Also is there any reason you have to connect the cylinder to the gun? If it is left as floating Geo then you save hassle / vertices by not having to cut it up and join it.
Hey everyone! I'm kind of new here. VERY new here.
I have a question regarding UV unwrapping. The software is 3DS max, if that matters.
Right now I'm just messing around and decided to make a stun knife. While unwrapping the blade, I did a bunch of stitching to connect the edges I wanted for the tip of the blade. I was just wondering if there was a way to straighten out all the lines, or if I had to do it all by hand?
Jack: You don't ever need to loop stuff around the mesh. You can terminate a loop anywhere on a flat surface.
Since you talk about loops, I assume this is the beginnings of your hipoly mesh. For hipoly it's strongly recommended that you block out the entire mesh in a simple manner first, without worrying much about loops, polycounts, or how anything connects.
I am trying to avoid triangles where possible in case I animate this later down the line, how would I go about stopping the loop without connecting it to a corner of an adjacent face thus creating a triangle?
And thanks, I blocked this part of the mesh out first, but I didn't think to block the whole mesh out.
Also is there any reason you have to connect the cylinder to the gun? If it is left as floating Geo then you save hassle / vertices by not having to cut it up and join it.
I'm not sure, I have no idea how bad / not bad having floating geo is so I try to avoid it where possible.
OK, I see what's happening here. You're blindly following a rule you read somewhere without trying to understand that rule. Probably a result of the public schooling system.
Yes, such a rule about triangles sort of exists, but in no way applies to the mesh you're making. It's for areas that will see soft deformation (obviously never happens to a gun made out of metal and hard plastic).
The best advice I can give you for now is stick with the basics. You shouldn't even be thinking about stuff like animation at this stage. And, use common sense; don't just blindly accept rules.
Pretty much spot on. A friend who is an experienced modeller told me about this rule, but I guess the language barrier stopped him from explaining it properly to me - he did however mention that it only matters on areas that are animated, but I didn't know it meant deformed, I thought it meant if it was attached to any area that might be animated (I.E. a triangle on the front face of a bike wheel might cause issues if the bike wheel was animated... this now of course is blindingly obvious that it wouldn't cause any problems :poly122:)
Thanks for clearing that up. I won't be so worried about having triangles now.
You're talking about mesh elements. Floating geo is something else entirely Check the polycount wiki if you're curious, but it's related to hipoly modeling.
I know that floating geometry is an efficient way to create details you want to bake into your normals, and not have really messy topology because of it (I think? :poly105: )
I was just referring to what Bek said about me not even necessarily having to cut it into the mesh. I didn't know that was an acceptable way of modelling things, but I suppose it makes sense to model your object in elements that are separated by how the parts might be in a real life situation.
Hi Majn. Probably not the answer you want to hear, but I suggest you work further on modeling before trying to tackle UV-mapping. The mesh you have there kind of breaks all the rules of modeling.
What many people who struggle with UV-mapping don't realize is that if your mesh is well-formed, the unwrapping pretty much takes care of itself.
Thanks! The best advice is always honest. I'm just learning, so all input goes great lengths in helping me.
How you guys go about modeling Gothic,Horse, other non-standard arch in Maya ?
In Max I used to simply draw spline and check render in viewport.
In Maya I tried to extrude face along curve, but result was at best messy. Ideas ?
Hey guys, I'm desperate. I haven't been modeling in ages and I can't figure it out how to solve my problem I have a round shape, which connects to a rectangular shape. I am not sure how to connect them both. Obviously I need to remove the red marked edges to have a round shape or adjust the shape of those edges so I can get the perfect circle again, but the area where both shapes meet always has artifacts, no matter how I try to connect them. Any suggestion?
Hey guys, I'm desperate. I haven't been modeling in ages and I can't figure it out how to solve my problem I have a round shape, which connects to a rectangular shape. I am not sure how to connect them both. Obviously I need to remove the red marked edges to have a round shape or adjust the shape of those edges so I can get the perfect circle again, but the area where both shapes meet always has artifacts, no matter how I try to connect them. Any suggestion?
Use much more geo on the base cylinder itself so that you don't need to add support loops manually
that extra geo will produce "natural" support loops
Hi guys! Im really a noob in this thing of hard surface modeling... I´m one of those guys who know a couple of fancy tricks in Zbrush and call him self a modeler ... but the thing is i never try to model something with just a mouse instead of my wacom pen... so the day has come and now i had to model a medicine bottle and part of it was the cap... i have no idea how to make but i did my best (see image above) I will not tell you hov much time i spend on it and how many tries... but i suspect there is a better and more eficient way to do it... please can you help me?!
