In this Blender 2.5 video tutorial we go back to a topic we covered in the Blender 2.49 days; a lightbulb. This time around we are a bit more green conscious and model a energy saving, compact-fluorescent light bulb.
Discussion
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fantastic as always mate *Thumbs Up!!!* ;D
fantastic as always mate *Thumbs Up!!!* ;D
THX
JONATHAN
wow, I definately could have used that a month ago on my failed attempt of a photorealistic lamp scene I was making…
Thank you Jonathan
link Reference images???
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:04_Spiral_CFL_Bulb_2010-03-08_(gray_50_back).jpg
Good tutorial and includes snapping and other helping functions nicely to get complex but precise mesh, but if I saw correctly Jonathan modeled left-handed thread at the bottom.
Ha! I hadn’t even thought of that but you are absolutely right… whoops!
-Jonathan
Yes he did .. I noticed that this was backwards too. Still a very nice job and a very talented guy!
This one is really cool.
Random thought. It might me cool to make a Tron style light bulb
haha a glowing plane?
I acually am working on a logo for a lighting showroom. This is great gave me some ideas! Good idea Aaron! or maybe Black Light? Just a thought. Thanks as always Jonathan.
Good modelling tutorial, learned a lot. Sounded like someone was doing the dishes in the background
Jonathan – Another first class tutorial! Thank you.
Great stuff! You really have insight in 3D modeling.
What mouse do you use? my logitech performance zooms in and out in steps (very annoying), yours is so smooth.
I think he is using a Wacom tablet. At least he has been using one, and mentioned it, in some other tutorials.
BTW. Great tutorial, Jonathan!
Actually on everything but sculpting/painting tutorials I use my mouse. I have just had a lot of practice keeping a steady, smooth mouse
In answer to the previous guys question though, I use a Logitech VX Nano for tutorials and a Razer Orochi on my iMac. I also use a Wacom Intous 4 when sculpting.
-Jonathan
Hi John,
I use a Logitech VX Nano. I’ve got the scroll speed turned way down while in Blender. Using the Logitech control panel (comes with the driver install) you can really customize the mouse quite a bit. That being said, I just bought a Razer Orochi and will most likely never go back. It’s awesome.
-Jonathan
A long while back I saw a video of you using a 3dconnexion spacenavigator (I was jealous lol), what happened to that? I mean blender has smoother scripts now… I’m just curious, cause its looks like it would make blender flow alot nicer than a mouse
Jonathan,
I know you probably realize this, but you’re artwork is getting better and better. I wonder what you could produce if it wasn’t a tutorial. Thanks for sharing. Question . . . do you have another website? I’ve noticed that Montage Studio hasn’t been updated in a while. BC keeping you busy?
Thanks Will! It’s a bit painful for me to look back at my old tutorials… But any progress is good progress right?
You’re right that Montage Studio hasn’t been updated in ages, I don’t have time to manage it. I also have http://jw3d.com for a personal portfolio but have not yet had the time to full populate it. It’s on that ever-ending to-do list
-Jonathan
Wow, that was a lot of modeling. I just wish It was as easy as you make it seem. You really show a lot of things that I would have to play back in slow motion mode.
Thanks so much for this great, complex, detailed tutorial Jonathan. Can’t wait to see page2.
Blendercookie has relly bee punching out the tutorials.
You guys are great and are playing a big part teaching the new blender users.
Many Thanks again.
OK the screw thread is the wrong way round but the tutorial is mainly about modelling and getting the screw to merge with the plain round section is really impressive. I seem to remember in earlier versions of Blender with the old screw tool you could swap clockwise and anti/counter clockwise (or am I thinking about something other than Blender?). Pity that isn’t in the modifier because, compared to the old destructive one it is a dream to use. It obviously was a result of the minus value to get the thread to go downwards. I thought perhaps the flip box would work but I suspect this flips the normals. The easy way would be to model a standard UK bulb. Usually we have bayonet fittings and no screw thread to worry about
The main bit for me was the bulb itself. If I had to work that one out for myself I’d probably turn off the computer and go down the pub. You make it look so easy and the modelling is compared to working out what you need to do. Well done. Another wonderful tutorial.
Thanks
Nice tutorial! Your original light bulb tut was actually the second blender tutorial I ever took (the first was your telescope one
). I was also looking at your site (http://jw3d.com) and I really liked the duck you had there (I know that sounds kind of weird to everyone else, but take a look at it; it’s really neat!) and I was wondering if there was any chance you could make a tutorial series on it. Kind of similar to David Ward’s dragon one, but maybe not as many parts (and it wouldn’t be as stylized, obviously).
