Modeling without orthogonal reference

greevar

Okay, this has been eating at me for a while now. I want very badly to model a fictional vehicle, but the only reference I have is concept art that only shows it from 3/4 views. So, I'm wondering, for the sake of my sanity and the burning desire to make this asset, is there a way to block out a model with only the concept art and no orthogonal reference to determine proportion? I'm sure I can't get the proper reference because it's from a game in development. I want it to be accurate to the concept.

The asset in question is this:

http://www.swtor.com/media/concepts/jedi-starship

I feel like I must model this. It's been dominating my thoughts for the past three days and I can't get it out of my mind. Please help.

Entity

match the camera to that particular view and model from there? that's what I've always done in the past.

Justin Meisse

block it out with this overlaying the concept on your viewport

most of the time I just wing it, I rarely get anything more than a 3/4 view concept to work from.

throttlekitty

You could draw some perspective lines on the image and take measurements. You can decide what scale to use, so long as you're consistent with what you work with in your 3d scene.

RexM

Definitely use that program Justin posted, or just wing it. Once you just try it, you will realize that it is a lot easier than you likely think.


There is a reason that when you see game environments and concept art, there are differences between the two. Some things you just have to interpret yourself when the concept isn't clear, and more often than not the concept is going to have perspective issues that you also need to re-interpret.

It'd be a waste of time to ask the concept artist about every little detail they didn't draw and ask 'What did you want to do here/what is this supposed to be?', so 3D artists model based on their interpretations. It's a valuable skill to acquire; being true to the concept art while still adding to it.

Frankie

Like everyones said, camera match to block it out at first!!

It's such a useful skill to have when starting modeling a shape.

these are the general principles, I'm sure there are better tutorials out there but I just did a quick google for you;

blender
http://vimeo.com/11336409

sketchup (this is actually the easiest one I've found)
http://sketchup.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=94921

max
http://www.cgdigest.com/camera-match-tutorial/

Justin Meisse

sketchup has amazing photo matching tools - it just feels really alien to me after years of Max & Maya experience.

PredatorGSR

In my experience it is very rare to get orthographic concepts, you almost always have to model from a single perspective shot. Once you get used to it, it isn't difficult to extrapolate from a single perspective shot. Just block in your shapes, pick good reference points and make sure they look right when compared to the concept, and keep tweaking until it looks perfect. I don't think there is any magic way, but your eye will get better the more you do it.

Mongrelman

You can also use Vitrite which does a similar thing to what Justin posted, and use it with any program (it lets you adjust the transparency of whatever window you have active). I've used it when zbrushing and wanted a reference image.

Rens

I never use ortho refs, and i doubt many others do either.

Eye for proportion is one of the hardest things to learn, but try and build it by feeling, look back at what you did and if it matches up. Scale some stuff if needed, and make sure your blockout feels about right before you start adding any detail.

Try to not be limited by the amount of refs, most tasks for me start with just an idea of a single photo. Do it do it.

Ace-Angel

I just usually pop in a base mesh composed of boxes which referenced real life objects.

So far I have humans (several style versions) cars (lorry, car, bike, etc) and so on. Whenever I see something I would like to model, I try and see what the sources are (a bike, even sci-fi one can only get so big or small) as well if there are any scale life references I can use.

After that, I pop in the closest object I have, clone a copy and work on that one leaving the original intact as my in scene reference size (with a blueprint behind it of the image). Worked well for me so far.