3D Modeling tutorial questions.

bladedranger · Post by **bladedranger** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 14:45

enenra wrote:@bladedranger
The concept art you posted... That isn't something someone should attempt to model if one doesn't already have a lot of experience. I wouldn't dare to try that. It's bound to end up very different from the concept. That is a pretty complicated shape. ^^

yeah its not the easiest ship but i am having fun modelling it i have uploaded other pics of what i have done which are pretty detailed so i think i will manage

go here to see a couple of other things i have done
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=255409
scroll down to the car and alien

Gammel · Post by **Gammel** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 14:54

enenra wrote:@Gammel
Well it's a pretty old model and I haven't worked on this for some time. If you're interested in how I did the engine, I have a file lying around on my HDD which contains some examples of engines I did. I'll upload it later.

Awesome-ness. That would be great.
I'm going to hone my skills by making small parts of ships. Make little decorative parts. Maybe I could use these parts to put things together in a modular way later on. I managed to figure out how to import a part from another file when I was making my last ship.
I just need more practice.

Gee I hate practice, I can't I just be legendary right from the word go?

enenra · Post by **enenra** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 15:30

Here are the engines:

[ external image ]

Download (.3ds)

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 15:56

nice engines... my 'engine-experience' is very bad, that's the reason why i build ships from the front to the back... and get stuck at the back

I'm currently trying to build a ship via splines but ...i don't get it

Lots of splines but i can't connect them like i want to...
Polymodeling ftw!

bladedranger · Post by **bladedranger** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 15:59

Killjaeden wrote:I'm currently trying to build a ship via splines but ...i don't get it Lots of splines but i can't connect them like i want to...

try this link it is modelling a plane engine using splines
http://www.flightsimworld.com/kb/idx.ph ... s-Max.html

you dont have to connect them together you just fuse the verticies over the top of eachother and the surface modifier will auto adapt if you know what i mean

Gammel · Post by **Gammel** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 16:09

That's the ticket!

Cheers for that. Those pics will come in handy!

As will that spline modeling link. The more techniques the better!

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 16:54

you dont have to connect them together you just fuse the verticies over the top of eachother and the surface modifier will auto adapt if you know what i mean

Ok that helps a bit... but there is no tool of connecting 2 vertices of 2 different splines - so you have to create a new spline instead of just connecting 2... [ external image ]
I'll definitely use poly if i want to create such a shape again

bladedranger · Post by **bladedranger** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 17:04

to connect 2 vertices of 2 splines select the 2 vertices you want to connect then in the edit list on right scroll down to fuse and select it that will do the spline version of weld

[ external image ]

spline modelling is the 1st step in modelling cars so its worth knowing

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 17:25

yes the 2 vertices will become 1... but i want to connect them with a line

spline modelling is the 1st step in modelling cars so its worth knowing

Modeling cars... boring imo.
Can you give me a step-by-step explanation on how to convert a round spline into multiple straight splines?

bladedranger · Post by **bladedranger** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 17:29

what do you mean convert a round spline to straight line use a corner spline instead of smooth then make multiple copies

pic or somethin might help

EDIT

do you mean

[ external image ]

to

[ external image ]

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 17:38

do you mean

yeah, but the one with edges should have a few more lines (so it looks like an almost round spline).

bladedranger · Post by **bladedranger** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 17:45

make a spline circle then on the right side go to interpolation and change the number of side to what ever you want

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 18:09

Yeah but it doesn't create vertices, it just changes the way it looks. The advantage of straight lines is that there isn't the odd 'smoothy' behaviour if you want to add a new vertice. e.g. i want to convert a circle with 12 edges so that each edge has a vertex - not only 4.

bladedranger · Post by **bladedranger** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 18:11

try makin the circle with however many sides you want then make it editable spline the use refine on the edges that dont have a vertice on

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Fri, 7. Aug 09, 21:07

thx... but i learned to not like splines and won't try to use them on a space ship again... picked a box and i build the shape in a few minutes - instead of messing with odd splines, creating one line after the other...

They were at least not unuseful when creating the body out of the box.

I have an additional advice:
Don't tarry to rethink/restart your idea if you get stuck and when you are not happy with the current.
Same happened to me. I wanted to create an argon-like ship, but got stuck with the first shape because it was too boxy - no detail or 'intrude' would help to repair it.
first try -> second try (isn't as far in priogress as the first but feels a lot better)
[ external image ][ external image ]

Gammel · Post by **Gammel** » Sat, 8. Aug 09, 04:54

I cant say I am really understanding that whole spline editing thing. I'm guessing its the method they use to make the very first part of the ship in this tutorial, right?
http://www.xwiki.chaos.net.nz/index.php ... class_ship
It seems okay, if you want to make a very abstract shape from the word go. But its an awfully fiddly way to go about it, and seems like you would need to have a very good idea of the shape you want right from the word go.

@Killjaeden:
I dunno, i think that boxy ship is still workable.
I think the lip in front of your bridge would look better if it was angles to imitate the angle of the hull above the bridge. Then come back in like the bow of a boat. And on the big section below the bridge put a nice bright starfleet like deflector dish type thing. Then get the nacelles and curve them with the concave side facing the ship.
I think it would look nice then. But that's just me.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f295/ ... ration.jpg

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Sat, 8. Aug 09, 11:46

And on the big section below the bridge put a nice bright starfleet like deflector dish type thing.

That's what i do in the reworked model - at least something similar.
The design is too boxy and therefore would need a lot of things to not look stupid/boring. It could be something but not argon

It seems okay, if you want to make a very abstract shape from the word go. But its an awfully fiddly way to go about it, and seems like you would need to have a very good idea of the shape you want right from the word go.

correct - extreme fiddly. You should have a good idea of the shape on polymodeling too. The advantage is that you directly see the results with polys... and you can change it easier without editing each spline separately.

Gammel · Post by **Gammel** » Sat, 8. Aug 09, 14:54

I feel so full of win when I realize I am understanding things.

Still, I have questions. I am trying to get the 'Array' function to work.
Here's what I want:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f295/ ... /array.gif

I just cant seem to get it to work.

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Sat, 8. Aug 09, 15:15

Don't know if there is a tool to make this but i make this by rotate+copy...
You have to move the pivot (or you let the pivot on 0/0/0 and move the box [editpoly, select all faces/vertices/edges/whatever, move]) - so that the pivot is offcentre and you can rotate around the pivot.

bladedranger · Post by **bladedranger** » Sat, 8. Aug 09, 15:26

using array in gmax: -----3ds max has a preview option which gmax doesnt seem have by the way

make a box move it to centre then move it along the Y axis like in the picture then select hierarchy

[ external image ]

then select affect pivot only and select centre to object that centres the gizmo to the object after that move the gizmo away from object like in pic

[ external image ]

DE SELECT AFFECT PIVOT ONLY 1ST after that once again move the gizmo to 0,0,0, and go to tools array and select options in the pic(3 objects...the 1 your copying plus 2 copies = 3 then rotate 120)....click ok

[ external image ]