TuTorials
Model and animate in VR01
InItIal phase
Fire up MasterpieceVR and
play around with the different tools
and functions if you haven’t used
the program before.
Up the resolution to 7x or 8x if
your system can handle it. Start
out with a basic brush and sketch
an interesting shape. Use as much
of the scene (defined by the grey
box you see around the model) as
possible to keep things crisp.02
refIne the shape
Use grid and angle
constraints to refine the shape.
For this one I’m going for a more
organic shape, combined with some
hard-surface details. I keep it pretty
simple, since I’ll be adding final
details in Quill.03
tIps for precIsIon
Precision in MasterpieceVR
is good in terms of being able
to sculpt at locked angles, and
constrain to lines or surfaces. The
resulting mesh is still a bit low res,
but this is supposed to get better
with an upcoming patch that will
add higher resolution. To remedy
some of this, you can use the
polygon tools for small details or
you can draw in details as I’ll be
doing for this sculpt, in Quill.04
colour
Once you’re happy with the
sculpt it’s time to add some colour.
A trick I use a lot when colouring
is to colour from the inside of the
model and out. That way it’s very
easy to add shadows, ambient
occlusion, dirt and so on in creviceswork across
layers (1)
If you enable the
‘Select in all visible
layers’ option under
the Selection tool in
the Tools tab, you can
work across multiple
layers at the same
time. Imagine having
a table on a stone
floor and a candle
on top of it. You want
the light to affect the
table, elements on the
table and the floor.
Each element is on a
separate layer.of the model. In MasterpieceVR you
also have the option of choosing
between different colour modes
and brush shapes. I’ve chosen a red
colour to better show the concept in
the screenshot.05
Bake lIght anD
shaDows
Since Quill doesn’t support any light
sources, you’ll have to plan how
you want shadows to fall on your
model. In my case, I go for a light
source placed high up to the left of
the model, so I paint in highlights
and shadows according to that. You
can use the Lighten or Darken paint
mode, or just colour pick exactly
what you want.06
export
Once you’re happy with the
model, it’s time to export it. To do
so, select the Export menu and
make sure to select OBJ, since Quill
doesn’t support the import of FBX
files. If possible, you could take
the model into ZBrush or another
package, to optimise it there
before Quill. For this scene, I took
the model directly into Quill fromMasterpieceVR, so no external 3D
applications were used this time.07
QuIll BasIcs
Quill is like painting in 3D
space, so everything you want in the
scene, you’ll have to paint yourself.
There’s no material settings or light
sources, just flat surfaces.
The latest update of Quill
introduced animation tools, and
animating in Quill is frame by
frame and rather limited at the
time of writing this tutorial. Still, the
freedom of animating in 3D space
and some of the smart tools make
the process very fast and intuitive.
Move around by pushing the grip
buttons on your controllers, and
you can zoom in and out by holding
the grip button on either hand and
pushing the thumbsticks up and
down. If you have a selection you’ll
instead scale that up and down.
Quill is a bit of an acquired taste,
but stick with it and I’m sure you’ll
love it like I do! Before starting on
this part of the tutorial, you should
get acquainted with the basics of
moving around the scene, adding
layers, drawing and so on.01 0204 05