General Answers...
Why doesn't Blacksmith3D-Suite run properly on my computer? The
display is all messed up.
-
Blacksmith3D-Suite uses OpenGL 1.1 to render the graphics, not
only in the 3D display window but the interface as well.
-
Each video card has it's own set of drivers that are responsible
for maintaining OpenGL compatibility.
-
In principle, all video cards that support OpenGL 1.1 should be
able to run Blacksmith3D-Suite, however, in practice, some video
card drivers may have minor bugs, or may not fully support all of
OpenGL 1.1's features.
-
For the most part, modern Nvidia, ATI and Intel GPUs should run
the software without any issues, however, some specific
cards/drivers may experience problems.
- Updating
to the latest video drivers will often clear up any problems that
you might be experiencing.
-
It has been reported that several SiS video cards do not work
properly with Blacksmith3D-Suite.
- Essentially,
you should test the demo and/or freeware version of the software
on your computer before purchasing.
What do the "Culling" options do?
- Culling
is the process in which portions of the surface are omitted from
a painting or selection operation.
- The
simplest form of culling is Backface, where
polygons that are facing away from the viewport are culled.
- The
Per Vertex option individually tests each vertex to
see if it is visible to the user in the current viewport. If it
is obscured by one or more polygons, then it is culled.
- The
Per Pixel option is only relevant to paint brushes,
and it tests each pixel in the texture maps to see if they are
visible in the current viewport. If the UV
mapping contains overlapping sections, then this option may
not behave as expected.
I'm editing a high resolution object and the software is
responding slowly to my actions. How do I speed things up?
-
Maximize the current viewport (using the SPACE BAR
hotkey) so only the current viewport is visible.
-
If you are editing one part of an object (e.g. the head of a
character) then hide the rest of it (e.g. body) using the
Edit->Hide Selected Surface menu option.
-
Create layers for different parts of the object and selectively
hide the ones that are not being edited.
-
Make sure the Viewports->General...->Display
Selection Quickly option is enabled (it should be by
default).
-
Make sure you have enough RAM. If you are editing several high
resolution texture maps (e.g. 4000x4000) and you only have 512 MB
of ram, then prepare for sluggish performance at best.
-
Dual (or more) processors will dramatically speed up painting
speed compared to a single core processor.
Why does the "hot" selection disappear and only the
"marquee" remain when I'm finished selecting?
- The
hot selection overlay turns off when a selection brush is not
active (by default) so you can properly see what is underneath,
which is especially convenient when painting textures.
- Selection
operations like Select All, Soften,
etc. will cause the selection overlay to briefly appear so you
can see the result of the operation.
-
If you
would like the hot selection overlay to always be visible, then
choose the Viewports->General...->Always Display Hot
Selections option.
What's the difference between “Mirror” and
“Symmetry”
- Mirroring
an action is relative to the viewport's space, while symmetry is
relative to the object's space.
- Mirroring
is independent of the object's geometric structure while the
symmetry options requires an object to be constructed
symmetrically. For each vertex on one side of the object, there
is a corresponding vertex on the opposite side.
- Please refer to the Mirror and Symmetry Section of the reference manual for more details.
How do I change the axis of symmetry for an object?
- Select
the Manager tab, locate the object in question and
click the triangle button next to it to expand it's properties.
- Change
the Symmetry Axis option to either X, Y or Z
I have symmetry set to “Left to Right”, but when I
look at the object, the active side is actually on the “right”
side and not the “left”. What's up with that?
- The
terms Left and Right are used loosely
with regards to symmetry, since left and right obviously depend
on which angle you are viewing the object from.
- In
Blacksmith3D-Suite, the Right side is the Master
side by default. When the Left To Right Symmetry
option is enabled, the Left side becomes the
master.
Painting
Answers...
What does it mean when "No Maps" appear across an
object?
-
For the current “Display Mode” (e.g. Color Maps), no
texture map is assigned to the material(s).
-
Use the “Paint Setup Wizard” to automatically create
and and assign texture maps or assign them manually in the
“Manger” in the “Materials” section.
-
You can also drag and drop a map from the Maps tab
onto an object's surface in the viewport to assign it to the
corresponding material.
When I paint on an object, paint appears on parts of the object
that I did not intend. Is this a bug?
-
This “Usually” means that the UV mapping has
overlapping sections. In other words, two or more polygons are
occupying the same space in the texture map.
-
For Blacksmith3D-Paint to function properly, there should be few
or no overlapping polygons.
- Many
objects have overlapping UV mapping by design, with the intention
of having separate maps for each section. For example, a human
character may be UV mapped such that the head uses one texture
map with the body uses another. As long as the maps are
assigned to the proper materials, these objects will work fine in
Blacksmith3D-Paint. In this case, if the user is not the
original creator of the object, they should understand how the
object's UV mapping is supposed to be used. If not, they can
simply use the “Paint Setup Wizard” to create
a quick and easy UV mapping to paint with.
