| Now we will construct the cap. This step is a little more involved, but it is nothing that you can't do. |
| Ok, create another metaball, then hit the 'A' on the little side bar next to it. Look at the bottom of that menu where it says Size and type in the following dimensions: X-103.08 , Y-13.41 , Z-103.08 Depending on the size of your shroom, these numbers may vary. This is going to be the bottom of our cap. |
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| The next step is to duplicate the metaballs again, which you should remember how to do, just select one and hit ctrl+d. Duplicate it once, then move the new metaball just a little bit above it, duplicate that and move it just a little higher. Continue this for 6 metaballs until your stack looks something like this: |
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| Now we will make the cap come to somewhat of a point. Select the metaball directly above the bottom one and hit the 'A' to go to the attributes menu. In there we will change its dimensions manually again, this time make them: X-93.08 , Y-13.41 , Z-93.08. Do this to each of the other metaballs taking 10 units off of both the X and Z dimensions each time, you should end up with something like the picture below. |
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| Now group all of these metaballs together(select them all and hit ctrl+g). Now using the distortion tool(1) shrink the group vertically until you are satisfied with the shape of your cap. NOTE: You should always use the directional tool and distortion tool when moving and distorting objects, they are shown below marked (2) and (1) respectively. Also, notice that the cap is now shorter that it was previously. You can play around with the exact size of your cap. |
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| Now just position your cap over the stock, apply a texture to it, and voila. There are several textures that will work for the cap, one of them is 'RedFractal' To get this texture you have to do a little work(to tell you the truth I forget what skin I have over these shrooms...sorry). First, apply a wood texture from simple&fast. Then look to the top right of the screen, you will see a rectangle with three little boxes in it showing parts of the wood texture. Click on the arrow on the top right of that rectangle to bring up a menu, from that menu go to 'Basic' then look down until you find 'RedFractal'. You can mess around with any number of textures. Ok, now all you have to do is create a little scene for our new friend and your good to go! The finished product should look something like this: |
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| That concludes my first tutorial. I hope it was of some help to you. Please let me know what I can do differently in any future tutorials, or give me ideas for future tutorials. I really appreciate any comments that you have, so please do drop me a line at cgx@abstractallusion.com |