Anyway, loved the tutorial!
Thanks! Nice tutorial!
Just want to add a little info:
There is Bridge (or Loft) add-on that makes face creating process easier. When you don’t have a proper solution for it – just make a first face then select other edges (make sure they are even counted and practically parallel) and Ctrl+F -> Bridge. It saves time a lot!
(that was Skin command in 2.49)
I will be looking forward for the second part! Materials are tricky for me
Very nice tutorial. I’d suggest using the BoltFactory add-on as another method to create the threads at the bottom of the bulb. It does all the work of merging the threads to the cylinder for you.
Good workflow. Don’t forget the “zoom to selection”view option with numpad”.”after shift+C. bye.
man I’m having nothing but problems with that bottom screw! when I did the screw it was all screwed up instead of looking like that it was up and down and flat, well I got that fixed by changing the object thing but then when I did the measure it wasn’t the same as yours but I put in what mine had said but it only moved it a tiny bit! instead of being the .1208 that mine said, 2.67 was the closest I could get it up and down! now when I go to join the 2 objects, the bottom screw disappears but the top piece stays! when I added the 6 sided circle and rotated it it didn’t come up as straight up and down like yours did, it was rotated a bit for some stupid reason, so I rotated so it would be straight idk if that had anything to do with it or not..
Hey, if this is helpful to anyone: screw modifier reacts differently if you have scaled your object. That is, if you scaled the circle down, the screw modifier will ‘scale’ the screw value. So you can either change the radius while creating the circle instead of scaling, or multiply the screw value by the inverse of the scale. I’m not sure the second idea will work though.
Wow…It’s just…AMAZING! Thank you very much!
Hello jonathan thank you again I wait impatiently for the rest of the tutorial http://twitpic.com/3tgq91
You keep using s to rotate, is that a better way then r + axis + 180 vs s + axis -1
example when you worked on the top of the light you had to add an extra step cause you rotated it but then you needed to flip it and r+z+180 did it all at once for me.
Not trying to talk badly just trying to understand as I’m very much new to blender.
Thanks very much for the tutorial. After quite a bit of trial and error, I was able to punch in holes for the bulb into the holder. I used a 12-vertex circle mesh and shrinkwrapped it onto the holder. If it helps, here’re screenies of how it looks now:
Solid: http://img204.imageshack.us/i/cflholesolid.png/
Wire: http://img204.imageshack.us/i/cflholewire.png/
The mesh could be better, I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out.
That looks quite good! Nice work. I always like to see users take the result further than the tutorial
-Jonathan
Thanks
. I loved your eariler tutorial on punching holes through curved surfaces. In fact, I practiced the concepts in that tut 3-4 times because it was so much fun. That made it easy to apply it directly over here.
For the benefit of others, this is the tut I’m referring to:
http://www.blendercookie.com/2010/12/28/tip-hole-curved-surface-revisit/
I’m trying to make a screw coil thing for the inside of a vending machine and I remembered this video, so a I came on here to figure out how to do it, well I did it the same way you did but the screw didn’t go around in the circle, it just created a circle that followed right around the circle! I don’t know if you know what I mean but I can’t get it go in the screw like that it’s just acting really stupid!
Are you using the spin tool or the screw modifier?
-Jonathan
Ok never mind.. I got it work now!
For anyone else having this trouble with the screw modifier (Definitely Screw Modifier, not Spin Tool), the problem is that the Circle’s Origin must be aligned to the 3D Cursor.
@ shane having same issue how you fix it
nice tut learning a lot as a noob
never mind I just figured it out
Starting at 20:30, the tutorial becomes a lesson in frustration for me. Click this, now this, then here. This section could have used a LOT of explaining WHY you are doing what you’re doing. Currently, it’s very much like you’re telling people how to do something they’ve done 1,000 times already. I seriously doubt that anyone (even the best Blender folks in the world) could follow that section of the video without watching it many, many times.
That being said, I am very thankful for this free tutorial. Even though the explanation is almost non-existent, I can’t complain for something that does give great information if one is willing to go back 15-20 times on each part. So, I am very thankful for your efforts.
Hey Jonathan ! I’m having trouble when it comes to making to bottom of the lightbulb,
I didn’t get what to do when we needed to merge the vertexes together, could someone explain that to me ? Thank you so much !
i meant snap :S not merge
When I add the screw modifier, it’s a spiral that goes straight forward on the Y axis. I am using 2.66. Playing around with the settings i could make a decent bolt but it will not work for the glass spiral that holds the filament. What has gone wrong?
Try applying your scale
-Alex