Studying machinery for hard surface art
interpolator
I'd like to increase my skills as a hard surface artist by improving my knowledge of machinery in general.
But I'm wondering what a good area of study would be to focus on for this purpose.
My first guess was mechanical engineering, but when I attempted to study that subject online it turned out to be mostly mathematical formulas, which are useless to me here.
Replies
To add on to what @jaker3278 says, see if you can take a factory tour nearby if you can, or check out farm and industrial equipment. It's pretty easy to go down a youtube rabbit hole if you know the name of a particular mechanical technique or the make of a machine.
Most of the reason the "it looks cool so it goes there" aproach happens is the time constraints on research, experience with functional design is an interesting thing though, like most people you could fool with the structure of a "fake gun" with most of the details, but a gun expert would be able to pick half a dozen flaws with your design.
you are never going to fool the gun guy, same way you cant fool a martial arts guy with bad martial arts in a film, but there are levels that are acceptable and good, most people even the experts become happy when you get the basics right and remain faithful to whatever they are into.
but realistically I dont think it is helpful as an artist to become an expert in every subject matter you are doing, research is invaluable no doubt but there is kind of an economy of time.
But ExcessiveZero nailed it on the head. Unless you're an actual Tank Engineer or Martial Artist, you can only approximate what works before needing to go into the detail schematics of math, physics, calculus before it becomes real.
I wanted to make a dual turret tank. Should be powerful right since 2 cannons are better than one? But then I read up on the history of tanks and apart from some experimental WW2 prototypes, it was actually a dead-end from a tactical standpoint.
If your modeling, sorry re-creating something like a tank or an engine, and if your doing it right, your going to learn what things do and why they are there. Most of the time your going to have to rabbit hole yourself down thousands of web sights, digging up naming conventions, manufacturer parts, or anything else that is going to give more of clue about what your modeling. Its a great education. Most folks when they are learning to model never look, never really look at what they are modeling so it always ends up looking like a toy, or just plan poorly done. Take rocks for example, most people never really look at them, so when they model a rock it looks like ice cream. I would go right a head and model a tank or a gun inside and out. Then you'll understand the whys and hows. If you don't "study" these things now and try to make your own designs... well they will probably be horrible.
and now here's something for fun
http://imgur.com/gallery/Dl01a?lr=1479407224
I have a penchant for military armoured vehicles. Perhaps an interest established as a young man serving with a Reconnaissance Cavalry Regiment during the 80s. So if a particular subject happens to catch my eye enough too invest a quota of time/effort generating a 3D polygonal facsimile, I'll typically zero in on various military vehicle museums or better yet historical societies that regularly upload detailed restoration diaries, documenting disassembly through to final reassembly. Anyway specific avenues of approach I've found extremely useful as a mechanical hardsurface modeller, plus for example's sake resources I'm currently referencing to output a "plausible" 3D model for a long-term passion project.
- Restoration Diary
- Walkaround Photo Gallery
- WW2 Vintage Vehicle In Working Order
Something that environmental artist could benefit from is some basic strength of mechanics, how stresses "flow" through the structures (ie why pillars and braces are used).
Understanding what tension and compression is (generally) and why and when you want to release certain constraints at joints are also valuable when creating mechanical props. Different type of fasteners, their functions and limits.
Unless you actually work as a mechanical designer or have some hands on hobbies its difficult to grasp some of the concepts of materials and manufacturing methods. Either that, or you get to know a mechanical engineer.
hf
Almost everything I know about guns I learned from modeling them, by the time I started interacting with the real thing I already knew most parts by name and their function, not from studying engineering but just from finding reference and working things out in 3D
Of course this deep learning only happens if you recreate real-world objects instead of designing your own at first, and if you hold yourself to high standards of accuracy. But the learning will carry into your own designs
I've dug into some engineering and physics books out of the same interest, trying to "grasp" machinery better, but as you mentioned a lot of it is actually just math which, while very interesting in its own right, is not straightforwardly relevant to visual design... working backwards and deriving function and purpose from the final layout of real objects can teach you some design lessons much faster than starting with physics fundamentals, kind of like learning anatomy by dissecting a corpse instead of studying DNA and cell division or whatever
For me, this means studying how real things are put together. From wooden furniture, to tools, to weapons and machinery. If we wish to make a believable world, it can't just be based on our "intuition" or something. It has to be based on how things actually function.
And once you understand how things function, then you can start to approximate and break the rules; because you'll have that solid foundation of knowledge.
I find that getting a small antique mechanical object, and taking it apart and recreating it in 3D, and reassembling it, can help a whole lot with understanding how it functions. And barring that, just looking at mechanical things, and seeing if you can figure out how they work.
And watch youtube videos about that. Like this show: