Using a SolidWorks design, I show here how easy it is to upload a design that all team members can access.

Here is the Power Painter 3D Model I Published from SolidWorks in the video.  I also need to give credit to the SolidWorks team for the design–nice work!

With advanced computing power, and internet speeds, we still need our 3D models is their top shape when used on the web and real-time environments (i.e. gaming).  Dr. Polycount goes over five common problems with my models, and the cures.

3D modelers of all levels can benefit from Dr. Polycount’s advice in this video.

Don’t miss the cameo from Dizzy the Dragon created by Toymaker.

Also, if you have tips and tricks you would like to share, create a video, and we could post it as well.  The reason we are the best 3D web community is our users, and their ability to encourage others, so send us your videos!

This video details the texturing functions within 3DVIA Shape, but these fundamentals could be used within all 3D modeling applications.

Cliff gets some help in this video from one of our favorite user-submitted (textured) models: Texturesaurus-Rex.

For more detailed Texturing tips using 3DVIA Shape, check out tip numbers:

• #31 – How to Add and Adjust Textures
• #32 – How to Align Textures with Geometry
• #33 – How To Manipulate Similar Textures

Now, let’s hear from you;  Any other texturing tips you want to add?

Special thanks to IsaacMiller1993 for the T-Rex model.

Take a look at this video that highlights how easy adding 3D models to any map is: 

…as always we want to hear from our users.  What other great ways can you use 3DVIA Shape for Maps?  Show us some of your creations, and add a link below.

Also, if you are new to 3DVIA Shape, we have a great collection of tips and tricks which should get you started.

The process is very simple: ANY model in ANY format you upload to 3DVIA.com gets automatically converted into a DAE file as well as a 3DXML file. The
DAE format includes any model you create in 3DVIA Shape, which is a great quick tool for creating 3D content.  This content can now be used in most digital content applications like Adobe Photoshop and 3D applications used for film and gaming.

Yippee!

Check out this video, and you are sure to pick up some useful modeling tips:

Be sure to review all the detailed 3DVIA Shape Video Tips and Tricks for more modeling tips.

This latest update contains stability, quality and performance improvements.  Also, be sure to check out the latest 3DVIA Shape Tips and Tricks layout.  We’ve made it easier to navigate through our 30+ short and informative videos. 

One of my favorites is the “How to build an Umbrella” video (Tip #34).  This video is more like a 5 minute tutorial demonstrating many of 3DVIA Shape 3.1’s great features like freeform deform, revolve, and many others.

Let us know if you would like to see specific “How To” videos on 3DVIA Shape!

We want to see your 3D models that you have created from pictures. Reply to this post with your examples.

Remember, we have a large library of 3DVIA Shape tips and tricks.

Any questions? Send those along too.

I only scratched the surface for the uses of remixing models in this video, so if you have further benefits you would like to note, leave a comment below.  And remember, any public model on 3DVIA can be remixed in 3DVIA Shape.

Here at 3DVIA, we receive many questions about 3D formats and standards, which we want to answer, so we started a new series of Cliff’s Clips titled:  “3D Format Spotlight”.  In this first episode we wanted to clarify the two most common exchange formats:  STEP and IGES.  We wanted to better explain these formats in layman’s terms for all of our users, and to explain why these formats are important.

For the next “3D Format Spotlight” we want to know what other formats you would like to know about, or a comparison of formats.  There are so many 3D formats out there, and we think some clarification could help.  Tell us which format(s) you would like to know more about, and why.

More Cliff’s Clips on 3DVIA-TV here…

As mentioned in our first Tips & Tricks post, DCC stands for Digital Content Creation.  It is the industry term defining the use of 3D applications like 3DVIA Shape, Maya, 3D Studio Max and XSI  and the creation of 3D content for use in films and real time interactive applications like games and virtual training. In this blog, I’ll cover the best file format to upload to 3DVIA, as well as some of the processes you can use to get the best results.

File Format

A small industry by comparison, 3D is still not without its industry standard format disputes.  There are well over a dozen established 3D file formats.  Recently however there has been a push to develop an industry-wide format that would work for all DCC applications.  The most widely used are also the oldest formats, often dropping support for newer functions due to their age.  Formats like OBJ and 3DS format, were created long ago (in a galaxy far away)  and cannot possibly contain some of the newer and now standard information in a 3D file.

The OBJ and 3DS File formats are the old work horses of the industry. Unfortunately, sometimes they don’t handle transparencies and smoothing groups that well, which makes their use a bit random in quality consistency.

The DAE File format is an open source format, in use by or supported by all the major DCC applications and fully supported here at 3DVIA.  If possible, this is the format we recommend you use when uploading your models to the website.  You can find information about the Collida DAE exporter from Feeling Software’s website.

Textures

The best practices for creating textures for use on 3DVIA can be found here.

Processing and Set up

Our player has basic lighting, so in order to showcase your model at its best, add as much lighting information as possible into the textures.  Using hand-painted highlights and shadows, all the way to baking the lighting and occlusion information into a file and layering it on top of your texture is the best way to show off your model on 3DVIA.

Most DCC applications will let you bake the lighting information onto a texture file, but if you can’t, you can simply add some highlights and shadows to your models texture.  Just grab a color,  make it a little darker or lighter and paint!  Its very similar to hand painting miniatures for table top games like Games-Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000.

A model always looks better in its environment.   Something as simple as adding a ground plane to showcase the shadows will add much realism and weight to your model.   If you go further, you can create a small diorama or piece of terrain for your model to sit on.  Always remember not to overdo it, the focus of your attention should be on your model not your setting!

