Old-Time Wooden Well

[tolae]

Hello everyone, I'm working on an environment prop piece and I could use some help. I have modeled most of the well, but have snagged up on a certain piece. I am working on the rope that is used to lower the bucket down. I have a rough model of the rope but I'm not sure that it has a good look to it. Also, I have gotten the rest of the model unwrapped, but I am unsure of the best way to unwrap this coiling rope. The first picture below is the reference image, others are wireframe and close-up on rope area in question. I am kind of at a loss here for how to unwrap the rope if I keep what I have. Maybe break it all up and stitch back together? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

[douglasfigueira]

What 3D package are you using?

[rocneasta]

from your website i take it you are doing this in 3ds max. Best and most easiest way to unwrap the rope is by spline mapping that came out if i remember it correctly in max 2009

[rocneasta]

Youtube video

just googled it and this is the first video i found, i remember attending a webinar from autodesk about this...

[tolae]

Thank you for the help, I've given it a try and am having some troubles with it. It seems to just bunching together and relax in the uv window isn't helping it unravel. I'm thinking maybe I will break it up, then spline unwrap the segments, then reattach and finish it up. Also, should I make it one one big piece when it is done being unwrapped? Or should it be broken up?

Oh, and sorry, I am using 3ds Max 2010. Forgot to mention that in the original post. Thanks again for the help.

[YEAROFTHEOX]

How is your rope made? If you made it with a spline, just make sure you hit the 'generate mapping Coords.' tickbox under the splines rendering rollout. that should give you perfect uvs. Or maybe I misunderstood the problem.

[ClassicGamer-3DT]

That's rather nice I like it so far

[rocneasta]

also if you already made the rope from helix then altered it to fit the nots etc, then converted it to editable poly, you can always select one edge, Loop it, then create shape from that edge and use that for spline mapping

[tolae]

I did originally make it with a spline, then converted to editable poly to make some tweaks. I think I missed the generate UV's option, but wouldn't it mess up after I made the tweaks in editable poly anyways?

@rocneasta I did use the make shape from selection thing and when I tried to do the spline mapping, the system tied up for a second, then I got a mess of controls for the mapping that was difficult to decipher. I have to work in a bit, but I will post a screencap of what it looks like to give you a visual.

Thanks again for your help guys.

[YEAROFTHEOX]

I think it probably depends on how big of a 'tweak' you do, but it will still be fine.

[tolae]

I think I made the no-no of collapsing to editable poly instead of using the stack. I will go through and make the change back. Should be able to recreate it quickly using the create shape from selection thing. Will work on tonight after work and post result. Thanks again for the help everyone.

[tolae]

Success! I have finally reworked the rope modelling and have got it unwrapped and indicated by the image below. There are some spots here and there that are stretching a bit, not a perfect unwrap, but it's getting late, so I think I am going to call it a night and continue working tomorrow. Next on the to-do list is to get everything packed and ready to go. Thank you to everyone for your help so far!

[tolae]

Today, I finished unwrapping the leftover objects and got everything packed and ready to go. Next, I will separate them back into individual objects and get them imported into mudbox for the sculpt.

[McFly]

Keep going man, hardest tasks are done!

[tolae]

Ok, sorry that I haven't updated in a while, had some other things I had to take care of. Anyways, I finally have the model unwrapped and got it imported to mudbox for the sculpting portion, but I am having a problem. I am trying to follow this video, http://vimeo.com/6176427

The problem is that I am not getting the same easily rounded corners and thought that it might be just that my sub-d's weren't high enough, so I went up a few levels and same basic problem. The corners don't smooth over like they do in the video, they kind of twist into each other. Anyone know what might be the problem?