3D Printed Block of Chain

 

3D Printed chain length

This was a 3D printing test for an articulated chain layout. It used gray UV cure, water washable print resin. The design for the chain is continuous, and already linked together. The pieces are close enough in proximity to get lightly fused, so as to be easily snapped apart after curing. This single level was printed in about 20 minutes. At this particular scale, 1 level made a chain about 60 inches in length. If increased to multiple levels, it could allow a block of chain potentially 100ft long.

Chain strands model layout

Single Level

Unsnapping fused elements

Final released links

Analysis:

The links were heavily fused in this test, likely from overexposure. Printing did come apart without breaking. A few links cracked, and there were chips and pits where the thick material was snapped apart. The links are strong enough to work with for miniature models. 

This trial used no supports and although convenient, there were side effects. The base points fused well, but the base layer thickness created difficulty unsnapping the links. Also the reflectivity of the steel base-plate creates distortion in material exposure of early features.

Overall a successful test with some further tweaks needed to improve the outcome. We will continue with variations of this experiment, maybe with slight layout adjustment and supports. Also find out how it scales.

Next Steps:

• Adjust exposure time and print settings
• Support the base layer
• Test other possible layouts
• Determine how small it can scale
• Attempt to add several more levels

All in one PC rebuild

 HP All-in-one had broken screen, but this salvaged LCD Works.  It was a touch screen, but now it will just be a plain non-touch panel. Making it fit is going to be the main challenge. The system is functional, but the platter hard drive was replaced with a 1Tb SSD.

Testing a salvaged LCD Panel,
Miraculously compatible cables!

Do not accidently mount the screen upside-down.

3D Printed structural non-solid

The LCD will be mounted to a wood back panel, that fits inside the computer where the old touch screen was seated. It just needs some spacers for the cables. For this, some non-solid spacers were 3d printed and fixed on the back, then mounted on the wood panel. This just might work.

Spacers ready to mount

Project in progress...

Inside view: small hole cut for video power access.
SSD dropped into place. Such a tiny motherboard.

Next Steps:

1. mount screen

2. measure and design side brackets

3. drill case edges to line up with the screen mounts\

4. work the cables into place and plug in.

5. screw mount screen and figure out final trim for screen.

Once the spacers are mounted to the panel and ready to install, a few more 3d printed brackets will be required. The LCD has screw holes on the sides which can be used to mount into the plastic edges of the case, where new mounting holes can be drilled. The 3d printed brackets will go along the sides of the screen with screws to enable removal and maintenance.

There are holes to allow the video and power cabling to go through, but the next challenge will be to wrangle the stiff video cable in a way that will not kink or obstruct the components.

When everything is mounted and plugged in, there is a bezel from the salvage LCD that may be able to be used to give it a cleaner look instead of bare metal around the edges. it may not work without modification, due to the (pending, 3d printed) mounting brackets.

cables connected ok, and LCD dropped into place.
from here we can see the webcam being obstructed.

all in one with extra large screen

the bezel still fits nicely.

An unforeseen issue is the popup webcam on the top. it cannot see over the larger screen. The cam can be detached and remounted on the new screen.

Next:

1. installing windows

2. updates and drivers

3. attempt webcam modifications

4. prepare screw fixture plan and secure the new screen assembly.

Generated Desert Sand

 Idea for generating windblown sand texture in Blender, and Unreal Engine.

I saw some nice sand patterns from a desert photo and it reminded me of the weird type of patterns the Blender Musgrave texture generates. After some experimentation, the results were actually pretty decent. Here are some examples of the setup.

The Musgrave textures are stretched out run, through ramps and blended together, then a Voronoi is used to make variations in the strength of some of the peaks. The Musgraves are also rotated around at different angles, because they tend to reveal repeating lines with larger scale values.

This technique might also help generate some interesting textures to use for panning water normals.

using several blended Musgrave textures input
into a bump, and into normals for baking.
Output Normal map, and Heightmap.
Tweaked to make seamless in Krita.

Shader setup on a plane in UE4

Simple UE4 shader with added color,
and heightmap to modulate roughness.
Blended the normal map with a seamless noise normal
to add some fine grains.

Download Texture Images

Panoramic texture capture

 Experiments with using panoramic mode to capture surface textures.

flat ground textures can be scanned using this mode. also cylindrical objects like trees, barrels, or pillars. The difficulty is getting a smooth continuous scan. hand-held auto stabilization is poor overall. it would be better to user a cam-rig of some type, or roller wheel.

