Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Random 3D Question that has Nothing to do with Field Prod.
So, I recently saw a review for the movie "Rango" and when watching clips from it, I randomly had the thought "how do animators make feathers on birds." I know some preliminary stuff about 3D and know, generally, how modelers make hair, but do they use as similar concept to make feathers or not? I mean, hair, though organized, can be made random within certain areas and parameters, but because feathers have a precise function, placement, and position on birds (not to mention that they don't bend easily), would using a generator similar to that of hair work? Not to mention that feathers have "hair" on them (I don't know the technical name). I don't know, only that it must have taken a bit of time to make.
There is a simple way to create feathers using alpha channel maps instead of rendering "hair". Although fluffy feathers like the ones in Legend of the Guardians is an entirely different story (and very complex procedural modeling), feathers for most birds can be done in a very economical fashion by applying such maps to some simple polygons. I can show you how if you are interested,
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