question 1)
vertex sliding in blender 2.69.
I know ctrl E brings up edge but in 2.69 ( I like this version because it doesn’t have those side panels) it doesn’t have vertex slide. so I cant slide 1 vertices.
I do plan on switching to the new blender for cycles backing once i start getting my basics down. I find that newer interface more confusing since I learned on the 2.6 interface
question 2)
also with duplicate, array and linked data duplicate, is there away to duplicate or array things that wont add more memory to each mesh duplicated ? this way if I did say a plank with holes and such, instead of making low poly for like after 4 planks I can array and save memory but I know in Maya you can duplicate as many objects you want with out increasing your memory
question 3)
while testing my textures in my scene, I like using environment lighting with a HDR image but, I heard a image plane or anything in emissions is a flat light and you need at sun lamp to bring out the normal maps. so for a big scene or for any object in your camera, do you scale up or check the suns beam on how far it is reaching the objects while in environment lighting t o bring out normal and displacement maps since with out the sun it is considered flat lighting?
question 4)
is about ambient occlusion.
I guess it really helps bring out the textures, so do I use just use the ambient map in crazy bump in my nodes, or … do I use the occlusion node with the environment ambient lighting as well along with a sun lamp in my environment to help since environment is flat lighting?
question 5)
texture scale and uv
I was wondering if object mode editing is bad even if I applied a ctrl A scale after words? I guess it’s better to edit in edit mode? I wonder if this is why my uv always snaps 90 degrees when I average my Islands and do a pack islands? if I do have to do my measurements in edit mode, the N panel doesn’t have measurements so I guess i just( E) extrude and put in either 1 or .1 for my measurements? i am using imperials so 1 would be 1 foot and .1 for 1 inch?
if so I will change my settings for adding objects in edit mode to get use to this. but even pining my uv islands it still rowtates90 degrees and goes to left corner of the uv grid. regardless of using the uv grid and scaling to my liking. after I pack islands. it goes back to rotating and going to left corner of uv grid and if I try to change my uv grid texture to a image texture since I like the scaling. I have do another new image texture because the testing uv grid wont let me load another texture.
I would like to figure this out this weekend so i can start learning composting, rigging and animation.
Select vertices or edges and press G then G to activate the sliding for those vertices or edges
question 2)
also with duplicate, array and linked data duplicate, is there away to duplicate or array things that wont add more memory to each mesh duplicated ? this way if I did say a plank with holes and such, instead of making low poly for like after 4 planks I can array and save memory but I know in Maya you can duplicate as many objects you want with out increasing your memory
Unfortunately not, when you use an array modifier, the instanced objects are still having an impact on performance for the viewport.
Now when it comes to rendering, instanced objects (like an array) should eat much less of your system than “real” objects, that’s how it is possible to render absurdly high amount of poly like this :
While if all those weren’t instanced objects blender but “real” separate ones, Blender and the computer rendering that would have exploded .
Can’t say on 3/ and 4/ as i don’t use Cycles .
question 5)
texture scale and uv
I was wondering if object mode editing is bad even if I applied a ctrl A scale after words? I guess it’s better to edit in edit mode? I wonder if this is why my uv always snaps 90 degrees when I average my Islands and do a pack islands? if I do have to do my measurements in edit mode, the N panel doesn’t have measurements so I guess i just( E) extrude and put in either 1 or .1 for my measurements? i am using imperials so 1 would be 1 foot and .1 for 1 inch?
if so I will change my settings for adding objects in edit mode to get use to this. but even pining my uv islands it still rowtates90 degrees and goes to left corner of the uv grid. regardless of using the uv grid and scaling to my liking. after I pack islands. it goes back to rotating and going to left corner of uv grid and if I try to change my uv grid texture to a image texture since I like the scaling. I have do another new image texture because the testing uv grid wont let me load another texture.
I would like to figure this out this weekend so i can start learning composting, rigging and animation.
When you model, it’s much better to model in Edit Mode, object mode is for simple manipulations.
But as it’s been said a lot on those boards, when you do object manipulations , you need to apply rotations/scales if you did them on your object in order to avoid tools in edit mode (and unwrapping tools too) to produce unexpected and usually undesired results.
Now when it comes to animating an object with an armature, you should never apply in Object Mode the rotations/scales obtained in Pose Mode as it will screw up your animation in no time.
But make sure to have finished all your model and texture work before thinking about rigging and animating
Maybe it’s CTRL A with scale and rotation??? i will try that when I get home. i have been just using CTRL A to reset scale since I didn’t rote it and just changed the dimension of the say Y axis or x axis of the object. . maybe that is it… I hope so because I mean I have tried the uv grid and scaled it to my linking so I know how to uv unwrap and apply good power to 1 images for textures.
only thing in edit mode there is no dimension tab once it goes to edit mode and you enter grid units or divisions for inches etc.
some one also mention it may be a aspect ratio and may need to reapply the reset scale to a certain axis. I watching a tutorial now on cgcookie but it was for version 2.49 and not sure if there is still a script for this and or why I am having this issue if know-body else is.
