Day 272: Sculpted Prims Tutorial Part 3 (ROKURO)

***Update: If you find ROKURO useful, please consider donating inworld to help support the ROKURO website! Every L$ counts! This will help keep ROKURO as free software. The inworld donation box is located here: Hewes (168,130,79). You can read about the donation situation in the SL Forums.


In Part 1 and Part 2 of this tutorial series, we talked about sculpted prims and how to create them using Wings 3D.

In this Part 3 of the tutorial series, we are going to use another program, ROKURO, to create sculpt maps. We are also going to tweak one of the ROKURO sculpt maps using Wings 3D.

This tutorial specifically refers to ROKURO version 1.02 (Aug 12, 2007). If you are using older versions of ROKURO, there are additional steps involved to convert the TGA to BMP files.

Also, this tutorial refers to the Wings 3D Exporter "wpc_sculpty_080707" (Aug 7, 2007).

You will need the free Particle Scripts folder (yes...Particle Scripts :P) from Sirena Hair & Fashion to complete this part of the tutorial. Click on Search, select the Places tab, and enter "sirena" as the keyword. The SLURL is West Sunset (160,50,22).

Also, I put a copy of the completed Sculptie Candle (and its sculpt map textures) in the Sculpted Prims box at Sirena Hair & Fashion, just in case you dont want to go through all the steps below :)


ROKURO Overview

ROKURO is a program specifically written to create a special type of sculpted prim. ROKURO creates a 3D object out of a flat drawing by spinning it around in 3D.



So if you drew a shape like a "U" in ROKURO...



ROKURO will create a sculptie cup :)

ROKURO is free, super easy to use, and doesnt even need to be installed. Just download the program and run it! I wish more programs were like this :)

Also, we can import things created with ROKURO into Wings 3D for additional tweaking (to add bumps or completely change the shape). ROKURO can be a great way to create a starting shape that we "finish" in Wings 3D or Blender.


Getting and Running ROKURO

Downloading ROKURO is easy. Just go to the ROKURO Website and follow the links for Windows or Mac versions. The Windows version comes as a ".zip" file.



When you open the ".zip" file, you get "ROKURO.exe" that is ready to run. No installation needed :) Just double-click on the file to start!

And ROKURO is super easy to use: just drag the blue dots around to create the shape you want. If you want a cup, just make something that looks like a "U". There are some sample pix of what you can do on the ROKURO Website.

(Note: the author of ROKURO just released a new sculptie creation tool called TOKOROTEN. TOKOROTEN creates objects by pushing outwards. The cool thing is that the techniques in this tutorial also works with TOKOROTEN :D)


Candle Holder


First lets make the candle holder.

Would you believe I made this in like 15 minutes? Its really easy to do. Just start up ROKURO...



And drag the little blue dots around to something like this...

Dont forget the little spike at the top. It keeps the candle from falling off :P

And due to poor planning, I always seem to have a pile of blue dots on the bottom.

Be sure you have these settings (they are the standard settings):

   Points(P): 33 Points(3)
   SaveSetup(S)/TGASize(S): 128x128(1)
   SaveSetup(S)/Column(C): Column(0)
   SaveSetup(S)/Rotate(R): 360 Degree(0)

When you are done, simply select the "File(F)" option from the top menu bar and "SaveTGA(S)...". Click on the dropdown box next to "Save as type:" and select "BMP 24bit 62x62 File". Enter a file name for the ".BMP" file (something like "Candle Holder"). And you are ready to upload the sculpt map to Second Life :)

Please see Part 1 for detailed steps on uploading a sculpt map and creating the sculpted prim.


Messy Candle



Now comes the fun part :) We are going to make a messy candle. Not the nice new candle cylinder you just bought from the store. But one that youve been using for a while. One day while you are in SL, you left it on for too long. It melted on one side, and a blob of wax now sits at the base. :)

More importantly, we are going to use ROKURO to create the starting shape, then tweak the candle in Wings 3D to give it that messy look.



First, start up ROKURO and arrange the blue dots to something like this. Note that you should put some extra blue dots in the upper right and lower right corners. This would give us more points we can tweak in those areas.

Then select the "File(F)" option from the top menu bar and "SaveTGA(S)...". Click on the dropdown box next to "Save as type:" and select "BMP 24bit 62x62 File". Enter a file name for the ".BMP" file (something like "Messy Candle"). And you are ready to upload the sculpt map to Second Life :)


Tweaking in Wings 3D

Once you have created the "Messy Candle.bmp" in ROKURO, you are ready to import it into Wings 3D for tweaking :)



Go ahead and start Wings 3D. Click on the "File" option from the top menu bar, select "Import", then "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)...". Select the "Messy Candle.bmp" you created above.