When I paint on the front of an object, paint appears on the
back, even though culling is not set to "None". What's
up?
-
This “usually” means that the object was UV mapped in
a very simplistic way where the back and the front of the object
share the same UV space. (e.g. Planar mapping without “splitting”
the front and back of the object).
-
See the previous FAQ question for more details.
When I paint on a certain part of the object, the resulting
texture appears to be “stretched” or “warped”.
Am I doing something wrong?
-
This usually means that the shape of the polygon in UV space is
dramatically different from it's shape in XYZ space.
-
This often occurs when an object is being UV mapped, either
manually or using UV mapping software.
-
Often, users trying to “minimize” the number of UV
seams in an object will have to stretch the UV mapping on certain
parts of the object (think of the poles of a spherical mapping).
-
If UV seams are not an issue, simply use the “Paint Setup
Wizard” which results in very little stretching, by plenty
of UV seams.
The Paint Setup Wizard creates so many UV seams, that it is
impossible to edit in Photoshop. What's up?
-
UV mapping can be one of the most frustrating an annoying part of
3D modeling.
-
Traditionally, a user will try to UV map an object in such a way
that there as few UV seams as possible, so they can paint a
texture in software like Photoshop.
-
The whole philosophy behind the Paint Setup Wizard is this... You
should be able to click a single button to UV map any object and
apply it's textures so it is ready to paint on.
-
The advantage to this system is obvious, it takes a few
seconds to prepare any object for painting instead of hours of
painstaking manual UV mapping. In addition, since each
little section of the UV map is “planar”, so texture
stretching in minimized.
-
The disadvantage is that the textures cannot easily be edited in
a 2D application, except for color correction, etc.
-
If the texture maps are high resolution (say 1000x1000 pixels or
greater, then often the UV seams are not noticeable until you
zoom in really close.
-
If the texture map are low resolution (say 256x256) then
automatic UV mapping may not be appropriate and manual UV mapping
in another software package may be recommended.
I want to paint high resolution textures. Is the auto-UV
mapping feature in the “Paint Setup Wizard”
appropriate for this?
-
Yes! When painting on high resolution textures, the negative
effects associated with painting across UV seams are negligible.
They only become noticeable when extreme zooming occurs.
I want to paint low resolution textures for a real-time game
model. Is the auto-UV mapping feature in the “Paint Setup
Wizard” appropriate for this?
-
Probably not, but it wouldn't hurt to try.
-
If the resolution of the object is low as well (e.g. 100
polygons), then auto-UV mapping may yield acceptable results.
-
If there are many polygons (e.g. 10,000) and the texture
resolution is low (e.g. 256X256), then acceptable results are
unlikely.
What
is that black and white line that appears in the path of my paint
stroke?
- That line represents the points
in the path of the brush stroke that have not yet been processed.
It allows users using slower responding computers paint with
smooth continuous brush strokes.
Morph
Answers...
What
is a “Morph”?
- In
Blacksmith3D-Suite, a morph is set of displacements for each
vertex in the object.
- Morphs
reshape the object without adding or subtracting geometry
(additional vertices or polygons).
- With some creativity, morphs
can be created that completely transform one object into another.
See the Blacksmith3D gallery for some
examples of a human model being morphed in extreme ways (best
example is the Man to Bird morph).
I
created a morph that rotates a portion of the object by 90
degrees. When I set the morph strength to 50%, it is not rotated
45 degrees, it just looks “flat”. What am I doing
wrong?
- Morphs are linear
in nature.
-
For each vertex, there is only a starting point and and end
point.
- When the morph strength is
varied between 0% and 100%, the resulting point lies on a
line between the two, and not an arc of rotation as you
might expect.
-
In other words, the manner in which the morph created is
irrelevant (rotation, scale, translation, etc.), only the end
result is relevant.
I
want to smooth a portion of the object where many vertices are
concentrated, and a “peak” in the surface appears and
I can't get rid of it. What do I do?
- This is
because smoothing, for each vertex, is the result of averaging it
with the surrounding vertices.
- If there
is a concentration of vertices, then they will contribute “more”
to the averaging process.
- Better
results can be achieved by using the Flatten option
of the Touch-up Deformer after smoothing to get rid
of these peaks.
I'm
not exactly sure how the “Flatten” option of the
“Touch-up Deformer” works. In what direction does the
“flattening” take place.
- The
flatten tool will calculate the average surface normal of the
selected surface and then flatten in the plane that is
perpendicular to it.
I
have created several morphs for my object, and I am attempting to
use the “Unmorph” option of the “Touch-up
Deformer” to restore a portion of the object back to it's
original shape and nothing is happening. What is going on?
- The Unmorph
option of the Touch-up Deformer only acts on the
current morph target.
- Most likely, the deformation
that you are trying to unmorph exists in another morph target, so
make it the current one in the Manager and then
proceed to unmorph it.
