I started to work on a personal project, a Helghast Helmet. I would like some feed back on it, and I have some doubts about the geometry, here it go.
I started with the top part, and this is the geometry I have so far.
[SNIP]
This one is the smooth Preview
[SNIP]
And this one is the smooth preview + wires.
[SNIP]
Those red arrow points to where I have doubts. Its smooths fine, but, is there a better way to do this ? Is my support loops ok ?
And this is the side reference
[SNIP]
If it looks good when smoothed and those poles don't show up, then you can leave it as it is. Use a high gloss material so that surface highlights show more obviously and will enable you to spot bad smoothing more easily.
If you don't want the poles to impact your smoothing, you could add another edge loop and weld your verts to that instead, so you still have a clean inner support loop.
So, more issues.
I'am struggling in the eye area, I'am trying to model the entire eye piece as one single mesh. It is smoothing OK, but i think I'll have problem building the low poly to bake the normal map. So i have no idea on how to proceed. I wanna keep those nice bevels around the eye.
SmoothPreview
wires
And the references.
How you guys would proceed?
EDIT: I ended separating the googles into two pieces, I think I'll be able to bake the normals just fine, what you guys think ?
if you want to model them in (which i have to do from time to time at work)
you can use the add text function in blender and convert that into polygons
then inset this, extrude and clean up the mess
on flat surfaces this is pretty easy
on curved surfaces this is a bit more complicated if you want them to be one mesh, but its doable.
I've been getting serious headaches trying figure out how to get the smaller notches normally found along the edge of a revolver cylinder that help hold the cylinder in place I made a bit of a cop out version at first and wanted to revisit and do it properly.
It seems honestly like every time I attempt cutting shapes into cylinders I wind up with a lot of pinching and artifacting when I subdivide. Was wondering if I could get some pointers on how I might achieve the desired result.
I feel like I've seen a lot of boolean workflows, and a lot of people I've seen have been using floaters for this type of detail. Any suggestions you guys have would much appreciated! Thank you so much in advance!
EDIT: For reference, its the circled area I am trying to replicate
how does rockstart make their roads in gta? Ive been searching and searching to find the best way to create roads in either unreal or unity but I'm stuck. I was looking at the spline tools that allow you to take a mesh and then use control points. In gta theirs a lot of roads that follow hills and all that. anyway any suggestions for unity or unreal would be awesome. thanks
For a low poly or high poly? For a low poly, I just place a sphere at the end, extrude the low poly cylinder to roughly match the sphere, and reduce the edges from there. For a high poly, I'd count the number of edges around the geosphere, make a cylinder with that number, and merge them together.
I've been getting serious headaches trying figure out how to get the smaller notches normally found along the edge of a revolver cylinder that help hold the cylinder in place I made a bit of a cop out version at first and wanted to revisit and do it properly.
It seems honestly like every time I attempt cutting shapes into cylinders I wind up with a lot of pinching and artifacting when I subdivide. Was wondering if I could get some pointers on how I might achieve the desired result.
I feel like I've seen a lot of boolean workflows, and a lot of people I've seen have been using floaters for this type of detail. Any suggestions you guys have would much appreciated! Thank you so much in advance!
EDIT: For reference, its the circled area I am trying to replicate
Model it flat and use s bend tool. In this case (no pic for a while ). You model thr big shapes first. Add divisions. Build the middle shapes and if the mesh cannot divide smooth enough with the subdivision you have.try to divide it again.
Model it flat and use s bend tool. In this case (no pic for a while ). You model thr big shapes first. Add divisions. Build the middle shapes and if the mesh cannot divide smooth enough with the subdivision you have.try to divide it again.
Thanks wirrexx! I'll keep this advice in mind for the future. Forgot to update my post, but after much trial and error the last couple nights, I managed to get something working!
i want to know how i can model these cables. iam using 3ds max:
I can't see your cables but its been a long time since i've used max for anything but it has a spline function that allows you to draw and then manipulate that shape into following whatever path you want.
i would suggest changing the name of this thread to HOW DO YOU MODEL THIS ?? POST PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS , in caps because most of the latest modeling questions can be solved by just looking at this thread :P
Yeah I'm also finding it a little annoying. It shows a complete lack of effort, posting and imagr and asking how you model something without any attempt yourself is just as good as someone else making a model and sending the damned thing to you. Like free labor.