Shaders

The standard staples are the best when it comes to displaying your work online. Lambert and Blinn shaders can handle a large variety of options. The 3DVIA Web Player currently picks up on Diffuse, Ambient, Transparency, and Specularity with more support for advance features currently in the works. Only the diffuse channel can have a texture map. As a general tip, however, go through your shaders before exporting and if you see your ambient value is set to 0 (or ambient color set to black), change it or move the slider up to 40% of the way. This will ensure your textures show up with rich color under the default lighting. Kind of like TV star needing make up to be on stage!

Construction

As I’ve discussed in this post, there are two types of rendering, Pre-Rendering and Real-Time Rendering. 3DVIA’s web player falls into the Real-Time Rendering category, just like the games we all play everyday. It’s optimally rendering the view on the screen 30 times every second (also called the frame rate).

As artists, we do everything we can to maintain a good frame rate when we are working on a model for use in a Real-Time Rendering application. Along with the tips I’ve covered in “Staying on your Polygon Diet” blog post, pay attention to your texture file sizes as these are the largest contributors to your overall model file size.  Anything you can do to reduce the size of your uploaded file will help the player display your model more fluidly.

Lastly, remember that the 3DVIA Player has the option to view your models in wireframe.  There are many DCC artists out there, and we have a tendency to judge not just by looks but also by quality of construction. Always check the poly flow of a model, and give it a final pass over before you upload.  If you want to learn more as to why polyflow is important, check out one of my previous posts on the subject here.

That’s all I have for DCC tips for now,
This is Juan, Signing Off.

There are well over two dozen different 3D applications with a variety of tools and complexity in use by 3D artists around the world today. Our website, 3DVIA supports the majority of these programs through a few key file formats and texture formats.  In this series of articles we will discover the best ways to upload and show off your work, and discuss individual tips and best practices for 3DVIA Shape, DCC and CAD users.  In this first blog, we will cover the general tips that work for any user.

Vocabulary:
DCC- Digital Content Creation- A term describing 3D animation tools like Maya and 3D Max.
CAD- Computer Aided Design- drafting, engineering and architecture tools like CATIA.

General Tips
I’ve spoken before about the different requirements of Real Time Rending vs. Pre-rendering in this post “Not All 3D is created Equal” and along those lines you can see how a more complex model would take up more resources when being displayed over an online medium in Real Time.  The following are a few ways you can help keep your model file size down:

Model Construction
There are a few techniques that I have covered in this previous post “Staying on your Polygon Diet” that will help greatly with file size and complexity. 

Textures
- The majority of a model’s file size may come from your textures. Using a compressed format like JPG or PNG is the key.

- Keep your texture sizes at or below 1024 x 1024 pixels. The size and resolution of a texture greatly affect the file size of the texture.  3DVIA.com automatically reduces in size and quality any texture greater than 1024 x 1024 during the upload process.

- If you are using Photoshop, a good tip is to use the “Save for Web & Devices..” save option and use 60% quality.  This will reduce the file size greatly, while maintaining quality.

- When using repeatable textures, crop the texture down to a single iteration. all 3D programs tile textures across an unlimited spectrum, so you only need the smallest building block for a repeatable pattern.

General Tricks
There are a few less well known tricks that will allow you to get the most out of 3DVIA. Most of these involve the use of 3DVIA Shape Remix and the 3DVIA Player.

3DVIA Shape Remix- This is one of those unique things that put 3DVIA above the rest. We’ve talked about Remix and about the requirements to allow your models to be used in a Remix before but the main ones are:      
                                   -File size after upload to 3dvia.com is less than 2mb
                                   -Model is public.

NOTE: If you think you’ve done everything right to allow the model to be usable in shape but are still getting the message in the model information window “Not Usable in Shape(?)” click on the question mark for more information on the reason its not usable.

Lets say your model is too big and you can’t or don’t have time to change the textures.  What you can do is upload the model in smaller parts, and then “assemble it” online with 3DVIA Shape Remix!

3DVIA Player- Very few people know that the player has some powerful built-in capabilities, and we’ve made all these tools available from the radial menu:

•  Adding a shader- You can can cycle through a selection of shader included in the 3dvia player by pressing and holding the middle mouse button and moving the mouse to the Shader button.  Repeated use of the button will cycle through all these shaders:                                  
                                    -Cartoon Shader
                                    -Sparkling Shader
                                    -Fresnel Environment Shader
                                    -Double Sided directional Shader

Changing the models position-  Sometimes your model displays at a weird angle or position.  You can fix this!  When you middle mouse click, you not only open the radial menu but you also set a marker for were you want the camera to focus on and rotate around.  Using this same marker, you can select a point on the model indicating this is the direction you want to face downwards and select reposition model from the radial menu.  The player will automatically reorient the model using your market as its new “ground level”

Saving your Settings-  All of this would be for naught if you couldn’t share it with your friends.  As long as you are logged and you own the model you can save the shader and position settings by selecting “Save the current settings” from the radial menu.

NOTE: As of this moment the ability to update / change the thumbnail is not possible, but it is something we are all looking forward too, as soon as I have an update I’ll let you guys know.

Next up we will look at Tips & Tricks for Shape, DCC and CAD Applications, so stay tuned!

-Juan

3DVIA Shape 3.0: Tip #4 - How To Revolve Geometry

The following techniques for 3DVIA Shape 2.0 are still quite valuable to help improve your 3D modeling skills:

Dhiraj Patil is well known to 3DVIA visitors as DPV1. His models have been in Top 10 – 005, – 007 and – 008 with a second model as an Honorable Mention in – 008.

