Hard Surface - Projecting mesh on a curved surface [help needed]

Support Modeling
1

Hi guys,
so… you got a mesh

s1.png623×810 105 KB


its basicly wrapped bar with applied subdiv,
now comes the tricky part… How do you project another mesh (ie bar) to the red surface EXACTLY to stretch and wrap and dont loose height?

s2.png1032×932 156 KB

bar to apply

Techniques tried:

  1. curve - curve wont follow the surface, have to use manual Alt+S and this wont work on subsurfed object
  2. “2D” lattice - W = 1, with some resolution can bend whole mesh, but when manually snapping to the points of the red faceloop on low res, doesnt stick with the subsurfed mesh
  3. “3d” lattice - u will die adjusting the points of W = 2 – which should be exactly along normals of the face – still the “lattice extrusion” should work the same way as solidify modifier
  4. shrinkwrap - ok, so tried shrinkwrap the 2d lattice on the mesh - and it wont hold the edges as needed. Then i tried to shrinkwrap with vertexgroup (otherwise, shirnkwrap flattens the bar’s mesh) – selected bottom row of vertices of the applied bar – that was better but still need to snap to the edge curves (pink).
  5. shapekeys - manually flatten the lowpoly (red) area like uv unwrapped plane. Then you can slide the shapekey to get from flat plane to target curved surface - EXCEPT: shapekeys dont take into count any newly added vertices/faces so you are screwed anyways. Only if it could calculate the new ones according to the base mesh -.-…

s3.png1500×866 355 KB

This technique was shown by Simon Fuchs, on 1st tutor, but he uses 3dsmax and plugin called “Slideknit” which basicly works like shapekeys in blender, except the fact that it interpolates the position of new vertices!

So, I hope we can find a solution how to use this technique in Blender. Thank you in advance for any help.

2

I would try displacement mapping. I know it might get heavy on polies but that’s all I can think of that you haven’t tried.

3

Hello,

one option would be to use the “Tissue addon” ,
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.6/Py/Scripts/Mesh/Tissuequick example

4

@pavelkrupala - Simon’s slideknit approach is indeed very powerful, just like the many other modifier-based modeling approaches that 3DSMax allows.

In order to get relevant suggestions on how to achieve it in Blender I would recommend you to post your exact desired end result (even if achieved using a much more convoluted manual workflow) as well as very clear before and after pictures. If not, you will get suggestions that are likely not going to be what you are after, or, suggestions only working on much more simple cases - and that’s only natural since this technique is not the easiest to understand in the first place. Using UV data as a morphing proxy is at the core of the Slideknit workflow, and without an explanation on that I don’t think people will understand.

I too am very interested in non-destructive modeling techniques. I will be following this thread closely !

5

Alright you got my attention, bumping this thread to see if anyone came up with something

6

You’ll find it to be an easier time to find what you are looking for by calling what you are looking for a “surface deformer” instead of slideknit.

7

Here’s one way to go about what you want to do