Okay, so I've come quite a way with Blender in using for just over a year now. But I'm still having a little problem figuring somethings out. Like, for instance, adding details on to a figure. Mainly I'm talking about things like pleats, seams, edging, and bumps. For instance I made this corset for Miki4 but some of the details hard kind of hard for me to do.

One thing I know I'm having issues with is using Extrude and then Scale. I can seem to get an even extrusion and I'm hoping somebody here knows how to do it . Help please.

A lot of things like seams and bumps can be part of a normal map. Unfortunately, at this point, normal maps appear to only be formally supported in BI: in Cycles, it's still a WIP, although there is some discussion on BA that it might be included in as soon as 2.65.

As far as extrusions (and pleats) go, I'm no expert, but it might have something to do with setting Transform Orientation to 'local' instead of 'global' and your Pivot Centre to individual origins... seems I read somewhere that should be a reasonably good solution.

Actually, I had a go, I tried combinations of Gimbal, Normal, Local and Global with Active Element, Median Point, Individual Origins and Bounding Box Centre... none are giving me the even extrusion result I'm after (on the attached .blend called "Uneven.blend" - just removed the .txt).

So, that doesn't work. Keen to see what others come up with.

ETA: by the way, I tested this using [S] - scale - on the highlighted vertices.

is that a Daz doll your using?? do you scale it up for modeling? (posers tiny scale makes modeling harder). I think everyone does the details in diff ways and can only give general tips witout seeing the mesh you need help on, things like cuffs/hems are easier if you duplicate the last row of polys scale down slightly then bridge loop it back into the mesh(check normals), can do the same "trick" for seams (eg side leg of jeans) just add a loop cut or two, cut out the seam, move it away a little bit and bridge loop it back in. Some people use the sculpting tools for details but need to watch the poly count if it gets too high you may need to retoppo the mesh. The worst place I have found is the lapel on a jacket!! is many many dif directions for the mesh to be pulled/pushed I often end up moving verts on a one by one basis(dont forget symmetry or the mirror modifier they save you half the work)

ps nice modeling I hope the tips help a little

There are a couple different ways to get fine details like these. The most obvious is to add geometry and model in the details, which is what it sounds like you're trying to do.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble understanding the exact nature of the scaling problem you're having. When I extrude and scale on the file you uploaded, everything behaves pretty much as I expect it to. If you can provide more details about the problem you're experiencing maybe somebody can offer more insight, but some things to try:

• try "scale along normals" (alt-s) instead of scaling (s). I use "scale along normals" a LOT when modeling

• try extruding in different modes (face/edge/vertex). I find that extruding in face mode is often what I need when trying to "pull out" volume from a surface detail like buttons, buckles, etc. rather than in extruding in vertex mode

• Try modeling the details as a separate object in its own object space that simply overlaps or intersects with the main object, and then join the objects later when you're happy with the position of the detail.

You can also use normal and displacement maps to add details as was mentioned. There are plenty of alpha images out there for textures like stitches, and throwing together stitching or other details in photoshop or GIMP isn't terribly hard. Once you have the details in a texture, you just map them to the displacement or normal influence (using "Normal" or "Displace" under the "Geometry" section) instead of mapping them to diffuse color. This can give the appearance you want in your final render without increasing the model's vertex count.

As somebody else in the thread mentioned, you can't use normal maps in Cycles, but you can bake the results of a normal map into a displacement map and use that instead. There are differences in displacement and normal maps, but the majority of the times, the results are similar enough that you can make it work.

There's another way to use normal maps with Cycles: a displace modifier using "Normal" for the Direction, combined with either a subsurf or multiresolution modifier. 

A third option for these details is to use Sculpt mode with a multiresolution modifier. You can sculpt in the details either freehand, or using any of the various alpha brushes available around the web. You can sculpt them in at whatever resolution you need for your final rendered image (though, honestly, when I need to go really high resolution, I move to ZBrush). You can then either bake these sculpted details into a normal map, or simply render right from the high-res sculpted model (generally speaking, your render times will be longer if you do that, though).

Quote - Unfortunately, I'm having trouble understanding the exact nature of the scaling problem you're having. When I extrude and scale on the file you uploaded, everything behaves pretty much as I expect it to. If you can provide more details about the problem you're experiencing maybe somebody can offer more insight, but some things to try:

• try "scale along normals" (alt-s) instead of scaling (s). I use "scale along normals" a LOT when modeling

That was exactly what I failed to do - only because I didn't realise one could. Thank you. I was trying to evenly extrude a plane with equal width where the extrusion was based on a normal. And failing.

:blink:

Thanks again.

Quote - > Quote - Unfortunately, I'm having trouble understanding the exact nature of the scaling problem you're having. When I extrude and scale on the file you uploaded, everything behaves pretty much as I expect it to. If you can provide more details about the problem you're experiencing maybe somebody can offer more insight, but some things to try:

• try "scale along normals" (alt-s) instead of scaling (s). I use "scale along normals" a LOT when modeling

That was exactly what I failed to do - only because I didn't realise one could. Thank you. I was trying to evenly extrude a plane with equal width where the extrusion was based on a normal. And failing.

Awesome! Glad I was able to help. Scale along normals is one of those hidden gems
that you're unlikely to find yourself unless somebody tells you about it or you see it
in a tutorial or something.