Making a Plush Pattern with a 3D Model
- Part 2
You're gonna learn a lot about polygons today. YAY LEARNING!
Sorry. I can't shut up. I personally like understanding the WHYs and how things work so... You're in for a text wall. Buckle up.
Now that half of my model is deleted I only need to edit ONE half.
But I still need to be able to see the other half. (Or I would like to at least.)
To do this We will go to Properties Panel. By default it's usually on the 'Materials' Properties submenu.
There are a TON of submenus in here, but we'll usually mostly only ever mess with 1-3 so don't be overwhelmed! Blender's one downfall is menus and menus and MENUS. (But they're nice menus...so many tools I will never use but totally should.)
Click on the WRENCH Icon to enter the Modifier Properties submenu and add a Mirror Modifier.
It's location varies a little depending on which version of Blender you're using. In the later 3.X or at least 4.0 updates they've been categorized into new subsections.
MIRROR is under "Generate" because it will be generating/creating.
Now we have Togepi's other half, currently think of it as being "simulated" It's not REALLY there YET. This is good for non-destructive editing. You will "Apply" the modifier later (you can not apply modifiers in Edit Mode, use Object Mode) to make the other half "really exist" if needed.
Understanding Unwrapping (Optional Info)
This is the actual "Patterning" Part, which is basically a digital (slightly less accurate unless you're very good at it.) version of the Duct Tape Pattern Method. The model is your Duct Tape.
The Knife Tool will be your cutting tool that makes the seams you sew by making the pieces lie as flat as possible for cutting them out of flat fabric. In 3D modeling this is called "UV Mapping" & "Unwrapping" a model. It's similar to sewing but where you place seams can be very different "Efficient" UVs for animated characters are not important for stuffed toys for example. (Game models also don't have a need for things like Darts.)
OPTIONAL BUT VERY SUGGESTED STEP:
It's generally easier to work with Quads. You can make faster selections by double clicking on an edge (the lines) of a quad mesh than a triangulated mesh so I'll convert Tris to Quads you do not have to do this step. It's entirely optional. It can mess up the UV Mapping of the original model so if it breaks too much skip it or only convert some sections to quads by selecting them manually before converting.
NOTE: If you can't "Draw" the markings (Like Togepi's eyes and eggshell marks) you'll want to add geometry so you can see them on the pattern to use as a guide for placement of features and such. If you can draw them in art software, you can use the "Marking" tools in Plushify instead.
We're going to be bouncing back and forth between Cutting with the Knife Tool, Selecting Edges, and Marking Seams. Like. A LOT.
You'll be using the knife tool often, but use the model's existing geometry (the polygons n stuff) to your advantage. For example, I am selecting the edges on top of the head since I know I want a seam there, and there's perfectly round already-existing geometry right there.
About That Optional Tris to Quad Step:
I converted the mesh from Tris to Quads so I can double click edges and it will automatically select the "smooth" path of edges. As you can see, it stops at Tris. (Poles, actually?: where 5+ edges come together) making them harder to work with, especiallywith a denser mesh).
With the edges selected I'll use the ribbon menu above the 3D viewport and click EDIT > MARK SEAMS this will turn the edges red. They are now seams. (Only edges can be seams, a single vertice can't. So it's easier to use the Edge Selection mode.)
Tip: OPTIONAL (For speed)
You can set the Mark Seam and Clear Seam commands to a Quick Favorites menu that is based on your cursor when you press the Q Key they'll pop up there for faster access. Or you can change hotkeys in the Preferences.
If the area is tight (Or even overlapping) you can clip the camera into the model OR select the faces that are in your way and hide them with VIEW > HIDE SELECTED (Or the H key) You can unhide them in the same menu (Or with ALT + H).
Bonus points is that "Link Selected" works in this context too so if you hide a row of faces leaving "floating" polygons that aren't touching the mesh of the main body you can select linked (L key) the floaty bits to hide them in one click.
Hiding Togepi's frontmost spike so I can access the edges that are hard to reach at it's base.
Reference is ideal. Especially if you're not familiar with common ways plush patterns may work. I'm going to imitate the pattern of the eggshell on the left official plush as I like that look better. Which means I'll have to EDIT THE MESH a bit to match.
I'm also going to try something similar with the side spikes as you'll see here in the next few steps.
Still in EDIT MODE, I will select the Knife Tool. I'm going to use this to add a few edges for where I want the seam of one of the head spikes to be.
Using the knife tool can be a little weird. You need to hit the ENTER key to confirm a cut and make the tool stop drawing lines. Sometimes I'll just have to hit enter even if the lines are all wrong, and do over, because I'm not used to controlling it very well.
I'll add another seam in the middle of the spike so it's a "2 piece" part.
I'll make as many seams as I need on each part of this object (So the head, arms, and feet) I've added at least one set of seams per mesh object so now I can Unwrap it to fine tune my patterning of these parts.
Click on your object in object model, and enter EDIT MODE
SELECT ALL (A key) of the polygons of your object in edit mode to highlight them.
This will show black lines on the left viewport that represent the flattened model. We will be breaking the original UV mapping to create a plush pattern UV instead.
Then we will UNWRAP our object, this will use the seams we've set manually (the red lines).
ANY TIME YOU ADD OR REMOVE SEAMS ON AN OBJECT YOU MUST UNWRAP IT AGAIN. OR you can turn on 'Auto unwrap'
Add a little bit of a margin so the unwrapped polygons aren't touching. (They need a little bit of space between the "Islands", it's easier that way.)
While unwrapping the object I found a polygonal face underneath the round top of Togepi's head. We don't want any internal faces in most cases so I will delete it. The same will be done with the part of the arms that intersect into the body later.
Here I've marked each piece with a different color and wrote what is what, for illustrative purposes only. As you can see, because we only have half of the model, with the other half mirrored only ONE HALF of the model shows up on the new updated plush UV map.
The MID-LINE or LINE OF SYMMETRY edge will be counted as a SEAM too.
I've already done the seams on the rest of this object so now I will APPLY the MIRROR MODIFIER to make the right half of the model "physically" exist in the 3D space and become editable.
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