Basically, you don't have to cut everything so it's all one continuing mesh. So, for the medicine bottle, you'd make a cylinder and shape it. Then for the lid, I'd create a new rectangle and align it to the bottle. I'd give it any loops it needed, assuming it's for the high poly. Then I'd replicate it as many times as you need around the lid of the bottle. This keeps the geometry of the bottle and the lid grips simple and clean.
I have been looking for a quick and good way to model rebar. Any tips on how i should create those and how i can deform them along a spline, if possible.
Well, it is a 99 pages thread so i didnt read all the tips an tricks... but i guess i will aproach this like the "tire" tip. First podel one part flat, repreat it along a line and then bend it till it become a complete ring
Bek is correct. You could model all of this stuff, but it would take much longer and the result would be the same and use much more geometry. For something like this, I would almost always use floating geo.
Found a way to have it deform on a line by using the path deform binding (WSM) modifier inside 3ds max. Thx metalliandy for the screenies and obj file.
@metalliandy & @Bek MATES! tnx for the help! now i Have a much clear idea about the aproach fo finer details like this in other projects ! Please do you know if I can find some good tutorials abouth Hardsurface modeling here in Polycount forums? or any other place in the internet?! I need to learn this stuff...
Hey folks. I've been beating my head against the wall about this in Maya. My skills in the program aren't as proficient as I am in Max, however I come with a simple question. I've been having a hell of a time replicating the vent shape in the reference image with my Geometry. Currently my Vents feel a bit too square for my liking, and while it seems simple, I just can't get it to look correct or uniform. Perhaps I need to rethink the muzzle brake and rebuild? I'm probably over-thinking this
You could also just have made the cylinder from a plane, and then make the holes in it. Then use whatever bend method you have in Maya and create a cylinder out of it.
Hey guys, came across a shape today that has been kicking my butt. It's part of a rescue sub, and I can't seem to wrap my head around the best way to approach this front part. Any advice would be much appreciated.
For the bottom one i would prob use ndo2. The top one looks easy enough, just extract a part of the geo then do a inward extrude like you would on a flat surface?
What is ndo2? - i'm in 3ds max here by the way. also is isnt as simple as your making out for the top part, i need supporting edges somewhere to make the buttom part where the bolt will go through flat and have hard edges at the side..
The back doesn't have that same pectoral edge flow. Unless you mean delete the (model's) LEFT half and dupe the right? The right half is an instance so it has identical problem atm.
I see, didn't realize the other half was an instance. Just use the split tool and cut the n-gon into 2 quads... Then continue this new edge to the center of the chest or reroute it up the neck.
How would I go about adding these shapes? Modelling it flat then bending it into a cylinder? Or floating Geo?
....
Hey, marty i made very rough example just to show you. this is a cylinder with 64 sides. On top of that cylinder use cut tool with vertex snap after that some hand tweaking...:)
and one more... nothing special simply move vertexes how you like it then extrude add support edges and thats it.
Hello everyone, I'm currently in the middle of modeling a contemporary bench for a scene I'm working on in UDK. For some reason the shape itself is proving to be a great challenge to me, so I figured the Polycount community, in all its knowledge, would perhaps be able to help me. It's not sub-d modeling as I'm not planning on doing a hi-poly for a normal map bake (unless anywhere here thinks I should), but just trying to get the shape as well as good triangulation is proving difficult. The struggle is lying in the curve of the bench frame. For the life of me I cannot figure out how to maintain a good curve with a rounded off edge while maintaining proper topology to be able to do the inside bevel. Below are some photos of what I'm after:
And here is the less than mediocre result I have come up with:
As you can see I am having trouble with maintaining the rounded off edge while still being able to bevel the inside. Also, I am only attempting to model the seat of the bench and not the back-piece.
Replies
Went for a lower poly option, means I have to do less looping around the rest of the mesh too
I have a question regarding UV unwrapping. The software is 3DS max, if that matters.
