Dead on arrival - But it's not because of my model

(This is a photo through the Makerspace window)

So I'm glad I went into the Makerspace today. I hadn't heard anything about how my print went. Here's the result. I ran into Robert (another student in the class) He explained to me what happened. Apparently my print was going great - for 2 days - and suddenly the printer stopped. It wasn't because of my model though, which was good news. It looks like it would have made a great flower pot. 

 

Reverse engineering a flower pot

 When I originally saw the flower pot design I thought it would be relatively straight forward.

It originally looked like 2 cubes rotated at 90 degrees. 

After that it would just be a matter of cutting out the hole and moving the vertices to the correct heights.

This is was I originally thought was going to be needed as a base shape to build from. I was really wrong and the design is actually more complex that this. 

This is the flower pot starting to take shape. There were a lot of sharp angles and it wasn't exactly smooth sailing like I thought it would be.

I tried to bevel the whole thing in object mode and this happened... I don't even know what went wrong. I discovered I had to select certain edges at a time, the bevel. Even then if I did them in the wrong order strange things would happen.

This was another strange issue that happened more than once. This face had some weird error where these invisible edges would cross over one another. It would be an easy fix but you could not select or see it unless the face was selected and I was trying to use the multi cut tool. I wasn't even able to select them then. I had to delete the face a few times and try different things like 'fill hole' and 'target weld' which then created other problems.

This was the result of having to delete the problematic face.

This is the result of using the 'fill hole' tool. It created a double face in the drainage hole.

I ended up trying to use Boolean/Difference with a cylinder. That just recreated the 'Ghost' geometry issue I was having in the beginning. Lines crossing over that didn't exist.

I ended up having to completely fill the hole and created this geometry using target welding. I actually learned quite a bit trying to fix this issue and overall it was fun. I did have one error that I just couldn't get rid of. Every time I sent my flower pot over to Mudbox I got the same error. I tried cleaning it up multiple times and it was always the same error.

From what I can tell it was some kind of double edge somewhere. I looked everywhere for this thing. I couldn't find it. 

I send my pot off on 31/5/22 to be printed. I haven't heard anything back from Dom yet and everything is due today. I had a class on Thursday and I think I saw it printing but I could only see it from the front window. I think I might drive in to UNH and see if it's finished and someone is there on a Sunday... Maybe I'll do that now. 

Maybe no Ncloth afterall

 I really enjoyed experimenting with Ncloth, but in the end I decided to stick with my original Gooball abstract. I tried making additional Spheres that fell from above and collided with the original Gooball but in the end it wasn't very interesting. Ncloth is an amazing tool though and I'm glad I asked about it.

I've decided on an object to replicate for my Major project. I when with a geometric flower pot.

I wanted to make something I can display or give to someone as a gift. I found this photo on google image and thought it would be straight forward. I did however spend more time than I anticipated trying to figure out how this shape is broken down. There is actually a lot more to the design than I originally thought.

Ncloth is amazing

 I've really enjoyed learning basic modelling skills and getting my head around how Maya works on a basic level. I've manage to make my abstract sculpture with little to no issues. I feel like my Maya training is starting to culminate into something fun. Maya even has features I hoped it would even if I didn't know what they were called and it's widened my horizon quite a bit. Ncloth! What a cool feature. I haven't quite wrapped my head around everything I can do with it but the possibilities are really impressive. You essentially can smash objects together using gravity and adjust the properties of the material that is running into each other. Very cool. I've found a more in-depth tutorial to help me get to know the feature a bit more. I can't wait to see what I can do with it in regards to my abstract sculpture. 

Here's a look at where I am as far as my Gooball:

Week 7

Week 6

 This week was online again. In some ways I kind of prefer it, it's easier to see and hear. Going to miss these social interactions when we're all locked in a closet hooked up to the metaverse. 

I finished the Rough boy model from the PDF tutorial. I had a bit of trouble getting the lumps out of the head but I figured I would continue on and extrude the hair out of it anyway. It was a good exercise and it gave me a lot of ideas for my Piggy Bank. 

Week 5

 This week I've finally completed the Boy figure pdf and I'm moving on to the boy's features. I'm feeling pretty confident with Mayas basic functions and navigating around the model. 

During our tutorial this week I pitched my Elden Ring stone sword statue idea and I think it became apparent that it might be too difficult with all the negative spaces. I have been sketching loads of ideas that might be more achievable.

