Day 265: Sculpted Prims Tutorial Part 2 (Wings 3D)

In Part 1 of this tutorial series, we talked about how to create sculpted prims (sculpties) from sculpt maps. We installed and created a sculpt map of a mushroom using Wings 3D.

In this part 2, we will talk about Wings 3D in detail, particularly features specific to sculpties. We will then create a sculpted prim hat using Wings 3D.

BTW, I am NOT a Wings 3D expert. I saw Wings for the first time about a week ago. So please let me know if I do something really dumb here :)

Here goes... :)


Wings 3D Overview

Wings 3D is a quick and relatively easy program for creating sculpted prims (I said relatively ;P). Steps for getting Wings 3D and the sculpted prim exporter up and running are in Part 1.

The Wings 3D sculpted prim exporter only works with a sphere with specific dimensions (number of Sections and Slices). We cannot use any Wings 3D tools that change the dimensions of the sphere. So there are lots of Wings 3D features and techniques we cannot use for making sculpted prims. In fact, the Wings 3D tools we can actually use are rather limited. Thats nice, cause its fewer buttons I have to learn ;P



Im assuming that you want to create a "Real World" type object, with lots of bumps and irregularities. In Wings 3D, you would create a general shape, then tweak it. This is similar to the mushroom we made in Part 1 of this tutorial.

When creating the general shape, you repeatedly select parts of the sphere, then do something to them. For our mushroom in Part 1, we selected the top of the sphere, then "scaled" it to make it bigger.

Once you have the general shape, you would Tweak the shape to make it more "realistic". You can also use the advanced Wings 3D magnet tool to seriously Tweak your shape. We are going to do all these things in a moment :)


Camera Controls

But before we can do anything, we need to see it first :) So lets talk about camera controls for a moment...



Go ahead and create a Sphere with 32 Sections and 31 Slices (Right-click on the main screen, click on the square next to "Sphere"). Detailed steps are in Part 1 of this tutorial.

To zoom in and out, roll the mouse-wheel on your mouse. If you dont have a mouse-wheel, then you need to choose one of the alternate Camera Modes (under Edit/Preferences/Camera/Camera Mode, "Maya" works pretty well if you are familiar with SL). Note that the some functions use different keys if you choose an alternate Camera Mode.

To move the camera around the sphere, click once on the Middle mouse button. Then move your mouse left or right to move sideways. Move your mouse up/down to tilt the camera. Once you are happy with the view, click the Left mouse mutton (yep, this takes getting used to!)

To pan the view, click once on the Middle mouse button, then press "Q".

If the view is seriously messed up, just press "R" to restore the original view :)


Selecting Things

There are 3 major ways to select something in Wings 3D. There are also some other neat tools to make things easier for you to make your selections.



The first major way is to select one or more points (or vertices). You choose this option by clicking on the left-most pyramid in the center top of the screen.

Once you click on the left-most pyramid, you will see a bunch of little black boxes all around your shape. If you Left-click on any one of these black boxes, it will turn red to show that you have selected it. If you click on a red (selected) point/vertex, it will be de-selected and turn black again.

You can select multiple points/vertices by clicking on them one at a time. This will let you move/rotate/scale multiple points at the same time.

Once you make a selection, you can grow that selection with the "+" key. This will grow your selection outward one point at a time in all directions. You can shrink your selection with the "-" key. When you create a shape in Wings 3D, you will often grow or shrink you selection as you change the shape. We will be using this technique for our hat below.

To clear all selections, just press the [Spacebar].



The second selection method is to select an edge. You choose this option by clicking on the second pyramid in the center top of the screen.



Edges are very useful in Wings 3D, particularly for working with spheres. Once you select an edge, you can use the "Select/Edge Loop/Edge Loop" menu option to extend that edge all the way around the sphere.



Once you have an Edge Loop selected, you can extend the selection to the nearest end of the sphere by selecting "Select/Edge Loop/Edge Loop to Region". This is a quick way to select a large section of the sphere.

And remember you can use the "+" and "-" keys to grow and shrink your selection.



