Making a sphere
<div class="IPBDescription">tutorial</div>Here is a first draft finished example : (probably will be using this for the ns2 community map)
<img src="http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/189/2012070500001.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
The idea is to create only a quarter of the sphere first, so that you only have to do 1/4 of the work! :)
<img src="http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1255/1drawhalfofcrosssection.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>1. Draw 1/2 of your cross section of your shape </b>
- draw the 1/2 way point - this will later become the center of your sphere, it is mostly a reference for easy of aligning etc
- make sure that every vertex is on the grid (otherwise you'll go insane later..)
<img src="http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/3222/2createacirclefromhalfw.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>2. Draw a circle from the center line reference (the lonely line on the left in fig#1) to one of the vertices of the cross section</b>
- I like to start at the bottom / outer most area of my cross section, and work my way up and in.
- delete all of the circle, except 1 quarter
<img src="http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/1403/3copyandrotatecrosssect.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>3. Copy the front part of your cross section, and turn it 90 deg so that it touches the other side of the quarter circle</b>
<img src="http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/9391/4duplicatemoveresizethe.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>4. Now, select the quarter circle, move it to your next set of vertices, and resize so that it fits between the two cross sections</b>
-repeat this process all of the way up, duplicating, moving, resizing.
<img src="http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6972/5drawverticlelines.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>5. Draw the verticle lines</b>
-first weld all of your vertices (spacebar,ctrl+a, ctrl+w)
-use the line tool to draw verticle lines so that you are creating faces
-take your time here to create every face, and face the face the correct way. lets face it :)
<img src="http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/6819/6textureduplicaterotate.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>6. Texture Duplicate Rotate</b>
- Texture every face, basically spend your time here polishing as much as you can (otherwise you'll be repeating it 4 times later on)
- make sure your texture lock is on!
- once you are satisfied, select all, duplicate, rotate and move, so that your quarter circle makes a semi circle.
- repeat until you have a full circle
<b>notes:</b> I would recommend doing atleast 32 sides when creating your circle in fig#2 - i've used 16 sides as an example cause its less work here
<img src="http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/189/2012070500001.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
The idea is to create only a quarter of the sphere first, so that you only have to do 1/4 of the work! :)
<img src="http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1255/1drawhalfofcrosssection.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>1. Draw 1/2 of your cross section of your shape </b>
- draw the 1/2 way point - this will later become the center of your sphere, it is mostly a reference for easy of aligning etc
- make sure that every vertex is on the grid (otherwise you'll go insane later..)
<img src="http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/3222/2createacirclefromhalfw.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>2. Draw a circle from the center line reference (the lonely line on the left in fig#1) to one of the vertices of the cross section</b>
- I like to start at the bottom / outer most area of my cross section, and work my way up and in.
- delete all of the circle, except 1 quarter
<img src="http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/1403/3copyandrotatecrosssect.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>3. Copy the front part of your cross section, and turn it 90 deg so that it touches the other side of the quarter circle</b>
<img src="http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/9391/4duplicatemoveresizethe.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>4. Now, select the quarter circle, move it to your next set of vertices, and resize so that it fits between the two cross sections</b>
-repeat this process all of the way up, duplicating, moving, resizing.
<img src="http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6972/5drawverticlelines.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>5. Draw the verticle lines</b>
-first weld all of your vertices (spacebar,ctrl+a, ctrl+w)
-use the line tool to draw verticle lines so that you are creating faces
-take your time here to create every face, and face the face the correct way. lets face it :)
<img src="http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/6819/6textureduplicaterotate.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>6. Texture Duplicate Rotate</b>
- Texture every face, basically spend your time here polishing as much as you can (otherwise you'll be repeating it 4 times later on)
- make sure your texture lock is on!
- once you are satisfied, select all, duplicate, rotate and move, so that your quarter circle makes a semi circle.
- repeat until you have a full circle
<b>notes:</b> I would recommend doing atleast 32 sides when creating your circle in fig#2 - i've used 16 sides as an example cause its less work here
Comments
Keep in mind how difficult it would be to texture something like this, probably every section would need it's own texture with border lines.
3del and Mendasp's ways are both relying on properly scaling, which I found to be more difficult / less accurate. 3del's way I believe has an advantage just because you only need to texture one quarter of the sphere.
Keep in mind how difficult it would be to texture something like this, probably every section would need it's own texture with border lines.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
if you find the right texture, you can just do the select all and press FIT :) works ok
<!--quoteo(post=1949376:date=Jul 6 2012, 10:12 PM:name=Mendasp)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Mendasp @ Jul 6 2012, 10:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1949376"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Wouldn't it be simpler to extrude a circle and resize it until you reach the top?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
yes I suppose you could :)
the reason i did it this way was, if you are using a large number of sides (anything more than 16 really) you save yourself a bit of texturing work since you are only doing 1/4 of it.
<!--quoteo(post=1949407:date=Jul 7 2012, 01:43 AM:name=Psyke)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Psyke @ Jul 7 2012, 01:43 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1949407"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I did this by making the circle (vertical), selecting, duplicating, and rotating by 22.5 degrees. Rinse and repeat, and then connect all the vertices. I think that was the fastest and most precise method I tried.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
thats actually probably the best way now that i think about it lol