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Spline colour and filling with splines


Mix Mash
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Hi,

 

I rarely post here because I don't use 3d coat much. Recently I wanted to create some B&W masks on a model and I wanted to use splines. I filled my model with white but the spline is yellow when you lay it down. Is there a way of changing the colour of the spline?

 

If I fill my model with black, I can see the spline BUT I miss out on the details of the model. Also, I would like to stick to black and white so I don't want to fill the model with grey first.

 

Secondly, is there a way of filling areas in (with colour) with splines?

I can only stroke along the spline at the moment. I would like to fill areas in just like filling a mask in Photoshop but at a 3d level.

 

I would also like to be able to fill areas of my model in between two splines. Imagine an arm model where I want to fill the forearm area with a colour. Both splines are a unique shape around the wrist and elbow. I want to keep the anti aliasing clean and consistent so that is why I'm using splines so I wish to avoid manually brushing the colour in.

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

(Mix Mash)

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One way to do what you ask...

 

Create two layers.

Switch to Orthographic mode.

Use the closed with spline tool in the E-Panel on the top layer.  Deselect "ignore back faces" , then you do not need the symmetry plane turned on but you can try both ways...

Type in a large border width in the E-Panel that meets your need for feathering the edges once the paint is applied

Press the ESC key when done placing control points

After pressing the esc key, you can adjust the points or add any control points along the spline plus your control points can be either hard or soft.. I generally deselect B-splines for this type of work in the little tab that appears with the tool. Your choice according to your need though.

Press enter to apply the paint and the entire area will be filled with paint...

Once done creating all your black areas,switch to the bottom layer of the two layers and fill it with white.

Remember to reselect "ignore back faces" when done with your work.

Done...

 

Official 3DC youtube videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/pilgway3dcoat

post-518-0-15078700-1385272057_thumb.png

Edited by digman
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One way to do what you ask...

 

Create two layers.

Switch to Orthographic mode.

Use the closed with spline tool in the E-Panel on the top layer.  Deselect "ignore back faces" , then you do not need the symmetry plane turned on but you can try both ways...

Type in a large border width in the E-Panel that meets your need for feathering the edges once the paint is applied

Press the ESC key when done placing control points

After pressing the esc key, you can adjust the points or add any control points along the spline plus your control points can be either hard or soft.. I generally deselect B-splines for this type of work in the little tab that appears with the tool. Your choice according to your need though.

Press enter to apply the paint and the entire area will be filled with paint...

Once done creating all your black areas,switch to the bottom layer of the two layers and fill it with white.

Remember to reselect "ignore back faces" when done with your work.

Done...

 

Official 3DC youtube videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/pilgway3dcoat

 

Sorry, I'm confused. Could you post up some screenshots to explain your idea more clearly?

 

It would make things easier.

 

Thanks.

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I need to know which parts of the instructions you are confused about, otherwise I am just shooting in the dark...

 

Also your workflow is somewhat unclear. Are you creating white and black color areas that will be used as mask in 3DC using freeze (masking) painted pixels instead of using the masking tool or are you creating them to be used in an external application.

 

What room are you in, the paint room or the voxel room in surface mode? You can freeze (masking) in both areas.

 

As you can see we could go through several bouts of confusion.

Edited by digman
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Hi,

 

I rarely post here because I don't use 3d coat much. Recently I wanted to create some B&W masks on a model and I wanted to use splines. I filled my model with white but the spline is yellow when you lay it down. Is there a way of changing the colour of the spline?

 

If I fill my model with black, I can see the spline BUT I miss out on the details of the model. Also, I would like to stick to black and white so I don't want to fill the model with grey first.

 

Secondly, is there a way of filling areas in (with colour) with splines?

I can only stroke along the spline at the moment. I would like to fill areas in just like filling a mask in Photoshop but at a 3d level.

 

I would also like to be able to fill areas of my model in between two splines. Imagine an arm model where I want to fill the forearm area with a colour. Both splines are a unique shape around the wrist and elbow. I want to keep the anti aliasing clean and consistent so that is why I'm using splines so I wish to avoid manually brushing the colour in.

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

(Mix Mash)

This video explains the Spline Stroke draw mode, and how it differs from the Closed Spline draw mode. Maybe it will help

 

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I need to know which parts of the instructions you are confused about, otherwise I am just shooting in the dark...

 

Also your workflow is somewhat unclear. Are you creating white and black color areas that will be used as mask in 3DC using freeze (masking) painted pixels instead of using the masking tool or are you creating them to be used in an external application.

 

What room are you in, the paint room or the voxel room in surface mode? You can freeze (masking) in both areas.

 

As you can see we could go through several bouts of confusion.

 

Ok, yes, I am at fault, too.

 

Well, firstly, do you know how to change the colour of the spline when you use it to paint? I mean the actual spline colour not the paint colour. If my model is filled with white, a yellow spline is difficult to see. If you don't know, that is fine because I can probably use a work around for this.

 

Secondly, the main issue. Here is what I want to achieve: I am trying to paint a clean black and white texture on a female figure which will be used as a mask in a different program. Just as an example I will refer to the arm. I want to create a closed spline around the wrist of a model so that the hand can be filled with black.

