Microphone Mesh tutorial

[Valued Ant]

Microphone Mesh tutorial

After fuss over hardware, learning film editing on the fly and several attempts, I now have my promised microphone mesh tutorial online:

http://vimeo.com/102313328

This tutorial requires tg_gp's 'Polygon2Spline' script, found at http://www.tres-graficos.jp/blog/files/article.php?id=36 . Much thanks to Hiroto for creating it.

Apologies that the picture breaks up a little sometimes during movement; that's how QuickTime Player recorded it.

 

[ZooHead]

Very nice tutorial, great technique. I didn't notice any breakup, I have the same
problem with QuickTime so I've switched to Screenflow which works fine.

I'll play with it for a while and see if I can recreate my four different mics.
None of them are fully spherical, and all have different wire diameters.

Thanks for your hard work.
Eric

​

 

[Valued Ant]

I'm sure you could adapt the technique with different sorts of polygon shapes and modifiers. I look forward to seeing your results.

 

[ZooHead]

I'm sure you could adapt the technique with different sorts of polygon shapes and modifiers. I look forward to seeing your results.

I'm having fun with this. First I'll stick with the sphere shape,
and then the modified sphereish/eggish shapes of my other mics.

One possible improvement I'm testing is to use a Spherify Modifier at about 12:00 minutes in.
With that I get a perfect sphere and don't have to fiddle back and forth between the modifiers,
which will be very useful for the other mics I think.

​

 

[ZooHead]

So far the Spherify Modifier works perfectly, the image shows the match.
I also recommend quartering the mesh to reduce some of the tedious editing, then use
symmetry to reassemble. Then whatever technique you like to fill in the missing strips.

​

 

[ZooHead]

I used the n-Edge with 16 segments knowing I was making more
work for myself, now I feel like a quack surgeon, sewing up the
front of the arteries but leaving big holes behind.

I tried to join the spline segments to avoid this problem, but
Cheetah adds a line segment between two points of a spline,
so I end up with a little loop and both points are still there.
That is if the two segments aren't reversed.

I also tried to adjust the control handles, which works to align the edges of the "arteries".
But the only way to select all control points is one by one, so I gave up on that idea.

​

 

[Valued Ant]

I tried to join the spline segments to avoid this problem, but Cheetah adds a line segment between two points of a spline, so I end up with a little loop and both points are still there. That is if the two segments aren't reversed.​

It seems that when Polygon2Spine converts edges into splines, all the spline segments are in different directions. So if you try to join points, you either get the opposite ends of the segments joining up (Fig. 1), or additional paths forming at the joined points (Fig. 2; note the extra direction handles), which can be pulled apart to see (Fig. 3). One solution is to select each segment and apply 'Reverse Sequence' until they all face the same way, but that's too tedious even for me.

 

[tg_jp]

Hi,

cool tutorial :smile:

thank your for introducing my script, and using it.

I've just updated Polygon2Spline.js by adding 'connect' option. if it's on, all edges that share same vertices are connected as 1 spline. but in case that several edges are crossing, the script doesn't know which edges should be connected, so edges will be connected by internal order of vertices.

http://www.tres-graficos.jp/blog/files/article.php?id=36

anyway, please test it.

Best.

tg_jp, Hiroto.

 

[Valued Ant]

Much better, Hiroto. The revised script does link all the splines together in continuous curves, producing no gaps when a sweep creator is applied (Fig. 1).

Two observations, though: first, the points appear to be all corner points; if you look closely, you see the direction handles are at slight angles to each other (Fig. 2). This is easily fixed, however: just select all the anchor points, apply 'Equal Tangent Direction', and they're set properly.

Second, I've also found a few instances where double paths were created (Fig. 3).

 

[Valued Ant]

That double path in Fig. 3 above appeared after I applied 'Equal Tangent Length'. When I undid 'Equal Tangent Length' and looked at where the double path had appeared, I discovered it was actually two disconnected paths.

 

[tg_jp]

Hi

thank you for reporting a bug.

I wil fix it soon, also I found another bugs.

Best

tg_jp, Hiroto

 

[ZooHead]

Many thanks Hiroto, you are a Saint,
this will open so many possibilities.
I have no doubt you will fix the bugs.

Although I've put a lot of work into the mic mesh, I'm nowhere
near finished. Now I can stop and try again with this new functionality.

Thanks again for all your efforts, you smooth the rough
edges of this precious gem we call Cheetah 3D.

​

 

[uncle808us]

After fuss over hardware, learning film editing on the fly and several attempts, I now have my promised microphone mesh tutorial online:

http://vimeo.com/102313328

This tutorial requires tg_gp's 'Polygon2Spline' script, found at http://www.tres-graficos.jp/blog/files/article.php?id=36 . Much thanks to Hiroto for creating it.

Apologies that the picture breaks up a little sometimes during movement; that's how QuickTime Player recorded it.

Intense tutorial, I love it. Great job you have the patience of a stone. And the endurance of a river. Thanks for the in depth tutorial.

 

[uncle808us]

Hi

thank you for reporting a bug.

I wil fix it soon, also I found another bugs.

Best

tg_jp, Hiroto

You are one of the best. Thanks

 

[ZooHead]

In spite of any bugs in the script, I did this fairly quickly.
I made this simplified form to speed up testing.

Some segments joined correctly, some overlapped and didn't join.
It is definitely a step in the right direction though.

Thanks Valued Ant, for a great tutorial, very well done.

​

 

[tg_jp]

Hi

I fixed bugs. please check it.

and I added 'use modified child' option for no-destructive tweaking.

http://www.tres-graficos.jp/blog/files/article.php?id=36

after posting this comment, I found a tiny bug, so I've just updated it. the latest version file is Polygon2Spline.js_20140806b.zip . please replace it if you have old one.

Best

tg_jp, Hiroto

 

[ZooHead]

Outstanding! I will check this out tomorrow.

​

 

[Valued Ant]

I've checked through this new version of the script and it seems to be OK. Thanks for your work, Hiroto. I'll put a note in my tutorial comments about the new features.

 

[ZooHead]

The script works perfectly, it's so much easier now.

The only tedious part left really, is the selecting of every other edge and point.
I wonder, is it possible to make a script that can do that?

​

 

[Valued Ant]

Nice work there, ZooHead. Yes, the new script certainly speeds up the process.

The only tedious part left really, is the selecting of every other edge and point.
I wonder, is it possible to make a script that can do that?
​

I'm sure that is possible, but it would have to allow you to choose the point to start from, so that you choose each alternate set of second points between the spline rows.

All this is tempting me to learn JavaScript, in order to make tool scripts like SplineMagnet and SplineSpherise—and SplineArray to produce rows of splines in the first place (with the option to flip every second one upside-down). I'm currently getting to grips with Automator and AppleScript at the moment, though, so JavaScript may have to wait a while.