Jump to content
3DCoat Forums

advice on how to make 'cardboard cutout'


gregh
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Member

Hello - I am very much new to this - I come from a traditional art background with only some experience with Photoshop - but lots with sound and painting and sculpture :)

I am wanting to import a png file of a figure and make it into what will look like a cardboard cutout - so it is a thin 3D object whose edge follows the outer edge of my png image - that can be imported into another package (Unity games engine) to be used by someone else. I know next to nothing of this, but I have been able to make what I want in Photoshop, just I need to be able to give a "flat" 3D version to another person.

If someone could please point me in the direction of a tutorial or the parts of the manual that are relevent that would be a great help

Thanks, Gregh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

Hello gregh,

I'm quite a newbie in 3DC but I may have some ideas. You could try the logo tool in the voxel area, use it with a black and white silhouette of your png to turn it into a quite flat 3d version . But I would rather do it outside 3dC inside a classic modeller : I would draw the contour with a free polygon tool point by point, or with curves, then extrude and subdivide it in quads. Otherwise you can simply make a plane with your image as a transparency map (black and white).

Now I guess you should wait for answers from more advanced people :)

Bala

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greg:

Although you can't paint or project your texture in the Voxel Room, you can use a Background image as a guide for sculpting. Here's one technique for sculpting a thin, (2.5D cardboard), 3D model:

1) Under the Camera menu select "Background/Use background image" and select your texture image.

2) In the Voxel Room, select the "2D-Paint" tool and the 3rd brush from the left, top row.

3) Press "2" on the numeric keypad to switch to a front view.

4) Press the icon next to the "Camera" menu to switch to an orthographic view.

5) Use the scroll wheel to set your brush size and set the brush depth to something like 12.

6) Accurately paint up to the edge of your texture, filling the whole image with volume.

7) Alternately, press "E" on your keyboard to select the "Spline curve" tool, (looks like an oval with dots on the perimeter). Use this tool to very accurately follow your background texture.

8)Use one of the AUTOPO routines that brings you to the Paint Room, (right click on the Voxel layer name).

9) In the Material Panel, create a new material with your diffuse texture and add a "cardboard" texture for the "Bump" channel of the material.

10) Make sure you are in the Front view, click on your material and use the Material "scale" and "position" icons to size and position your material to match, exactly, the cardboard model and paint the front surface of your "cardboard" model with both the "Color" and the "Depth" icons selected for use.

11) Export as an .obj for use in Unity.

P.S. If you need more precise edges for your model, you can substitute using the "2D-Paint" tool for using the "Carve" tool and the same "Spline curve" tool - when the panel pops up, choose "plain" for the edge type.

Greg Smith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but this sounds like the billboard objects used in older 3D games where it would just be a single polygon with an image on it and a clip map or transparency map. Or sometimes several polygons are used in a criss cross shape with different angles of the object on each plane so that it appears to be 3D as the camera moves around it. Like the tree below. My point being, this doesn't sound like something you really need 3D-Coat for, even the most basic of 3D programs can do it.

attachmentbz.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but this sounds like the billboard objects used in older 3D games where it would just be a single polygon with an image on it and a clip map or transparency map. Or sometimes several polygons are used in a criss cross shape with different angles of the object on each plane so that it appears to be 3D as the camera moves around it. Like the tree below. My point being, this doesn't sound like something you really need 3D-Coat for, even the most basic of 3D programs can do it.

attachmentbz.jpg

I thnk you are correct philnolan3d, but I am looking to start into something with reasonable power for the future, rather than just find a quick solution for today. And I don't even know any of the basic 3D programs :)

How then would one make this - with a single plane say 10 pixels deep - in 3D-coat?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it's not really a polygonal modeling program, but you could make a cube in the voxel room, then in the retopo room put a single polygon on it, than in the painting room load the image as a material and paint it on. But that's really a lot more work than it would be in another program. 3DC really isn't the right kind of program for that, it's more like for sculpting and hand painting textures. So what I described before is really trying to force it to be something it's not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Member

Well, it's not really a polygonal modeling program, but you could make a cube in the voxel room, then in the retopo room put a single polygon on it, than in the painting room load the image as a material and paint it on. But that's really a lot more work than it would be in another program. 3DC really isn't the right kind of program for that, it's more like for sculpting and hand painting textures. So what I described before is really trying to force it to be something it's not.

okay , thanks that is good advice - I will look around to see what does this job most easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...