If you can't be bothered to show you're own attempt and genuinly ask for help, then don't ask at all.
Harsh but true, it's reiterated multiple times in this thread and seems to fly in one ear and out the other. I mean I even made a Technical Talk dump thread with all the images and it seems to have gone to waste simply because people would rather post a message and wait then try searching for something themselves...
i would suggest changing the name of this thread to HOW DO YOU MODEL THIS ?? POST PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS , in caps because most of the latest modeling questions can be solved by just looking at this thread :P
Curious Question, You wouldn't happen to mean the subdivision on the Wiki? Because in that case Tips and Tricks. I think i'm just understanding what they are meant to be used for like i think your suppose to utilized them in a fashion so that you don't get smoothing errors like i posted before.
Given that other users models tend to have similar edge loops.
that was asked already loys of times in this thread , please do some reading or at least reply with your attempt before having someone do the solution , that way you learn nothing
URGENTLY Need help. I've been trying to do this on my own but i just don't know enough about smooth preview. Every other part of this pistol i've model using the same techniques but this pistol grip, I don't know how approach it.
No, Not really. They are hard for a reason because without those defined edges on the front it wouldn't be hard surface it would be a blob.
What i want is evenly spread geometry so that it curves around and back without it stretching like that.
Well then, you need more edges, more control. You might be able to create a really nice curve with just four edges, but as soon as you want to adjust that then of course there's going to have to be edges in between which support that curve. Filling out the shape more means making the low poly is easier as well, as the low and high will match closer.
Why is that grip sharing geometry with the block above it? Can we see the concept you're working off of?
It's generally frowned upon in this thread to do someone else's work for them, but I felt like I needed some practice. Is this sort of what you were going for? No clue how to reduce the pinching further. I don't consider myself a master hard surfacer so I'd appreciate anyone with more experience showing a more efficient solution
Not sure what you can do about fusing it to the block, I'd just have it as a sort of floater and build the low poly to bake without the gap showing up. Part of the fun of hard surface! (:poly127:)
edit:
And here's a thrown together run through of the process in which I end up with a completely different result than above... :shifty:
Oh well. At least you get an idea of how it was achieved.
Extrude plane to match blue area on reference / move front edge to create angle / extrude back edge / scale edges to align / move vertexes to line up with reference / move whole mesh along and extrude front edge to world X / extrude back edge to world X / fill in bottom / edge connect 2 edges and pull out to round mesh / edgelooooooops / (4 panel: delete edges, inset, delete faces, move edge to world X.) / symmetry and turbosmooth
Not shown; tons of moving vertexes around using edge constraint and cleanup of floating/unwelded vertexes. You seem to be using Maya but the fundamentals are the same.
Ah, So you don't do it completely from a block you'll shape out some of the object then let smoothing do the rest? and yes this is pretty close. I'll have to try and replicate this not sure why you've got lines that suddenly angle upwards but i'm guessing that's to force it to keep its shape?
Kinda curious how you avoid the smoothing errors up towards the top.
In general I think it's best to start with the most difficult or defining shape and block it out first, then fill everything else in, adding supporting edge loops is the final thing you do.
I used edge constraint to move some of the vertexes so that the edges weren't so close together, but still on the same plane. Reduces some of the pinching (I hope)
Also I just realised on that run-through I should have kept those 2 connecting edges running down the side more planar. Haha
Oh well, done in a rush.
Hi all, just a suggestion that we should make part 2 of this great thread so that the information here remains manageable and people could go over from page 1 etc.
Also we should make a sticky for all those excellent chain links, knurls and holes on curved surfaces tutorials as these things have been asked about many many times in here by people not going over the beginning of this thread.
Hi all, just a suggestion that we should make part 2 of this great thread so that the information here remains manageable and people could go over from page 1 etc.
If your suggesting we take every single hint, help and otherwise useful image from this thread and stick it in a new thread as its OP. I'm all for this however you'd need to re-upload them given that a lot of those images are hosted on unreliable sources such as photobucket which has recently gone downhill.
I know this exists but it would be better to take everything from this thread and put that into a new one.
No no not copy paste the images to other thread, what I mean is just close this one and make a quick link for most asked things in here which are mostly holes in curves and supporting edge loops, knurls etc.
The new thread (part 2) should contain more challenges like the ones Perna did along with usual main purpose of this thread minus the most asked things already mentioned above.
