the maps that you wish to combine into the single one,and with each one active in the UV map viewport, click on the Copy Vertex Mapbutton under the Edit Maps pull-down menu at the top of the Map tab, underGeneral When the Copy Vertex Map window pops up, enter the name of theblank UV map that you created that will contain all the UV maps

Doing this one by one for each UV map will combine all of them into thatsingle map so that you end up with a single UV template containing all yourseparate UV maps Of course, you may need to do a little resizing and rearrang-ing of different parts to get them all sitting nice and comfy inside the UV space.

com-1 Select one of the maps in the VMap bar, and make a copy (Maps>General:Edit Maps>Copy Vertex Map) Call it “MapCombo” or something like that

2 Select the vertices on the map, unweld if necessary, and resize them sothere’ll be room for the other vertices

3 Select the second map, and draw a lasso around all the vertices there toselect all of them Copy UVs (As you do, you’ll see them become unse-lected as they are read into memory.)

4 Select them all again, the same way, and select the Combo map from theVMap bar

5 Paste UVs They should all just appear there, looking exactly as they did inthe other map

6 Select them once more, unweld if necessary, and resize so they fit neatly onthe map And there you are!

mini-Versions: 6-8

430 Jonny Gorden | UVs | Beginner

Using UV Maps as Templates

You can use UV maps as templates for standard projections

1 Create a UV map using the projection method you plan to use

2 Use the UV map as a template in your paint package

3 Project the texture using standard projection, and all the detail will be in theright places

This is especially useful for texturing SubD models, bypassing texture tortion issues.

dis-Versions: 6-8

431 Leigh van der Byl, Robin Wood | UVs | Beginner

Exporting Your UV Maps to Work in Painting Programs

I know that lots of people just use screen grabs of their UV templates forpainting onto, but the thing that bugs me about this method is that if you want tomake a really big image (and usually I do), then scaling the screen grab up looks

… well … yucky Luckily there is a really nifty way of exporting your UV map

at a desired size so that you have a nice clean template to work with in AdobePhotoshop or whatever painting package you are using

Simply open the UV map that you want to export in your UV viewport byselecting it from the “T” menu at the bottom of your Modeler interface

Then go to your File menu and select Export Encapsulated Postscript fromthe Export menu This opens the Export Encapsulated PostScript panel

To export the UV map only, select Texture UV from the View pull-downmenu Then select an appropriate dimension at which to export the EPS file Bydefault it is 6.0 inches x 6.0 inches, although this is quite small for most tex-tures For example, a 3000 pixel x 3000 pixel image (a fair size for a headtexture, for example) is 41.667 inches x 41.667 inches Take note that since EPSfiles are vector files, you can resize them when you take them into your paintingprogram, but I usually just set the size here anyway I guess it’s just habit Youthen select the file name to which you want to save the EPS file by clicking onthe Export File button.

You can leave the Sizing Mode option as it is, and you can select to exportthe points in the UV map by checking the Draw Points option I prefer to leavethis option off though, as I find that having the points in the UV template can be

a bit distracting

Once you have exported the EPS file, you should be able to load it into anydecent painting application Do be aware though, that the actual UV template(the polygons) are placed automatically into the alpha channel of the imagewhen you open it in your painting program So if you save your texture once ithas been painted as a 32-bit file (such as a Targa file), you might be surprised tofind that the texture is not displayed correctly when applied to your model! Besure to delete the alpha channel that it creates (since I see no purpose in having itthere)

Versions: 6.5-8

432 Brad Krause | UVs | Intermediate

Modeler as an Image Distortion Tool

Photoshop does not have a controllable mesh distortion tool, but LightWavedoes It’s called the UV map

If you have a photographic image that is distorted by perspective and lens,you need to distort it so that it is flat and you can use it as an image map.Just map the image — cropped to the limits of the artwork — onto a subdi-vided, flat mesh Try about a 20 x 20 grid (a larger size will increase yourworkload without noticeable results)

Then, in a view window set to UV in Modeler, simply push the pixels inbasically the reverse of the image’s perspective distortion Check your work asyou go in another window set to Texture Preview.

