I opened the EXTRUDE CONTOURS menu and then selected the create mesh button. In the boxes I asked for 200 slices and 200 stacks. This is much higher than we need but it is a habit I’ve gotten into as it creates a very fine mesh. Modern computers can handle this size file really easy and EnRoute’s render engines also redraw them instantly. I asked for eight revolutions as it created the mesh around the oval. I’ve used this tool so many times I had a pretty good idea of what would look good on this size of relief. This will take some experimentation to get good at. Then I followed the prompts in the box. First it asked me for the contour I wanted to extrude. I selected the cross section of the rope.
Then I was prompted to I selected the second from last oval, then pushed the green apply check mark..
In an instant EnRoute generated the rope. It shows up black.
When I hit the render button the rope mesh appears red. I dropped down the the front view and because I had aligned the original relief to the bottom of the plate the rope floated above it.
When I selected the rope mesh it turned green.
I used the down key to nudge it into position, just a tad higher than half way into the base relief.
To get the APPLY MESH TO RELIEF button to become active I had to select both pieces. I opened the box and selected MERGE HIGHEST… then hit apply.
In an instant the mesh shape was applied to the base relief. When I hit render bits of yellow peek through the red mesh. This tells me everything is peachy keen. The mesh is still there, unaltered. I can either delete it or move it to an inactive layer.
This version of the fish plaque is now complete and looks extra snazzy.
Tomorrow we’ll begin once more creating a new version using bitmaps for texture.
-dan