(P.S I have read all 235 pages and while its very useful I feel some information has been repeated so many times that it becomes a drag)
Its completed, I think. I didn't do the block like look. I guess in some way i didn't really have much of an understanding of what i wanted but thank you.
Might as well use this post to also support the idea of a new thread with 'READ THE OP AND TRY THE SHAPE BEFORE POSTING' right in the title
So much of hard surface is about adding supportive geo to curves or putting holes in surfaces and that's like 90% of the posts we get I think
I think this thread strikes people at first glance as a 'post here to have people solve your problems' thread when really it's more to guide people towards better or more efficient topology or for really difficult shapes to see how other artists would do them
Getting back into modelling so tried this smoke launcher shape.
Would like to know any faster way of doing such mesh fusion type stuff in 3ds max and if my support loops fall into planar and efficient category. The one on far left gets the job done for me.
I'm willing to bet it's been asked dozens of times, but how do people create these shapes in 3Ds Max? I've been using Splines and getting some reasonable results, but I'd like to know if there are potential better methods.
I'm willing to bet it's been asked dozens of times, but how do people create these shapes in 3Ds Max? I've been using Splines and getting some reasonable results, but I'd like to know if there are potential better methods.
Replies
I started to work on a personal project, a Helghast Helmet. I would like some feed back on it, and I have some doubts about the geometry, here it go.
I started with the top part, and this is the geometry I have so far.
This one is the smooth Preview
And this one is the smooth preview + wires.
Those red arrow points to where I have doubts. Its smooths fine, but, is there a better way to do this ? Is my support loops ok ?
And this is the side reference
If it looks good when smoothed and those poles don't show up, then you can leave it as it is. Use a high gloss material so that surface highlights show more obviously and will enable you to spot bad smoothing more easily.
If you don't want the poles to impact your smoothing, you could add another edge loop and weld your verts to that instead, so you still have a clean inner support loop.
Thanks for your reply! I'll try to add another support loop and see what I get.
i'll post more pictures soon...
Thanks again.
I'am struggling in the eye area, I'am trying to model the entire eye piece as one single mesh. It is smoothing OK, but i think I'll have problem building the low poly to bake the normal map. So i have no idea on how to proceed. I wanna keep those nice bevels around the eye.
SmoothPreview
wires
And the references.
How you guys would proceed?
EDIT: I ended separating the googles into two pieces, I think I'll be able to bake the normals just fine, what you guys think ?
you can use the add text function in blender and convert that into polygons
then inset this, extrude and clean up the mess
on flat surfaces this is pretty easy
on curved surfaces this is a bit more complicated if you want them to be one mesh, but its doable.
the easy & fast way would be what warrenM said
cant get the blend between the 2 cylinder shapes looking right atall. There must be a quick method for this surely?
I can help with this one!
Start off by adding some text to your scene: Shift+A > Text
Tab into Edit mode to change the text
You will want to lower the resolution in the Text Properties panel, and you can change the font and other settings there:
Hit Alt+C to convert the text to a mesh object:
Tab into edit mode and use the inset tool (i). Inset the text a bit, and hold down CTRL to push the inset in or out
Tidy it all up (you'll have overlapping bits) and brand that gat!
Honestly though, you'd be better off using Ndo for baking this text in your normal map, but the more you know!
I've been getting serious headaches trying figure out how to get the smaller notches normally found along the edge of a revolver cylinder that help hold the cylinder in place I made a bit of a cop out version at first and wanted to revisit and do it properly.
It seems honestly like every time I attempt cutting shapes into cylinders I wind up with a lot of pinching and artifacting when I subdivide. Was wondering if I could get some pointers on how I might achieve the desired result.
I feel like I've seen a lot of boolean workflows, and a lot of people I've seen have been using floaters for this type of detail. Any suggestions you guys have would much appreciated! Thank you so much in advance!
EDIT: For reference, its the circled area I am trying to replicate
Model it flat and use s bend tool. In this case (no pic for a while ). You model thr big shapes first. Add divisions. Build the middle shapes and if the mesh cannot divide smooth enough with the subdivision you have.try to divide it again.
i want to know how i can model these cables. iam using 3ds max:
Thanks wirrexx! I'll keep this advice in mind for the future. Forgot to update my post, but after much trial and error the last couple nights, I managed to get something working!
Here's a link to a new post on my progress thread with the old and new cylinder.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2363967&postcount=13
I can't see your cables but its been a long time since i've used max for anything but it has a spline function that allows you to draw and then manipulate that shape into following whatever path you want.
find that and you'll find how to make dem cables.
