Maya is just fine, as with any autodesk modeling suite. you need support loops on both sides of your feature. Add the blue line and get rid of the tris. You might want to do the red part so your topo is easier to work with and to avoid poles.
Yeah, pretty much. I rarely ever work on my models in a different app, just send them to max/maya/xn to bake normals, so not a huge deal. Tho I'd rather import a 300k cage mesh than a 5million tri raw mesh.
Am having some problems with concave corners on a curved surface: The red outline is the result I want and I'm wondering are there any tricks for concave corners (similar to the convex corner topology method) before I kind of brute force this with more geo. Thanks! (Software is Maya)
not sure about blender, but on max with swift loop and maya with insert edge loop you can have it try and maintain the curvature when adding edge loops. but normally if i need more geo, i jsut remake that section, with a primitive that has what i need.
mmh a tool to project normal from underlying object might be useful. I was thinking about it for max. Normal Thief takes the normal of the closest vert, but normal of the closest point on face would be more accurate. An that would fix that kind of "artefact". Don't know if it exists for Maya.
Having an insane time trying to figure out how to model this in maya. It's from an old hardsurface challenge thread but I can't for the life of me figure out how people did it efficiently. Am I doing this right/ any tips from more experienced hardsurface modelers?
model it flat then use a non-linear deform mod and bend it and make a tube. Maya its F2 > Deformers > Non-Linear > Bend Max....I dunno..But theres a video around here somewhere. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxSvh7Mwtyw"]Max - Bend Mod[/ame]
@redarchfiend I used FFD modifier, but I think Lattices in Maya can do the same job, basically just add some control points and twisting it manually. Spend some time to adjusting till you get the result you want. This image is just a quick example
I think It's a script, basically, he select the edge loop and use it as a curve to place is screws along, there are free scripts for Maya to do that, and you can certainly do that in any 3d app, 3ds Max... Now you'll have to investigate or maybe a good soul will bring it here ^^
http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/page8.htm roadkill unwrapper. after using it, you will wonder why in the world you used max or maya or w/e to unwrap. just unwrap in roadkill by selecting with edges you want to cut, then adjust the uv pieces in your 3d program to your liking.