[kraemerJK]

... hmmm... well, actually I am more the archviz guy, so I usually tend to model straight stuff. This is why I am stuck here.

I need to model a heap of stones (the rough, gravel type stuff). I would love to do that in Rhino. Is there a plug-in or something that I can use ?

I have to animate the stones later (in Cinema 4D), so each stone has to be one object and has to be slightly different from the rest. I think noise modifiers are not known to rhino.

The only idea I have is to model each and every stone, but I don´t think that this would help.

Any Idea would be appreciated.

[Maximus3D]

If you're gonna do a whole bunch of stones why not just do them in C4D directly instead of in Rhino, it'd be much easier and give you better control and results. I mean you're gonna animate them anyways in C4D in your scene.. it's better to make them there so you can go back and edit them if necessary.

/ Max

[kraemerJK]

Thanks Maximus, you are surely right. Maybe it´s the "Architect meets organic" thing but : What approach would you use in C4D? I never did much modelling there, so consider me a newbie.

Since I am kind of a lazy guy, I just wish I could order a truckload that just dumps the stuff in my c4d-file .....

[Maximus3D]

Anytime but i leave the "how-to's" to the pro's to help you as i might be pointing you in the wrong direction. I'm just a noob

/ Max

[ivox3]

Are we talking sharp stones, .....little stones, ....rounded boulders, ....or maybe excavated rocks from a site that later get used as decoration?

Point modeling in Rhino is pretty easy, ... so, how big is the heap?

[kraemerJK]

Let´s put it this way :

I have to model sharp-edged stones, I think I will need at least 30 to 40 different ones to make the whole setup look good and not repetitive. Besides, I am going to have some definite close-ups to do, so they really have to differ.

The thing is : I could sit down and model them (and I think at the end of the day I am going to do just that). I am just trying to weigh my options beforehand, because I tend to avoid such stuff if there is some easier way to manage such repetitive tasks.

What exactly do you mean by point modelling ? Using point clouds to generate surfaces ??

[ivox3]

Okay, .....30-40 is not so bad.

Point modeling in Rhino 101.

Make a sphere.

Turn on it's control points. It should be in the MMB pop-up tool bar.

You can deform that sphere by dragging those points.

In this case though, ...there will definitely not be enough points to create a good object. So the [rebuild] command is in order.

With that you can increase the U and V point count.
Also with that command you can change the degree of the object. Meaning, ...how smooth it will deform. degree 1 will have sharp edges on all the vertices between points and progresively smoother with each increment up from there 2, 3....etc. You will definitely not have to go above degree 3 though.

I would just practice on a sphere a little bit to get a feel.

At it's surface, ....this type of modeling is easy, ...like I said, ....but for really controlled modeling , .....it can get quite complicated. And there are many other commands you will need to become familiar with to be effective. ;

...but for these rocks, ....you should be able to ahieve them without a great deal of knowledge depth.

It's not a bad thing to know about and everyone has to start somewhere !

Your welcome to PM for any further instruction that might be necessary.

[kraemerJK]

Thanks a "heap" Ivox ! I never used control points on solids before in Rhino, only on curves and stuff.

I tried a quick modelling and it´s definitely the direction I need.

[ivox3]

good to hear, ....

If you get a little frustrated in the process, ...like I said ... Just PM and I'll move you past it.


Nice pun.

[acquiesse]

Hi,

If you are wanting "Sharp Edged Stones" it might be worth starting with a box, and then following the previous advice. That would leave your edges crisp, but allow you to make the surfaces of the stone undulating...

Hope this helps...

[kraemerJK]

can you activate points for boxes ? I think that only works with spheres ?

[ivox3]

Sadly, ....you cannot.

[kraemerJK]

I thought so, I tried that first....

[ivox3]

But !

What you can do is on a box, ...... explode it.

Then rebuild the individual sides to the desired UV desnity.

And as long as you don't drag any edge points, .....the box will be able to be joined after any control point editing done.

Now, ...you can also select an entire edge, ....technically you will be selecting a point fron each adjoining surface edge (concident points) and if you drag that somewhere, .....everything will remain aligned. It's assumed that all points are on for each surface with this.

A suggestion would be to go to the Help file > Control Points and take a look at some of the sub topics. If your not already familiar with the SetU and SetV commands, .....these will help when editing.

[ivox3]

One last thing, ......if you notice that the render mesh is grossly mismatched with the wirfeframe, .....then it's just a matter of adjusting your mesh settings. A custom setting may be best. This happens a lot (for me) when editing this way.

Just remember to believe in the wireframe and not the mesh.