Modelling scalemail in Blender (using sculpt mode)

This is just a really fun technique thats surprisingly simple to pull off once you know the tools involved.
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00:00 Intro
00:59 Tool explanation
03:07 Method
06:08 Demo example

[@WWS3D]

Maded similar tutorial before

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks man. Yeah and you cover some great things like how to use it on a cylinder, which is a great tip. If anyone interested you can find the video linked below, go check it out! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5nHqop4r8ahjZIsi=p7p3b_JyRKNDMFzV

[@gibsonsimpson]

Your videos continue to amaze me. Keep up the good work!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Cheers Gibson 😁👍🏻

[@RocketPunches]

You don't need the crease prior to the Multi-Res modifier. On the modifier in the stack, go to the Advanced section and set Boundary Smooth to Keep Corners. This will essentially pin mesh boundaries in place. The subsurf modifier also has this feature. Edit: It seems bugged in 3.6 at the moment, and appears greyed out but you can still update those settings anyways, and they will achieve the same effect as creasing a boundary edge without the added tedium.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Oh nice, I'll have a look at that as I have used the SubD version in the same way.

[@racoonracoon2127]

Awesome videos! Keep it up! I ve been waiting excited for this one since I saw the community post!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks so much. Hopefully it lived up to the expectations.

[@racoonracoon2127]

@@ArtisansofVaul it surelly did!

[@namedjasonc]

Cool technique, thanks for sharing!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

No problem. Thanks for taking the time to comment 😁

[@mind_of_a_darkhorse]

A great solution and one that would not have occurred to me! Many thanks!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

No problem and as always thanks for watching and commenting Darkhorse 😁

[@ejrees186]

This is extremely cool im in the process of making some mods for Arma 3 and this will come in handy alot. love your channel btw think its an undiscovered gem and im going to share it in my discord channels to try and get you some exposure, you deserve it you do great work! 👍

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks so much man. 👌🏼 Really appreciate the sharing and glad you like the technique.

[@studioalchemist2060]

Brilliant 😍🤩👍. Great technique and tutorial

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks so much.

[@therealDonMac]

Absolutely brilliant.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Cheers Don 😁👍🏻

[@Starflight_Miniatures]

Brilliant technique thanks!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

My pleasure 😁

[@TitusKrakenDesigns]

Amazed again! good tutor Mister!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks Titus 😁

[@Dannos3d]

outstanding again mate. great vid. been looking for a way to make armour other than plate. thanks

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks so much Daniel 😁 Glad to be giving some alternatives.

[@onionjedi]

Golden.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks man. 😁👍🏻

[@azrael7133]

Outstanding!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Cheers :D

[@trebilicious]

This is a great video that teaches important masking and gradient skills that I wasn't familiar with. As an aside, here's another vote to get you to play with tissue addon. Thanks to the comment section for making me look it up on KZbin. My mind is kind of blown by the type of application tissue enables, from parametric design architecture to complex cloth patches.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Thanks and I totally agree that Tissue looks great. I will just have to have a proper play and use it on some projects so I can be sure of the nuances of what it can do.

[@dannorris1406]

Great video as always! I imagine this could work for some quick roofing tiles too.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Hmm... I think it would be possible if you did it straight and then combined it with the line mask tool for the gaps between

[@alecdorfman4871]

This channel has the coolest name😎

[@ArtisansofVaul]

😁😅 Thanks man 👌🏼

[@Revenant483]

Thanks ΛₒV that is a cool trick to know! I will have to play around with that.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Cheers. You can get some really cool effects using it.

[@gregoriocarreno]

Amazing

[@ArtisansofVaul]

😁👍🏻

[@Nuttoz]

I never know there are "expand mask" before. It's very Cool!!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

They are so hidden, it would be good if there was an option in the T panel for them but I haven't seen one.

[@Nuttoz]

@@ArtisansofVaul i just found that on "Top Menu - Mask - 'Expand mask by topology'' " How come!! haha Thanks a lot.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@Nuttoz oh cool

[@Nuttoz]

@@ArtisansofVaul

[@SamCharlesPalmer]

Great tutorial, would love to see one for rounded scale mail or chainmail. Lots of tutorial online for realistic looking stuff, but less so for emphasised mail for miniatures and going from an array to an export ready for printing. When I first learnt how to do it I had to go back and forth between 2-3 different tutorials.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Cheers Sam. I totally agree with what you're saying as I found the same thing. Im not sure if my solution is the best option but I would be happy to show it in a future video 👍

[@sampsonkennedy]

Same here. I've looked forever for ways to make scales like the warhammer high elves easily, but there's nothing simple for printed models

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@sampsonkennedy So someone has pointed me in the direction of an addon I'm going to look into as well. That might be of interest.

[@roman_ardy]

Thanks! Next step: sculpting brush for chainmail? :)

[@ArtisansofVaul]

👍 Though I never found a sculpting brush for chainmail did a great job. I generally end up using a lattice and array or geometry nodes.

[@thatblastedsamophlange]

I made some snake/naga sci-fi soldiers recently, and I could have used this - the snake scales were built around a loop, and then I just duplicated them along the length of the tail. It worked well, but this could have let me make the the scale rings faster I think.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Yeah, this works well for things like snakes/reptiles as it (should) save a load of time.

[@justinphillipsart]

Nice idea, but what about the Tissue Addon? I believe it can solve this in a more non-destructive way

[@benveasey7474]

I second the request for a Tissue tutorial

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I'll have to check it out. I can't say its an addon I have used.