The last selection method is to select a face. You choose this option by clicking on the third pyramid in the center top of the screen.



Also, check out the various options in the "Select" menu at the top of your screen, under the "By" tab. In particular, "Random" will select a random percentage of the object (perfect for roughing things up). "Shortest Path" is a great way to connect 2 points that you select.

Making Changes to the Sphere

Even though we are limited to tools that do not change the sphere's dimensions, there are still quite a few things we can do to that sphere! The best way to figure out what each option does is to try it :) Just make a sphere, select something, then play away...

The changes you can make depend on the selection method you choose (Point/Vertex, Edge, or Face). But in general, you can always Move, Rotate, or Scale.



Moving takes your selection and moves it. It does this by stretching the adjacent parts of the object.

To move your selection, first make a selection. Then Right-click on the main screen and choose Move. Choose "Normal" if you want to move your selection straight out. Choose "Free" to move it freehand. Choose X, Y, or Z to move in a single direction.



Moving may sound simple, but you can create some interesting effects by moving Edge Loops or whole regions.



Rotate will, well, rotate your selection. It will twist the adjacent areas to compensate.



Likewise, Scale will grow or shrink your selection, by distorting the adjacent areas to compensate.



When you make your selection using Points/Vertices (1st pyramid) or Faces (the 3rd pyramid), you have the additional option to Flatten your selection. This is a quick way to squish a part of the sphere!



When you make your selection using Points/Vertices (1st pyramid), you can use all Deform tools, including Crumple, Inflate, Taper, Twist, and Torque. Youve gotta see what some of these things do! :) But be warned: if you make the changes too extreme, they will not come out well in Second Life.

Tweaking with Magnets

We did some simple Tweaking in Part 1 to rough up the mushroom and make it look more natural. When used with the (somewhat tricky) Magnet tool, Tweaking becomes super useful in sculpting prims.

You have to turn on "Advanced Menus" to enable access to the Magnet tool. This will change the way some of your menus look and work. But its well worth it :)

To turn on "Advanced Menus", click on the "Edit" menu option at the top of your screen, then select "Preferences..."



In the Advanced tab, click on the Checkbox next to the "Advanced Menus" option.












Select the "Tools" option at the top menu bar, then the "Tweak" option.

You should notice some additional commands at the bottom of your screen.












Go ahead and try to Tweak a Point/Vertex. Theres now a glowing blue ball around your pointer! This ball shows you that the Magnet is active. When you Tweak the Point/Vertex, you should notice an entire section of the sphere is pulled.

You can adjust the strength of the Magnet by pressing the "+" or "-" keys.

To disable the Magnet (and go back to regular Tweaking), press the "1" key. Press "1" again to re-enable the Magnet.



You can also choose the shape of the item you are Tweaking. Press "2" for Dome, "3" for Straight, and "4" for Spike. Try it to see the different effects :)


Making a Hat

OK, thats enough overview. Lets make something :)



We are going to make a hat. Sort of a modern retro 1960's version of a 1920's Cloche hat (and you thought Wings was confusing :P) The hat shows a number of tools we talked about...and because I wanted a hat like this :P.

First, make sure that you have turned on Advanced Menus. If you have not done so, then follow the steps in the previous section ("Tweaking with Magnets").



Go ahead and create a Sphere with 32 Sections and 31 Slices (Right-click on the main screen, click on the square next to "Sphere"). Detailed steps are in Part 1 of this tutorial.

BTW, for final projects, you may want to use 64 Sections and 63 Slices for better resolution. But this means more Sections you have to move :)



Click on the "Select" option at the top menu bar and select "All Vertices".













Right-click on the main screen and select ".Scale Axis." from the popup menu (this menu looks a bit different with Advanced Menus turned on). Then select "Y" from the next popup menu.



Move your mouse slowly to the right until the display on the upper left corner of the screen reads about 150%. Left-click on the main screen to accept the change.

Dont worry about being exact...its just a hat :)



Press the [Spacebar] to clear your selections.

Then click on the 2nd pyramid in the top center of the screen for Edge selection mode.

