Hey all, I havea quick question regarding modeling clothing in Carrara. About a month and a half ago I picked up Carrara and Poser and was thinking a bout learnign to model clothes. I found a few tutorials on how to make tham, and have been attempting to do them. The thing is I'm having troublle with the extrusion on getting them to be the rough shape. I was wondering if people have any advice or tips on using the vertex modeler and extruding the various shapes.

When I think of modeling in Carrara, the person that comes to mind is litst. I don't know about clothing but you might try this tutorial (about head modeling)- of course head modeling is quite different from what you asked about but there may be something in it you can use to manipulate vertices/faces the way you want to. http://www.chez.com/litst/eng/tut-head2/tut-head00.htm

okay, I don't have time to exlain this completely, but it should help. Start by making orthogonic wireframe views of the figure you wish to clothe (fig. 1,2,3, of P4 Nude Male) Using an image editor, make sure they are lined up. (centerlines should be center, heads in 2 + 3 should be at same level, figures should be same height, etc.) Save these images separately. The reason for the wireframe is so you can compare the mesh density of your clothing to the density of the original figure. As you can see in figure 3, I outlined the basic outfit I wanted, using different colors, and BRIGHT colors,to differentiate.(the finished outfit is actually three separate figures.) For this outfit I only sketched on the front view, but feel free to draw on all three views, just don't save over the blank views, in case you want to make other clothes for the same figure. In the vertex modeler, you can use these images as rotoscopes (under the Global tab in the Drawer-thingy on the right -> { If you open them but they don't show up, there's a setting you have to change in preferences, but I can't remember exactly which setting at the moment.}) You'll be able to use these images to model from(Fig. 4), without having the original model sitting in the middle of everything, which is a pain. However, you'll still want to import the figure's obj file (or even better, a mannequin like the hadless, footless one I used) so that you can do fittings in the Assembly Room (figure 5). You MUST use the figure's .obj file, or preferably a copy of it (found in the Runtime directory), and NOT an imported .pz3 file, or it won't conform correctly. I used the Compose utility to open up the obj file, delete the hands and feet, and save the copy as "mannequin.obj" in the same runtime folder as the original mesh. And remember, use the drawings only as a guideline, make the clothing fit the mannequin. That's about it for now, I don't have time to go into the actual modelling and UV mapping, I'm already up an hour past bedtime.... BTW, Figure 6 is my completed outfit rendered in Poser....

Thanks man, I just woke up so I don't quite compute it yet, but I get the basic idea of it. I'll try it out when I have time. Thanks

Good tutorial, brainmuffin!

brainmuffin, Quite unexpected - I'll have to play with this idea some! Thanks! - TJ

Message edited on: 07/13/2004 00:12

brainmuffin...this looks wonderful. I look forward to seeing the complete outfit. Is anyone out there modelling clothing using the splines and other tools? I seem to find it easier making the stuff in the Vertex modeller, using mostly extrusions, and applying sub-D as needed to smooth things. Just did a witch hat recently by lathing it in vertex modeller, then boning it and using the bones to bend the crown up a bit. Actually, used Amorphium to deepen the creases, then C4d to de-triangulate -- but I really need to learn to UV map before doing all these distortions. Still, when you get further along with an outfit I find the vertex modeller a good place to group the mesh, create materials zones, and of course adjust those durn UV's.

Uh.... that pretty much is the final outfit..... Except for some sandals, and a sash.... He's a Tokugawa-era samurai, so he wouldn't really have worn armor. (it's possible he wouldn't have even had a real sword!) Question: is there anything else (besides C4d?) that will detriangulate the polygons after subdivision? I try not to use sub-D for that reason only, it makes it harder for me to slice up the mesh....

Oh, I meant "final" as in packaged up and made available to the rest of us!! Have you considered talking to Expanding Wave?

I dunno about options to C4d. I just happen to have version six, free, off 3DWorld Magazine. Actually, I registered it and upgraded to 6+ but I haven't gotten very far into it yet. Pity, as it has some nifty tools.

Didn't UVmapper pro offer de-triang? Or am I imagining that? Yah...high on my wishlist for Carrara is more options towards increasing (and controlling) mesh density.

Here's the hat, by the way. Haven't painted the texture map yet (I want it to look a little beat-up and dusty). Lately I've gotten into doing a lot of final fitting and adjustment within Poser, using the Poser magnets.

brainmuffin, Yes, but I don't remember where. It might have been UV pro but I think I saw a freebee that had that option too. It could have been lithunwrap(???); if I run accross the references again I'll post. - TJ