Fountain cobblestone
(captured about half way around the ring)

tree unwrap

Long terrain scan

wild garden area

Toy tractor paint aging

Started with this 1:50 scale diecast, John Deere 744H front loader from around 2002 (Ertl 5085). Not as believable with perfectly even shiny paint, and not a speck of dirt on it. The texturing process will use acrylic craft paint, this way it could be applied and removed, if desired, without damaging the original model.

Aged using matte acrylic craft paint. Bucket with Semple black. entire body was repainted with matte yellow and aged through various wash layering passes. then edge highlights with silver metallic.

tires fully painted with matte black, washed and dusted with sifted concrete. 
(wheel rims not yet completed.)

layering of paint for mud, rust, dust, occlusion, paint fading, & metallic abrasions.

watch model

first stage front-back

Beginning modeling of a watch. Stauer "Noire" model. I enjoy the design and hope to capture the details as accurately as possible.

This is a practice in high polygon hard surfaces, using quads, avoiding triangles during the process. This will be textured and rendered. I plan to adapt a low poly version to be available for realtime graphics display.

In the first session, the main case body was blocked out in medium detail and contains a subdivision surface modifier. Material zones are assigned for chrome and brushed areas.

subdivision view

edges

In the fine details of the back plate some triangles are hiding around, as long as they contribute to a clean surface, i'm not too concerned. This area received very heavy edge duplication to help smooth the bevels. It seems to give a clean result; nice highlights on the bevels with no real distortion. These areas will never really be seen, it is just for study.

surface result

Alternative: creased edges

matcap rendering with crown and pins completed

square holes become round

strap and latch

Modeling the band was done in mirror and went quickly. The tiny holes were fairly tedious but came out smooth. A useful tool for sniffing out any hiding n-gons, has been MeshLint. Also helps in finding other wonky geometry. simple and effective. At this stage some tweaks before texturing.

A few UV paintings to represent the band and face.

textures - bump map - strap color

The band was produced mostly by bump mapping. Images painted with Gimp 2.8
consisting of stitches and a paint crackle overlay.

bump map applied to material

Thinking about how to make the intricate engraving for the watch face. Blender mesh designs to be converted into vector SVG and imported to Inkscape. This script was discovered on a post at blender artists, and worked very well.

face engraving test patterns

 

engraving pattern in blender

A radiating mesh with a few subdivision, twisted proportionally from center. The vector image was imported nicely in Inkscape. More editing in Gimp, for duplicating and eroding the layers, a kind of expanding depth was able to build up. finishing details in vector: concentric circles around edges, sub-dials with crosshatching, date window, and small raised area for label.

face engraving pattern for bump map

bump map test application

full face bumpmap

face texture detailed in Inkscape

Next is rigging the band so it can be curved around and posed.

rigged bands using empties+IK+hooks

Adjusting materials, camera, and test rendering.

nodes - dial face bump map

nodes - environment applied

mask application - chrome/brushed

nodes - anisotropic/chrome mask

textures work in progress

rendering scene - work in progress

rendering - all detailed

A few spots need to be perfected. probably add the numbering to the bump-map for a bit of embossing. band uv and texture adjustment. indicator spots on hands. probably incorporate in cool "noire" context; currently a lame concrete bitmap substitutes while details are tweaked. not to forget to adapt a low-poly version.

Blender - Cycles rendering textures with alpha mask

The problem was to get Cycles to render a texture with its alpha as transparent.
Acting within the "compositing" nodes and checking "use nodes" on. Output to Viewer Node.
Some difficulty in activating the viewer node is fixed by clicking material /compositing buttons repeatedly. This refreshes and shows the output through the node network.

In compositing, simply load the "image texture" which contains the alpha, as a node.
Connect its alpha output to the factor of a "converter/Color Ramp". This goes out to a Viewer node. Now the output can be saved within the image viewer as an Alpha Mask!


Finally, back in material nodes, both Image Textures can be loaded. Forked from their UV node to Image Vector, the "Alpha Mask" color goes into the Factor of a Mix Shader.
A Transparent Shader connects into the Top Mix Shader input.
The Image Texture color, maps through an Emission Shader, to the Bottom Mix Shader input.
Finally the Mix is output to Material Surface.

Of course the Emission shader could be substituted for diffuse or whatever surface quality is needed.

Easier as a diagram.

Step 1: Compositing View

Step 2: Material View