This is a Stone Clock idea I had.

A garbage bag paperweight.

A piggy bank that shoots a coin out when you drop it in.

I realise that the first assessment might call for a biped figure but I'm hoping at least one of these will be suitable. 

 

Week 4

 I spent Monday afternoon getting my model caught up and back to where I lost it all. I got back into the zone and everything was looking good. This time I was saving regularly and everything was going great. Looked at my phone to check the time - it's 2:56pm. I have 4 minutes to get to my tutorial and I live 13 minutes from campus. Great... After finding parking I was only 20 minutes late to class. Leo saw me setting up my laptop and asked me how I was going with it all. I must've had a look of pain in my eyes because he knelt down next to me and with a knowing look he just "Yeah....".  But it was a good opportunity to ask a few questions about Maya that I was having issues with. The second time going through the model has been a lot smoother.

I've also come up with a few things that make using Maya a little easier. My gaming mouse has lot of extra buttons and I programmed one them to be ALT. Now I can navigate around the screen with one hand and dry my tears with my free hand. 

I'm not sure where I went wrong but I started having the double extrude problem in the palm again. Leo showed me how to select the palm and merge in all to avoid the headache I had in Week 3. Everything is going good and I'm hoping to have this boy model done and dusted by the weekend. 

I think I've also decided what I want to do for my assessment task. I have been playing this game called Elden Ring with my geek mates and there is an object called a Stonesword Key Statue:

You stick a key in it and it gives you access to areas you might want to explore. I was going to make a miniature version you can stick a set of housekeys into and keep it by your door. I need to run it by Leo and see if how achievable he thinks it is with all the complex shapes and negative space. But if I can get it printed I'd like to make 3-4 of them and give them to my geek mates as a gift.

Week 3

 Lesson learned - Save your work...

I started using the PDF in from the OneDrive resources folder and everything was going great. I was getting more comfortable with the keyboard shortcuts and getting the hang of tumbling around the screen to view the model from the angle I needed. I got as far as the hand portion of the model and it was time to start extruding the fingers. I noticed there was another plane sandwiched in-between the upper and lower sections of the finger. No big deal I thought.. I'll just delete the plane and hold the V key to snap the vertexes together like in the week 1 exercise... wrong. Maya started behaving strangely... it was most probably user error. The wrong vertexes were connecting and it started to get worse so I figured... undo.. no problem. MAYA CRASHED... Still wasn't worried.. no problem it's the year 2022 and I'm sure autosave will save me a headache... everything has autosave right? Did you know autosave isn't enabled by default??? Why not? I wish I knew. 2.5 hours and the blood in my face... GONE! My model was gone... my initial thought was to drop the class and rid myself of Maya all together. I walked away from my laptop and turned on my PS5 to play Elden Ring. After 40 minutes of being killed by EVERYTHING I thought 'You know what? Maya isn't that.' I got back on my laptop and started again. 

Take 2:

Step 1: Save scene as....

  

Week 2

 This week we went over the basics of Maya. How to navigate the UI, navigate around the scene and some of the basic tools. We worked with primitive shapes and learned to join them in the correct way using grid snapping. It was very basic but I really want to focus on getting this right. As a mature age student it can be intimidating working with students half my age with 10x the knowledge so I realise I have some catching up to do.

I want to go over the basics again to really solidify them in my mind so I'm able to move onto the next steps more efficiently. I found a great course on linked in learning that very thoroughly went over the basic navigation again as well as show a few more features of Maya that may be useful later on. 

The linked in course came with a 250gb exercise file that is useful for following along and its really helping me get comfortable with Maya.

I have also been using the built in Maya tutorials to get my head around everything. They even have this small game to really help you get used to everything. 

I know it's probably a bit over the top but I really want to take this seriously and do a good job for myself. Going back to school at 37 was a big decision and I know why I'm here. I really want to acquire as many skills as possible and better myself.

Week 1

     

This will be my first time working with Maya and 3D Printing. I've always been really interested in the idea of rapid prototyping. I think it probably started when I was a kid watching sci-fi or reading comics. The idea of a computer spitting out an object that can then be used physically blew my mind. Its now a part of just about every industry in one way or another. I'm really hoping to gain a deeper understanding of how the entire process works by the end of the course. So here we go... Maya installed...