ArtCAM Pro 5.

12. Relief Editing

12. Relief Editing

Overview
Tools for Editing the Relief can be found on the Relief Editing Toolbar, and also in the Assistant.

Lizard Relief Example

From Examples/Lizard, open the model Lizard.art. Save as training-lizard in C:\Temp

The overall height of this lizard can be reduced by using the scale relief function. The option , preserve detail will keep features, that may be erased with a general scaling, but takes some time to generate.

Select Scale Relief.

The Scale Relief Height button allows you to adjust the height of the entire relief. Ticking the Scale Colour checkbox allows you to adjust the height of certain areas of the relief which correspond to areas of the Primary colour in the 2D View. This dialog box tells you the current maximum height of the model and of the relief in the area covered by the primary colour. It then allows you to adjust these values and alter the Z range.

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Select a new height of 35, leave Preserve detail unchecked and select OK.

The lizard relief now has a maximum height of 35. The relief can be inverted negatively, for generating a mould. Generally, the relief is saved before inverting.

Save the relief as lizard-top.rlf in C:/Temp. Select invert relief Z only.

The lizard relief is inverted, producing a negative image. The relief can be inverted, again returning it to its original state.

Select invert relief Z only and then select invert relief male/female.

The lizard is inverted and also mirrored. The relief can be inverted, again returning it to its original state

Select invert relief male/female. Select offset Relief.

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The Offset Relief button allows you to offset the relief by a certain distance either Inwards or Outwards.

Select OK on an Offset Distance of 1. (Relief is now 36mm high).

Sculpting
Interactive Sculpting can be used for touching up 3D reliefs by adding material, removing material or smoothing the relief by using the mouse directly on the relief in the 3D View.

Select the Sculpting button.

A temporary relief is produced. his is the relief you work on while sculpting. The 3D View is maximised and the Interactive Sculpting page in the Assistant appears. Smooth allows you to selectively smooth the relief rather than using the Smooth Relief button on the Relief Editing Toolbar. Smudge takes a copy of the relief under the brush, and allows it to be dragged to another position. Deposit add material to the relief. Carve removes material from the relief. Eraser selective undo for any part of the relief affected by this session of Interactive Sculpting.

Each action has options for brush size, strength, etc, and the relevant options will be available depending on the action chosen.

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At any time, you can Apply the changes made which will alter the original relief. The Revert button goes back to the original relief unless you have applied any changes in which case you will go back to the last time the changes were Applied. The Cancel button exits Interactive Sculpting mode ignoring all changes that were not applied. The Finish button exits Interactive Sculpting mode and applies all changes.

Sculpting Teddy Example

Click the Load Relief button on the Relief toolbar. Open the file Sculpt_Teddy.art from the Examples/Ted_bear.

You can see that this relief has quite sharp edges and creases particularly where the arms join the body. Instead of smoothing the whole relief to get rid of these, you could use the interactive sculpting just to smooth those particular areas.

Change to a view down the Z-axis. Click the Sculpting button on the Relief Editing toolbar.
The Interactive Sculpting page appears in the Assistant and a temporary relief replaces the 3D relief.

Ensure that the Smooth option is selected.

When the Smooth option is selected the Combine Mode part of the page appears. Normal Simply blends the area under the brush. Raise Only Pulls up the lowest points to eventually meet the highest points. Lower Only Smooths by only lowering points on the model.

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Choose the Raise Only option.

The Colour Usage part of the toolbar allows you to choose whether the sculpting affects the whole relief, or just the area under the Primary colour, or just the area not under the Primary colour.

This can be left set to Ignore for this example.

The Brush Definition part of the Assistant page allows you to define the size and strength of the brush. Diameter measured in pixels. Strength a percentage of the brush diameter being applied in Z. Smoothness the effect at the edges of the brush. To make major changes to the relief set the Strength to 100, and the Smoothness to 100.

Set the Size to 15, Strength to 50 and Smoothness to 100.

The cursor has a red circle attached to it that shows the size of the brush and the area of the relief that is being affected.

Move the cursor repeatedly over the join between the right arm and the body.

You should see material being deposited in the join. Material is only added to the lowest areas.

The difference between the left arm and the right arm should be clearly visible as below:

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Repeat the procedure for the joins between the body and the left arm, and the body and the head. Click the Finish button.
The changes made to the temporary relief are now applied to the original relief, and the Interactive Sculpting page closes.

Exercise
Edit the teddy bears features using the Smooth - Lower only option to remove his eyes, and then the Deposit option to add new features.

Experiment with the different Sculpting options to edit the teddys features.

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