How would you go about modeling this
polycounter lvl 4
I built this mesh the other night and just felt like a snail while doing it. (Thanks Tor!) Speed is a big issue for me so I'm curious how you guys might have gone about it.
Would you mind describing what process, tools you would have used? I probably don't need an excruciating list of details but the more in depth you get the better.
Thanks ahead of time!
Would you mind describing what process, tools you would have used? I probably don't need an excruciating list of details but the more in depth you get the better.
Thanks ahead of time!
Replies
Just start with a plane, cut the cross shape in the bevel/extrude. If the right side mesh is what you 'started' with then I guess it took too long because you were using too much geo.
Actually the simplest way to do this is to start with a plane, and use the spikey tool (modo) to place a vert in the middle that connects to the outer 4 corner verts. In other apps you might have to subdivide the mesh and then connect the middle vert to the outer verts, then remove the edges from the suddivision, or add a vert to the middle of the polygon some other way.
So now you've got four triangles. Select them and bevel them inwards to create your outer edges (Group polygons unchecked in modo, so each face bevels individually). With the same polygons selected bevel again, with inset and shift. Then all you have to do is select the edges that need to be rounded and bevel again. Easy. Some cleanup will be required if you're wanting to subdivide the mesh obviously (in which case it might be better to start out by cutting out the X shape, maybe not. Give it a go).
Become one with the n-gon and watch your speed increase dramatically.
[ame]
Excuse the funky stuff that happens some time, but my machine can't handle the video recorder without some lags.
@Bek, your gif sums it up nicely.
@SonicBlue, I'm speechless, that's way above and beyond and priceless.
@SuperFranky, I did start with a single tri and got it right before duplicating but probably spent too much hand-cutting edges and positioning verts rather than use bevels where appropriate.
@WarrenM, If I can still get a good bend using ngons then I'm all for it. Probably better to see how it goes before spending the time quading before hand.
Thanks again!
Don't terminate loops unless you have a good reason to. It's a lot easier to make changes if you can just select a whole single loop, or run extra loops without having to do any manual edits around terminations.
I also like to work with pretty much everything snapped to grid so I get consistent edge widths (you can see in your image you don't have a loop around the upper horizontal section running left to right) and having everything on grid just makes life easier.
Also, double loops. Helps keep consistency over areas of varying length (see how the corners are rounded with one loop vs two)
Both good looking and efficient use of time have been major hurdles for me. I get better at both at the same time. As I learn to make better use of the tools I also spend less time deciding on how the topology should look.
I learned that lesson with this one. I started terminating loops as soon as they were no longer beneficial and then had to deal with that up until the point where I gave up and just ran the edges all the way out. It feels sloppy but I'm starting to understand how when all things are considered (time spent, good smoothing, poly-count, engine cost) it's actually not all that bad.
Snapping to grid is something I should get better at, among other short cuts. For now I usually select a whole loop, convert the selection to verts and snap to vert using a modified move tool.
I'm not sure about the double loops however, wouldn't tighter holding edges give you the same control?