To Smooth or Not To Smooth

[jharrison]

So after scanning, do any of you typically save the OBJ without smoothing the surface due to the smoothing option that you have during the fusing process? I'm looking to retain the maximum amount of detail, so in my recent scans I saved 3 versions of each (No filter, interpolated only, and smooth median and interpolated) just to be safe.

When doing my initial tests I just smoothed and interpolated everything, but when browsing the forums I could have sworn I came across a post where someone mentioned about not smoothing at all after the scan and just handling all of that at the fusing stage.

I know I have more control over the level of smooth during the fusing stage, so should I just avoid smoothing at all until then...?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[MagWeb]

Hi,

think you´d read a post of mine.

I do not use the smoothing filters at all, if I plan to align and fuse the scan to others later on. Poisson fusion smoothes enough. I´d only interpolate.
The "bad linkings" (false surface linkings of depth discontinuties) are (nearly) not a real problem, for the align and fusion process referes to the vertices (points) not to the faces.

But maybe this statement will be to be changed if DAVID 2.0 offers a higher fusion resolution.

Gunter

[jharrison]

Yea, I did some quick testing this after noon and came to the conclusion that no filtering and a high poisson resolution is going to be the best route. Interpolating was causing some surface problems that I don't want to clean up in post, so I will most likely just clean what I can in Maya before aligning in ShapeFusion.

I Hope to have some showable results soon!

Thanks, Gunter! You're the man.

-J

[jharrison]

Some test results:

Specs:

Todd McFarlane Action Figure (roughly 6" tall)
Calibration Corner: 45mm
Webcam: Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000
Webcam Resolution: 960X720 - 15fps
Laser: Aixiz 635nM 5mW LaserLine w/ Focusable Lens

(Reference)


(Scan)


I will most likely grab one more scan from underneath to help clean things up a bit, but I'm pretty happy with these results, and I think it is about time to move forward.

[humanticnc]

Hi Jharison
I wish very many successes , beautiful work !!
Tibor

[hal]

Hello jharrison,

Compliments! YOU are the man

Amazing scans: how many times do you spend on it? How many scans were fused?

Now, with David 2, your steps in the future are the texture fusion (if you have already they of this character, you can build a textured mesh..), the retopology work and, finally, the creation of a low poly detailed model, navigable on the net, in the Wiki gallery

Again and forever Compliments, but this MUST be the first of many works with David

p.s.: can you explain more about your action figure (who is, what series)?

Mattia

[jharrison]

Hey Hal,

Thanks for the compliments! I spent a few weeks testing the cabration corner sizes, waiting for my laser to arrive, and rebuilting my overall setup (Which I should show some pics of when I get around to it.)

I'm interested in seeing all of the new David 2 features, but for now I think I'm going to move on (one I finish testing with shapefusion this weekend).

The action figure is from the "Warriors of the Zodiac" series that Todd McFarlane (most popular for his "Spawn" series) created. They are typically some very high detail models which is why I had to test a few different calibration corner sizes in order to get not only the highest resolution, but also an area where the action figure could stand, be rotated, and not block either calibration plane during the scan.

I have a BFA in Digital Art and Animation, and I have to say that David is probably one of the coolest pieces of software that I have worked with; I recall the first day I caught sight of it...I did not sleep that night due to the excitement I had thinking about what I could do with it

This is going to be a long project for me, but I will be posting and updating my results on the Wiki for sure.

Huge thanks to Sven, Simon, and the community for making everything I have done so far possible!

I will update at every stage in the process so you all can see how things are going



Cheers,
Justin

[Simon]

Hello Justin,
fantastic! thanks for sharing your experiences with us!
It would be great if you upload some of your results in our forum (instead of linking to photobucket). Because then they automatically appear in our user gallery, and then it is more likely that other users find your amazing scans...

[jharrison]

alrighty, any image I feel worthy of representing David in a good light I shall attach from now on

[jharrison]

So here we are:

- Scan, check...
- Clean Fusion in Maya, check...

What's next?...Jumping on a plane for vacation in Mexico for a week, Yea!

I busted my butt all week to clean this bad boy up, and I will be doing a re-topo in zBrush as soon as I return home. I'll update as soon as I have something worth showing.

Cheers, everyone!
-J

[humanticnc]

HI Mexikó
Only few chilis eat bean , good relaxation , wait the return of .
Tibor

[Bongobat]

Hi Jharrison,

Very nice work! Are you going to rig the model for animation? If not you can save yourself some work by texturing with texture fusion and touching up with maya's 3d paint tool. You would need to copy the mesh or make a lower poly by decimating in meshlab then use maya's automatic UV on the new mesh. Then transfer texture and if you want normal map from orginal mesh to mesh with new UVs. Then you can paint with maya to touch up or just to give you a better texturing reference. Would save alot of retopo and UV layout for a static mesh. However you do it please post on our wiki and show off your skillz

P.S Nice to see another Maya user in the forums

[humanticnc]

Hi Bongobat
Do you write about this opportunity? This Modo 301 uv
Tibor

[Bongobat]

Hi humanticnc,

I have not used modo yet. I think I see you have not used any kind of UV unwrapping in your picture? Do you get magenta triangles that can not be painted over? I think if you have areas of the mesh that have been filled in by poisson david moves those UVs over into a magenta area of the texture. This is why to do texture paint I needed to unwrap.

Blender has everything you need to do what I was talking about and it is very easy I will make a tutorial if anyone is interested.

[humanticnc]

Hi Bongobat
I cannot get used to it on 55 year ones Blendert , I know it though that good program (free software ) and he has even a Hungarian supporting website . I managed to master the Modo use , but I was not worth UV procession . The picture what I put up it only successful my 2. histic rescue, which the modo was able to interpret, .
http://www.mindentbele.hu/
Tibor