Versions: 6-8

434 William “Proton” Vaughan | Endomorphs | All Levels

Endomorphs in Action

Endomorphs are an amazing feature in LightWave Here is a great example

of their power When creating a number of characters that are similar, like a cast

of humans, create one base character and set up all of its morph targets usingendomorphs Save out that model as “template” or something to be used later.Make sure you are in the “base” endomorph and manipulate the model asneeded All the morph targets will still be there This allows you to set up onecharacter’s morphs and use them on any character that is created from the samegeometry

Versions: All

ÜNote: You can also cut the mouth off of an object and it will retain its endomorphs This is due to thefact that endomorphs save their information to the point and not the object

435 William “Proton” Vaughan | Endomorphs | All Levels

Endomorphs Can Fix…

Endomorphs can be a great tool for fixing problem areas in deformation.Shoulders and hips come to mind When an arm or leg is moved, it can give yousome odd creases Use an endomorph to adjust the points and just morph to theendomorph when the animation calls for it

Versions: All

436 Todd Grimes | Endomorphs | Beginner

Endomorph Organization

When using endomorphs for facial animation, separate each area of the faceinto groups so they can be animated independently Typical groupings includeeyebrows, eyes, and mouth For more advanced facial animation, more groupscan be added for more control such as cheeks, nostrils, and ears To separatemorphs into groups, use a period (.) in the naming of the endomorphs Forexample, “Eyes.Blink” and “Eyes.Wide” will be grouped in the “Eyes” tab whenaccessed in Layout for animating

Versions: 6-8

ÜNote: MorphMap Mixer is available from http://www.dstorm.co.jp/dslib/map.html#MorphMapMixer

439 Todd Grimes | Endomorphs | Beginner

Separate Phonemes

Separate phonemes (mouth shapes associated with vowels and consonantsfor lip sync) from other mouth expressions such as smile, grin, frown, andscream Having separate groups for these shapes will make it easier to animatelip sync with the facial performance

Versions: 6-8

440 Jonny Gorden | Endomorphs | Beginner

Creating Individual Morphs

To create individual left and right side morphs, such as Eye.Blink_L andEye.Blink_R:

1 Use Symmetry to create the morph, say Eye.Blink, creating a blink for bothsides at the same time

2 Select the points or polygons of the left side and use Copy Map, calling thenew map Eye.Blink_L

3 Do the same for the right side, calling the map Eye.Blink_R.

442 Robin Wood | Endomorphs | All Levels

Making a New Morph at a Halfway Point

Have you ever wished you had a morph that was halfway between two ing morphs, with only a slight difference? Well, it’s easy to make one

exist-Create a new morph (or copy an existing one), make sure it’s selected in theVMap bar at the bottom of the screen, and open the Airbrush tool In theNumeric panel, choose the old morph from the list in the Vertex Map

drop-down Make the Radius large enough to cover your entire model (using theright mouse button) with 100% strength and 50% shape (or whatever percentageyou want for the partial value)

A couple of swipes will give you the morph, with the values halfwaybetween the base and the old morph

Tweak the points, so they’re where you want them to be, and you’re all set

Versions: 6.5-8

443 Kevin Phillips | Endomorphs | Beginner

Paint New Morph Targets

If you are new to Modeler, then it’s possible that you don’t realize that youcan use existing endomorphs to create new endomorphs or to adjust existingones Say you needed a smirk on one side of a character’s mouth You couldmanually model the expression, or you could start with a closed mouth morph,choose the Airbrush tool from the Map menu, use the Numeric settings to set thevertex map for the smiled mouth morph, and then simply paint half a smileendomorph onto one side of it

When this tool was first demonstrated as a new feature, by using a morph of

a scaled-up version of a model and a morph of a scaled-down version, the brush tool could be used to “paint” details into a model by simply swapping thetwo morphs and airbrushing the effect to bulge or dent the new morph at thatpoint