If you can't be bothered to show you're own attempt and genuinly ask for help, then don't ask at all.
Harsh but true, it's reiterated multiple times in this thread and seems to fly in one ear and out the other. I mean I even made a Technical Talk dump thread with all the images and it seems to have gone to waste simply because people would rather post a message and wait then try searching for something themselves...
Curious Question, You wouldn't happen to mean the subdivision on the Wiki? Because in that case Tips and Tricks. I think i'm just understanding what they are meant to be used for like i think your suppose to utilized them in a fashion so that you don't get smoothing errors like i posted before.
Given that other users models tend to have similar edge loops.
I want it to be evenly distributed not like this.
Does that help?
Page 10 to 50 upwards have the answers you seek
No, Not really. They are hard for a reason because without those defined edges on the front it wouldn't be hard surface it would be a blob.
What i want is evenly spread geometry so that it curves around and back without it stretching like that.
EDIT
This is what i mean.
Well then, you need more edges, more control. You might be able to create a really nice curve with just four edges, but as soon as you want to adjust that then of course there's going to have to be edges in between which support that curve. Filling out the shape more means making the low poly is easier as well, as the low and high will match closer.
Why is that grip sharing geometry with the block above it? Can we see the concept you're working off of?
Not sure what you can do about fusing it to the block, I'd just have it as a sort of floater and build the low poly to bake without the gap showing up. Part of the fun of hard surface! (:poly127:)
download obj (right click > save as)
edit:
And here's a thrown together run through of the process in which I end up with a completely different result than above... :shifty:
Oh well. At least you get an idea of how it was achieved.
Extrude plane to match blue area on reference / move front edge to create angle / extrude back edge / scale edges to align / move vertexes to line up with reference / move whole mesh along and extrude front edge to world X / extrude back edge to world X / fill in bottom / edge connect 2 edges and pull out to round mesh / edgelooooooops / (4 panel: delete edges, inset, delete faces, move edge to world X.) / symmetry and turbosmooth
Not shown; tons of moving vertexes around using edge constraint and cleanup of floating/unwelded vertexes. You seem to be using Maya but the fundamentals are the same.
Ah, So you don't do it completely from a block you'll shape out some of the object then let smoothing do the rest? and yes this is pretty close. I'll have to try and replicate this not sure why you've got lines that suddenly angle upwards but i'm guessing that's to force it to keep its shape?
Kinda curious how you avoid the smoothing errors up towards the top.
I used edge constraint to move some of the vertexes so that the edges weren't so close together, but still on the same plane. Reduces some of the pinching (I hope)
Also I just realised on that run-through I should have kept those 2 connecting edges running down the side more planar. Haha
Oh well, done in a rush.
Also we should make a sticky for all those excellent chain links, knurls and holes on curved surfaces tutorials as these things have been asked about many many times in here by people not going over the beginning of this thread.
If your suggesting we take every single hint, help and otherwise useful image from this thread and stick it in a new thread as its OP. I'm all for this however you'd need to re-upload them given that a lot of those images are hosted on unreliable sources such as photobucket which has recently gone downhill.
I know this exists but it would be better to take everything from this thread and put that into a new one.
http://imgur.com/a/dEWXP
The new thread (part 2) should contain more challenges like the ones Perna did along with usual main purpose of this thread minus the most asked things already mentioned above.
(P.S I have read all 235 pages and while its very useful I feel some information has been repeated so many times that it becomes a drag)
Might as well use this post to also support the idea of a new thread with 'READ THE OP AND TRY THE SHAPE BEFORE POSTING' right in the title
So much of hard surface is about adding supportive geo to curves or putting holes in surfaces and that's like 90% of the posts we get I think
I think this thread strikes people at first glance as a 'post here to have people solve your problems' thread when really it's more to guide people towards better or more efficient topology or for really difficult shapes to see how other artists would do them
Would like to know any faster way of doing such mesh fusion type stuff in 3ds max and if my support loops fall into planar and efficient category. The one on far left gets the job done for me.
[ame]
i know it's in russian, but still good enough!
Lots of great info from Scott Homer on making curly stuff.
Anyone??? I couldn't find any good method.
heres a hint
Unsure about the difference between that program and Maya but you shouldn't need to round those holes that much as it should round from a square.