How would I build spandex pieces in vw2010?

[BigDan]

Hey guys/gals,

I've searched quite a bit and found little information (surprisingly, unless i'm searching wrong) on the actual construction of spandex pieces within VW (I have vw2010 spotlight).

What i'm actually trying to build is what I would think would be extremely simple since there's no complex curves in them, but i'm looking to build a spandex piece that sits 10' tall and 10' wide that is perfectly square. My plan is to use two sticks of thomas truss on bases and wrap the spandex a bit around them so the truss is not shown at all.

My question is how in your opinion would I go about constructing something like this in the program? the point of this is I need it to show that fabric type materil in the final rendering that I can backlight with LED to show various colors. I can build a square "screen" but it's not the same.

Thanks!

[C. Andrew Dunning]

Dan -

To create socks for your truss, try a simple extruded rounded rectangle or 3D polygons w. suitable textures applied.

I've attached a file w. some textures you can try. The textures were created for a project I did several years ago. It has been a long time since I've tried them, but they might be helpful to you.

Post a pic when you're done. It will be interesting to see what you end up doing.

[Kevin McAllister]

It sounds like this is what you are trying to achieve.

The easiest way to model the fabric is to draw the shape in plan and extrude it. I would recommend offsetting it slightly from the truss (I used 1/16") otherwise the truss/fabric overlap will show when rendering. Alternately you could give the fabric a slight thickness.

Kevin

[Jonathan Pickup]

another way to create the shape is to draw several cross sections, make each cross section into a NURBS and then use the loft surface tool to create the 3D. i have written a manual about 3D modeling that covers this tool. You should get the manual from NNA http://www.nemetschek.net/training/guides.php, or from novedge http://www.novedge.com/products/3836

[BigDan]

Hey,

Thanks for the advice. I messed around with it a bit. I'm not completely happy with it, but it's a work in progress. I ended up using your chiffon-white texture, but I noticed its extremely transparent so what I did was used a 2d polygon in plan mode and simply wrapped the truss multiple times to reduce its "see-through" apearance. I also did 4 layers of spandex accross to try and give it a less transparent apearance.

I'm still playing with it, but I attached a quick low-res render if it so you get the idea of what I was looking for. Your texture labled spandex is very blue so this was my best bet.

*edit* I just dropped a colorblaze behind this piece so you could see its transparency now.. the fabric is not blue.

Edited April 18, 2010 by BigDan

[C. Andrew Dunning]

Dan -

You shouldn't have to be doing multiple layers to adjust transparency. Try editing the texture definition, instead. To do that, right-click on the texture in the Resource Browser and choose "Edit..." Click the "Edit" button next to the "Transparency" shader and adjust the slider. "OK" out of the dialogs and try re-rendering.

Make sense??