Right now I'm just messing around and decided to make a stun knife. While unwrapping the blade, I did a bunch of stitching to connect the edges I wanted for the tip of the blade. I was just wondering if there was a way to straighten out all the lines, or if I had to do it all by hand?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
I am trying to avoid triangles where possible in case I animate this later down the line, how would I go about stopping the loop without connecting it to a corner of an adjacent face thus creating a triangle?
And thanks, I blocked this part of the mesh out first, but I didn't think to block the whole mesh out.
I'm not sure, I have no idea how bad / not bad having floating geo is so I try to avoid it where possible.
Pretty much spot on. A friend who is an experienced modeller told me about this rule, but I guess the language barrier stopped him from explaining it properly to me - he did however mention that it only matters on areas that are animated, but I didn't know it meant deformed, I thought it meant if it was attached to any area that might be animated (I.E. a triangle on the front face of a bike wheel might cause issues if the bike wheel was animated... this now of course is blindingly obvious that it wouldn't cause any problems :poly122:)
Thanks for clearing that up. I won't be so worried about having triangles now.
I know that floating geometry is an efficient way to create details you want to bake into your normals, and not have really messy topology because of it (I think? :poly105: )
I was just referring to what Bek said about me not even necessarily having to cut it into the mesh. I didn't know that was an acceptable way of modelling things, but I suppose it makes sense to model your object in elements that are separated by how the parts might be in a real life situation.
Thanks! The best advice is always honest. I'm just learning, so all input goes great lengths in helping me.
In Max I used to simply draw spline and check render in viewport.
In Maya I tried to extrude face along curve, but result was at best messy. Ideas ?
what i've got: http://imageshack.us/a/img9/9521/mayarm.jpg
in maya how can you go about making the holes for the case? boolean??? just looking for a quick way that you guys would go about.
Anyone has a clever way of modelling this rope, other than manually placing them splines?
Use much more geo on the base cylinder itself so that you don't need to add support loops manually
that extra geo will produce "natural" support loops
Cheers
I wouldn't model it lol. I would do it with a texture because no one would know the difference.
edit: was able to do this with the many faces extrude technique and lattice to bend
not perfect circles, but looks OK
by the way, what are some things you guys did as beginners to improve? i can't seem to move beyond beginner level :poly136:
Hi guys! Im really a noob in this thing of hard surface modeling... I´m one of those guys who know a couple of fancy tricks in Zbrush and call him self a modeler
Basically, you don't have to cut everything so it's all one continuing mesh. So, for the medicine bottle, you'd make a cylinder and shape it. Then for the lid, I'd create a new rectangle and align it to the bottle. I'd give it any loops it needed, assuming it's for the high poly. Then I'd replicate it as many times as you need around the lid of the bottle. This keeps the geometry of the bottle and the lid grips simple and clean.
Bek is correct. You could model all of this stuff, but it would take much longer and the result would be the same and use much more geometry. For something like this, I would almost always use floating geo.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2057427/Polycount/HP_Pill_Bottle.zip
@reinihetvosje,
I can't show the splines workflow as I don't use max, but here is what I have in regards to geo.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2057427/Polycount/HP_Rebar.zip
Any advice for a new Maya User?
http://www.manw.nato.int/boldmonarch2011/Pictures/units%20participating/NATO%200Submarine%2020Rescue20System.jpg
..that's what was giving me a hard time, trying to keep my mesh relatively clean while still having it curved. Will try the methods suggested though.
I can't seem to add them, especially the top one which is on the curve. It's basically an indent so a bolt can bolt the top on.
Which I will also have on the lowpoly, so I want the smooth edges to be baked, otherwise I would attempt to make it floating geo.
or floating geo.
It is do-able, I just don't know how and thought it would be quicker for someone to show me.
http://vimeo.com/m/10941211
and one more... nothing special simply move vertexes how you like it then extrude add support edges and thats it.
http://www.livestream.com/snefer/video?clipId=pla_47c001af-e9a0-41fc-a5dc-78179bed5856&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb
Yeah sorry, I am not sure what has happened? it gets compressed somewhere along the lines, try these links if you want original rez.
Not that a man of your skill needs it
image 1, http://postimage.org/image/6s3lwdupd/full/
image 2, http://postimage.org/image/t0r5s90lr/full/
And here is the less than mediocre result I have come up with:
As you can see I am having trouble with maintaining the rounded off edge while still being able to bevel the inside. Also, I am only attempting to model the seat of the bench and not the back-piece.
Any help would truly be appreciated.