Dhiraj also knows his way around 3DVIA Shape like few other modelers. The Honorable Mention model happened to be of a volleyball and I included an image of his wire frame because so many 3DVIA Shape users had been asking how to make a sphere using Shape.

Dhiraj has even kindly sent us the following illustrated tutorial that will easily step you through the process to create various spherical objects using 3DVIA Shape 2.0.

These are his own words and images with just minor edits. You did a great job Dhiraj!

“This tutorial is aimed at letting users of 3DVIa shape 2.0 create spherical objects which cannot be created using a direct command. The example taken is that of a volleyball which eventually can be applied to any other object spherical in nature.

1 – Create a rectangle using the rectangle tool.

2 – Extrude it to create a block by using the push-n-pull tool.

3 – Create a circular surface on one of the vertical faces.

4 – As we need only half the surface, delete the unwanted part.

5 – On the top surface, create a triangle by drawing lines exactly from the center to the two opposite vertices.

6 – Remove all the surfaces except the triangle on top and the semi-circular surface on the side.

7 – Using the push-n-pull command, extrude the two surfaces so that they intersect totally.

8 – Now remove all the unnecessary surfaces to keep only the semi-circular wedge created after the intersection. The faces of the wedge also should be deleted.

9 – Provide a Texture or color. Doing this at this step will save adding it to the individual circular faces later as there would be a larger number of them (depending on how many wedge segments you use).

10 – Select the object and click on the manipulate command.

11 – Drag the vertex of the manipulator axis to the corner of the wedge. This shall be the point of rotation.

12 – Now we need to rotate the wedge around this point, simultaneously making a copy. Click on the CTRL button and drag the horizontal rotation arc of the manipulator axis.

13 – The wedge gets copied with a rotation around the selected point. Repeat this step until the whole spherical object is formed.

Your completed sphere will look something like this.

14 - Since (after rotation) the left edge will not snap exactly on the right edge, there might be intersection between them. To remove the intersected elements, join the edges of the intersecting surfaces by drawing a line to connect them. This will create distinct intersection surfaces.

15 – Now delete the unwanted surfaces.

The object that is created is very much spherical in nature. The number of discrete wedge elements determine the smoothness and the smaller the angle of the wedge the smoother the object will be. However, with more discrete elements there would be more triangles and the file size would eventually be greater.

I have followed a similar method to create flowers and plants in 3DVIA Shape 2.0.”

Thank you Dhiraj for sharing your techniques with us! I’m always amazed that each user will find a way around a problem that so many others have not thought of. We can all apply this set of tools and the inspiration of your example to make sure we bring our imagination to our own modeling.

3DVIA has 120 groups (at last count) that users have created! They are a great place to easily find a bunch of models that get your motor running and to meet like-minded 3D modelers to talk about what your special interests. Each of the 24 images in this post are direct links to existing groups. Just hover your mouse over the image and you’ll see the group topic. (Some are more obvious than others.)

This post is a quick intro to 3DVIA Groups and how to find them.

We’ll also be doing regular spotlight blogs on specific groups to help show them off and attract new members who may not have known about the treasures they hold.

How do I find 3DVIA Groups? It’s as simple as 1, 2 or maybe 3…

This image shows just the top of the home page. Go to each numbered section below to see where it takes you and to find out more about 3DVIA Groups. Each of you will find your own best way to get to your favorite groups!

The fastest way to find find what you’re looking for is to type a keyword into the search box and then change the drop-down list to “Groups” and then click on “OK”. This is what you’ll see if you type in “trucks”:

You can see that each Group snapshot shows how many models, how many members and how many discussions there are in that group.

Another fast way to get to 3DVIA Groups is to simply click on the “groups” link in the main “Search, Upload & Share in 3D!” box. This will take you to the Groups page where you’ll find the whole list in alphabetical order. You can use the “Group Search” box to narrow your search further using names or tags by themselves.

Yet another way will take two clicks; 1- click on the “Community” tab, which will take you to the main Community page:

Then 2 – click on the “Groups” sub-tab and you’ll be at the “Groups home” page.

Here, you can also “Browse by categories” for yet another way to find what you’re looking for. The “Last updated groups” feature can be reached in options 1 and 2 too. Just look for “Recent Group Activity” to see what’s been going on.

So, now you know how to find Groups and , hopefully, you’ll find something that blows your hair back or you’ll start your own group. Improvements to features and capabilities are in the development schedule, so feel free to make suggestions too.

Delving into the software that power our 3D interactive environments or Game Engines can get very technical and daunting.  Considering the number of solutions out there, and the different terminology used to describe them, it can also get very confusing.  In this article we will define what a Game Engine is, a few different types of engines and some of the most popular engines out today, along with what they can do.  I’ve also linked the images in the blog to either their source material or movies showcasing the subject of the image, so there is alot more information directly available in this post than it would first seem. 

What are they, and what do they do?

Don’t be misled by the name, a Game Engine is a software package designed for the creation and development of real-time interactive applications.  Games are just the fun, colorful, entertaining and more visible slice of the pie. Game Engines are used in marketing demos, architectural visualizations, military and medical training simulations, modeling environments, weather forecasts, accident reconstruction, material stress testing and so much more. They also serve as the proving field for new visual technologies and procedures that enhance products to their next generation.