 

Currently, in the paint room, I do this by creating the spline, choosing a small brush with a hard edge and stroking the spline with the brush. I then use the fill tool to fill in the hand with black but there is ALWAYS a rim of white antialiasing that I have to manually paint out between the stroke and the fill no matter how much I fiddle with the tolerance when I fill the hand in with black.

 

So, instead of using the spline for the purpose of stroking the colour, I would like to be able to have the spline to act as a selection barrier just like a selection in photoshop but in 3D. I don't know if this is possible and, if it is, I would like to know how to do this.

I don't know how this would work on a tube-like model like an arm because if I place a spline around the wrist, how would it know which side to fill?

I imagined that this could be achieved if there were two splines so that the program would know to fill all the polygon in between the two spline. For example, I have a closed spline around the wrist and another closed spline around the elbow. The program would know that I would want the forearm area of my model to be filled with the colour of my choice. Of course this is a good idea but does 3dCoat have this sort of function?

 

I hope this clears things up. Sorry for the confusion. I would have some screenshots but I'm not near my laptop that has 3dCoat installed (this computer that I am using right now is too old for the program).  If you really need screenshots, please let me know and I'll get something uploaded.

 

Thanks.

 

Cheers,

Paul

(Mix Mash)

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As far as I know you can not change the color of the tool in question. I have not seen it anywhere in the preference panel for doing so... You may check as well cause I can overlook stuff like any person...

 

Do not use the Paint with spline tool in the left tool bar. The fill tool always leaves that little bit of color not filled in. The tolerance routine is not accurate enough or programmed enough to ignore it in these type cases at the present time... If you boost the tolerance one number higher to get it to fill in, then it either fills somewhat past your outside border or fills the whole model.  Also do not use any E-Panel splines that have the tight colored Slinky rings.

Remember Slinkys, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slinky :D

 

The E-panel splines ( draw with controllable strokes spline, draw with closed spline and irregular spline with ignore backfaces deselected are your better choices. They offer lots more control.  With ignore backfaces deselected the paint will be applied to all the polygons under the cursor or spline areas even those on the back side...

 

I place the instruction pictures in the zip file... I am busy so I had to hurry but they are clear enough... Doing this new way but close to the same as my first posting should help you understand how both ways tie together...

 

Now remember this is only one way , I have given you two now. This way too will give you what ask for, though with a little work but it will be controllable and accurate...Of course you may explore any other way you so desire too... 3DC always has several ways of doing things in a lot of cases...

 

Edit: I am not implying that these methods are faster than using the fill tool and touching up just more controllable in my opinion...

Masking.zip

Edited by digman
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Thank you for this, Digman. I will have a look at your zip file and try out you method. I will let you know the results.

 

Cheers,

Paul

(Mix Mash)

 

Edit: OK, The technique looks sound. The only flaw I can think of is with sharp edges. Sure the spline can have sharp corners but if you stroke the path with the brush, you will lose the sharp corners.

 

I think that if a fill tool option with splines could be added like I suggested in previous posts then it would be pretty useful.

Edited by Mix Mash
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Thanks... and first I agree we need the fill to ignore the gradient and fill up to the selections... This would be a time saver... It also appears you would like a line tool that preserves the inner and outer corners for sharp corners...

 

In the between time you can get harder edges by using a different alpha. I created the alpha shown in the upper left hand corner. It does a fairly good job at keeping the outside corners, a touch of roundness but not bad... Even some 2D programs have a touch of outside corner roundness in their line tools...

 

I have enjoyed this conversation as it keep me exploring 3DC even after several years of using it...

 

There is a feature request section on the forum to ask for the tools you need...

 

EDIT: Here's a tip.

If you create your own alphas, I have found putting a little gaussian blur on them takes away the jaggies in the alpha when using them as a brush...

Test with and without a little blur and you will see what I mean...

post-518-0-32163300-1385606534_thumb.png

Edited by digman
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I finally tried out your method last night and it was extremely awkward and I couldn't get the result I wanted. I think the best bet for me is to just do it through baking. This will ultimately give me the control I want despite it taking longer to achieve my goal.

 

I appreciate you effort, though, Digman.

 

Cheers,

Paul

(Mix Mash)

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I finally tried out your method last night and it was extremely awkward and I couldn't get the result I wanted. I think the best bet for me is to just do it through baking. This will ultimately give me the control I want despite it taking longer to achieve my goal.

 

I appreciate you effort, though, Digman.

 

Cheers,

Paul

(Mix Mash)

Like I always say, asking questions about why a certain tool isn't working the way you think it should...without some kind of screen recording or at the very least a screen grab (ATL + SHIFT + S)...is asking us to help........blindfolded.

 

We are flying blind without seeing what tool you are using, what settings you have, etc. Any time I experience problems in 3D Coat, I almost always record the problem I'm having and send it to Andrew (support@3d-coat.com). I usually will upload a copy of the file I am working on, as well (from the HELP menu > Send large file to support@3d-coat.com).

 

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