Voronoi Fracture Planes to Follow Normals

[Dr. Sassi]

Thanks, Greg. Very kind of you to put some extra effort into this.

Nice that you found a solution. I have obviously not understood what you needed.
The terms Normal and Parallel provided me with the wrong "internal visuals".
If we run into that again, perhaps a sketch might support finding a solution.
https://stcineversityprod02.blob.core.windows.net/$web/Cineversity_Forum_Support/2023_PROJECTS_DRS/20230317_CV4_2023_drs_23_MGvl_01.c4d.zip

Enjoy your weekend

[GregBollella]

@Dr-Sassi Ah, very nice. I can now see how I might put a design, say, a flower, into the fracture. Draw the design with a spline, smooth, subdivide a bit possibly, and place appropriately!

As always thanks for your effort!!

Greg

[Dr. Sassi]

Thanks for the feedback, Greg.

I assume you know the mechanics of Voronoi. Writing in a forum makes me want to share needed information with everyone. Sometimes that is seen as an evaluation of the one asking, which is not the case at all.

When one designs shapes, no point lives alone. A pair always creates a line in the middle distance each other. At the moment, another pair is closer to the new line taking over. As a result, the Voronoi pattern is created.
This relationship is a bit challenging to design and requires some practice.

Enjoy your weekend

[GregBollella]

@Dr-Sassi Continuing this discussion...

I am having fun using a 0-dimension helix in a Cloner to create points for the VF. Nice patterns.

I had tried using many 0-dimension helices and arranging them by hand in an attempt to form a patterns of pieces that resembled a flower. However, looking at many stained-glass flowers I believe that a VF is insufficient to produce the patterns necessary.

My question is: Is there a way to draw a pattern with a spline on a plane then split the plane along the path of the spline?

My first guess at a technique would be to draw the pattern with a spline then use a sweep to create geometry along the path then a Boolean object to subtract the path geometry from the plane.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Greg

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi Greg,

To a certain degree, you can project Splines and use those as "Knife".
Project
https://help.maxon.net/c4d/2023/en-us/Default.htm#html/TOOLSPLINEPROJECT.html#PLUGIN_CMD_450000046
Knife
https://help.maxon.net/c4d/2023/en-us/Default.htm#html/TOOLKNIFELINE.html

The problem that I see is that those objects are created from flat glass pieces, not from a half bowl, for example.
With that, one would need to cut the shapes, then find how they fit together, which is one of the elegant parts of Tiffany lamps, especially with more curved shapes.
If we can exclude this challenge for a moment, the Project and Knife Workflow allows also the Thicken Generator to work (New in 2023-2)

https://stcineversityprod02.blob.core.windows.net/$web/Cineversity_Forum_Support/2023_PROJECTS_DRS/20230403_CV4_2023_drs_23_MOtl_01.c4d.zip

As a side note, there is Flatten option in the Mesh Menu.
https://help.maxon.net/c4d/2023/en-us/Default.htm#html/TOOLFLATTEN.html#PLUGIN_CMD_1058447

All the best

[GregBollella]

@Dr-Sassi Here is where I've ended up.

I tried all your suggestions but they didn't work well for me. I ended up liking the Sweep/Boolean approach.

Here's the workflow:

Import a ref image to front view
Create a plane with a good num of subdivs
Snap to poly = on
Draw splines for the lead between glass pieces
Sweep a circle along the splines, make sure all splines and resulting geometry overlap nicely
VBuild, VMesh, CStO, Connect and Delete
Boolean Plane and Lead so plane has separation between the glass pieces
CStO on Boolean
Thicken plane appropriately
Fiddle with materials

Here's a c4d file to show this. (should include textures)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yam63oepnjvoo50/ForCV-AP52-Apr23.c4d?dl=0

I'll have to redo I think making the space between the glass pieces narrower than the appropriate width of the final lead as the displacement causes artifacts around the edges of the glass. I the above scene I inflated the lead to remove most of the artifacts but the lead is too wide for my liking.

Finally, since the glass pieces are all individual objects I can do, I think, the following.

Create a shape for the lamp shade
Use Shrink Wrap to wrap the lead to the shape
Use Place Tool to place the glass pieces where appropriate
I'll have to make sure the size of the glass pieces and the curvature of the shape are such that the piece can nestle nicely into the surrounding lead.

Any comments appreciated!

Greg

[Dr. Sassi]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the file.

The Splines will only cut where they are. To have gaps in those will not work.

My example was a single glass piece. Having all these splines at once will work, but ensure the Knife> Split option is enabled. After that, the Tools> Convert> Polygon Islands to Objects.
Again, if the cut does not go through completely, it will not split.
My suggestion, use a plane and create a few splines to see the "logic" of this workflow.

Also, explore if a tight mesh is the best idea, as some splines might be very close to an existing edge, which might result in weird artifacts. I do not give here a fixed suggestion, as this is not a general workflow with defined parts.

If you use closed Splines, one for each glass piece, while projected to the surface, those can support the selection if you like to keep one object.

https://stcineversityprod02.blob.core.windows.net/$web/Cineversity_Forum_Support/2023_PROJECTS_DRS/20230405_CV4_2023_drs_23_MOtf_01.c4d.zip

Cheers

[Dr. Sassi]

Here is a quick screen capture:

https://stcineversityprod02.blob.core.windows.net/$web/Cineversity_Forum_Support/2023_Clips_DRS/Tiffany4D.mp4

Please download it, if you like to see it in a better quality.

File, with Remesher, as suggested, below.
CV4_2023_drs_23_MOtf_12.c4d

Enjoy

[GregBollella]

@Dr-Sassi Nice. About the same as I did but I used VB and VM on the 'lead' then Remesh.

Here's the image with my effort.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b4ps6p3qm83tidn/AbstractPastels51CC-Mar23_1.1.1.png?dl=0

On yours put a RS Object tag on the pieces and lead and some displacement on the materials. Use a glass material for the pieces. Check how the edges of the pieces look. With enough displacement to give the glass that wavy look the edges of the pieces get artifacts. The lead has to be pretty wide to cover them up.

Greg

[Dr. Sassi]

You're welcome, GegBollela.

It looks like you found your workflow. Yes, Remesher is a good idea. I will add the file to the screen capture. It works with Split and Thicken, while the Fracture can provide even colors.

Enjoy your weekend.