Modern Game Engines are some of the most complex applications you’ll find anywhere.  Balancing a multitude of internal and third party systems, they create a seamless interactive staging for any content and context that feels real and  alive.  A few of the more common systems you’ll find in a Game Engine include a physics engine, artificial intelligence (AI), rendering engine, networking code, and a scripting system for controling in-game events.

Think of it as the ultimate technology in visualization and simulation, with games blazing the trail and blurring the lines of what is real and what is fiction.

In games, 3D guided tours, games, environmental demos, games, architectural presentations, games; no matter the scene, the purpose is always to make the user feel like he’s actually in your demo.   To create the illusion of being part of the world, developers use various techniques to maintain the illusion throughout the experience. In this article we will explore some of them, starting from the inside towards the outside boundary.

Naturally Blocking Line of Sight (LOS)

Almost every 3D environment starts out as a cube, or box shape.  Our job is to make you feel like you are in a fully realized world with no boundaries.   The first step in this process is to limit where the user can go while making it seem like the area stretches on for miles.  Whenever we constrain the player by blocking his progress, the player needs to feel like it’s a natural obstacle that he can go around, not the “end of the level” wall.  The realism of the scene comes in the illusion of vastness, of a complete world, not a shoe box.

Depending on your environment, there are many natural ways to block both line of sight and movement of the player.  In a city scene, you can use a car pile-up, construction, ending the lane in a large building like a library or museum,  police road block due to accident or robbery, the list goes on as far as your imagination.  All of these will make the player feel like he’s in a real environment and serves the purpose of hiding the level border and adding realism.

Perspective Range

The 3D version of “Smoke and Mirrors”.  Think of a level as having 3 stages of distance in order to provide the perspective of range and distance.   The inner level is the playable field, with natural boundaries to constrain the player within it.  The mid-level contains simplified geometry to provide ambience and a sense of scale.  The outer level provides a sense of place or location in the world.  This is mostly in part because of our perspective. As it changes, objects that are closer appear to move faster than objects that are far away.

Another great tool is distance fog. Representing the aspect of visual range, its a rolling fog that increases in strength the further away an object is.  Its also a great way to represent heat haze and smog.

Skydome vs. Skybox

The cherry on top, you can’t have a world without atmosphere, sky and clouds.  There are two popular ways to add this, Skydome and Skybox.

A Skydome is a sphere or half sphere that goes around your entire level.  Effects like lens flare and animated clouds can add dynamic realism to the scene.  It’s very easy and quick to make, but it adds more geometry to your scene and the slight spherical skewing may be noticeable.

A Skybox gives the  sense of limitless sky and distance.  It achieves this through a camera trick. In the development environment or game engine you create a cube outside of your box shaped level. To this you apply 6 seamless skyline images to each of the internal walls of the cube.  With the cube as a reference, you tell the walls of your main level to “look through” the cube walls.  Its almost better to describe it as a portal to a wall in the small cube, but since you can never reach the walls, its a visual illusion.  And as it encompasses the entire level, it feels like a seamless sky.

God rays, or light cones and light bloom effects really add realism to the entire environment. Crisp shadows take care of all the rest.

Keeping all these techniques in mind when you create a level along with game play elements or directional flow of the tour/action will give you a very professional end product.  And the entire reason we do all this work is so that no one notices that we DID do all this work, it has to feel natural.  Mother Nature is a hard task master. ;)

-Juan

Why do things more than once? Whatever your passion is in 3DVIA Shape 2.0 modeling, you can create template files like gsmith has and save enormous amounts of time. He shows us how valuable it is to create a single model containing a bunch of common elements that we can then select, copy, re-position and re-texture to make a new model. Then we just delete the leftovers and publish it as our own custom model.

It’s like having a 3D catalog of housing choices that we can use to build just what we want. His Colonial House Template file is complete with instructions too!

The yellow highlighted “Secret tip for aligning extensions” is very valuable, so I’ll add some images here to hopefully help make it even easier. Please pardon so much scrolling to see the images, but it’s important to see the difference between one action and another and what it is that you should be looking for.

First, an important note about selecting:

If you just select a face or line, as in the left hand picture above, you won’t be able to move or change anything except what is highlighted with a blue dashed outline. If you select the box inside the blue circle, then you select the whole item, as shown in the right hand picture above. Once you’ve selected the whole object then you can copy and paste it and use the “Secret tip”.

I’ve rotated the model a little, but if you select the whole object, then copy and paste it ( ctrl-c / ctrl-v ) it will look like it does above.

This is the “Secret” – after you paste the selected object ( ctrl-v ) and before you do anything else, PRESS THE SPACE BAR. Now your object has the measles – oh, I mean it’s covered with orange spots that you can now choose as anchor points. The anchor point that I want to use is circled in green.

Now that I’ve left clicked to select an anchor point, as I move the copy closer to the original, the original gets blue spots all over it (some of which are highlighted with green circles). This shows potential points that my selected anchor point can be latched onto. The one that I want to match up with is circled in red.

The yellow dashed line shows that the copy is aligned horizontally with the original using the center of both objects – just like I want it to be.

As I move the copy closer to the original, it will snap into place and indicate with a blue square that the alignment is complete.

* It is important to note that once you have joined one object to another (like we just did), you cannot disconnect it as a unit later. If you are lucky and realize it soon enough, you can use the undo button. You can also delete it face by face if you have to, but it can be time-consuming.

So, now you know the secret and can start making custom houses that are all yours without having to do all of the work from scratch. Thank you gsmith!