[@justinphillipsart]

@@ArtisansofVaul It's basically a free version of Micro Mesh by Vjaceslav T. but Blender native. It just needs you to combine it with modifiers like mesh/surface deform and it may need a bit of finess if you want specific things but for this use case and overall it's amazing!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@@justinphillipsart Thanks so much for the summary, thats a great review and really helps. 👌

[@davidffortesmeireles5328]

adorable

[@ArtisansofVaul]

😂

[@darrennew8211]

Blender has so much wonderful power hidden away. How cool would it be to invent a method of documenting something as powerful as Blender such that you could actually figure these things out without needing an a-ha moment. :-)

[@ArtisansofVaul]

😅 I think the issue is more to know the name of what you're looking to do. When you do know it's pretty well documented, it's finding it that's the problem.

[@darrennew8211]

@@ArtisansofVaul That's usually the case, but Blender has a number of features (like you're describing in this video, or with the ability to scale the points along a curve in the way that it affects the skin modifier) that aren't really revealed in the UI. It is, however, 387% better than 2.79. ;-)

[@richardokeeffe8375]

I swear you see blender like neo sees the matrix

[@ArtisansofVaul]

😅 I think it may be the other way round and I keep seeing the real world in Blender. I get my fiancé catching me daydreaming as we are going around somewhere and shes like "So are you thinking about toys or how to model "x" in Blender?" 🤣

[@pygmalion8952]

i would have just created a height map in designer. that way, i have more control over how it will look anyway.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Totally an option. I imagine it would take longer though? But sometimes it's worth the time if it gives more control. I like this for its simplicity

[@FurlowT]

Is there way to add these kind scales directly onto a mesh rather than being ontop of it? I have a dragonic character that needs similar kind of scales, if not rounded bit more. I need make scales go down from chest and onto tail with a bit tapering in size as goes onto tail.

[@ArtisansofVaul]

You can for sure but it will depend on the mesh for some bits. But you should theoretically be able to mask off the areas without the scales, use this on the area you want the scales and then clear the mask. I haven't tried that on something complex though.

[@marcoz6269]

Great tutorial though I'm struggling with "closing" the finished scales so I can cut into them etc. Also would be nice to know how to edit the mask afterwards :) Otherwise, amazing as always mate! Very appreciated!

[@ArtisansofVaul]

What do you mean by closing? Do you mean making them I to a solid object with thickness?

[@marcoz6269]

Yes as an object you could cut in. I'm to much of an noob to really be able to know what I'm talking about :) I mean if I'm to export this into a printable object there would be problems right since the plane is just floating in front of the torso. It would have to be "closed" or repaired or whatever to make it printable :) @@ArtisansofVaul

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@marcoz6269 I've got you 👍🏻 Select the outside edges of the object and then extrude them back to give it thickness. They won't be straight so scale them to 0 on whatever axis they are not straight on to make them flat and fill the hole with "f" that way you have a block with the scales on one side to boolean together.

[@aqnuadziba1269]

Did you fill under chainmail? If yes, how did you do that?

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Generally I would just extrude everything back a bit and then deform it (probably with a sculpt brush) to make sure there is no void behind the scalemail if Im going to be 3D printing.

[@aqnuadziba1269]

@@ArtisansofVaul Thank you mate!

[@herculeholmes504]

Does anyone know where "mask gradient" is? Or is it a special hidden feature that can only be accessed when using Shift + A?

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I think it can only be used with the shortcut. Which is a little frustrating.

[@herculeholmes504]

@@ArtisansofVaulThankyou AoV. 🙂

[@seanocallaghan475]

When I attempt to follow the tutorial the masked area clears when I attempt to add the second diagonal masking as soon as I hit shift+A again. Any Idea where I went wrong?

[@ArtisansofVaul]

I have had one other person mention it but I've never been able to replicate it to work out what's happening....

[@bigdragon4986]

Found The solution, you need to go Edit>Preferences>Keymap>Search for expand>Go to Sculpt Expand>Check Preserve Previous to be on

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@bigdragon4986 You absolute legend! It's curious this seems to be on for some people and not others but I truly appreciate you taking the time to find the solution and coming to share it. Your a complete champion 👍🏻👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼

[@tabaal2]

when i go to redo the mask on the right side it just over writes the previous mask

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Hmm.... I'm really confused why that would be. The whole point of the mask is to be able to mask multiple areas. Maybe a video showing what you're doing may help? If you have the ability to take one of your screen with screen cast keys on.

[@bigdragon4986]

Found The solution, you need to go Edit>Preferences>Keymap>Search for expand>Go to Sculpt Expand>Check Preserve Previous to be on

[@jameslee9639]

May I know your computer specs?

[@ArtisansofVaul]

Sure thing. Im working on a laptop I bought a bit before lockdown. Its an I7 9750 Processor 32Gig Ram NVIDIA RTX 260 graphics card. I hope that helps.

[@jameslee9639]

​@@ArtisansofVaul thanks! I guess a 13th gen laptop I'm planning to buy will be able to handle my sculpting smoothly since you also do this on a laptop. Have you tested how much polygons can it take?

[@ArtisansofVaul]

@jameslee9639 So I'm actually looking to upgrade to a desktop as I've gained more space recently. But that's just to be able to do silly things and booleans on REALLY complex objects quicker. I'm actually planning on doing a video on what specs affect what and I'll be using my laptop as an example. It's probably a few weeks out though.

[@jameslee9639]

@@ArtisansofVaul nice! Thanks!