Hi,

I'd appreciate any advice on how to create a wireframe graphic of paper that has been crumpled and then uncrumpled.

I don't want any shading, just the vector look of the edges, creases, crumples, ridges, etc.

Is there a way to generate this (and control degree of detail) or does it have to be drawn?

Thanks for all your thoughts!

In Lightwave you can select vertices and apply Jitter, which moves points a random amount within set limits.

Wings 3D used to have a function specifically called crumple.  Blender 3D has a subdivide fractal function.

C4D Demo can be used in full for 30 days. You have option in render settings called "Cel renderer", it will render wireframe only in color of your choice. Its located under effects - Post effects :)

Hi and thanks for your responses --

Will have a look at Lightwave, Wings 3D, Blender 3D, and C4D Demo (thanks for the nod about the free demo)!

Question: while C4D renders the wireframe, does it have a function for 'crumple'? or would I do the crumple in another software and then export it and then import it into C4D and create the wireframe with that imported file?

Thanks!

Make plane primitive in C4D, make it editable with "C" key. In Points mode, under Structure menu use Brush tool. On Right side you will see various modes for brush tool. Twister for example will make crumpled paper fast, just lover the strenght and play with it. C4D UI is very user friendly so you should not have any probs..

Hi again,

Thanks for this, that's a great walk-through. I'll get a download of the demo and give it a try.

Cheers!

I'd tell you how I'd do it in Wings 3D and then Carrara.

First starting out with Wings...

Make a grid. Then pick the back and side faces and set those to hole. (Not needed anyways.)

Save the plain starting grid as "uncrumpled paper".

Then select the grid object, switch to vertex mode. Then under the deform menu, pick crumple. Then random on the sub-menu.

If you need it in a ball, it gets trickier, since you pretty much have to do a lot of tweaking and magnet operations, and maybe a touch of scaling. (No magic wad-into-ball tool as of yet.)

Ensuring that no new edges or vertices were added, save this as "crumpled paper".

Most software, provided the models haven't changed the vertex order, can morph between two polygon models in a fairly straight-forward manner.

So to use it with Carrara, I'd save the two models as a .obj from Wings3D. Then import the "uncrumpled" version, set up a morph target on it, then load the "crumpled" version as the morph. Then I'd have an animation slider available, which would let me alter the mesh from the crumpled to uncrumpled states.

However, make note that most morphs treat the changes in vertex position as linear. Animating it may look odd in some cases. So you may need 3 or 4 states of a model between flat and crumpled up (particularly if you're going for a wadded ball), and multiple morphs applied to a model to make an animation look more natural.

Carrara also has these things called deformers which are animatable and may be fun to try. One of which I believe one of them is a "crumple" effect. However it's completely random, more of a funky digital effect than anything that would look natural. Other 3D software may have an equivalent to these.

Thanks for that run-down, much appreciated.