This is awesome, thank you. I'll be combining your advice on aligning units of measure with Frank's method of 3D construction. It's great to have a clean end-to-end method of work across all the tools (hand drawing, AD and Cheetah).
Struggling with Sweeps
- Thread starter Chris Heath
- Start date
Thanks so much Eric. This also looks like a great approach worth exploring. I still feel like I'm learning the basics of Cheetah, which is why I do as much of the pattern layout in Affinity Designer first to avoid moving things around in 3D space. I'll definitely be giving it a go. Everyone's feedback in this thread is awesome and propelling me forward in my understanding of Cheetah 3D.
C3D will never be as strong on spline development as specialized apps like Illustrator / Affinity Designer / VectorStyler; and in my eyes should not aim to (too many apps are bloated). The latter VectorStyler is a killer app to use with Affinity Designer as you can copy & paste the vector to each app. The weak point in my eyes of C3D is the measurement tool. It could use some "upgrading" to be able to work regardless of the state of objects etc. This is why I stick to my vector apps for the strengths they have and for correct measurements as I progress.
Let's say you want an advanced spline > editable mesh (with correct measurements down to the mm) and then another inside that spline as a "mini version". If you simply rescale it in C3D it won't fit x / y perfectly. In A.D. all this is so simple and then to import it in C3D is wonderful. I use C3D for its strengths and must say I actually prefer it to CAD programs for my 3D print art. It just has that fun factor that I have been missing using other tools. I am too in the brushing up of what I once knew in C3D so it is great to be able to give some ideas back to this amazing forum which is a big part of why I love C3D so much. Peace!
Moo.
Let's say you want an advanced spline > editable mesh (with correct measurements down to the mm) and then another inside that spline as a "mini version". If you simply rescale it in C3D it won't fit x / y perfectly. In A.D. all this is so simple and then to import it in C3D is wonderful. I use C3D for its strengths and must say I actually prefer it to CAD programs for my 3D print art. It just has that fun factor that I have been missing using other tools. I am too in the brushing up of what I once knew in C3D so it is great to be able to give some ideas back to this amazing forum which is a big part of why I love C3D so much. Peace!
Moo.This also looks promising. The only change I'd make is a different start and stop point to avoid three-way intersections, with lines extending beyond the unit of repetition's boundary. Thanks again.
I haven't heard of VectorStyler. I'll check it out. I also have the old Indeo Graphic (formerly iDraw) app. It had a lot of copy options, such as copy as SVG for pasting into other vector apps from what I remember. It had a lot of potential and was easy to use, but the app got sold from Indeo to Autodesk, who did nothing with it. Autodesk sold it to another developer who only maintains its compatibility with the Mac every now and then. I ditched it when Affinity Designer came on the scene.C3D will never be as strong on spline development as specialized apps like Illustrator / Affinity Designer / VectorStyler; and in my eyes should not aim to (too many apps are bloated). The latter VectorStyler is a killer app to use with Affinity Designer as you can copy & paste the vector to each app. The weak point in my eyes of C3D is the measurement tool. It could use some "upgrading" to be able to work regardless of the state of objects etc. This is why I stick to my vector apps for the strengths they have and for correct measurements as I progress.
Let's say you want an advanced spline > editable mesh (with correct measurements down to the mm) and then another inside that spline as a "mini version". If you simply rescale it in C3D it won't fit x / y perfectly. In A.D. all this is so simple and then to import it in C3D is wonderful. I use C3D for its strengths and must say I actually prefer it to CAD programs for my 3D print art. It just has that fun factor that I have been missing using other tools. I am too in the brushing up of what I once knew in C3D so it is great to be able to give some ideas back to this amazing forum which is a big part of why I love C3D so much. Peace!
Forgot to mention, my starting point in constructing these patterns is High Design (CAD). From there, I export the pattern to PDF or DXF and import the file into Affinity Designer. CAD gives me the precision I need to construct Islamic patterns geometrically.
The proportions of these patterns are irrational, so CAD precision is required. Affinity Designer also lacks the tools, e.g., an arc tool to construct these patterns. Designer's precision is getting better, but its snapping functionality is complex to operate and unreliable. Deliberate fudging of the proportions happens towards the end of the design process where I have to round the irrational proportions to the nearest whole pixel for raster output.
ZooHead
0
I agree that a vector program is more powerful and versatile in most instances except one, if you need a 3D spline.C3D will never be as strong on spline development as specialized apps like Illustrator / Affinity Designer / VectorStyler; and in my eyes should not aim to (too many apps are bloated). The latter VectorStyler is a killer app to use with Affinity Designer as you can copy & paste the vector to each app. The weak point in my eyes of C3D is the measurement tool. It could use some "upgrading" to be able to work regardless of the state of objects etc. This is why I stick to my vector apps for the strengths they have and for correct measurements as I progress.
Let's say you want an advanced spline > editable mesh (with correct measurements down to the mm) and then another inside that spline as a "mini version". If you simply rescale it in C3D it won't fit x / y perfectly. In A.D. all this is so simple and then to import it in C3D is wonderful. I use C3D for its strengths and must say I actually prefer it to CAD programs for my 3D print art. It just has that fun factor that I have been missing using other tools. I am too in the brushing up of what I once knew in C3D so it is great to be able to give some ideas back to this amazing forum which is a big part of why I love C3D so much. Peace!