NEXT – we explore the “texture as desired” part of his instructions. It’s kind of like a recipe where the instructions say “salt and pepper to taste”. Adding textures can be a lot of fun and make all the difference in how your house tastes – I mean looks!

In my previous blog we talked about individual vehicle design.  In this blog we will explore vehicle design for games. There are a few considerations you must keep in mind when designing vehicles for games, today we’ll cover 3: Mobbing up, Flavor, and Balance.

Mobbing up

No man is an island, in games, no one vehicle can win a game. Sure there are mega/epic units but by themselves they will get over powered and destroyed. Build vehicles that can accomplish their one particular role well.  Don’t add weapons and abilities “just in case”.  You want the player to build all the wonderful units you made and use them all as one cohesive swarm. Each vehicle performs one role well, and all others badly, but in a group, it can’t be defeated.  The best real world examples are Navy Battle Groups. Large formations of ships supporting one another with specific combat roles. 

Flavor

Here is where we get creative.  All games have factions or races, each one with a particular flavor.   You can’t give a vehicle with laser gatling guns to a nomadic faction that cobbles together their technology from various junk piles.  When building for a particular faction, write down their strengths, weaknesses and what makes them unique from the other factions.  Keep this in mind when you create a new vehicle.  That laser gatling gun vehicle could be an excellent anti infantry unit for a techie cyborg based race.

Balance

Here is where we make sure the game play remains fair for each faction.  The main point of balance is to keep the game fun but challenging.  No one likes a game they can’t win, and no one really enjoyes a $50 game they can beat in 15 minutes with 2 units.

Vehicles for each of the armies in the game usually have a direct corresponding vehicle in each of the other armies and a suitable counter vehicle.  In this respect, you see many armies have an anti aircraft vehicle. You use the flavor to make them really different from each other, but they perform the same function, thereby creating balance.
 
A popular balance method is the old Paper-Rock-Scissors. Where class A vehicle defeats class B vehicle – class B defeats class C vehicle – class C defeats class A.  

You’ll find some games that don’t follow these general rules, and go so far as to create units that one faction will have more trouble defeating than another, attempting to create a 3 way faction balance. These games usually give you other alternatives like super weapons/units, or the ability to pair up with another player using diplomacy rules to defeat a stronger army.

Recently some games have allowed you to customize special modular vehicles, allowing you to alter the role of the vehicle to meet your needs. These tend to be a unique vehicle, and allow you to create some real power houses adding an element of unbalance in to gameplay but creating a really fun (albeit unfair) experience as a trade off.

No mater the method you chose for balance, always keep in mind that each vehicle you create has a role within its flavor/faction/race, and it is best supported be an army of specialist vehicles covering each others’ weaknesses.  All working together to defeat the latest evil nasty nameless army that has threatened your people with ever lasting elevator music!

Till next time,
Fight well, honorably and often
-Juan

-Models in the Tittle Image where created for a GI-Joe mod by Brendan Fennimore, Chris McCune, Jonathan Millman, and Juan M. Del Rio.

 Often once you build a vehicle, you want it to do everything well, to handle any obstacle and take on entire countries by itself!  What started out as a troop transport, is now an amphibious Monster Truck with 8 gun turrets, 18 missiles, 40 rocket launchers and 2 miles per gallon that has the seating capacity of a small stadium!  We get carried away in our excitement and lose focus on what the vehicle’s role is.  In this blog we’ll look at some of the things we usually forget when creating a new vehicle, and talk about the design.

Whats Missing?

 Each vehicle is designed and created to play a particular role or fulfill a tactical need: Recon/Scout, Anti Personnel, Anti Armor, Troop Transport, Main Tank, Long range support, Infantry Support, Bombers, Assault.  Keep in mind that your vehicle is not all of these at the same time, but it can be a hybrid of two.  For example a Fighter-Bomber or an Assault-Tank.

Another thing we usually forget are the things that our vehicle needs:  Engines, weapon power sources, ammo drums or compartments, crew space, emergency escapes, armor panels.  Sometimes we stack so many things in a vehicle and then realize we only left space for a AA battery or 2 sleeping quarters in a space ship with a crew of 30.

You may think I’m crazy but all of these details matter.   These are things you may not notice, but you feel something is missing on the model.   Models that are functional, are more exciting than models that make you guess at how many chickens are powering the 2 square foot engine.

Design

Who’s driving the vehicle?  What environment is the vehicle most likely to be in? Whats the daily routine of the vehicle?   The more you know and figure out about your vehicle the more detailed and alive it becomes.  For example, a large cammoflauged tractor with a mini gun might do great against that alien bovine invasion but do nothing for the wheat field the farmer is supposed to be using it in.  Change it to a bright red tractor with an air conditioned cab, a cooler in the back, a shotgun in a golf bag and a large radio antennae on the top and its the farmers dream vehicle.   

Combat vehicles follow the same line of thinking.  You figure out its combat role and give it 2-3 weapon systems that will help it fulfill its role.  Don’t add things “just in case” you run into an aircraft carrier!  If its a troop transport, its main role is to carry infantry safely to  where they can be best used.  Its main armament is actually armor, second would be a machine gun to provide cover fire,  and third maybe smoke launchers to protect itself and its passengers as they disembark.   Another great addition would be to allow the infantry to shoot through gun ports adding to the fire power of the transport.   Its definitely vulnerable to heavy weapons but it has the tools to fulfill its role.

 Look back over some of the vehicle’s you’ve created so far, and see if there is anything you can add to make it more life like and functional.  Use them as a stepping stone and make the next vehicles you make that much better.   In my next blog, we’ll talk about creating units for a game, faction influence and game balancing.

