As we get into the fourth version of this fish relief it is getting much more fun.  If you’ve practices and memorized the steps in creating reliefs up to this point then this is where the real fun and creativity begin.

This time around I’ll be doing a few things differently because we’ll be adding textures to various parts of the relief in specific areas. To do this we have to do things in a specific order and with multiple reliefs, merging them at the last moment.

We started with the same vectors as always.

I like to add a border around various components of my pieces. By painting this border dark I can make the element on top really pop. In the case of the fish it also means the small bits will be stronger, simply because they are not as tall off the base relief. So I used the offset tool to create a border 0.2″ away from the fish vectors. In EnRoute when I select the vectors the outline turns blue. Any inside pieces or holes turn red. The outline tool knows which needs an outside line and which goes into the hole.

For the three outlines on the oval I put in a value of 0.3″   I also selected the number three to indicate how many offsets I wanted. Yesterday I did the three rings separately. It can be done either way. But if you do it by asking for multiple offsets they will be grouped and then need ungrouping to do our procedures.

I selected the outermost ring and opened the create relief menu. I selected the bevel tool and asked to limit the height of the relief . This created a chamfer edge on the flat relief.

Then we dropped the center using the dome tool and take away to create a dish shape in the middle. This is all review from the second example.

In EnRoute you can create texture two different ways… one with bitmaps (which I have yet to show) an the second way is with parametrics. This handy, dandy tool creates unlimited and controllable textures using hidden mathematical formulas (that I don’t ever want to even think about).  I just know they work real handy and smooth. I selected the relief and the inside oval. This would modify the base relief using the selected vector as a template. I selected a texture called ELEPHANT SKIN. The only parameter I adjusted was the depth. I made sure it was adding the texture to the relief and then pushed apply.

As quick as that we had the coolest texture in the bottom of the bowl.

Then it was time to add in the fish, domed like the last examples, except this time it would have a smooth border around it. I would dome the border and then add the fish to the top of this dome shape. The border would be built as a separate relief. I created a flat relief 0.7″ high. The number is irrelevant.

Then I selected the fish outline relief and the smallest oval. This would be used a a template to modify the original relief. I selected the dome tool and ADD TO RELIEF entered an angle of sixteen degrees and then apply. The fish border relief then domed up perfectly.

 Then I went

into the front elevation view. It looked good when it was rendered but when I turned off the render I could see the fish border outline was a little high compared to the bottom of the bowl. I used the down arrows to nudge it down until I was happy. At this point the fish border relief stuck down below the bottom of the base relief but it didn’t matter. I would take care of that shortly.

The next step was to MERGE the fish outline to the base relief. I opened the merge menu and selected MERGE HIGHEST. Then follow the prompts. First select the base relief (the big oval) It turns blue. Then push the blue arrow to take you to the next prompt screen.

It then asks you to select the relief you wish to merge. I selected the fish border. It turns red. THen hit the green arrow to apply.

I hit render to make sure it did what I thought was going to happen. It looked good.

The thing to remember however is that when you merge a relief to another it only alters the base relief. It leaves the one you are adding intact and unaltered. This must be moved to another layer and made in active or else deleted.

Then it was time to add the fish. It would be added to the base relief which now has the fish outline as part of it. I selected the base relief (outside oval) AND the outline of the fish. I decided I would make the fish with a bevel. Creating bevel shapes with vectors of different widths can do some pretty funky things with the crown of the reliefs changing height depending on the width, since the angle is constant.  EnRoute had a constant height button that alters the angle of the bevel but in this case he different heights looked pretty cool1

It is no secret that I LOVE texture and so I decided I would add some texture to the fish. I would use parametric textures once more for this exercise. But this time I wanted something a little more subtle so I went with a texture called PARCHMENT. I made sure the AD TO button was selected and also altered the height to 0.1″ I selected the outside oval (base relief) and the vectors of the fish to create a mask and then hit apply.

Predictably the fish alone received the texture.

Today I created another version of the fish plaque, taking things up one more notch of course. I started with the very same vectors. First I added another oval using the offset tool to make the plaque a little bigger. You’ll see why a little further down.

After selecting the outside vector I opened the create relief menu and selected the bevel tool. I also selected the LIMIT TO HEIGHT option. I set the angle to 40 degrees. The base (height of the edge before the angle starts) was set to 0.5″   The overall height (where the relief would be limited to was set at 0.8″ tall. Then I hit enter.  I failed to grab a rendered screen shot but the effect can be seen further down this post. The purpose of doing things this way is to create a nice bevelled edge around the oval. There are plenty of ways to do this in EnRoute but this works real nifty.

I then used the vector offset tool to create some inside ovals. These were created with an inside offset of 0.3″   For this entry we’ll only use the inside one but the reason for the extra wide border will become apparent next time.

I then opened the create relief menu, selecting the SUBTRACT OPTION. I wanted a BASE of 0.2″ This is how deep the hole will be before the curve starts. The angle was set at 15 degrees.

