Modern Kitchen - My first 3D Model

Nikki3D

Hello everyone,

I just started to get into 3D modeling. Got myself a DigitalTutors subscription for christmas and now I start learning 3D Studio Max.

My goal is to get things done efficiently and fast and get into character modeling as soon a possible, but I don't want to set too strong goals for the beginning to not loose motivation.

A bit about myself: I am a software developer and business analyst working for an consulting company. Due to my limited time I rarely get new stuff to play with so this is one investment I wanted to do all the time and now I finally arranged my daily schedule to work a bit on 3D modeling.

Enough about myself, now let's talk about my first goal:

I want to model a kitchen and render a realistic image. In order to get more into the modeling stuff I start with an Ofen. I saw the images below and find the shapes very interesting to get a feeling about the right topology for an object.

So my references for the Ofen are:





I will post my progress later. As I got a cold too I need to go to the doc in 2 hours, so after that I will start modeling

Before that I already got my first question to you guys:
You can see the small holes on the side of the Ofen. Should I model this directly into the side panel or should I create a separate piece and connect the edges later ?

Thank you,
Nikki

sushi

If you`re modeling for games, you will probably want to bake that entire side panel detail into a normal map using a high to low poly workflow.

NickWilliams

Hi Nikki,
Welcome to the wonderful world of 3D modeling!

I'm curious, you said this is your first model, so will you plan on building a high poly then baking it to a low poly? or will you be trying just the low for now? I honestly recommend the latter if it's your first just so you can get a good feel of the process and 3dsmax environment. The only reason being, is that I know a lot of people tend to stumble around learning the baking process at first (though it isn't really anything to be afraid of at all).

Anywho, as for your question, it depends on a few things:

1. Will it be seen in the end? Once you assemble your whole scene, will those sides be concealed by counters, other appliances, drawers etc...?
2. What is the level of detail you are after? If you want realistic, then you can use "floating" geo to bake the holes into the normals for your low. (I can explain this more if you'd like) If you're not too worried about how real them holes look then, you can simply take care of them in your textures by painting them in. NOTE: This won't look nearly as good.
3. You could try to model in those holes simply for the sake of learning how to model. Again, let me stress, I wouldn't recommend actually modeling them in for a game asset but I do think trying it may help you learn a thing or two.

Seeing as this is your first, I wouldn't stress efficiency just yet. Learn your tools, the process and finish a piece or two before attempting larger projects. Of course I don't mean to discourage, but often times people set goals too big for themselves and often, they never see them through.

You're in the right place to learn the medium. Don't loose courage if you get a harsh critique here and there. I and others would be glad to help along the way Best of luck!

Nikki3D

Hi sushi,

thank you. Right now, I won't model for games before I got a got feeling about high/low poly modeling. First I will stick to still image renders with a bit realism to it. Or some stylized look. Later I think the high to low poly workflow seems the best for me as I get both models to work with. As far as I know I can bake the normals map out from the high poly mesh right?

Nikki3D

Sorry, had a very strong cold, so I wasn't able to do anything in the last couple of days.

So today I finally start modeling I did some tests for the sidepanel. Can you please check if the wire is going in the right direction or not. I am currently wondering if there is better way to not have so much lines on the outside (which will be connected to the other panels) but to keep the detail.

I used the Swift Loop Tool for everything and added a Turbosmooth with 3 iterations for the render.

@NickWilliams:

1) No the sidepanel won't be seen in the final image. Currently I only model for creating still images. Later I will try to go into game modeling/animation and so. But I want to stick to simple modeling for image creating for now.

2) I want to achieve a realistic look

3) Yes I use this for learning purposes.

Here are the first images:

Nikki3D

Now I modeled a bit of the inside of the oven. Had a lot of practice today regarding different edge flows. However I still don't feel comfortable...

What do you think about the geometry ?

MaccyF

In regard to edge loops and such, I would personally use a much simpler plane without the fine detail, and use a normal map in the texture for the sticky out bits on the side panels