Air-Versions: 7.5-7.5c

444 Eki Halkka | Endomorphs | Intermediate

Creating Sliders with Endomorphs

You can create sliders using endomorphs Create a single point in Modelerand add an endomorph to it To make the endomorph name “stick,” you need tomove the point a little before adding another endomorph You can use thesemorphs to control whatever you wish in Layout by using Morph Mixer in con-junction with the Channel Follower plug-in

So, how is this a better method than using the Sliders plug-in in Layout?First of all, on versions earlier than 7.5, the sliders are not available Second, itlets you organize your sliders under groups You can group endomorphs byusing the following naming convention: group-dot-name — i.e., “Rotate.Bank”will create a slider called “Bank” in a group called “Rotate” when you open theMorph Mixer

As the sliders are stored in an object file, loading the whole bunch into yourscene is a breeze And nothing prevents you from applying the slider’s CustomObject plug-in to quickly control some of the morph mixer sliders to get the best

of both worlds — this is the method I used in my PlugPak plug-ins

Versions: 6-8

445 Eki Halkka | Endomorphs | Intermediate

Use a Temporary Morph When Modeling

You can create a temporary morph to quickly try out modeling operationswithout the fear of screwing up your model Just create a new endomorph andmove the points around to your heart’s content If you’re happy with the result,

go back to the base mesh and use the Apply Morph tool to make your tions permanent After this, you can delete the temporary morph Rememberthough, this only works for operations like moving, dragging, and rotatingpoints

modifica-Versions: 6-8

446 Steve Warner | Endomorphs | Intermediate

Using Junk Endomorphs

I keep a special endomorph called “Junk” that I use to get into tight areaslike the mouth and eyelids of characters without affecting my base object Thislets me pull open the mouth and do the fine detail work like spinning quadswithout having to put the mouth back into the position it was before Since onlymoves, rotates, and sizings are respected in the endomorph, things like spinningquads and merging polys will be reflected in the base object as well

Versions: All

447 Jonny Gorden | Skelegons | Beginner

Click and Drag

Make sure you click and drag the first skelegon in a chain; otherwise, you’llend up with a one-point skelegon at the root of the chain To check for these,select all skelegons using the Polygon Statistics panel, then deselect all two-point polygons This will leave any one-point skelegons selected

Versions: 6-8

451 William “Proton” Vaughan | Skelegons | Intermediate

Skelegons While Modeling

Sometimes it’s easier to place skelegons while you model to save time onrigging

Example: When modeling a hand you could make one finger, place theskelegons in that finger, and then copy the finger for the rest of the hand Thenewly created fingers will have skelegons ready to go Great time-saver

Versions: All

452 Todd Grimes, Jonny Gorden | Skelegons | Intermediate

Skelegon Order Repair

The order in which the skelegons are created will determine their load orderwhen converted in Layout It’s optimal to have the load order of the skelegonsfollow a logical path for ease of use when animating For example, start at thepelvis, go up the spine, then down one arm, then down the next, and so on.Occasionally when editing skelegons (adding or subtracting most commonly)the point order of the skelegons may get altered, causing the load order tobecome broken To repair the skelegon order, cut and paste the skelegons into afree layer within Modeler in the order you’d like them to load Once the

skelegon is entirely back together in the new layer, merge points and place itback in the layer it belongs

Versions: 6-8

ÜNote: This tip can be useful for other bone organizing methods as well For example, some artists fer to have all of the finger bones at the bottom of the load list while animating To do this you can cut awaythe finger bones and paste them back on the skelegon, making them now load at the end of the chain

pre-(Remember to merge points!)

453 Jonny Gorden | Skelegons | Beginner

Convert Skelegons

You can add to an existing rig using Convert Skelegons by including onlythose skelegons you wish to add in your object layer

1 Create the skelegons you wish to add

2 Cut all the skelegons you already have as bones, leaving only the new ones

3 Convert the skelegons to bones

4 Paste back the skelegons you previously cut

Because Luxigons take the normal direction of the polygon to work out what

direction each light should face, using polygons with three sides or more is erable However, you can use both one- and two-point polygons

pref-Be aware that one-point polygons will generate lights, but will all face along the z-axis Two-point polygons, however, will face along the line of the two- point polygon The direction is dictated by the point order of the polygon, and