In the front view WITH THE RENDER TURNED OFF we can see how deep the bowl is in the middle of the relief

Then it was time to build the fish. This time it would be done as a separate relief which we would MERGE HIGHEST with the base relief at a later point. I selected the fish and created a flat relief 0.8″ tall. The height arbitrary as you will see later.  Then holding down the shift key I also selected the inside oval. I would use this oval to MODIFY the flat fish relief using the dome tool. I used an angle of 15 degrees.

I then went to the front view and turned the render off. This allowed me to see the fish in relation to the bowl. The fish was a little high so using the down arrow I nudged it down. The fish now sticks below the bottom relief but it does not matter for we would next MERGE HIGHEST with the base relief..

I opened the MERGE RELIEFS dialogue and following the prompts selected the base relief and MERGE HIGHEST control.

Then I selected the various parts of the fish. This has to be done one piece at a time.

The final result is a bowl that curves downward and a fish that has a pleasing curved upwards shape. The original fish relief can be deleted or moved to another layer and turned off.

Now that we’ve created a simple relief and modified it a couple different ways it is time to get a little fancier. Let’s start with a chamfered border on our fish plaque.

We started with the very same vectors of course. The first step is to create a vector outline. The border will take a bit more real estate and we don’t want to crowd the fish.

But I waned more. The fish really came alive yesterday when we domed the top of our relief. To dome it only inside the center oval I selected the base relief and then the modifying vector. This would dome the center portion of the oval only. Once again as I clicked the apply button nothing seemed to happen in the top view.

 But when I rendered the piece it was starting to look pretty special.

The last step was to select the base relief, and the fish vector and modify the relief once more by ADDING TO it.  I used a value of 0.3″.  The result was just what I was expecting.

In the front view I can see how much it domes up and how high my relief of the fish sticks up off the surface. I was happy with the result.

During my recent vacation I had plenty of time to think about things I would like to talk about in the future. Visiting Disneyland sure fired up my imagination. But one of the things I have decided to do is go back to the start and go over all the basics of building files. I’ll use the same beginning vectors and over the next series of posts use every possible way I can think of to build the file and in the process create many effects.

I encourage those who are looking to learn the 3D aspects of the software to create a similar vector file and try thing out for yourself. Hopefully you will become more familiar with the virtually unlimited things that are possible.

As we get into the more complex files I’ll tool path a few of them and fire up the MultiCam. Then I’ll take them through the paint process to review all those techniques we use as well.  For those who know all this stuff, well, it will be good review.

So let’s get started…

The other day I was driving to town and I saw a decal on the back window of a truck of this fish. I took note and drew it as I remembered when I got home. It is a nice simple image that will allow us to see things that happen as I play with the software controls. I added the oval shape later.

The first thing I did was to create a flat relief. Mine measured 0.5″ tall but you can use any number that you like here. If you look at the input box the angle measures 45 degrees. Since we are creating a flat relief this number does not matter. Just ignore it.

After I hit the apply button the screen image looks like this. It proves we now have a relief but there isn’t much to show us what happened.

To see what happened hit the render button. It had a light bulb icon on it.

The next step is to select both the relief we just created and the modifier – in this case the fish. The relief we just created will be modified governed by the shape of the vector modifier. I used the add button along with the flat relief button. As a value I entered 0.5″ meaning the fish shape should be raised from he relief by 0.5″. Then I hit reply. The screen image did not change visually.

But when I hit the render button it instantly became apparent what I had done. But one piece of information was missing…  How high had I raised the fish shape?

To answer that question I double clicked the top view button which then changed my view to top, front, side and a 3/4 render.  By double clicking on that view I could better see what had happened. This is important. You need to check this view to make sure everything is done, you go onto next steps that can’t be done.

That concluded our first exercise. For the next version I again created a flat relief. This time I selected the take away button along with the base relief AND the fish vectors to drop the fish INTO the flat relief The top rendering does not look a whole lot different from the first version.

In the 3/4 view what I did becomes readily apparent. The fish is sunk into the base relief. Using the render view is critical to continually check what happened as you work. In doing so one can learn much faster than not using it.

For my third version of the fish I first created a dome shape. In this case I selected the dome tool. The base measurement (the distance the relief comes straight up before it angles off on the face) was 0.2″  The angle determines how steep the start angle is to be.  I know from experience (doing this over and over) that 18 degrees would be cool for this shape.

When I render the relief the dome shape is readily apparent.

Once more I wanted to add the fish shape to the base relief so I selected both the base relief and the modifying vector. I made sure the flat button was pushed and added a value of 0.3″ to determine how much the fish would stick out from the dome shape. After I had applied the modification I hit the render button (light bulb)

Then I double clicked the blue top view button (t

op left) to get my 3/4 render. It looked just like I expected it to.

At this point if you are just beginning your head is most likely almost ready to explode.  My advice is to try these steps over about twenty times to drill these steps into your brain and make you familiar with what happened each time. If something different shows up when you render then you did something wrong. Don’t sweat it if things go awry…. that’s how we learn.

Have un with this and learn it for next time I’ll up the ante a little and build on this lesson.

-dan