Modeling engine oil bottles and dispenser rack

[JWorks]

How did you do the exploded view (I assume just by moving the parts?) and most importantly the annotations in the 3D space?

You assumed right. Manual displacement in multiples of 100 mm until it all looked right. Not too demanding with a low object count but that was it for FC. I then saved an image to overlay the annotations in Photoshop.

[JWorks]

You might try a shape binder of the faces on the top of the bottle in three individual bodies...
...Caveat: it will make the model more fragile if the face numbers change due to any change upstream.

Thank you for the kind comments before the quoted passage.

So it is a 3 body solution either way which means I did not wander too far off into the woods. I got bitten by the whole topological naming issue multiple times without pressing any fancy buttons and Shape Binder was positively in that group LOL.

Oh well, I still remember trying to force primitive apps like Freehand and Illustrator into precision drawing in 2D on computers with 2 digit speeds in MHz whos main outputs seemed to be error beeps and heat. That was in 1990. Work still got done. I've got no complaints today

[ifohancroft]

How did you do the exploded view (I assume just by moving the parts?) and most importantly the annotations in the 3D space?

You assumed right. Manual displacement in multiples of 100 mm until it all looked right. Not too demanding with a low object count but that was it for FC. I then saved an image to overlay the annotations in Photoshop.

Thank you!

P.S. I forgot to say: Absolutely amazing work!
Above you said what you did where, but I forgot so forgive me if this has already been answered, but: Did you do the texturing in FreeCAD?

[JWorks]

P.S. I forgot to say: Absolutely amazing work!
Above you said what you did where, but I forgot so forgive me if this has already been answered, but: Did you do the texturing in FreeCAD?

Thank you,
No, I did not want to push myself (or FC) into that corner. So for the presentation (textures etc. are presentation only obviously),

4L-FCtoPhotoshop.jpg (296.08 KiB) Viewed 2648 times

• I saved images of bottles in medium grey with a blue cap to help with isolation like Hollywood blue screen. Then in Photoshop, the blue cap was turned black. The bottle went through Hue/Saturation and Levels adjustments to get the variants. Labels were then tacked on by distorting into perspective using a simple image transform.

• For the dispenser, I needed glass, sheet metal, vinyl and fiber glass textures and fine shadows in the detailing. I also needed camera control and physically accurate rendering in sunlight. Not to mention integration into an existing petrol station model in C4D. So an OBJ was exported out of FC and into C4D. I've already shared that image

Stacked-View.jpg (372.31 KiB) Viewed 2648 times

• Lastly, I needed to stock it with a dozen or so bottles and just that 4L bottle is a whopping 168MB I sure wasn't gonna fry any PCs trying to do that in an Assembly WB so 2D to the rescue again. Same vintage technique as above just a whole lot more layers. I prefer working with the whole toolbox than with a single tool.

[ifohancroft]

P.S. I forgot to say: Absolutely amazing work!
Above you said what you did where, but I forgot so forgive me if this has already been answered, but: Did you do the texturing in FreeCAD?

Thank you,
No, I did not want to push myself (or FC) into that corner. So for the presentation (textures etc. are presentation only obviously),


4L-FCtoPhotoshop.jpg

• I saved images of bottles in medium grey with a blue cap to help with isolation like Hollywood blue screen. Then in Photoshop, the blue cap was turned black. The bottle went through Hue/Saturation and Levels adjustments to get the variants. Labels were then tacked on by distorting into perspective using a simple image transform.

• For the dispenser, I needed glass, sheet metal, vinyl and fiber glass textures and fine shadows in the detailing. I also needed camera control and physically accurate rendering in sunlight. Not to mention integration into an existing petrol station model in C4D. So an OBJ was exported out of FC and into C4D. I've already shared that image

Stacked-View.jpg

• Lastly, I needed to stock it with a dozen or so bottles and just that 4L bottle is a whopping 168MB I sure wasn't gonna fry any PCs trying to do that in an Assembly WB so 2D to the rescue again. Same vintage technique as above just a whole lot more layers. I prefer working with the whole toolbox than with a single tool.