-Juan

Default settings for primitives

One of easiest methods of keeping under the polygon limit is by not using the default settings for primitives like a sphere or a torus.   Normally they are created with 20 subdivisions or more making each one a 400 polygon object!  When your budget for the model is 5000, even a small chandelier ceiling chain will put you over the limit!  Upon creating the torus or sphere, immediately reduce the subdivisions by half, if not more, and smooth the edge normals. In 3DMax put the object in a smoothing group.  You will retain the shape you need and stay under the polygon limit. 

 Removing unseen geometry

Lets face it, we like to put things together quickly and sometimes we don’t pay attention to what we left underneath. Now engineers and designers need to have every part of the model fleshed out, but game artists are paid to make things look good, at a budget.  Review your model for unseen geometry and delete it, or if its part of another piece, remove only what you don’t see. The usual culprits are spheres.  Align them so the center line is flushed with your surface and delete the half of the sphere you don’t see.  Just doing that will dramatically decrease your polygon count.

 Remove Edges that don’t affect geometry

As simple as that.   Usually we get a lot of extra edges when we add geometry to modify only one side of an object.  Essentially anything that doesn’t change the silhouette is extra and not needed.  Keep in mind that you still want to keep a clean look, don’t just grab every edge and delete them.  Find ways to keep the flow of the polygon and remove excess edges.  Here I gave myself 100 polygon limit to make a small space ship.  I noticed some edges that were not needed, and after cleaning up, I freed up almost half of my allotted polygon count!  I can go back now and add an engine, and air intakes or missiles!  

 Yeah missiles…

-Juan

This is not only exciting news for Shape users but for every 3D artist looking to promote their work online. Now there is no telling how far your 3D artwork and name will reach. Especially because every remix on 3DVIA provides credit back to you the artist. Just look under each model for the “Models used in this remix” panel for your 3D models.

However, not all 3D models can be used in a 3DVIA Shape remix. Here are some guidelines to ensure that your model will be available (or not available if you prefer) for other 3DIVA Shape users.

Keep Your File Size Under 2MB:
Regardless of the application that you used to create your content, make sure the “3DXML” file size of your model does not exceed 2MB. We automatically convert all content to our 3DXML format and use this to import content into Shape.

You can find this information on the right-hand side panel when you view your model.

Use the correct Texture Image Format:
Use JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG or DDS formats for your textures.  Avoid using TGA and TIFF image formats.

Make Your 3D Models Public:
The 3d model must be a public model; private models will not show up in the 3DVIA search functionality. All YOUR own models, private or public, will show up for YOU when you are using 3DVIA Shape.

Use the Commons Attribution:
When you upload a model, you must use Creative Commons Attribution (Default) license from the license pull down menu for your content to show up in Shape.

Shape Users, Turn the Remix Tag to TRUE:
When you publish a model from 3DVIA Shape to 3DVIA.com, the Remix Tag must be set to True.

Older Versions of 3DXML
Older version of certain applications that publish 3DXML will not show up in Shape today. We are in the process of providing a patch that will allow both of these types of files to be found by 3DVIA users.

Still need help? You can always leave a comment here or join the 3DVIA Shape group to ask your question.

In order to keep the fun factor up and the frustration factor down, this post provides some useful tips to export your CATIA models so that they can be easily uploaded and shared on 3DVIA.com.

Dassault Systemes’ CATIA is a creative tool that is highly respected throughout the world for its wide-ranging capabilities. Fortunately; Fabrice Pinot, member of the CATIA Solutions team in Suresnes, France, has kindly offered some valuable information to help make it as easy as possible to export your CATIA V5 models in a way that allows them to look their best on 3DVIA.com.

So, in his own words:

There are 2 options that are very important for the 3DXML exports from CATIA V5 to 3DVIA.com.

First is the type of 3D mesh which is used for the geometry. At the present time, the supported mesh in 3DVIA.com is specified in the following option, it is a mesh in ASCII code.

The second option deals with 3D Accuracy:

For products; where all the parts have roughly the same size, such as consumer goods or hi-tech products, we recommend setting a fixed accuracy from 0.1 to 0.2.

Fixed 3D Accuracy sets a fixed sag value (from 0.01 to 10), which is used for calculating tessellation on all objects and does not vary with object size. The sag value defines the chordal deviation for curves and surfaces. The “curve chordal deviation” represents the maximum distance between a polyline (”chord”) whose end points lie on a curve and a point on the curve:

For detailed models of cars, boats or planes, we recommend setting a proportional tessellation of 0.1 to 0.2 as you may have small parts and huge ones. In this case tessellation is calculated according to object size: the larger the object, the coarser the tessellation. For the same 3D accuracy setting, the tessellation on small objects is always finer than on large objects. Please note that the toggle does not represent a distance, but a parameter, as the actual sag will depend on the object’s size.

Of course, in both cases, the finer the parameter, the larger the 3DXML file. Uploaded files are limited to 10MB on 3DVIA.com. If your file is bigger, then toggle this 3D accuracy parameter in order to be below this value.

Other tips:

Products originally created in CATIA V5 have the Z axis as the vertical axis, so there are no modifications to perform to have them appear in the proper orientation in 3DVIA.com. If this is not the case, it is always possible to insert this product into a newly created one and rotate the inserted model with the 3D Compass.

Textures created in CATIA V5 are supported, do not hesitate to use them. It gives a better aspect of your product at a minimum cost.

