Model Maddness

Hello again everyone! It’s been a little while! I was unable to post last week due to an overwhelming amount of homework. I managed to get most of it done thankfully, but something I learned while working on RIT’s Augmented Reality Golf Project last year was that when you get crunched for time you have to make decisions about what to get done and what to put aside. That being said, I am fully prepared to make up for it this week, right now as I will be sharing my thoughts on two 3D modeling processes. The first of which is the method I generally prefer and use, and the second is a new 3D modeling method I recently tried out in my Poly and Sub D modeling class.

My teacher for Poly and Sub D recently shared his modeling method with the class and I thought I should try it out for myself. Being different from what I am used to doing and the first time I tried it I made a lot of mistakes. But in these situations I find that making mistakes is great because you learn so much more. And boy did I learn a lot! So since I owe everyone two observations and not just one I thought, why not go over both so that I can compare and contrast and share my thoughts on what I learned.

So without further ado, I give you BOX MODELING!

Box Modeling is a very well known and basic modeling method that as the name suggests begins with a box!

From that box, you then add in edge loops as needed so that you can make out the basic shape of your model in the front and side orthographic views. You then move and adjust the vertices and edges to shape out your desired object from that starting box.

So for example in you were modeling a head, you would add in horizontal edge loops where you want the forehead to curve, at the brow, at the top and bottom of the eyes and nose, and where the mouth will be placed. You would then add vertical edge loops to the front of the face in the center of the face, where the center of the eyes will be. As well as vertical edge loops on the side of the face where the edge of the eyes, cheek, and brow are, where the jaw is, where the ear attaches, and where the base of the skull attaches to the neck. You would then shape out the profile of the face (excluding the nose) by moving the vertices in the side orthographic view. Once you have the profile you would adjust the interior vertices to get an edge flow that mimics the basic curves of the face. Once the Side view is complete you would then repeat the process in the front view, and switch back and forth, adding more edges loops as needed, until you no longer have a box but a face!

I like box modeling because it comes very naturally to me and allows me to plan my model out from start to finish. I am able to visualize where edge loops should go and how they flow as I work.

The new method I tried is quite different from box modeling, and is a very interesting form of patch modeling. It starts with blocking out your entire model with primitives, details and all. They can overlap and intersect and what ever else you need them to do to give you the ship you want.  You then combine all those shapes into one model, put it on a layer and make it live. Then you use the create polygon tool to literally draw out the different sections of your model, planning the number of vertices so that all the sections can be merged together in the end. With the split polygon tool you would go through and draw out the edge flow in each polygon section you create and snap the different vertices to the model you blocked out and made live. Slowly you build your model section by section and attach them together, similar to fitting together a puzzle.  The purpose for modeling this way is so that you can easily model the details into a the geometry as you go without having to add in edge loops later and adjust topology so that you have enough geometry.

I think this an excellent method for modeling very detailed pieces of geometry, however I found it was much more difficult for me to visualize the edge flow of my model with out having the entire shape of it. It was harder for me to plan my model since I could only see the pieces I had done and was still building the actual shape. Another difficulty is knowing how many vertices to use when you are starting because that will determine the number of vertices available in the rest of the model. I think the biggest thing I learned from trying this is that different methods have different advantages, and that it’s better to use a combination of methods rather than sticking to one the entire way through.  And while the new method is successful in many ways I found it to be really boring.  I didn’t feel like I was solving problems or being creative because I was following my blocked model the whole time, just snapping vertices to it, it was rather monotonous and I found myself trying to find excuses to work on other homework instead of my model because it wasn’t really fun. But that is definitely a personal opinion of it and not so much a technical one, so who knows, other people might find it a very exciting way to model.

 How do you like to model? Feel free to share your own thoughts and modeling methods in the comments!