Hi Anis, feathers are a rather delicate and fine detail, I'd think that probably something like ZBrush would be a better tool for that.

But for MoI maybe something like this:


A closed profile curve and a path like this (profile curve drawn in the Top view and then rotated a bit from the side view):



Sweep the profile along the path, using the "Ends: Pointy End" option to make it go down to a point:



Then replicate the object with Transform / Array / Circular, adjusting the Item count, angle to fill, and vertical step until a decent overlapping pattern is generated:




In this case I used these parameters:




But depending on the size of the initial one other parameters may be better, once you get something kind of close you can start to adjust the Angle to fill or Item count by small amounts to shift the result a little bit at a time until it gets a good looking overlap.


I guess you probably could make it a bit lighter in data by using an open profile to create just a surface instead of having a closed profile, since you won't be seeing the back side anyway.

- Michael

Hi Anis,

Here is my solution,

The curves on the surface are done
by Curve\Project

Hi Michael & Paolo...

I will try your tricks...
Please note that the final model will be a doll that need a real 3D model then send to mold maker, so i cant use program like zbrush.

Thank You

Anis
This is pretty quick and rough but I hope it demonstrates the potentials.

Brian

Hi Brian...

Like what I have wrote before, I need not only "looks good" but also the 3D model can be manufactured.

Thanks

Hi Anis - ZBrush can export 3D data, not just 2D bitmaps. It doesn't do a whole lot of formats but I think it includes OBJ and DXF.

It is polygon based and not NURBS, but I would think that your mold maker would probably be able to use STL type polygon data?

- Michael

Absolutly Zbrush has only OBJ + material and Dxf export (but it's sufficient for any polymodeler :)
some feather ;)
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=58228

Hi.....

any body can tell me little bit about the difference between zbrush vs modo vs silo ?
I come from mechanical engineering, so its far from my knowledge.

thanks

Zbrush is THE PROG for Movie, game industry or Illustration from volume!
It's the standard in 3D for refine or create an organic volume as Autocad is the standard for CAD!
(Modo has a great speedy render inside, Silo is low cost modeler but after you export to Zbrush ;)

He can manage billions of polygons in real time
It import any organic format OBJ DXF file (low or medium poly) for refine it with extreme accuracy!
it can't make animation (except turnable)
it can paint on 3D volume
It can work in 2D, 2.5, and 3D (Drawing, painting, sculpting)
It make a Map hight Quality for put it on model low poly for animation for other prog!
It's the best prog for Sculptors artist! (out the other technology of "voxels" who is born with 3D Coat 3 month ago:)
Sensation of sculpting garanted with a graphic tablet!
Take a look on the gallery ;) You can't see the same anywhere!
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/featured2col.php

Hi All....

I need your advice & sharing experience the best software that I have to use to build 3D doll then send the data to mold maker. I dont want to say that moi not suitable for doll modeler, but in special case like make feather and another organic ornament I think today it is not easy to create those in moi.

thanks for any advices.....

@Pilou...
thanks for the info... :)

-anis

Hi Anis,

The Image below is a .obj from MOI3d imported into 3d-coat
The feather brush is made from an bitmap (in this case from artrage)
Export limitation off 3d-coat is .obj .lwo (so no STL)

I have also Silo3d which can export STL
I use it for organic modeling
For example a human hand is done i minutes(in MOi3D i am still figuring out)
Only minus of the program is the snapping features (and some bugs)

Hi Anis,

> any body can tell me little bit about the difference
> between zbrush vs modo vs silo ?

ZBrush is focused on modifying an object by painting and brush-stroke like operations. It's sort of like you paint directly on an object and the spots that you paint on form valleys or ridges in the object.

Modo and Silo I believe have added some of that in as well, but their main focus is in a different area which is sub-d modeling.

Sub-d modeling is where you have a polygon mesh object where you manipulate a 3D point cage to edit the object. It's a lot more about adjusting points in 3D space.

