And my 2 cts .. >I find SDS great fun to work with and very > intuitive, contrary to scripting. For a snake with a head >I'd choose SDS > instead of nurbs any time
I have given up on SDS dozens of times, totally counter-intuitive and frustrating. But each time I gave up, I came away with a bit more of an idea about them. So now I really enjoy them ... now they are totally intuitive and fun ... making that spherical cube grow into anything at all. Thanks Mark, I agree with all your 2 cts of advice but mostly I am keen to try that Edge Loop tool you recommend. Neil Cooke ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Heuymans" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 4:04 AM Subject: Re: create a tentacle > > > > > SDS seems like a piece of shit to me . In theory , it's brilliant of > >course , but so was RPL . SDS seems like the RPL of the modeling world . > >Once again I have to become a technical wizard be-fore I can create ... > >anything ! No ! & No ! & fuckin' NO ! > > > >I'm sick of it ! I just want to create ! I do not want to have my > >brain conformed to the RS way , or the Maya way , or the SDS way ... > > > Hi Garry, > > For once I don't agree with you! I find SDS great fun to work with and very > intuitive, contrary to scripting. For a snake with a head I'd choose SDS > instead of nurbs any time. BTW: does a snake actually have a tail and if > so, where does it start? ;) > > I made some snake-like creatures for a game and for my logo (see > http://www.xs4all.nl/~ath8n0r/ ). All done in SDS, no problems. The most > difficult part was the texturing. Just give me a shout and I'll send you a > version without claws and ears. > > I don't see a problem with the SDS cylinder approach, repeatedly (10-20x) > extruding/scaling the end plane. > To get rid of the tail artifacts (or at least make them invisible): zoom in > closely, extrude the tiny end plane once more, shrink and move it a bit to > make a round tip. Maybe there still are some 'artifacts' but who cares if > they are invisible. > > My 2 cts: > - Practice. Especially practice the most common actions like extruding. > Become familiar with the handles and their modifiers. > - Avoid sharp edges etc in organic modeling, these tend to introduce > artifacts if you're not careful. > - Don't forget the Edge Loop tool (combined with CTRL and/or shift it's > great!). The button is usually off-screen (please fix that!). > - It helps if rotating, panning and scaling the view while modeling has > become second nature. > - switch to polygonal once in a while. > One of the more difficult things to keep in mind is object topology. One > missing or flipped plane can ruin a whole object. > > > Good luck & don't give up too quickly, > > Mark H >
