[SOLVED] Mouth Cavities

[Tony Nemo]

Anyone have a suggestion on creating and retopologizing a mouth cavity?

[AbnRanger]

Use the Hide tool to hide half of the model. This will make it easier to work on. Same thing if you are working on items that are very close to one another. They can obstruct your view and ability to work where they are close together.

[Javis]

I actually tend to not sculpt these details, but rather model them in a modeling application. I find it a lot easier to model and then if needed, import into 3DC.

[ajz3d]

Use the Hide tool to hide half of the model. This will make it easier to work on.

That's what I do too.

By the way, is there a way to snap the rectangle marquee to the symmetry axis in order to hide -exactly- one half of the model?

An option of some kind or a key modifier perhaps? I always find myself hiding a little tiny bit less than half of the volume. Of course I can symm copy it later, but still, it would be good to know.

[AbnRanger]

That's what I do too.

By the way, is there a way to snap the rectangle marquee to the symmetry axis in order to hide -exactly- one half of the model?

An option of some kind or a key modifier perhaps? I always find myself hiding a little tiny bit less than half of the volume. Of course I can symm copy it later, but still, it would be good to know.

You could go to front orthographic view > View Menu > 2D Grid Mode > Align a vertical line with the symmetry plane, and now you can snap your strokes along that grid line

[ajz3d]

(...) Align a vertical line with the symmetry plane (...)

Thanks, but is there a button hidden for this somewhere or do I have to move the 2D grid manually into position? If the latter, then it's basically the same thing that I do, with the only difference being that I position the selection marquee as close to visible symmetry plane as possible.

Scratch that. I think I'm overheating.

What I wanted to say is that if there's no one-click operation to align the 2D Grid to symmetry plane, one still has to place it over the symmetry axis by hand. And precision of this operation varies.

[Tony Nemo]

I'm finding it very difficult to retopologize inside the mouth cavity. Naturally the voxels must be visible to enable vertices to snap to it. I've had to delete polygons where one vertice has 'spiked off' to who knows where. 3DC stopped letting me select one island or deselect (in the UV Editor). Knowing the problems I have encountered, I could design a workflow that would avoid them (I think) but doing it in C4D would be easier.

Okay it's actually the UV Preview window but it would be helpful if it was an "Editor". I just found the "Select" tool doesn't select anything in the UV Preview but I have, somehow, selected individual islands in this window, but how, I can't remember.

[AbnRanger]

You have to select something in the UV section of the Tool Panel, in order to activate the UV tools and be able to select any islands. As for the Mouth cavity...yeah, that may be easier to do once you already have your model in an external app. But if you hide one side of the voxel model, you should have no problem creating one in voxels and retopologizing it. Leave it hidden while you topologize one side > unhide > turn symmetry on > Apply Symmetry

[AbnRanger]

Thanks, but is there a button hidden for this somewhere or do I have to move the 2D grid manually into position? If the latter, then it's basically the same thing that I do, with the only difference being that I position the selection marquee as close to visible symmetry plane as possible.

Scratch that. I think I'm overheating.

What I wanted to say is that if there's no one-click operation to align the 2D Grid to symmetry plane, one still has to place it over the symmetry axis by hand. And precision of this operation varies.

I don't think there is a one button snap to symmetry plane feature. I've never come across a need for it, personally. In orthographic view, you can pan the grid until it lines up perfectly with your symmetry plane. Pretty close.

[ajz3d]

I've had to delete polygons where one vertice has 'spiked off' to who knows where.

So I'm not the only one that have this kind of a problem? Vertices shooting off into infinity. I tried to pinpoint the cause of it but was unsuccessful in my attempts. It appears to happen randomly, from time to time, and seems to be impossible to fix once it does.

@AbnRanger, yeah pretty close. But still... I think a simple one-click button to hide exactly one half of the voxel (or retopo) model is a must. And it doesn't feel like being extremely hard to implement, considering the fact that 3D Coat already knows the symmetry axis.

[AbnRanger]

I'm finding it very difficult to retopologize inside the mouth cavity. Naturally the voxels must be visible to enable vertices to snap to it. I've had to delete polygons where one vertice has 'spiked off' to who knows where. 3DC stopped letting me select one island or deselect (in the UV Editor). Knowing the problems I have encountered, I could design a workflow that would avoid them (I think) but doing it in C4D would be easier.

Okay it's actually the UV Preview window but it would be helpful if it was an "Editor". I just found the "Select" tool doesn't select anything in the UV Preview but I have, somehow, selected individual islands in this window, but how, I can't remember.

Yeah, I have that occur once in a while.Tends to occur when a vert is near the edge of an opening or something, and we try to move it. I normally just UNDO and nudge the offended area a little further away from the opening. Then I can relax or move the mesh in that area..

[Tony Nemo]

My mouth cavity is finished and ported to C4D. It was more trouble and more vertices than I would have liked. I think the most expeditious way is to have a parted lips start (with an edge loop to set it apart in the UV map) and do some simple extrusions in a polygon modeler. The tongue (and teeth) if one is needed, is a good candidate for 3DC but weighting vertices for joint manipulation puts a premium on a low quantity of vertices.

I am also of a mind to make eyelids in 3DC (like a death mask) to get better deformation of the lid.

[Carlosan]

Use the Hide tool to hide half of the model.

I found it at

Retopo

Activate Hide tool

the tool switch to Paint room so i can Hide the Sculpt mode object

But now when i go back to retopo room... all the retopo faces covering the back side of the object are still here

so... how can i hide the retopo faces and only let the base used for mouth cavity ?

ty

[AbnRanger]

I found it at

Retopo

Activate Hide tool

the tool switch to Paint room so i can Hide the Sculpt mode object

But now when i go back to retopo room... all the retopo faces covering the back side of the object are still here

so... how can i hide the retopo faces and only let the base used for mouth cavity ?

ty

I meant going into the Voxel Room and hide one half of the head/body so you can go back into the Retopo room and work on the mouth cavity without anything in your way.

[Carlosan]

Ah ok

Going to voxel and hide one half of the head/body dont affect retopo visibility

At Sculpt room = is hidden

When switch to Retopo room = is unhidden

is this ok ?

ty

[AbnRanger]

When doing retopo work, you are in virtual mirror mode...by default. So, if you turn off virtual mirror mode (in Retopo menu) and disable symmetry, only one side of the retopo mesh is visible. After you use the Hide tool in the Voxel Room, it should be easy to work on one half of your model, now....without any voxels or Retopo mesh obscuring your view