Yeah why not? Use a reference cylinder and match it if you want. Whatever gets you there. As for that protective cap, you can totes use a sphere for it, but squash it first as it's not spherical... more like a zeppelin shape. Get good refs, study them and follow them. Nail the large shapes first, then do the details. Make…
I use it almost exclusively now and have not experienced any trouble making complex forms. Give me a small hardsurface challenge if you'd like! As for import/export I haven't had to work much with interoperability to be fair, but for game assets it works no different with baking at least since you export it as a pure,…
@tynew You're right. It's a 1/8th segment. I should have double checked that. Updated the original post to reflect that. Thanks! Your new geometry looks like it's easier to handle and if you're working on a 1/8th segment then making changes to it should be less work than having to rebuild the entire thing. If you've gone…
Hey @DeathstrokeFTW , Nice job! You've got the primary form down! and it looks like you are beginning to work on the secondary level of detail. I am a maya guy, so I am not sure if 3Ds Max has an edge loop tool. If so, My recommendation would be to add more polygons where you need it (i.e using edge loops and extrudes)…
Thanks @Joao Sapiro, Yeah I understand and actually that was part of the reason for snipping, it seemed like I was off to a very bad start and I didnt want any new potential commenters to write me off straight away, I guess it didnt achieve the desired affect. I do appreciate the time everyone takes to post here and you…
@FrankPolygon Hey Frank, thanks for the extensive answer. I'm pretty new to modelling and I have to admit that after reading the answer 5 times or so, I still don't quite understand everything. :) While I have managed to reconstruct something that leads to similar results, it feels like a trial-and-error approach to get…
Hey Frank, thanks for the extensive answer. I'm pretty new to modelling and I have to admit that after reading the answer 5 times or so, I still don't quite understand everything. :) While I have managed to reconstruct something that leads to similar results, it feels like a trial-and-error approach to get there. I have…
@byas Thank you. Moving the root vertex away from the corner (about 50% of the loop's width) can improve the visibility of the highlight but much beyond that it tends to start effecting the overall consistency of the support loop. Some of this effect can be softened by dissolving the edges of the 2 to 1 reduction and just…
Sure, first off there are pretty much two ways to do hard edge stuff without adding in extra geometry, that i know of. First is to use smoothing groups for your hard edges in max. One of the big disadvantages to doing this is that you always have infinately hard edges. Really nothing in life has an edge that hard, so it…
@tatertots You're welcome and thank you for sharing your results and followup questions. Example images in my previous post only show the initial block out, the final topology with a smoothing preview and the final subdivision model with a shiny material to highlight any artifacts. Only showing the starting and ending…