I will check that and someone told me too to check the aspect ratio in the uv editor not sure how to do this, but I will try the f6 and there is a old tutorial on this for blender 2.49 and a script but not sure if why I would be the only one having this issue but… I will watch that too. thanks for the tip on the f6 hot key.
I just tried this and look how much my scale is off compared to edit mode entering my dimension to object dimensions. I even tried reinstalling blender to 2.7 to 2.6, I even reinstalled windows to see if there was a file saved somewhere. same scale issue or, I am doing something really wrong. two planks different sizes. I names object and edit in the outliner to see
Now you lost me. I was referring to UV rotation, and you’re back to scaling which, frankly I don’t understand what the issue is.
What you are doing wrong is obsessing with measurements. I told you before, trying to stick to specific units while modeling is pointless and often plain inconvenient. You only need to keep the proportions intact. Work in default Blender units. You know, for example, that your plank is 10 times as long as it is wide, so make it 10 units long and 1 unit wide. Or 5 units long and 0.5 units wide, etc. Scale in object mode (and apply scale), or scale in edit mode - it doesn’t matter.
When you need to actually fit the plank somewhere with real measurements - then worry about units, and simply scale the plank up or down uniformly by the amount required (again, apply scale if scaling in object mode).
I think my issue was using imperial units and not modeling using edit mode. the plank in the back is edit mode the small one in front was object dimension and this was default settings on blenders grid and scale. so, should I just model in edit mode using default settings since it is like metric and say for a 7 foot plank I put 2.1336 for 7 ft and for inches say 2 inches for metric would be .0508
Please read carefully what I said earlier. When you’re modeling units do not matter at all. Proportions do. Your model can be 1, 10, 100 units long: it makes no difference. In the end you just scale it to appropriate size, that’s it. You can make a 10x1x0.25 units plank. When you need it to become 78 centimeters long, you’ll scale it by factor 0.78/10, assuming you’ve set up scene settings so that 1 grid unit = 1 meter. It will keep its’ other dimensions proportional. I can’t make conversions to imperial units in my head, but you should get the idea. Another example: your real-world plank is 310x27x8 centimeters. Choose a convenient unit for yourself, say, 1 unit = 10 centimeters, and model a 31x2.7x0.8 units plank. Then later, when you need “real” units, just scale the plank by the appropriate amount.
Furthermore, modeling using Blender’s unit settings can actually interfere with the tools being used when the model gets really small (e.g. thin). It’s better to work on a larger scale and then simply scale the final model down.
here is two images of the size difference in the N panel I think this was causing my texture scale issue regardless of doing a ctrl A to reset scale. so If I model in default settings which I think a grid unit is like 1 meter. so if I do a 7 ft plank and enter in edit mode 2.1336 and for inches I put in .o508 this will give me the dimensions but I will be modeling in edit mode instead of using object mode and entering my dimensions and doing a ctrl A reset. I think this was causing the texture scale.
now is there a tutorial about this on why you should model in edit mode? seems kind of pointless to have dimension settings in object mode if this causes this problem?
Yes, modeling is for edit mode. Scaling or changing object dimensions in object mode does not actually change vertex positions, it simply transforms object’s local space. So if you scale in object mode 2 times along the X axis, object will appear as if it’s 2 times wider, but in reality the size of mesh components (edges, faces) is not changed: you can verify that by enabling edge length display in edit mode, for example. I don’t know of any tutorial that goes into specifics on that, unfortunately.
You should always keep object mode scale uniform, and preferably unit (1,1,1) while modeling. The dimensions sliders are useful to quickly set up initial size, but then you should also apply scale so that the changes are actually transferred to the vertices. That does not mean they’re useless: object mode scaling comes in handy in animations, and also can be used in conjunction with modifiers (for example, the Offset Object of the Array modifier).
Jonathan Williamson he said too, that it because in object mode it stretches the mesh.
last question since this is about this but for programs such as Maya and 3dmax. are they different or… any program modeling in 3d you have to model in edit mode to avoid stretching ?
Yes, though the notion of “modes” might not be exactly the same as in Blender. Scaling an object outside of (sub-) component modes in Maya and Max is the same as scaling in Blender’s object mode, with similar consequences: modeling tools “misbehaving”, textures stretching, etc.
Maya and 3DSMax are conceptually the same as Blender: you edit the mesh in edit mode. The only 3D modeling program with a different paradigm that I’m aware of is Houdini, where you model procedurally, via modifiers. IIRC, your texture stretching problems were mainly caused by your choice of texture images and manipulation of UVs, not scaling per se. You might want to spend some time just modeling without trying to texture your models. Use Blender Internal render, set up some bland grey material, and work on modeling for a while.
You might be suffering from trying to get everything to work for you all at once…
