Blender: Difference between revisions
Created page with "Blender is usually the first call for any avatar work and is the most powerful tool you will be using. Blender gives you the ability to customise and create the model to any level neccessary, including extruding and moulding objects from nothing at all. This content will mostly be focused around editing and tweaking than creation, but skills gained in blender are universal. == Core Concepts == It helps to have some understanding of how a model is put together from..." |
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In the top left of the blender UI you can change the selection between selecting these, and you can change to wireframe view in the top right. | In the top left of the blender UI you can change the selection between selecting these, and you can change to wireframe view in the top right. | ||
== UV Map and Textures == | === UV Map and Textures === | ||
Textures basically paint onto the mesh, and they do so with the UV map, which is an unfolded version of the mesh that is laid over the texture and describes which parts of the texture go where, try and imagine unwrapping a cardboard box or chocolate santa. | Textures basically paint onto the mesh, and they do so with the UV map, which is an unfolded version of the mesh that is laid over the texture and describes which parts of the texture go where, try and imagine unwrapping a cardboard box or chocolate santa. | ||
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If you do things like assign the wrong texture, the map will be putting the wrong image weirdly all over the mesh. | If you do things like assign the wrong texture, the map will be putting the wrong image weirdly all over the mesh. | ||
== Bones and Weights == | === Bones and Weights === | ||
To have mesh move around, such as wiggling the fingers, moving the arms and legs, or to have a skirt or tail wiggle, the model uses bones. When these bones are moved (in game or in pose mode), they move parts of mesh with them. How they determine how much mesh to move is set with weighting- basically a heat map of how much that mesh should move with the bone. | To have mesh move around, such as wiggling the fingers, moving the arms and legs, or to have a skirt or tail wiggle, the model uses bones. When these bones are moved (in game or in pose mode), they move parts of mesh with them. How they determine how much mesh to move is set with weighting- basically a heat map of how much that mesh should move with the bone. | ||
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In modelling, the Armature is the skeleton of the model, and will start from the Hip bone as the root bone and then all other bones will be children of this bone. When a bone is posed, all children of that bone will also move. | In modelling, the Armature is the skeleton of the model, and will start from the Hip bone as the root bone and then all other bones will be children of this bone. When a bone is posed, all children of that bone will also move. | ||
== Materials == | === Materials === | ||
Materials are applied to areas of mesh and are containers for the UV Map, the texture(s), specular maps, normal maps, etc; basically rendering settings and how pretty the mesh looks when it's in game and being rendered. How shiny something is, how bumpy something is, what parts are transparent, what parts glow, this information is stored within the material. | Materials are applied to areas of mesh and are containers for the UV Map, the texture(s), specular maps, normal maps, etc; basically rendering settings and how pretty the mesh looks when it's in game and being rendered. How shiny something is, how bumpy something is, what parts are transparent, what parts glow, this information is stored within the material. | ||
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Important to keep in mind with making shit for VRChat is that all blender material settings are not exported or used by unity at all, so you will be doing all material configuration in Unity, rather than blender. However, keep in mind that' you'll be using blender materials to set textures, and optimisation usually requires combining materials and textures to make rendering more efficient. | Important to keep in mind with making shit for VRChat is that all blender material settings are not exported or used by unity at all, so you will be doing all material configuration in Unity, rather than blender. However, keep in mind that' you'll be using blender materials to set textures, and optimisation usually requires combining materials and textures to make rendering more efficient. | ||
== Blender UI basics == | |||
<todo> screencaps of these areas | <todo> screencaps of these areas | ||
Revision as of 16:05, 12 April 2022
Blender is usually the first call for any avatar work and is the most powerful tool you will be using. Blender gives you the ability to customise and create the model to any level neccessary, including extruding and moulding objects from nothing at all.
This content will mostly be focused around editing and tweaking than creation, but skills gained in blender are universal.
Core Concepts
It helps to have some understanding of how a model is put together from the component parts and what the core concepts are.
Mesh
Mesh is the skin of the model, and it comprises of polygons, which are described by:
- Vertexes - The points of each polygon
- Faces - the polygon itself
- Edges - the line between two vertexes
In the top left of the blender UI you can change the selection between selecting these, and you can change to wireframe view in the top right.
UV Map and Textures
Textures basically paint onto the mesh, and they do so with the UV map, which is an unfolded version of the mesh that is laid over the texture and describes which parts of the texture go where, try and imagine unwrapping a cardboard box or chocolate santa.
If you do things like assign the wrong texture, the map will be putting the wrong image weirdly all over the mesh.
Bones and Weights
To have mesh move around, such as wiggling the fingers, moving the arms and legs, or to have a skirt or tail wiggle, the model uses bones. When these bones are moved (in game or in pose mode), they move parts of mesh with them. How they determine how much mesh to move is set with weighting- basically a heat map of how much that mesh should move with the bone.
In modelling, the Armature is the skeleton of the model, and will start from the Hip bone as the root bone and then all other bones will be children of this bone. When a bone is posed, all children of that bone will also move.
Materials
Materials are applied to areas of mesh and are containers for the UV Map, the texture(s), specular maps, normal maps, etc; basically rendering settings and how pretty the mesh looks when it's in game and being rendered. How shiny something is, how bumpy something is, what parts are transparent, what parts glow, this information is stored within the material.
Important to keep in mind with making shit for VRChat is that all blender material settings are not exported or used by unity at all, so you will be doing all material configuration in Unity, rather than blender. However, keep in mind that' you'll be using blender materials to set textures, and optimisation usually requires combining materials and textures to make rendering more efficient.
Blender UI basics
<todo> screencaps of these areas
Blender has a tonne of menus, submenus, workspaces and tabs and buttons so a couple of general important things will be highlighted here so if someone says 'go to the material tab' you know where to find it.
Views
There are a few main views and ways to customise them and they're found at the top right of the viewing pane. I recommend poking around up there and seeing how things change.
- Wireframe - Useful for vertex manipulation and selecting through the model
- Flat shading - Will be pretty close how it'll end up in unity, assuming anime model
- Random texture colour - Useful for sculpting mesh with dark colors