Thank you!
That's clever af!

I am guessing it's easier when you've made the image whose perspective you are matching, but: Any tips on matching an image's perspective with another image? What does your process look like? I mean like do you use guides for example to measure the angle between a horizontal line and the bottle's bottom, then transform the label's perspective while it matches the other guide, or?

P.S. I feel like we need a sub-forum section where people can post about how they've done their projects.

[JWorks]

Thank you!
That's clever af!

I am guessing it's easier when you've made the image whose perspective you are matching, but: Any tips on matching an image's perspective with another image? What does your process look like? I mean like do you use guides for example to measure the angle between a horizontal line and the bottle's bottom, then transform the label's perspective while it matches the other guide, or?

P.S. I feel like we need a sub-forum section where people can post about how they've done their projects.

Now, at the risk of getting the naughty corner from a moderator for distracting the thread this early into a new membership...

Mk1 Eyeball(s). 2 are better.
Basic understanding of perspective.
Any free form image transformation tool.
2D label at a scale larger than your end result. 2X is good. 3X is great for those sub-pixel details.
It helps that the default 3D cam in FC has the verticals upright but that isn't a must.
Also helps that I have an actual label guide pocketed in the bottle itself.

You need to imagine a bounding box in 3D space. Find a corner. Go for it. Match width. Match height. Match top and bottom perspective. In that order. Only valid for flat placements. Cylindrical wraps are a hornet's nest and best avoided, or cheated.

The visual below is just to aid the discussion. In my case at least, the magenta lines are imaginary. in more organic perspective matching situations, finding two left and right lines that go into a vanishing point can help. There, guides will definitely help.

label-placement.jpg (219.97 KiB) Viewed 2432 times

Apology mods.

[chrisb]

Apology mods.

It's ok to see interest in your work. Should I split the post and place it as its own topic in the Showcase forum?

[adrianinsaval]

For this specific case I would recommend inserting the image in FreeCAD and placing it correctly instead. Then you have color properties for the model in FreeCAD and you can easily get your variants all in FreeCAD. Or maybe the image transformation won't be high quality in FreeCAD, not sure. Very cool project, and congrats on being brave enough to risk a job learning FreeCAD

[ifohancroft]

Apology mods.

It's ok to see interest in your work. Should I split the post and place it as its own topic in the Showcase forum?

Can we perhaps get a 'Workflows' sub-forum under either Open Discussion or Help on using FreeCAD? I feel like such discussions would fit there perfectly.

[JWorks]

It's ok to see interest in your work. Should I split the post and place it as its own topic in the Showcase forum?

Yes please, from my first post? Probably should have posted as own topic but for newbie hesitation did not.

For this specific case I would recommend inserting the image in FreeCAD and placing it correctly instead. Then you have color properties for the model in FreeCAD and you can easily get your variants all in FreeCAD. Or maybe the image transformation won't be high quality in FreeCAD, not sure. Very cool project, and congrats on being brave enough to risk a job learning FreeCAD

I tried both of these. The settings in Appearance tab are basic, not fine enough for pro-visual work (nor expected). Texturing failed to fine-tune when I tried wrapping the round pipe at the top of the dispenser. Most visually oriented 3D programs also need a treat and a cuddle before they start behaving proper around cylinders so its nothing against FC. Also, the quad-cubic down-sampling in Photoshop is neat and probably patented. Those things pretty much decided the workflow for me.

I'm feeling braver now. Once I've nailed a render and camera solution I'm gonna pull off a whole 20,000 sq. ft. petrol pump in FC

Can we perhaps get a 'Workflows' sub-forum under either Open Discussion or Help on using FreeCAD? I feel like such discussions would fit there perfectly.

Not sure you'll get many contributions in there to be worth a sub-forum but I could be totally wrong so I'll let the mods decide.