Fusion for 3d Geometry (mathematical animations)

Hello - I am a Fusion beginner who has picked up quite a bit in the last couple of weeks from watching tutorials. However, I've reached a point where I am stuck:

I am trying to make an animation for an educational math video. I'm using 3d shapes to create a "Pringle chip" shape (aka, a hyperbolic paraboloid). Ideally, I'd like to be able to rotate around the shape aesthetically and show things like a small object and some arrows moving on the surface.

I used 3d shape --> plane, and then with the "Bender 3d" node, I've twisted the plane into the shape that I'm looking for.

HOWEVER, I would like to be able to mask this plane into an ellipse shape (so that the final output resembles a pringle chip rather than a deformed square), but I can't figure out how to do this and still also apply a texture to the shape. I've tried plugging an ellipse node into the 3d shape to create a mask. It gives me what I want, but then Fusion won't let me also plug a texture into the same 3d shape node.

I've also tried using the polygon mask here, but I can't figure out how to configure the view so that I can draw my polygon easily.

Can anybody suggest a solution to this specific problem (how can I create a mask AND a texture for the same 3d shape?), and/or direct me to resources that could further help me with constructing this kind of 3d scene? I anticipate running into more challenges as I go along. Thank you in advance

If plugging in the ellipse mask does what you want, then all you have to do is do all your 2D work before feeding it into the image plane. You're right that there is only one texture, but you can combine all the textures before feeding it into the plane.

So basically: make an animation the way you want it to be. Then use for example a matte control with an ellipse mask as a garbage matte to cut off the part you don't need and feed that into the imageplane and you should be good to go.

Hello Sander-
Thank you for this reply. I just tried it, but I'm afraid that I'm still a bit lost. I'm not sure if it is because I'm using the shape 3d node rather than the image plane 3d for this figure, but it looks to me like image plane 3d would face the same issue. I couldn't figure out how to plug the matte control node in separately, so I ungrouped the nodes that made up the premade texture I was using and tried plugging an ellipse node into the garbage matte of the matte control for that...but it didn't work.

I actually have a few other questions in addition to this one, and I've been trying fruitlessly to track down somebody who I could pay to help guide me through things in a Zoom call. I've reached out to most of the Davinci tutorial youtubers that I follow to see if they do one on ones or could recommend someone, and I've also reached out to editors who I know IRL, all with no luck yet. Is there an online resource anywhere for this kind of thing?

I know that I am close with this, and a direct conversation with somebody knowledgeable will probably help me get past several of my road blocks!

Ben

Well, I'm a Youtuber (sort of) and a VFX artist (sort of) with 25+ years of Fusion experience so I could definitely try helping you out on that Zoom call if you'd like me to.

I mean, if I understand you correctly this is more or less what you're working with, right?

Code: Select all

{
   Tools = ordered() {
      Ellipse1 = EllipseMask {
         Inputs = {
            Filter = Input { Value = FuID { "Fast Gaussian" }, },
            MaskWidth = Input { Value = 1920, },
            MaskHeight = Input { Value = 1080, },
            PixelAspect = Input { Value = { 1, 1 }, },
            ClippingMode = Input { Value = FuID { "None" }, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 220, 16.5 } },
      },
      ImagePlane3D1 = ImagePlane3D {
         Inputs = {
            ["Transform3DOp.Rotate.X"] = Input { Value = -90, },
            ["Transform3DOp.ScaleLock"] = Input { Value = 0, },
            ["Transform3DOp.Scale.X"] = Input { Value = 0.562492968837889, },
            ["SurfacePlaneInputs.SubdivisionWidth"] = Input { Value = 50, },
            ["SurfacePlaneInputs.ObjectID.ObjectID"] = Input { Value = 1, },
            MaterialInput = Input {
               SourceOp = "Ellipse1",
               Source = "Mask",
            },
            ["MtlStdInputs.MaterialID"] = Input { Value = 1, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 385, 16.5 } },
      },
      Bender3D1 = Bender3D {
         CtrlWZoom = false,
         Inputs = {
            SceneInput = Input {
               SourceOp = "ImagePlane3D1",
               Source = "Output",
            },
            Bender = Input { Value = FuID { "Twist" }, },
            Amount = Input { Value = 0.3, },
            Axis = Input { Value = 0, },
         },
         ViewInfo = OperatorInfo { Pos = { 495, 16.5 } },
      }
   }
}

If you're not sure how to get the above into Fusion, just follow this tutorial: