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Post by fursims on Nov 26, 2016 14:50:25 GMT -5
I have some questions about creating plants. Couldnt find any threads or a tutorial about it. I studied some different meshes from EA, but is it me or is it a bit of a hard job to create plants? I mean how do people do this the easiest way? I am planning to make multiple cactus plants and after looking at EA's meshes, i noticed they just create the whole shape of the cactus already in the mesh and only use planes for leafs or other little details that come off the plant. Is that the best way? really? I was planning to use the same mesh for multiple cactus plants, but i guess thats not really possible then. Im also not sure how to get a 2D cactus on a 3D UV. I think i need some insight on how other people do it.  |
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Post by Mathcope on Nov 26, 2016 15:05:23 GMT -5
Hi. Yes, the easiest way to create plants is in my opinion using planes. This is because as Sims 4 is a low poly game, you won't have an incredibly high poly count as if you do it meshing every single leaf. However this is not a must. For example, in this case you will create the base of the cactus as a solid mesh, not using a plane. For the spikes you can try using a plane or using a modified cilinder. Of course the poly count will vary depending what you choose. The planes method consist on using a 2d image with a correct alpha that will display in the plane simulating the shape. This is used in a lot of things. Like hairs, little objects details, etc. What you need to do is create the uv map for the plane and then place the image with the correct transparency in top of it when you're making your diffuse image. You can explore more by looking EA's plants if you're unsure... I leave you this video showing how to create a plant in blender. You might get some concepts by watching it. |
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Post by fursims on Nov 26, 2016 15:11:40 GMT -5
thanks. going to watch it 2morrow cause its pretty long and its late here The thing that bothers me a bit is when you have to create the base of a plant when it has a lot of shapes, bended parts etc. And then to try to make it look like the picture so the 2D image will show up nice on the UV.. |
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Post by Clown Confetti on Nov 26, 2016 16:38:14 GMT -5
I recommend the same type of videos as Mathcope linked, and also just as you already did, to study Maxis plants. When it comes to plane-based plants it's a matter of practising to use planes with transparency, for the succulents though it's just like working on any other 3D shape.
If you have trouble projecting a texture onto your mesh, there's two things I recommend: one is to create your uv map in parts along the way, not unwrapping the whole mesh at the end after finishing all the details. It helps to have better control of where which part goes on the uv map, and sometimes unwrapping something before being done with its final shape helps me get less warped uv:s. (I dunno if I explained it well enough, I'm really tired right now :-P )
Second, I recommend using Blender's "texture paint" mode, it helps me test and arrange my uv maps whether or not I'm planning to use a hand-drawn texture for a particular mesh. Using that, I just doodle straight onto the mesh and the texture (in the uv/image window's paint mode) and see where the uv:s or the texture may need to be changed to have a better fit. I also use it to see where shadows need to go and such, it's a lot easier to paint onto the mesh directly than to go back and forth with an image editor.
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Post by fursims on Nov 28, 2016 8:11:11 GMT -5
I recommend the same type of videos as Mathcope linked, and also just as you already did, to study Maxis plants. When it comes to plane-based plants it's a matter of practising to use planes with transparency, for the succulents though it's just like working on any other 3D shape. If you have trouble projecting a texture onto your mesh, there's two things I recommend: one is to create your uv map in parts along the way, not unwrapping the whole mesh at the end after finishing all the details. It helps to have better control of where which part goes on the uv map, and sometimes unwrapping something before being done with its final shape helps me get less warped uv:s. (I dunno if I explained it well enough, I'm really tired right now :-P ) Second, I recommend using Blender's "texture paint" mode, it helps me test and arrange my uv maps whether or not I'm planning to use a hand-drawn texture for a particular mesh. Using that, I just doodle straight onto the mesh and the texture (in the uv/image window's paint mode) and see where the uv:s or the texture may need to be changed to have a better fit. I also use it to see where shadows need to go and such, it's a lot easier to paint onto the mesh directly than to go back and forth with an image editor. I second that! I found out this is a good way to get the texture right on its place. I have made 6 plants yesterday and today i will work on plants with planes. |
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Post by Clown Confetti on Nov 28, 2016 9:17:00 GMT -5
Neat, I'm glad it's working out for you :-D
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