I
am using the “Auto-Select” option of the
touch-deformer and I'm smoothing the object. While I drag the
mouse in the viewport to smooth the object, portions of the object
are not affected. When I release the mouse and try again, it works
as it should. What's going on?
- Most
likely, this is because the surface was culled when you began the
operation, and smoothing the surface in front of it exposed it in
the viewport.
- The
culling is not updated during the deformation (for performance
purposes), so you have to release the mouse button and do it
again.
When
I use a deformer on an object, it is far too sensitive and deforms
a lot with a little mouse motion. How do I correct this?
- Lower the value of the Strength
parameter for the deformer.
-
To make the deformer less sensitive, increase the Strength
parameter.
The “Bulge” deformer makes parts of my object go in
different directions and makes it look very bad. What's wrong?
-
The bulge deformer moved each vertex in the direction of it's
surface normal.
-
If the object is not very smooth and has lots of surface detail,
then these vertex normals can be pointing in many different
directions, resulting in a very messy deformation.
-
You should selectively select and bulge portions of the object
instead of trying to everything at once.
-
You may also consider using the Scale deformer
instead, depending on the situation.
-
To make an object look more “Cartoon Like”, a good
technique to to alternate between smoothing it a little, and
bulging it a little, repeating as necessary
Modeling Answers...
What
is the purpose of putting modeling features in Blacksmith3D-Suite?
Other programs like 3D Studio Max have way more features.
- The
primary reason why modeling features were added to
Blacksmith3D-Suite was to complement Blacksmith3D-Morph.
- All of the modeling
features preserve existing morph targets.
- So if you
have a character with a few hundred facial morphs, and you
decided to add some additional polygons here and there, then you
do not have to re-create all of those morph targets.
- In
addition, the modeling tools have the ability to Model
Symmetrically, so whatever you do on one side of the
object is reflected on the other. Very Powerful!
- Some tools, like the Polygon
Reduction tool are extremely powerful and may complement
other 3D modeling applications.
The
polygon reduction tool is great at automatically reducing the
selected polygons, but I would like to manually reduce specific
polygons to obtain a cleaner mesh. How do I do this?
- When the Polygon
Reduction tool is active, simply click on the object in
the viewport to join polygons together.
-
Clicking near a vertex will result in all of it's associated
polygons being joined together.
-
Clicking near an edge will join the two polygons on either side.
I
want to add additional polygons to a portion of an object, but the
subdivide tool isn't yielding results I desire. How else can I add
additional polygons to a portion of my object?
- The Extrude tool
is an extremely powerful and simple tool for adding additional
geometry.
-
To create a cluster of additional geometry on a small portion of
the surface, select a patch of polygons and then do an extrusion
of length 0%, perhaps several times. Then smooth the result and
see how result is different from simply subdividing the same
patch.
Left:
Three extrusions and smoothed the result. Right: one
subdivision.
I
want to create a “crater” like shape in my object, but
there are not enough polygons in that area to achieve acceptable
results. How can I do this using the modeling tools?
- Extrude a
patch using a negative length, so the extrusion goes inside the
model. Repeat a few times depending on how many rows of polygons
you desire.
Three
negative extrusions create a “crater” in the object.
I
did some extensive modeling on a symmetric object using the “Model
Symmetrically” option, but at some point, the symmetry got
messed up and now the left and right sides are not identical. How
do I fix this?
- The
Symmetry Utilities modeling tool contains a
feature called Create Symmetric Half. Making sure
that the Model Symmetrically option is
enabled, click the Create Symmetric Half button and
all of the polygons and vertices on the right side
of the axis of symmetry will be copied to the left
side. If polygons already exist on the left side,
then you will asked to delete them or leave them be. It is best
to delete them unless you know exactly what you are doing,
otherwise, you may end up with duplicate polygons.
Left:
Before Create Symmetric Half. Right: After Create
Symmetric Half
Why
do I get “The base vertices are now being deformed...”
message when the “Model” tab is selected and I use a
deformer?
- This is because when the Model
tab is selected, all morph targets become inactive and all
deformation act directly on the actual vertices of the object.
-
The warning is there to remind you so you don't accidentally
deform the base vertices when you actually intended to deform the
current morph target.
Can
I perform modeling operations (e.g. Merge Points) without having
to select the vertices first? Choosing a selection tool, selecting
the points, merging them, and repeating as necessary results in a
very slow work flow.
- Indeed, when the Merge
Points tool is active, simply click on one vertex in the
viewport and drag the mouse to the vertex that you would like to
merge it with.
I've done extensive modeling
operations on my object and now the UV mapping is all messed up.
What do I do?
- Typically,
modeling operations are not very good at preserving the UV
mapping for a number of technical reasons.
- Ideally,
you should UV map the object after all modeling has been
completed.
- Simply
subdividing an object will preserve the UV mapping, while polygon
reduction may render the existing UV mapping useless.
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