- Michael

Hi Anis,

> I need your advice & sharing experience the best software
> that I have to use to build 3D doll then send the data to mold maker.

The first step is to consult with your mold maker and find out which kinds of data they can accept.

Specifically, can they accept polygon mesh data in STL format? (or possibly in other polygon formats?)

If so then that would open things up for you to use some of the tools that are more commonly used for building organic character models. Normally the focus of such tools are for rendering and not manufacturing but if your mold maker can accept polygon data then they can be used for manufacturing as well.


To make small organic surface details, I would probably think ZBrush would be a good choice for that.

I would actually suggest using MoI in combination with ZBrush for that task. Create an initial basic form in MoI and then export that into ZBrush for adding finer surface details in there.

When you do that, you will want to use some particular mesh settings in MoI to generate an output mesh that has polygons diced up into more uniformly small pieces. There are some discussion threads on this topic here:

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=804.26
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=1549.4
http://moi3d.com/forum/messages.php?webtag=MOI&msg=1045.1

- Michael

Hi Anis,

For the modo/zbrush/silo ... if it's 'just' about displacement painting :
Zbrush>Silo>Modo

Zbrush is a digital sculpture (and painting) software, with an unusual interface and a not so easy learning curve. Be prepared to watch/read some tutorials because it's not super intuitive and require some practice to master all the tools available.

Modo is a good poly modeler, with some cool feature like texture painting, correct uv tools and a good render engine. The displace painting is based on the vector displacement technology, and for the moment, it's far to be good ... fine to add some little details, but not to really sculpt. There are some good learning materials too.

Silo is 'just' a poly modeler, with really smart tools on that purpose (really nice retopology tool for example) and looks like the new uv tools seems quite good (havn't test it). The workflow is just amazing fast and easy. The displace sculpting is quiete nice too, sure you can't move millions of polygones like zbrush, but it's really not that bad. I haven't tried displace/normal exporter yet.

I remember there is a cool bird tutorial on zbrush, not sure it will fit your needs

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_3/bird_of_pray/bird_of_pray01.asp

http://www.3d-coat.com/gallery.html

For both "Clay" type sculpting and 3D texturing I would think this is better value and potential than Z=Brush. The beta of version3 is just amazing. Painting on 3D feathers would be quite simple.

Even so, for very quick ideas--and I know not related to the end results required,---I was quite pleased at how quickly I was able to do this in MoI/Carrara this morning.

Brian

This is just a very quick/rough example of displacement painting of a feather image onto an .0bj plane in 3D Coat.

Brian

Hi paolo....

Looking very nice in 3d coat.
can you post the result that you have done in 3d coat ?

I want to open it in moi or solidworks to see the result.

Thanks

Hi All....

Thanks for all the info comparing zbrush, modo, silo.

Base on your argument the best choice is combine moi with zbrus or 3d coat.
So then the questiion is what is the different between zbrush vs 3d coat ?
Which is the best to combine with moi to build 3d doll model ?
How about the learning curve ?

One think that I have checked 3d coat is more cheap that zbrush:)

Thanks

http://forums.polyloop.net/3d-work-progress-finished-works/17603-mac-bear.html

Have a look at this thread. Especially all the variations listed to look at in post 6.
Whilst Mox used Hexagon as the starting modelling app there is no reason why MoI would not be as good--I would think better! (No way I will return to Hexagon after using MoI!)

Two things about the 3D Coat app as a companion to MoI from my perspective.
First the better price. Secondly, far, far easier to learn for me.
(And the way it is going,with the V3 Beta, I can not see any benefit with using Z-Brush--3DC is going to have things that Z-Brushers have wished for.)

You still need a good rendering app----my choice, still, value for money, comprehensive-ness/adaptability as a true 3d app and ease of use/learning is Carrara6.

Brian

(But remember Blender is free if you can adapt to it's workings!)

Hi Anis,

Do you mean a .obj or.lwo file?

The size will be a highpoly mesh of 295k (1/3 Mb)