If you see a square to the right of the "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)..." option, then go ahead and click on the square.

If you see a list of "Topology", select "Sphere". Make sure the "Triangulate" checkbox is unchecked, then click "OK.

Select the "Messy Candle.bmp" you just created.

(Having "Triangulate" slightly improves the quality of the sculpt map created by the exporter. However, this feature can make your computer run slower. So we wont be using it for this tutorial.)



If all goes well, the candle shape that you created in ROKURO should now be in Wings 3D, ready to be tweaked. Super cool, isnt it? :)

Before we start tweaking, make sure that you have the "Advanced Menus" enabled in Wings 3D (Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Advanced Menus). This would enable us to use the Magnet while tweaking (trust me, you will need it :D). You can find detailed steps for enabling the "Advanced Menus" in Part 2 of this tutorial series.



This is the end result. OK...this was MY end result. Your results will vary :P This is tweaking, so its definitely not a precise thing :)

We are trying to make the candle look like it has melted on one side, and theres a puddle of wax on the base of the candle.

So ready to start tweaking?



Start by clicking on the Tools option from the top menu bar and select "Tweak".
















Make sure that the first pyramid is selected on the middle top part of the main screen. This means we will be working with points/vertices (which would enable us to use the Magnet :D).

Press the "2" key to select the "Dome" shape for our Magnet. We want to make the big changes first, then go in and touch things up later...



Now Left-click and hold on a point/vertex around the top rim of the candle. You will see a blue circle appear. This indicates the Magnet is active. Press the "+" and "-" keys to adjust the strength of the Magnet. You will see the blue circle grow and shrink as you do this. The bigger the blue circle, the stronger the Magnet, and the more "stuff" gets moved as you tweak.

And remember that you can press "Ctrl-Z" at any time to Undo any changes you dont like.

Pull the rim of the candle slightly out and down.



Now pull out some of the candle right below where it melted. And start tweaking around the rim and the base of the candle.

Now press the "4" key to select the "Spike" shape for our Magnet. This enables us to make sharper points than the Dome.

Go back and start making detail tweaks. Remember to adjust your Magnet strength with "+" and "-" keys. Also, be sure that you rotate your view by clicking on the Middle mouse button.



Once you are done tweaking, press the "Esc" key to get out of "Tweak" mode.



Click on the "File" option from the top menu bar, select "Export", and select "Second Life Sculpty (.bmp)...". Name the file "Sculptie Messy Candle.bmp".

Please see Part 1 for detailed steps on uploading a sculpt map and creating the sculpted prim.


Finishing the Candle



Once you have uploaded the Candle Holder and Messy Candle to SL, go ahead and rez a couple prims and turn them into a Candle Holder and a Messy Candle.

You can modify sculpted prims just like other prims by repositioning, rotating, and resizing them. So go ahead and resize the Messy Candle and fit it into the Candle Holder.

Hmmm...arent we missing something? Oh yeah, we need the candle flame :)

We created a burning candle before using particles in "Creating Particle Effects Part 1". We are going to create a candle wick and borrow the particle flame script to complete our candle :)

First we need to make a little candle wick.

Go ahead and rez a Cylinder. Go to the General tab, and change the Name to "Wick".

Enter the following dimensions:

Size X: 0.010
Size Y: 0.010
Size Z: 0.020

Go to the Texture tab. Click on the square above "Color".

When the "Color Picker" window appears, click on the black square and click "Select".

Go to the Content tab.

Look in your Inventory for the "Particle Script - Candle Flame" script from the Particle Scripts folder you got from Sirena Hair & Fashion. Click and drag the "Particle Script - Candle Flame" script from your Inventory to the Content tab of the Wick.



And you should have a burning wick :)



Now, just position the burning wick in the middle of the candle. Thats it, you have a messy candle that will keep burning forever (or until the sim crashes :P).

The combination of ROKURO and Wings 3D are great for creating sculpted prims quickly and with relative ease. Good luck with your sculpties projects :)



***Update: Yuzuru Jewell, the author of ROKURO, has just released ROKURO Pro! ROKURO Pro combines ROKURO, TOKOROTEN, and a new pipe bending thing called MAGE. The cool part is that you can use them together to make some interesting sculpties, like the trumpet thing behind me :)

ROKURO Pro also lets you preview the final shape and enable you to change the control points.

ROKURO Pro has a 3 day free trial so you can try out what it can make. The product costs L$2980.



Awww...Blue darling, how sweet! A candlelight tea party! :)

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