DeleD Community Edition

[Leaf]

I would like to model stuff using background images but I don't have any idea how it's done. Let's say I would like to create something like a Stormtrooper helmet. Obviously I can't just take some spheres and mash them together, because there are many concave and convex surfaces etc. Once I played with a mesh & background images but I couldn't get the shape to match the images. How in the earth..?

[Stiglr]

I would also like some detailed instructions on this. Admittedly I haven't looked hard (just got this program 1/2 hour ago! ), but I don't see any basic documentation yet... so, I'll start things rolling.

I found the place in the interface where a background image can be selected.

Right click the viewport you want to place the background image into.

> Background image...

> Load




This brings up a dialog box to navigate to your image.



Select an image and it appears in the background of the selected viewport.




And once it's in place, if you right click the view portal, and select Modify, the object gets a solid black border.

At that point, it can be moved...using the arrow keys in 1 unit grid increments, and in finer unit increments using arrow keys while holding down the shift key. You can also hold down the left mouse button to move it freely.

And also, after selecting Modify, you can also resize the image.

Over on the top right side of the interface, click Scale.



Then, at the bottom right, scale the image using any of three values: Absolute values, Percentages and Individual scale.



Still hazy on how Individual Scale works.... but, if for example, you know the size of the object in the reference graphic, then you can use Absolute values (in meters), match that to the size of the image and voila!

Thanks to AWM Mars in another thread for detailing the use of Modify to scale the image... originally, I couldn't figure it out... probably because I'm used to using cntr + shift keys to resize and move background images in the application I'm most used to. Here, you use interface tools to manipulate the images.
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[harper]

Hi guys,
although one could name this a bug, i found a way to use the "reference-image" very well. Take a picture you need, blow it up to 512x1024 or 1024x2048 pixel with only using the upper half. So you have the picture above the ground-grid and can use the grid-funcion.
Otherwise i were not able to do my characters/faces. See here:



Maybe this feature will be developed to easier functionality, but it is still useable as it is.

[Leaf]

Yeah.. But there's no use for reference images if you don't know how to model the thing in the picture..

i've been using lathe to create a basic shape and then dragging the vertices to create something like the picture, but seems that it's waste of time.. The result is a very crude thing which doesn't look smooth..

[Stiglr]

Well, leaf, suffice it to say you have to learn how to use the tools to get it done.

A Stormtrooper helmet is at its root a cylinder, with the artful use of subdivisions to create the detail. That's a big oversimplification, of course, but it is true.

I'm not familiar enough with DeleD to go into step-by-step detail... but if you have a front and side view of a StarWars trooper helmet, you should be able to create it.
_________________
Targetware contributor and overseer of Target:Corregidor
Windows XP Professional
Athlon 1700+ 1.4GHz
Mobo: FIC AU13 TFA42 BIOS
Allegro sound card
2GB of 2700 DDR memory
Video Card: EVGA 6200 512MB with 6.14.11.8208 drivers
Cougar HOTAS
CH Pedals

[AWM Mars]

You can apply matching views in each viewport except 3D of course. Having a top, side and back image of your model in the right viewports is a great asset.

If you use the numeric scaling, you can match the images up in size.

I tried this technique when I created the Urquhart Castle, albeit I only had a top view to work with. This is not sticky atm, so you will have to set it up eachtime you close and open the programme (another reason for using defineable numeric scaling).
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