Wow, It looks amazing!
VectorStyler: The Rectangle tool is used to draw rectangular shapes. The sides of a rectangle can be bent into circular arcs using the node tool.
More here: https://www.vectorstyler.com/documentation/overview/toolbox/
It is like A.D. on steroids but lack the "clean UI" of A.D. but you'll get the hang of it quickly. Lots of great tools like Shape Warping, Quick simple work I do still prefer A.D.
You can also do as I do and combine C3D with Nevercenter´s Silo3D. Latest version has a lot of the features you could benefit from; and I do as A.D. & V.S. I combine it with C3D because the features are very different p.t.
These are my only subdiv 3D apps left. I stopped using the vastly expensive apps & "bloated" solutions > Blender (to me it is just counter intuitive). However - check out the fork of Blender called BforArtists. They have a much more logical UI; and I use it with my Wacom Cintiq for sculpting (along with the now discontinued but great Meshmixer).
I found C3D working "with me" the moment I realized what I prefer doing there and what I prefer pre-making and importing from other apps. It is like that for all other designers of 2D & drawing; so to me this feels much better to combine killer features of apps to make my projects both more streamlined but also faster (and for me to understand intuitively).
It took me a lot of time with C3D to figure it out in the beginning because there is nothing stopping you from sorting objects in the wrong order (ike extrude can be put under a spline but won't do anything before you put the spline under extrude ++). C3D should help users to block operations that is not "supposed to be done".
Sorry if I ramble on in this thread but you hit my sweet spot as a gfx designer haha. I will stop now.
Moo.
After you guys figured out how to build this it is now time to wrap it up and turn it on
That is one really cool animation. Thank misoversaturated for sharing.After you guys figured out how to build this it is now time to wrap it up and turn it on
I had time to sit down and follow Frank's and Moooztar's instructions this afternoon. I'm not sure I followed them correctly, but I got there in the end.
I have noticed some black pixels in the Cheetah renders. They don't show up in Falcon renders, but the colours under Falcon are quite different. The colours and lighting need more work, but I'll sort that out towards the end.
The next stage is to do it all again with a custom cross-section. I need the practice, otherwise I'll forget what to do. I also want to try Eric's approach as well and develop a good workflow for creating patterns like this based on everyone's suggestions. Thanks again for all your help.
I have noticed some black pixels in the Cheetah renders. They don't show up in Falcon renders, but the colours under Falcon are quite different. The colours and lighting need more work, but I'll sort that out towards the end.
The next stage is to do it all again with a custom cross-section. I need the practice, otherwise I'll forget what to do. I also want to try Eric's approach as well and develop a good workflow for creating patterns like this based on everyone's suggestions. Thanks again for all your help.
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ZooHead
0
Hi Chris, the Cheetah renderer can produce artifacts on occasion.
Try unchecking Radiosity, that has worked for me at least once.
Thanks Eric. It turned out to be the opposite for me. Turning on Radiosity eliminated the artefacts. That created a new problem (blotchy shadows). Anyway, I'll fine tune all that after I have all the elements in place.
Hi Moooztar
I haven’t quite achieved pixel perfection in my renders. I’m getting single-pixel antialiasing on two edges of the final render.
This means I am doing something wrong.
In Affinity Designer, I exported to SVG at 72dpi.
To fill the square, I set the camera zoom to 2.88 (= 2 x 1.44) to take into account the fact that the shape above is mirrored in both the X axis and Y axis.
Have I missed something?
I could set the camera zoom to, say 3 and render at a higher resolution and then in Affinity Photo or Designer, trim off the outer pixels, but I'd like to get it pixel perfect right from the start.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Chris
Chris look at my other post and see if you can work out a better doc setting in Affinity Designer. Perhaps when you work in such a small scale as 72 dpi / pix in A.D. that there is some "pixel compensation"? See here:
www.cheetah3d.com
Tip: Affinity Designer SVG export 1:1 to Cheetah 3D (Work in pixels in A.D)
Hi guys, If you want to work in A.D. in 300DPI (as an example) you can export to .SVG using the standard A.D. "SVG (digital - small size)" (in Affinity) Calculation seems to be: WantedDPI / 72 (ScreenDPI) / 10 (so C3D do not scale up) = 0.416666666666667 so paste this answer into C3D >...
Thanks so much Moooztar. I'll work through your recommendations in the other post.
I prefer to work at 300 dpi and millimetres. Spoonflower's print on demand service uses inches all the way. I'll wrap my head around it all, and will test it out. If I still have any antialiasing issues, I'll send you the file to see what you think.
As an aside note... The same antialiasing on the edges of an image exported to png or jpg from AD or Illustrator can occur when:
- the dimensions of what is being exported isn't a whole number of pixels wide and whole number of pixels high, and/or
- in Affinity Designer, one or both of the coordinates are not set to whole pixels, e.g., The location of the design's top left corner is: x = 1234.56px as opposed to 1235px and/or y = 200.123px instead of 200px
Cheers
Chris