SPECIAL NOTE: These suggestions are valid for V5R18 and V5R19SP1. V6 compliance and tips are in the works. Stay tuned.

Thank you Fabrice, for making it easier for 3DVIA.com users to upload their CATIA models!

3DVIA.com is a place where all of those creators and their 3D models can come together to show their results, explore other parts of the 3D model creation world and to learn from each other. Imagination and fun drive the users, which makes 3DVIA.com a place to enjoy yourself!

SolidWorks is an excellent tool for creating 3D models. Those models are used throughout the conceptualization, development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of many of products that we use every day. It is also a creative tool that is used for lots of fun projects. Many SolidWorks models have been uploaded to 3DVIA.com already (you can find them all at one time using this link).

One thing you may notice about some of the uploaded SolidWorks models, is that the models aren’t oriented in a natural way. They’re often lying on their side or on their back. This post is meant to help you avoid that when you upload your SolidWorks models.

The first image shows a model (by “anonymous”) as oriented in SolidWorks after I downloaded it from 3D Content Central. After I created a 3DXML file in SolidWorks (by using the drop-down list in either SolidWorks 2007 or 2008 to “Save as type:” 3DXML), I uploaded it to my free 3DVIA.com account. The second and third images show the results when I displayed it in first the 3D XML Player and then the 3DVIA Player.

What happened? It all comes down to where your axes are in your SolidWorks model. SolidWorks uses the Reference Triad to indicate this. The following is from SolidWorks Help (with my highlight of the triad).

If you don’t see a triad at all in your models, use the simple 1-2 steps shown in the image above to turn the triad back on.

The image below shows the DEFAULT SolidWorks triad on the left, and the way we want it to be oriented on the right.

Depending on your default part and assembly template files, your triad may be in a totally different orientation. Whatever spatial orientation your files are in, you can download and use the appropriate SolidWorks assembly file template below to easily get good upload results without changing your own templates.

sw_2007_3dvia_upload.ASMDOT or  sw_2008_3dvia_upload.ASMDOT

Just be sure to put them where you can find them and use “Tools>Options>System Options>File Locations>Default Templates” to make their location easily accessible within SolidWorks.

Each template’s default opening screen has the triad placed correctly and a standard view added (just hit the space bar to see the list), so that you can easily go back to the “3DVIA Upload” view.

Whether you have a SolidWorks part or assembly, the fastest way to get it oriented correctly is to open a new assembly using the new downloaded template. If your model is already open and shows as a choice to insert into your new assembly, then select it and click the green check. This will put the model at the origin in your new assembly.

Or, you can split your viewing screen (”Window>Tile Horizontally”), so that you can see your model and the new assembly. Click on your model’s title in the Feature Manager Design Tree and drag and drop it onto the origin in the Feature Manager Design Tree of the new file. Don’t worry about orientation, just get it in there.

Save it with some appropriate name so that you won’t forget that it has been re-oriented.

Now, go into the Feature Manager Design Tree of the new file and right click on the name of the item that you brought in and then click on “Float” in the resulting list of choices.

All of the mates you carefully set up in the parent model will stay locked as you spin the model to the orientation that you want it to show up on 3DVIA.com using “Rotate Component” or “Move with triad”. You are only trying to get it in the ballpark, not exactly where you want it.

I use “Rotate Component” because I can whip it around in all three axes, rather than one at a time. While you do this, your reference triad should not move. Do not use “Rotate View” or you’ll have to go back to the pre-set view to correct your triad position.

Next, you’ll need to mate the planes to match your new view. This will ensure that your model sits on the floor, rather than being at an odd angle. Depending on your naming conventions, you may have “Front, Top, and Right”; “1,2, and 3″; or goodness only knows what else. Just match up the closest plane in the model to the closest plane in the assembly. Create coincident mates one by one until your model is locked in .

Now, after a ctrl Q and a save, you’ll be ready to save it as a 3DXML file. Please note that the shadows still won’t show correctly until the file is saved, closed, and reopened.

When your 3DXML file is uploaded to your model selection at 3DVIA.com, it will display correctly in the thumbnail and in both 3D players.

There are always many ways to do anything in SolidWorks, so feel free to follow your own path, based on your own experience. This is just one reliable way to get good results.

Please be aware that 3DVIA.com has an upload file size limit of 10MB, so be sure to check the size of your file before you try to upload it. The upload process will assume that the file is within the limit, so it chugs merrily along (while you wait and wait) and then, at the end, if it’s too big it gives you an error.

If your file is too big you can zip it and (as long as the resulting zip file is now less than 10MB) you should be OK to upload.

Now you can quickly modify and upload your SolidWorks models to 3DVIA.com and know that other folks will see them the way you intended. Have fun exploring all of the other models – there’s a lot to see.

P.S. Feel free to contact me directly if you have questions or suggestions.

Most of us realize that 3D is an abbreviation for three-dimensional— a concept we apply to everyday life and understand. We live in a 3D world where we can walk around objects, pick them up and see them from all sides. But how does this relate to computers, movies, brochures and all the media we see everyday claiming to use 3D? Perhaps the best way to understand 3D is to start with 2D.

Below we see a 2D image of a bowl of water with floating tea lights. In this image, the artist has given the illusion of depth through shading techniques. It looks as though the bowl is three dimensional, but it in fact is not. The bowl and its surrounding environment are flat, and for eternity will only be viewed from the perspective they were painted (unless the artist sketches from another angle).

