3D calligraphy dificulties

Hello there!

I want to model a calligraphy letter, written by a 3D object.
This is what I could render:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]231948[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]231949[/ATTACH]

My problem is that I want a better topology on that.
Knowing the taper object doesn’t work here, I decided to go with a semi-manual method:
creating clean isolines of the pen object’s geometry, then using it to draw the letter’s iso-lines,
then putting it together in blender.

So getting to the point:
I created some isolines in inkscape that I can import to blender.
Is there a way to automatically create a 3D mesh on that, with faces?
Considering the basic object would need about 45150 faces based on the svg paths.

i think you need to have more then a few post before you can upload link or pics here!

but if your letters are not that complicated there might be a few ways of doing it in blender
like using curves or using the skin modifier

try to add a few comments in posts then you’ll be able to upolod files and pics in post !

salut

Thank’s for the reply!
I have to admit this thread is pointless without the images.
Catch22.

Why don’t you try to upload images to pasteall.org and post links here? That should work imho. And yes, “calligraphy letter, written by a 3D object” might need an image…if that’s not just a curly brush (3d object) stroke ;).

I was uploading the images to a host site and used the forum’s insert image panel.
I’m not that familiar with such a wysiwyg kind of forum engine, so maybe the right box should have been unticked.
Also, if I’m not abled to post images, should I post a link as suggested? Isn’t that clearly against the forum rules?

Well, you are not a bot, are you? Are you looking for some advert or blender related advice?
It is against, if you look at the Forum RuleBook, at the same time it’s clear what this is all about… Paste links to this bugger. Use pasteall.org - it is here for that reason.
Or we could talk about weather conditions on the YakYak part of this forum until we reach needed post count.

Here is how the strokes are constructed in 2D:
http://www.pasteall.org/pic/50610
OK, second try.

Here is the 3D pen shape:
http://www.pasteall.org/pic/50611

Here are the iso-lines of that shape:
http://www.pasteall.org/pic/50612
Originally this is drawn as an svg, with the nodes good for a 3D topology.
Constructing the iso-lines for the whole letter is yet to come though, but the problem can be solved on this one as well:
how to connect the edges automatically with faces.

Here are two renders of the overall letter:
http://www.pasteall.org/pic/50608

http://www.pasteall.org/pic/50609

i think this would be easier to work it out in blender 3D
and it is not a simple shape to do cause you have curves in 3D on this model

unless you already know a 3D font to do this kind of 3D letters!

give us some feedback here!

i began a model using surface nurbs circle
and you can do the rounded parts of the letters easily
but then the boolean seems to not work with these shapes!


happy cycles

I Don’t know any font in that style.
Maybe the closest is Steingruber’s alphabet:
http://www.spamula.net/blog/2005/10/steingrubers_alphabet.html

It is complicated in 2D as well, because the iso-line shapes.
With a straight 3D approach, it would double.
As if a pen shape is placed on the curved strokes of the “B”,
the tangent points that build up the 3D stroke are not on one plane.

did you try to upload teh font in blender?
i don’t know where 2,5 is right now on font and it working 100 %!

if it doesn not work try it in 2.49!

but if it can be loaded then would be a lot easier !

thanks

font seems to work now in 2.6

implies that not only does the font system have its own built-in font, but it can use external fonts too, including PostScript Type 1, OpenType and TrueType fonts. And last but not least, it can use any objects existing in current .blend file as letters

so if the font you have has same type as the on mention it should uplaod directly in blender 2.6

have you tried it

salutations

That is some…thing! Looks really nice.
Firstly, it does look a bit out of my league to tell 100% sure, still, imho blender will have problems here. Since you look for some fully automated solution, i would say ‘no’, at least it would not fit into 45150 face limits because of how surfaces meet.

What works on ‘fleshing’ curves is Bsurfaces addon, it’s smart and powerfull, yet you’ll probably have a manual work to sew some parts together; i doubt it’ll work out all this shape at once.

Shrinkwrap, but then again, not a whole shape at once ( it wouldn’t be efficient mesh then). Oh, and provided that you have some base mesh to import into blender.

Custom script, imitating tool movements and skinning established verts behind - not done yet. There is some workig on pointclouds, but i wouldn’t relay on such method here. It’s even more complicated to script, since you have 3d tool where cutting edge slides around it.

Not much of a help here… Hope there will be better ideas.

by the way how many letters do you need to do like that ?

a few or write a book ?

thanks

Thank’s for the feedback!

@RickyBlender: This is not yet a font,
nor yet considering it to be a complete alphabet.
It will be a building in the shape of that letter.

@eppo:
Haven’t looked at that Bsurfaces addon. I will look it up!

Also will link some 3D models to make things more clear.

i think your over the min limit of post to upload pics of file here now!

what do you think of the model i began doing ?

see

http://isearch.avg.com/images?s=sideNav&pid=avg&sg=&cid={2B5D0E67-1468-4FEB-B241-6ADEE925741B}&mid=30434648e4ba75cee9997ece393c26d5-800500bf6e21983de918ef50f679fa5cf91e34f8&lang=en&ds=AVG&pr=fr&d=2012-09-27+17%3A31%3A53&v=14.2.0.1&sap=tr&q=font+type&tc=test12

check out if you can find one font that can look like want you need
that would save a lot of works i guess!

if no font is good then 3D modelling becomes the option here!

thanks

Yay! I can post images here.

@RickyBlender:

Thank’s for your input!

It’s a bit more complicated than that.
It is all tend to be as planned:


There are exact dimensions for the strokes and for the pen object itself.

Here it is in 3D:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zeko0yz5hm6118a/3D11disp4.blend
This was created by “using a 2D pen shape”, then fattened the faces to fit.
But, as you can see the start and end positions have some unclean topology.

can you elaborate on the precision you need and why ?

how did you make this model ?

it looks very high res and precise!
is it required to be high res or you want to reduce it to medium or low res ?

will probably continue tomorrow
here in forum the max size for files/pics is around 1 MB!

thank

I want it to be as precise as the construction of the building would need.
It’s for my studies, and maybe I’m too focused on details, but I would like it to be precise on the intersection curves of the shapes.

That model was made of two toruses -showing half of the basic pen shape at the serifs, a cylinder for the first stroke.
For the rest, circular faces were used as isolines and were connected manually, then the faces were fattened.

The facecount used was based on the consideration of the rendering and how much rings can a torus have.
I don’t want to reduce the facecount, it renders fast.
There won’t be much texturing or lighting involved.

not certain what you mean by isolines we don’t really use this term in blender!
more like loops then isolines!

agan what precision are you requiring for this?
are you talking about 1 mm or 1 cm ?

and what overall size will be it be1 meter /100 meters ?

but from that shape where do you go now ?
need anything else special now!?

can you show a final sketch of what your doing so we can follow where your going with this?

from overall modelling this is super high res and not necessary
like you left cylinder it could be reduce a lot !
all these extra loops are useless not giving anything to the model!

i mean you got one B letter with close to 40 000 verts that’s is totaly exagerated!
it can be reduce to a lot less and still get a very nice render i think !

thanks

By isolines I meant horizontal loopcuts.

Here are some plans with dimensions:


About 99m long in the letter height direction.

The accuracy is in cm for the plans, but I just hate it when I have to type a different value on the measure line, because there are some 0,0000x inaccuracy in places that can be checked.

I want a completely different model as I’m not so happy with the topology.
Some that is based on horizontal loopcuts that are constructed right in 2D.

That Bsurfaces addon looks great. Didn’t figure it out how it works, but wouldn’t that increase the facecount?