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Author Topic: Railclone Roof Slates Issue  (Read 896 times)

marinkoliba

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Railclone Roof Slates Issue
« on: April 24, 2020, 11:27:19 AM »
Hello!

I believe that I should start this topic in the RailclonePro section, but for some reason, it doesn't allow me.

During the quarantine, I am trying to get better at Itoo Softwares and found an interesting project to exercise. I am trying to model the Sayama Forest Chapel, but I am facing some issues generating the roof (links with references below).

https://prnt.sc/s54cma   https://prnt.sc/s54cyl   https://prnt.sc/s54d3a

I modeled the wood under the metal slates so it is easy to use it as a surface for Railclone, but it seems that Array 2S Generator will not work here. I got splines from that surface so I can use Linear 1S Generator to scatter the six different sizes of metal slates. I attach the image (link below) of how the generator looks like right now.

https://prnt.sc/s54duc

Issue 01: I create the 1S generator and scatter the slates using Randomize, UVWXForm, Transform operators, and also the RotateTileY Macro in the Default slot. It looks okay for the start and the default, but in the end it slices the last slate (https://prnt.sc/s54e9q). I want it to end with not sliced slate so I tried to put the slates in the Start and End slots. It works, but now it slices the slates before the last (End) slate even though I put it in adaptive/tile mode in the generator. I need it to Start and End with a full slate and to adaptive scale the middle (Default) slates.

Issue 02: As the roof's surface has a lot of different angles I found it difficult to scatter the slates properly as when I rotate (using RotateTileY Macro or X Rotation of the Generator) them so each row covers the one below - I create a gap on the other side. I attach an example image (https://prnt.sc/s54ex7) of the different angles the roof needs. The angles at the ends are 78 degrees and they meet in the middle which is ~67 degrees. As the roof has different sides and different angles I can't make it work properly everywhere. When I make the end slates to be okay- The middle slates look like the bottom slates are overlapping the slates above. (https://prnt.sc/s54fnu)

I tried to workaround this issue by making the slates thicker (to 1cm from 0.4) so when I make them 67 degrees they will fill the gaps at the end. It worked for some of the parts, but the geometry brakes because of the small angle and thick slates (https://prnt.sc/s54g4b).

Issue 03: Even with 0.4cm thick slates at the middle the geometry brakes and the smoothing groups get dark spots (https://prnt.sc/s54gid). I believe there is nothing much I can do about that, but I would love to hear your opinion.

The idea for a workaround I'm currently trying right now:

So the RailClone works fine, but there is an issue with the angles. As I have already modeled the surface I decided to make a square plane 10m, put a camera with Orthographic Projection, 5 lights, and Render Elements (diffuse, reflection, normal, and 3 different distances of ZDepth) and render a 10 000 pixels textures of it. I will unwrap the surface and use the textures created with RailClone for displacement and etc. I would love to hear your opinion about that too! (https://prnt.sc/s5921a)

I upload all working files if anyone has time to look at them. I will be more than happy to see them used in future tutorials as it seems that these issues are for more advanced users of the software.

Thank you for your time!

Regards

« Last Edit: April 24, 2020, 03:30:35 PM by marinkoliba »

Rokas

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Re: Railclone Roof Slates Issue
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2020, 11:30:23 AM »
Hi

Thanks for tough challenge. ;) unfortunately at this point we have no solution.
I can only suggest unwrapping Your walls and then texture/cover in 3d pattern (RailClone or not) in 2d space and bake the textures (displacement/normal/AO or whatever Your workflow requires)


You might be interested in this technique, but it seems it is not very useful in Your particular case as You need strict horizontal lines.

Sorry we could not be more helpful this time.
Rokas

marinkoliba

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Re: Railclone Roof Slates Issue
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2020, 02:10:35 PM »
Thank you, Rokas!

I guess I will keep trying unwrapping the surfaces. It seems a pretty difficult task for now tho... Even when It looks like I made a clean straight unwrap, when I apply the skin wrap - the geometry gets broken/wavy. In your example, it looks really good. Do you mind trying to unwrap the surfaces if I upload them here?  Or please give me a tutorial that will help in this case.

Please note that I have outlined the surfaces by 30cm so I can delete segments I don't need later.

EDIT: I just managed to unwrap them! https://prnt.sc/s6rzbl
It works pretty nice with the texture I rendered but will try with skin wrap too!
« Last Edit: April 27, 2020, 03:28:46 PM by marinkoliba »

marinkoliba

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Re: Railclone Roof Slates Issue
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2020, 04:11:31 PM »
UPDATE

So ... you know that moment that you are trying to do something one week .. and in the end, you HAVE to accept the fact that you cant do it the way you want...

But its 3 A.M. and your brain will not let it go just like that ... so I woke up this morning and cloned the 1S Generator 7 more times and made 8 different generators with default mode set to Adaptive. Gave them 8 different X rotations and 8 different IDs...  https://prnt.sc/s7f2nf

Then the tough part started...I changed the ID for every segment in a way that they follow each other's rotation by 1 degree.  https://prnt.sc/s7f6e6
 
Finally, I put randomized rotation for every slate (even tho in the reference their rotation is not randomized) so the angle difference is not that visible in the different IDs.

I present you .. the one and only ..  3D model of Sayama Forest Chapel metal roof slates - https://prnt.sc/s7f8tm

The only issue I have right now is the overlapping segments where the different IDs meet, because of Adaptive mode. I tried to use Tile mode, but it just slices the segments where the Adaptive mode would put an overlapping segment.

Next step would be to collapse the Railclone and manually remove the slates at the end .. Then additionally extend the slates next to them using the Preserve UVs option.

I'm scared to put a chamfer modifier, but this will be the final step.

EDIT: Adding a clipping area would help me slice the slates that go outside which will help me Border Select them > Delete the elements.
I am also uploading the Railclone here in case anyone wants to experiment with it.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2020, 04:42:23 PM by marinkoliba »