Journey of the chronicler

chr0nicler

Greetings everyone, I am chr0nicler. A 3-D modeler who two years ago took part in the throne room challenge to test my skills. And. I sucked, no two ways about it I was terrible. For this reason I have resolved myself to improve my skills in the art of 3-D modelling and while I will likely not be considered the best, I will be something just as important; my best.

And with that, allow me to welcome you all as companions on my journey of self-discovery and self-improvement and witness the failures and triumphs on my road ahead.

chr0nicler

As part of my training, I downloaded the most recent versions of the 3-D modelling softwares. 3DS Max and Maya and decided to build a model in each to not only revisit old skills but learn brand-new ones. For 3DS Max I took inspiration from my brother, who had recently changed his username to include the word captain and naturally a captain needs a ship.

I based the ship on designs from one of my brothers favourite games of all time, Skies of Arcadia and when I recommended some names for the ship, he chose to go with Mirifica. On a side note, the ship's chosen name is a Latin word that translated means awesome. Yes. My brother's ship is literally awesome.

My work on the ship yielded promising results and I hope you did for the next phase of my 3DS Max training.

chr0nicler

For my training in Maya, I decide to stick to the theme of ships and used my own interests as inspiration for the design. I gave the ship the name Blue Nova and took inspiration from ship designs that greatly appealed to me.

However unlike my 3DS Max work. This one proved a bit more challenging to bring to life as utilising tools unique to the software such as the symmetry tool may designing it complicated than that need to be. But as a wise man once said; defeat is but an opportunity to begin again wiser then before and this exercise has gained me some useful experience that they intend to utilise in a new ship design based on some concepts that I have been musing over for some time.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Click that button to load your images into the thread.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Are you planning to make the high poly?

chr0nicler

That will depend on what visual style I with to go for. So for now, I have no thought on the matter.

p.s

thank you for the picture advice, it was vary helpful. 

Brian "Panda" Choi

You should probably have a thought on the matter soon.  A lack of direction will make fixing anything down the line ever the more difficult. Harder to fix the volumes of a model than its textures.

JordanN

Hey, I looked at your old thread and you seemed to have an idea of texturing your models and using Zbrush. 

Why are you starting off with primitives here and just rendering them?

As advice to help you in the long run, I would look up professional workflows and copy them.

An example like this Fire Extinguisher tutorial help me get a start on putting out models with consistency.
https://cgi.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-a-game-ready-fire-extinguisher-with-3d-studio-max-part-1--cg-31384

Once you have props, you can start putting together an environment. Unreal Engine offers a great tutorial on level building.
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/QuickStart/

chr0nicler

Brian "Panda" Choi said:

You should probably have a thought on the matter soon.  A lack of direction will make fixing anything down the line ever the more difficult. Harder to fix the volumes of a model than its textures.

A valid point Mr Panda and you'll be happy to know that after much consideration, I have decided to go for a more stylised visual look for my models as that particular approach plays to my strengths. I am most grateful for your counsel and hope you have a nice day.

p.s

Sorry for the late reply, I been having trouble logging in to my account for the past week.

chr0nicler

JordanN said:

Hey, I looked at your old thread and you seemed to have an idea of texturing your models and using Zbrush. 

Why are you starting off with primitives here and just rendering them?

As advice to help you in the long run, I would look up professional workflows and copy them.

An example like this Fire Extinguisher tutorial help me get a start on putting out models with consistency.
https://cgi.tutsplus.com/tutorials/create-a-game-ready-fire-extinguisher-with-3d-studio-max-part-1--cg-31384

Once you have props, you can start putting together an environment. Unreal Engine offers a great tutorial on level building.
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/QuickStart/

So that's how you do it. I've been trying for ages to find a way to improve the quality of my models without deforming them and this tutorial was precisely what I needed, I wonder if the same principle will apply to Maya as well. Thank you most kindly for your counsel JordanN and hope you have a wonderful day.

p.s

Sorry for the late reply, I been having trouble logging in to my account for the past week.

Brian "Panda" Choi

It should apply to Maya.  In general, with some exception, the only thing that really changes is the buttons you need to click to get to the same result.

chr0nicler

Brian "Panda" Choi said:

It should apply to Maya.  In general, with some exception, the only thing that really changes is the buttons you need to click to get to the same result.

I see. Thank you Mr Panda, that was most helpful.