Here we see several images of a house created using 3D software. Next to the house is the 2D image described above. As we move around the house we can see that it has depth, whereas the 2D image is flat. Unlike 2D, 3D objects can be viewed from infinite angles, as well as moved from place to place, just like objects in the real world. The images we see below are merely “photographs” (known as renders in the 3D industry) where a 3D artist has navigated around the house on the computer and taken snapshots from interesting angles.

Hopefully, the above example better defines what 3D is, but perhaps you’re now wondering why even bother. Why spend the time to build a 3D object and render it when you can take two seconds to snap a photo of its real-world counterpart and get the same result? The reason is control. It’s true, 3D can produce the same photorealistic effects a digital camera can; however, with 3D every variable can be controlled and manipulated. Imagine a photographer who could control the weather, add more branches to a tree, change the color of the sky, etc., and you would have a 3D artist. In addition to realistic objects, 3D software has the ability to create believable, non-realistic objects as we see often in movies (e.g., the fantasy characters in The Lord of the Ring movies, the cities in the latest Star Wars movies, etc.).

When trying to understand 3D, it is best to think about it in the context of real life. While 3D objects and their 3D environments may not exist outside of computer confines, they behave in the same way real-world objects do, and for all intents and purposes, can be thought of as such.

Next, we need to be sure that we really know what we’re seeing. If you are drawing an object on a piece of paper, you always know where your lines are – on the paper. You’ll never be surprised that one of the lines you just drew is actually on the back side of the paper, or on its edge, or has just plain disappeared. In 3D space there are all kinds of such surprises.

That’s why being able to confidently move around in 3D space is so important. If I draw a simple rectangle, a line from corner to corner, and then a vertical line without changing my viewpoint – I can end up not knowing where it went. The first image below demonstrates this confusing state of affairs. I can change my model color, as I’ve done in the second image, but that takes time. If I simply change my viewpoint, as in the third image, it’s easy to see where the line is and that it went where I wanted it to go.

If I have a more complicated model, it is even more important to be able to zoom around and in and out to check up on what I’m really creating. In the first image, I think that I’m drawing a line across the gray face of the model. Once I move my viewpoint, I see that my line is heading somewhere else entirely. If I had continued to model without checking, I would have been really surprised later.

The value of knowing where you are is even more apparent when you see the whole crazy asteroid that this is part of:

“What?”; you say, “Of course it’s hard to see – where did all the lines go?” That brings up the importance of knowing about the “Environment” button (or just use F4 and be done with it) to be able to see all of the edges to help guide your modeling.

“Enough already! You’ve convinced me. Now, how do I do all of this amazing rotating and zooming and everything?” I’m glad you asked.  Depending on which part of your brain you like to use, we have multiple tools to help you.

For those who love video presentations with avatars; there are video tutorials created using TVnima.com. (The “Navigation” tutorial is, oddly, at the end of the list, rather than at the beginning.)

If you prefer more traditional tutorials, we’ve got a bunch of those too. (The “Viewing in 3D” section is the first item under the “Using 3DVIA Shape Tools” heading.)

And we have a quick synopsis right here from an excellent and more complete blog post on the subject done by Rodd back in November.

By now, I hope you are ready to find your way around your model in 3D space and avoid some of the more likely surprises. Then again, there is always my favorite button on the screen:

Undo!

P.S. If you have specific questions about this blog post or previous ones, you can ask me directly, now that we have Messaging!

Go to Episode 2!

Go to Episode 1!

As in any endeavor, he had to start at the beginning and learn how to exploit the strengths and work around the foibles of Shape. The available online video tutorials are a start and also a good place to return when you’re frustrated/confused or if you just want to know more about a particular tool. The online documentation is another good place to look.

One very valuable source of help for the Shape modeler is that the program itself is eager to help you as you work. Shape is constantly providing you with onscreen choices to help you quickly get your ideas down. Most things that we want to make as humans have square corners and flat or vertical surfaces. We want our walls to stand up straight and our rooms to have flat floors and doors that work. Shape knows this and tries to help.

The most basic thing we can create in Shape is a line. Seems simple enough, right? Well, sort of…because one simple thing can take away the help that Shape is so eager to give.

In the earliest version of Shape, a line was drawn by selecting the line tool and then left-clicking where you wanted the line to start and then holding the button down while you dragged the line to where you wanted it to end. Then you released the button and you had your line. Shape helped you make sure that your line was flat and square to other parts of your model by providing feedback. The line would change color and show angles as you moved the mouse.

Unfortunately, usability studies showed that that is not the way that most people intuitively used their mouse to draw a line. So, it was changed.

The black line was drawn using the old method and looks parallel with the grid and good to build off, but when you draw your next line, you’ll find that you’re off by 1 degree, which will cause no end of problems throughout the rest of your model.

Now, the method is to select the line tool, then left-click at the start of the line AND THEN RELEASE THE MOUSE BUTTON before you drag your line to where you want it to end – then left-click again to finish the line.

As you move your mouse, you will see the clues that Shape provides. The line turns yellow when it is parallel or perpendicular to surfaces and other parts of your model as well as giving angular measurements and showing you which plane you’re drawing on. If you hold the left button down while dragging, you’ll lose all of those helpful clues.

If you use the new method, Shape will help you by showing the line in yellow when it really is parallel with the grid. So, when you put your next line in it will be a true 90 degree angle and you can continue modelling with confidence that everything will be square.

So, remember to click and release to start and end a line and you’ll be square (in a good way, I mean).

Go to Episode 1!

Go to Episode 3!