›–» Object Deformation
Very
Inportant: When you deform an object in trueSpace, it stores the
deformations in a way that RWX converters and the AW Browser do
not reconise so that if you want to undo your deformations, you can
do. When you finish an object (or a part of an object) that uses deformation ALWAYS click
on the object union button and click 'yes' when it asks you if you
would like to make your deformations permanent. You do not need
to actually union the object with anything (just click another button
to exit union mode) but clicking the union button will allow you
to make your deformations permanent so they appear in AW. ALWAYS
remember this.
Object deformation will take your modelling in trueSpace to a new level of both efficiency and realism. With it you can create much more difficult shapes that before you would of need to do much more work to achieve and probably with more faces.
Object Deformation is a very extensive tool. There are so many things you can do with this that I can't possibly explain them all in this tutorial. Instead I will show you a simple example of how it can be used, and hopefully as you begin to use it more, you will discover new techniques that will allow you to create even better objects.
Its hard to clearly explain how deformation is used in trueSpace, the best way I can think of doing so if you ak you to imagine a balloon with a belt tied around the middle. As you pull the belt tighter the object is sucked in at the middle, creating an almost hour-glass type shape.
Okay, firstly
create a sphere object and then click the deformation button ( 
). The object should now look like this and the following window
should have popped up:
In this current mode you can click on any point where the green lines cross over and a small crosshair should appear, using that crosshair you can manipulate that part of the sphere. By clicking and dragging the central dot on the cross you can grab that part of the sphere and pull it out or push it in. You know whever you are in this mode because the top right button in the wondow (which has the same icon as the button on the toolbar) is depressed.
I tend not to use that mode much, if you are working on complex shapes, doing this can disturb other parts of the object or created jagged unrealistic parts sticking out or in.
On the window (pictures above) you can see 6 buttons of interest. The 3 on the left control what you are doing to the select part of the object. Whether you are resizing it, rotating it or moving it. The 3 on the right are the ones I am going to show you how to use effectively.
These 3 buttons control the green lines on the object, rather than editing the object with all 3 of these types of lines in mind, you can remove them and edit just one at a time.
If
you click the bottom of these 3 buttons, only the horizontal green
line should be displayed (pictured above). Now, remember what I
said about "putting a belt around the balloon" well imagine
the green lines are belts and the phere is the balloon. Select the
Resizing Deformation Tool ( 
) and then click and hold on the horizontal green line with both
mouse buttons. Try moving the mouse up and down and you'll see the
equator of the sphere squeezed and released. You can also to this
to the object using the other two green lines by clicking either
of the other two buttons ( 
).
Tip: When you first enter deformation mode, you can add or remove lines by clicking any of the 3 buttons mentioned above and then right clicking and holding somewhere else on the screen (in the grey area) you can make the object have more or less "green lines" to deform the shape with. You would never need more "green lines" than there are horizonal lines on the object though. So on the object in the picture above (which has 7 horizontal lines) you wouldn't need to work with more than 7 "green lines".
Creating a more Realistic Vase
If you've followed through the earlier parts of this tutorial, you will have created a vase in Section 9. Now we are going to create another vase that is much like pot6.rwx in the AlphaWorld Object Path.
Create a Sphere
and open up the deformation window, select horizontal deformation,
use the right mouse button to create 3 or 4 "green lines"
as explained in the tip above and then select the Resizing
Deformation Button (
).
Now your sphere should look something like this. Select the bottom "green line" and shrink it inwards so it looks more like this:
Now play around with the other two until you get a pot-like shape, so it looks something like this:
This might take some time. You can also use the 3 yellow points that appear with each line to manipulate it in different ways too. Once your happy with the object, create a cube, move it up enough so it overlaps the top rounded part of the sphere that we don't want and subtract the cube from the sphere using the Object Union Tool. Then it should look like this:
And
ther you have it, a much more realistic vase object that is just
as simple as the one you created in Section 9. You can apply this
technique to so many things, from avatar limbs, to trees and rocks.
You can also use the rotate and move tools ( 
) to drag and rotate the "green lines" in any combination
to create even more interesting shapes that you may find useful
when creating certain objects.