Procedural VS Parametric Modeling

if you're like me you probably noticed that 3D modeling software are moving gradually but certainly towards proceduralism but first of all what is it and why is it such a big thing now for example with every blender update we can notice a certain shift in Focus towards proceduralism making it a perfect demonstration of how the 3D industry have been moving towards procedural Tools in recent years but how about parametric modeling a less popular yet equally fascinating approach while it may not be at the Forefront of Productions compared to its counterpart it still made its name as one of the most interesting ways to do 3D modeling so what are these modeling techniques exactly and how do they differ from each other here's the deal both parametric and procedural modeling share the core idea of automatically generating 3D models and reducing the labor required to create 3D assets however they differ in their techniques and strengths so first let's start with your definitions for parametric modeling the term can be quite confusing since it overlaps with other 3D Concepts but don't worry about that simply it is a semi-automatic way to create and edit 3D models without doing everything manually and here is how it works for example in 3D software such as blender and Max we have amazing tools called modifiers these tools allow you to perform fast modeling operations without the need to do everything manually like bending stuff creating spirals stairs smoothing operations Boolean operations and so on so you can do all of this and control the process using a set of parameters hence the name parametric modeling on a side note this form of modeling is very old actual because it dates back to the early 90s procedure modeling on the other hand is also a technique that automates the creation of 3D models by using what is known as nodes and combining them to create what we call a note tree so these nodes are boxes filled with settings to determine the layout and shape of your model but also for further editing it's just let's say a bevel node to make the edges of your model look smoother or endnote to add cuts to your model and another one for curving or deforming it now it might sound almost identical to a parameter modeling in the spirit because first of all both are non-destructive meaning the details and editing can be adjusted at any given moment by slightly the numbers which can be done with the menu method for example if you're modeling a building and you have already designed a bunch of Windows you can't just use magical buttons to change their size or shape but you have to do it again from zero or at least you have to manually adjust polygons and vertices meaning both procedural and parametric modeling eliminate the work that is needed to be done by manual modeling but but they are not necessarily similar for reasons that we'll discuss next so the first distinction lies in the foundation they are built upon procedural modeling often relies on polygons and these 3D models are widely used in game engines and VFX 3D software on the other hand parametric modeling is predominantly used in CAD software and speaking of that being commonly utilized in cat software it is not a surprise that parametric modeling excels in generating designs products and buildings the fact that it relies on a precise set of predefined or custom parameters means that it has an advantage of offering a high level of control over individual elements and you can pretty much pick any line or any detail of your design and right away adjust it while that can be a bit trickier with the procedural counterpart with this parametric style of work you can change the length width height and the design shape and many details this level of control is particularly beneficial when creating designs that require specific measurements such as in engineering but on other hand parametric modeling is generally worse with organic shapes and it doesn't offer the level of Freedom procedural modeling offers and this is for a plethora of reasons but before we do that let me tell you about today's video sponsor shape lab shapelab offers many features and advantages for creating high quality 3D models in VR it is fast reliable intuitive and most importantly it has a powerful pulley mesh based design engine which means you can reach higher polygon numbers with lower system requirements than similar applications shape lab supports traditional professional design workflows and allows you to achieve more detailed objects than you would in many other VR 3D modeling tools Additionally you have many tools for more control over your model's topology you can use Dynamic topology made for real-time tessellation of the mesh based on the level of detail needed locally you also have options for Global mesh manipulation also shapelab offers rapid VR sculpting and high performance with all the industry grade tools that you will need such as Vortex painting stamping and Boolean operations and most importantly sculpting tools to enable you to make well detailed 3D assets and the good thing is you can export your models to edit them in other 3D software or for 3D printing as it supports multiple file formats like fbx obj STL and GBL as of recently you can also generate an export PBR texture Maps one of the things that I like most about the software is the intuitive interface and the many options of materials and environments overall shape lab is amazing and it allows you to easily create organic shapes from simple forms to complex designs it is unique among VR creative Tools in having a polygon mesh based engine instead of a Vortex based one and it has a feature set that can provide users of different backgrounds with tools to create 3D assets effectively so make sure to check out shape lab with the link in the description and let us know what you think now back to the video first for organic shapes if you look at the nature Ram dash you'll notice that it exhibits a level Randomness and irregularity that can be challenging to replicate using the parametric modeling workflow after all it mostly relies on precision and numbers whereas procedural modeling offers for example noise nodes so to understand this better imagine we have a flat plane and we can use noise maps to generate natural environments to make it simpler most maps are usually black and white images with random details that could be changed or animated and when we apply them to our plane surface the black parts will stay on the ground or as the white parts or rise as hills and mountains for example meaning if you want to create a natural terrain you can use noise maps to create things such as valleys and cliffs which is very hard to do use in parametric modeling the idea behind procedural modeling is having a bunch of nodes and then combining them in a way that you desire the quality and quality of these nodes can be different from one software to another but when we look at Houdini for example a software that does it best it offers a wide range of variations in textures patterns and mass generation which means that you have greater flexibility on the type of models that you can generate and their complexity because you can add any number of nodes to your note tree but this also means that parametric modeling is generally considered more accessible and user friendly because procedural modeling often includes a lot of nodes which can be scary to a lot of people also it might be tricky to learn how to interact with it especially the likes of math nodes whereas parametric modeling is more straightforward at least in my opinion another fascinating fact about Presidio modeling is that by adding and removing nodes within a Note 3 it is easy to generate variations which is perfect for large scale environments for example if you are trying to make a gigantic apocalyptic City it will be noticeable to the viewers if you are only using a few abil buildings and manually modeling hundreds of buildings isn't that realistic and could even take months so a more realistic approach is building them procedurally where you can adjust the size and details of elements such as Windows and Doors as well as textures and even add other procedural details like Ivy or wall cracks and you can do this to enhance the overall Statics of the buildings and these buildings can then be scattered across the city to be used in any of your projects now if you want to know how practical each method the modeling will be then procedural modeling and parametric modeling offer different approaches when it comes to efficiency and performance so procedural modeling excels in its ability to quickly update designs thanks to its node-based system that allows for Rapid modifications and adjustments on the other hand parametric modeling goes straight forward to the point when you want to edit a certain part of an object whereas procedural modeling for specific adjustments can be tricky depending on what you want to do and sometimes huge node setups might be needed which can make it a bit difficult and slow your computer and rendering process but an easier way to do that is by converting your procedural model into a regular 3D model that you could manually manipulate and optimize I hope you guys found this video useful and informative so if you did please give thumbs up and take a look at some of our previous videos thank you guys very much for watching and I will see you in the next one foreign

Channel: InspirationTuts

Views: 16,447

Keywords: Shapelab, 3D industry, 3d animation, VFX, vr technology, VR, How VR Is Changing 3D, how vr is changing 3d animation, how vr is changing 3d modeling, how vr is changing the world, what happens in vr, Procedural VS Parametric Modeling, procedural modeling, parametric modeling, 3d modeling, modeling, how to learn 3D modeling, 3d

Id: eoGVPmInAd8

Length: 10min 27sec (627 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 02 2023