A good bit of learning any new program for creating stuff involves a lot of time messing around in it. Sometimes we get the software and have something specific we have to do with it right then and that’s all we really get to. Then one day we want to do something and find out that that program we got to do this one thing can also do these hundreds of other things.
Learning software for creating art is a lot like the first time you picked up a pencil to draw that flower or picked up a brush to paint that vase. You didin’t really know what you were doing at the time. You might have had a class or two that told you how to prepare your canvas and how to mix the paint and hold the brush. But until you put pen to paper and brush to canvas, it is all just theory. A wet paint brush might not do what you expect. If you were being taught by someone who paints in oils and you use watercolor, it’s a whole different ballgame. You have to practice and learn how things feel and flow and then you start to get a handle on your tools. If you switch tools, you have to go through the same process. When switching to a digital tool the process is still the same. You have to learn what the tool can do and how things feel and flow.
I don’t tend to do a lot of this. I tends to decide to do something and charge headlong into doing it and figuring out how to make it work. I can admit to having done this in at least two programs. Unfortunately, I think I am missing out on a lot of cool stuff and I’m probably doing some stuff the hard way.
So today I spent a while just fooling around in a couple of programs I’ve been using lately. I have some projects coming up in 3DS Max that I’m going to want to punch some holes in some things. As far as I can tell, most 3D art programs will let you do this in one manner or another. I have been doing it the hard way. I have been cutting out the faces and reshaping things manually. It’s time consuming and not always very accurate. But I knew I could do it that way and I was more intent on some other aspect of the project at the time. For this process of punching holes in things I decided to look it up. Really, the Autodesk
website does have great resources for this. That’s where I found the answer, and another that I may need.
The trick for creating the holes in something is to create a boolean object. It’s the concept that I was expecting and fairly easy to get to and do. You need to remember that the object you have selected when you click on the create boolean option is your A object. It’s important when you are creating a union or subtraction especially. It took me a while to figure out that I had to click on the Pick B option button. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t click on something. But after a closer look at the panel I found it and clicked and then selected my B object and there it was.
Along those lines is another tool called connect. You create these on the same tab as the create primitive but from the drop down you select compound object instead. I had quite a time trying to make this one work. What was shown in the help document was creating a cup and adding a handle. I could see the faces removed on the cup but I didn’t see them remove on the handle. I kept trying to get it work and it wouldn’t. It really helps to read the instructions, especially if you’re going to go through the trouble of looking them up. I had to make it a mesh. I had made it an editable poly and that wasn’t working out. I had to make it an editable mesh instead.
I thought for sure it would work at that point. It didn’t. It really helps to read ALL the instructions, especially if you’re going to go through the trouble of looking them up. The connect object works when you have two meshes and they each have a hole and you are trying to connect them at the holes. Yes, I needed to delete the face at the end of the handle I was trying to connect. With a hole in each piece and both set to editable mesh, I was able to select one and then the other and connect the two into one object and 3DS Max
created all the in between geometry for me.
These two tools alone allow me to more easily create more complex geometry for my projects, and to do it more quickly. And while I looked it up, I probably learned it better from messing around and making some mistakes as I did it.
I did a bit more messing around today. I am looking to upgrade my Wacom Intuos 4 to one of the lovely Cintiqs. While I was perusing the Wacom store I saw the different nibs on offer. Yes, my tablet came with a variety. And I’ve even tried to figure out the why of them. But I just use the standard nib that came already installed in then pen. So while I was poking around I tried to figure out the reason for them. Wacom makes a nice note on each page what they are for. So I got mine out and identified the one it says give more of a pencil on paper feel, since that’s what I’m most used to, and I swapped it out with the poor default nib that has been worn and battered. Cool. Lets go play.
In this case I decided the best place to play with this new nib was in Photoshop. So open we go and change the color mode to 16-bit depth because 8 jsut won’t do. I like 32-bit but learned earlier this week that it creates it’s own issues. I pull out first the pencil tool to play with since I hardly use it. It’s ok but not really what I like so to the brush tool. When I’m goofing off it’s always fun to play with all the different brushes. And since I’m using Photoshop a bit more now it’s a good refresher for me. And fun.
I found that I like the new nib. We’ll see how it holds up. I have 3 of them and I can order more so I should be fine. I also find a brush I like the feel of in Photoshop. It has the look of pencil and some of the control. Though it will take a bit more practice before I feel as comfortable with it on my tablet as I do with a pencil on paper. I goofed around an sketched a part of a ballpoint pen. Hey, it’s relevant to another idea I have. While I was doing that I found the blend brush. I’ve run across it one other time and every time I need it I forget what it’s called and where it is and I end up making do with the smudge tool
Which is just not the same. So I spent some time playing with the blend brush and the settings and trying to make my pen look nice-ish. It is just a doodle sketch.
So it was a fun time. I got to play, and learn, and now I have new tools in my toolbox.