Sculpty - Maya - NURBs questions

Hello all,

I've used 3D programs before, I actually went from Maya - 3ds Max - Maya again after I found the script. I got that to work and it works great. Though I have a question or two for people that use maya and use this method.

I'm a decent artist, and I'm decent enough to draw up some blue prints, such as for example lets say a dog head. Front/side view. From what I've gotten from other posts and what not..The Maya script works with only NURBs Spheres because of how Sculpties work?..

And if this is true - and you use Maya and the method with the script and sphere, how do you do it?! When I used to model I did use Polygons more, and extrude then I'd smooth it out and what not. I mean, is there a easier way then using spheres? If not would someone might want to be a help to me via SL QQ. Because I "kinda" and "roughly" get the shape I want following my own sketch and blueprint but it just...doesn't act the way polygons do and ends up coming out pretty bad with a decent start.

Also if anyone wouldn't mind sharing a video, or possibly not mind me shooting questions there way on SL about Maya x sculpties work that would be lovely too.

Thanks for any help given.

Although not a Maya user, I do use Zbrush and Cinema4d for sculpting and baking, so bare with me. When you rely on a height map (sculpt map) to reproduce a low poly model there is going to be model data that is *smoothed* over. There are a few ways of adding detail in both the modelling process and the texturing process, so be prepared to look at a few different sources of knowledge.

Youtube, invaluable source of quick knowledge (both good and bad). There are a few videos there describing the process of sculpty creation for Secondlife in Maya. There are other video sites out there as well such as Veoh and Vimeo where if you dig you can come up with something.

Check out the machinematrix, by Secondlife residents and notably Gaia Clary who often posts in the forums. Although their modelling platform is Blender, there's invaluable information on incorporating detail into a Secondlife sculpty. Some good sound advice explaining the whys and why nots. Regardless of the program you use, one of the key ingredients to sculpty detail is in subdividing your model and texturing your surface at the higher level.

Before we get to your specific questions, I should probably tell you there is a very powerful sculpty exporter for Max, as well, in case you didn't know. So if you prefer Max, or if you just prefer polygonal modeling over NURBS modeling, you might want to play around with it.

Check out http://liferain.com/downloads/primcomposer/




Not everything has to be spherical. Sculpties support three other stitching types: cylinder, torus, and plane. However, for something like a dog head, I would use a sphere, in most cases.




Uh, carefully?

Seriously, that's a big question. You first need to get comfortable with NURBS modeling in general, which as I'm sure you've noticed, is a bit different from poly modeling. Many of the same principles apply, of course, but the tool set is a little different, and things like the behaviors of vertices are very different. It's akin to working with vectors rather than rasters in 2D. It's all about interpolation between a relatively small number of control points, rather than absolute positioning of every last tiny point in space.

You'll find that for organics, like your dog head, working with NURBS tends to be a lot faster and simpler than working with polygons. It might not seem so at first, if you're not used to it yet. But once you do get comfortable with it, there are a lot of advantages.

The second thing you'll want to get very, very, VERY good at is texturing. Remember, sculpties are low-poly meshes. No single sculpty has very much detail in it. 90% of the good looks of a sculpty model is the texturing.

Since you're interested in making a dog head, I would suggest you take a look at some that already exist, and examine them closely, to get a sense of how they were made. Again, you'll find that in most cases, the geometry is deceptively simple, and that most of the detailing is in the textures.

If you think about it, the general shape of a dog head is not that different from that of an egg plant. To sculpt one, all you really need to do is make an egg plant shape, stretch it out a bit, add another piece for the lower jaw, a few more for ears and eyes, and you're all set. After that, texture it convincingly, and it will look as good as any other dog head in SL.




Extrusion modeling is not compatible with sculpty geometry. Remember, a sculpty is nothing more than a rectangle, bent and folded in 3D space. The closest analogy is origami. No matter how complex it might seem, unfold the thing, and it's just a rectangular piece of paper, no more, no less.

In order for your geometry to work as a sculpty, you can't do anything to disrupt that perfectly rectangular base shape. You can't extrude from a surface to make a sculpty any more than you could extrude from a RL sheet of paper to make origami. It just doesn't work that way.



As I said, planes, toruses, and (capless) cylinders work too. As for an "easier way", I would submit that things don't get much easier in 3D than deforming an existing primitive. This might not be how you're used to working, but if you really think about it critically, deformation is a heck of a lot simpler than addition or division. If there's anything "not easy" about it, it's only that it may require the formation of some new habits.



I'm happy to give free advice here on the forums wherever I can. But I'm sorry to say I don't have time to do this on an individual basis in-world.

One avenue you might want to explore is xeniversity.com. Xenius Revere, one of the world's undisputed masters of the sculpty, a long time university instructor of Maya, and a good RL friend of mine, is now teaching Maya classes in-world. I've sat in on a couple sessions, and they've been great.

The pricing is very reasonable. I'd recommend anyone, regardless of your current skill level, sign up. Xenius has a ton of expertise to share. It's well worth the time.



I was impressed enough with how Xeniversity is working, by the way, that starting in September, I will be joining the faculty, myself. I'll teaching Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. I'd like to teach Maya as well, but Xenius has that well covered for now.