Click on one of the horizontal Edges just above the middle of the sphere.



Click "Select" from the top menu bar and select "Edge Loop", then "Edge Loop" again. This will draw a red circle all the way around the sphere.



Click "Select" from the top menu bar and select "Edge Loop", then "Edge Loop to Region". This will select the top half of the sphere.



Right-click on the main screen and select ".Move." from the popup menu. Select "Y" from the next popup menu.

Move your mouse slowly to the left until the red portion is about even with the top of grey portion.



Press the "-" key once to shrink the selection. One row of Faces should now be de-selected.



Right-click on the main screen and select ".Move." from the popup menu. Select "Y" from the next popup menu.

Move your mouse slowly to the left until the red portion is just slightly inside the brim of the hat. Dont go in too deeply on this one (its part of the brim).



Press the "-" key once to shrink the selection. One row of Faces should now be de-selected.



Right-click on the main screen and select ".Move." from the popup menu. Select "Y" from the next popup menu.

Move your mouse slowly to the left until the red portion drops further into the hat. But dont bring it down too far...you still have a few more rows to go.

Again, press the "-" key once to shrink the selection. One row of Faces should now be de-selected.



Move the red portion down a bit more. Then press the "-" key again to de-select another row of Faces.

Repeat this a few times, try to keep the insides fairly even...

You may want to rotate the camera to get a better view of the inside of the hat.



Continue until you reach the second to last row. Be careful and dont go down too deep, or you may come through the other end of the hat!

So far, we have a hollow half sphere. But we could have done this with ordinary prims! Alright, here comes the sculpted prim magic :)



Press the [Spacebar] to clear your selections.

Then click on the 2nd pyramid in the top center of the screen for Edge selection mode.

Click on the inside Edge of the brim. This should be the same Edge you selected to create the Edge Loop before. Be sure its one of the inside edges, not outside!



Click "Select" from the top menu bar and select "Edge Loop", then "Edge Loop" again. This will draw a red circle all the way around the brim of the hat.



Press the "+" key once to grow the selection.



Right-click on the main screen and select ".Scale Uniform." from the popup menu.

Move your mouse slowly to the right until the display at the upper left corner of the screen reads about 120%. Left-click on the main screen to accept the change.



Now that we are done with the general shape, its time to tweak!

It might be helpful to tilt the camera view and flip the hat upside-down. Click the Middle mouse button and tilt the camera around. Click the Left mouse button when you are done.

Click on the "Tools" option from the top menu bar and select "Tweak".

Press the "2" key to select "Dome" shape for the Magnet.



The hat looks too perfect at the moment, so we want to make it more "realistic".

So grab a point/vertex and start pulling and pushing :) Go ahead and push in the sides a bit and tease the brims. Add some bumps here and there.

Remember, you can press the "1" through "4" keys to get different shapes for the Magnet (or turn it off). Also, use the "+" and "-" keys to adjust the strength of the Magnet.

Press the [Esc] key when you are done Tweaking.



One more final touch...

Click on the left-most pyramid in the top center of the screen for Point/Vertex selection mode.

Click "Select" from the top menu bar and select "All Vertices".



Right-click on the main screen and select "Deform" from the popup menu. Select "Crumple" from the next popup menu. And select "Random" from the last popup menu.

Move your mouse slightly to one side until the hat has a slight crumpled look. Dont over do it! Left-click on the main screen to accept the change.

Thats it. Our sculptie hat is ready to be exported to Second Life!

To export the sculpt map, click "File" from the top menu bar, select "Export", and select "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)...".

You now have the sculpt map for the hat, ready to upload to Second Life. Refer to Part 1 of this tutorial for detailed steps in creating the sculpted prim from the sculpt map.


Congratulations! You just sculpted a real sculpted prim with a 3D program. How cool is that? :)

If you just want to see the hat or play with the sculpt map, I put a copy of both in the "Sculpted Prims" box at Sirena Hair (116,217,22).



So where should I go with my cool new sculptie hat? :)

48605-071006-403191-19

© 2007 All Rights Reserved.