Box Modeling - A Method?

Bargadiel

Hello there Polycount, Novice to-be Animation student here with a quick question. So far, I have been using Wings 3-D to practice modeling and It's been a great program; I have to admit. Primitive compared to the Autodesk stuff etc, but great for getting my feet wet. I've made a couple things here and there, whether it be something I find in my room and practice with, or models that people have asked me to make for them. Although, is there a set method that is better than another? I began this tutorial that talks about modeling a head from a box with a mirror, and I thought...If I can make a head this way, why not anything?

Or rather maybe that's what I was supposed to be doing all along. I've been trying lots of different methods, for instance I made a bed without using this method. Instead, I connected points and extruded faces to eventually get the result I wanted. And it came out as I imagined it, just a little more difficult. I just don't know if there is some unspoken rule to making things in certain ways.

So can anything be made by just using a cube/shape with a mirror, then free-moving the points around?

.morph3us

i deinfalty use box modeling...
or even the newer "plane modeling" (where you start with just one face and then extrude the edges)
though there definatly are a lot of possibilities, you can model with nurbs, too, or just sculpt, whatever suits you in the situation you are in.
(wouldnt make sense using splines for making something basic like a normal table)

but box modeling is commonly used!

r_fletch_r

These tutorials are for silo but they describe the modelling workflow pretty nicely.
http://www.nevercenter.com/silo/videos/tutorials/

Bargadiel

Thank you for the link and responses, I will check it out tonight. I also have another question if you could help me out again.

Lets say I am modeling a fridge, and I want it to have a handle. Could I just model the handle separately and weld it onto the fridge? Sometimes it just looks weird, since there is no line on the part where they connect.

r_fletch_r

if the parts of a model are seperate in reality then model them seperately in 3D. if the handle is a different piece of metal/plastic model it as a seperate mesh.

Bargadiel

Thanks for the help. So I would just set it onto the fridge the way I think it looks good, then combine the two geometries?

And would I want to texture them separately before I attach it?

renderhjs

you can merge them yes, they are called components or elements of a mesh. They don't connect with the other vertices of the other mesh but its very common to have things like that. For easier and speedier workflow people usually model them as separate objects and at the end merge them all into 1 mesh, then unwrap and the other stuff that comes after modeling.

Bargadiel

Aha, I see. Thanks for the clarification! If I come across anymore questions I will ask.