Newbie Questions

blkbrd

Hi,
Traditional Sculptor here trying to teach myself 3d modeling and I've got a question or three.  I'm playing around trying to make a sci fi gun and currently it is just a bunch of parts mashed together.  My Questions are...

When I go to UV this damn thing does the model need to be water/air tight like one continuous form?
Or, do I just UV all the bits and pieces separate?
I guess, simply...what is the workflow for this type of hard surface modeling...simply.  Thanks!

jackanimated

It's kind of up to you how many objects make up your model. Just don't have objects intersecting each other, that's messy and you'll have sharp "edges" you have no control over.

I've never built a gun before but I'd probably make these objects separately :
the main body with handle,
the trigger,
the barrel inside the body,
that sliding thing for reloading.

AdvisableRobin

It comes down to a couple things. Firstly you need to consider if the model will animate and what parts will need to move around. If you're talking about creating a highpoly then I tend to try to model it the way it is actually constructed, with the exception of a few things that are easier to model as one piece. For low poly it totally depends again on animation and on what is easier to do, some geometry can be watertight and other can be floated or just disconnected.

Tim Bergholz actually has a really solid tutorial on weapons modeling you can find here

blkbrd

Thanks for the replies.  Definitely look into the link!