Hi Blender Community,
I am building a Datsun 240z car model but had to start over from scratch a few times since the geometry looked either to wobbly and/or became a mess after trying to correct it. I’m relatively new to 3d modeling.
The ultimate goal is to create a photo-realistic render in cycles.
Here’s a screenshot to illustrate the problem, clearly visible in the door and side panels:
Subsurf mod: 4
Reference image used next to photographs:
Side view:
Thanks!
Hard to explain much other than edge loops should go around all major contour changes/folds or openings. Almost good in some areas on that model, but inconsistent in others. (So if you have an opening, you should be able to follow relatively narrow faces going all the way around it.) Edge placement will also affect how much webbing there is when using the subdiv modifier, which is why those tend to be called control edges or loops. And when you have two rows of edges closer together those become more likely to cause creasing, sometimes desirable, but other times not and you have to relax them or spread them out in some way.
The tricky part is how to break up relatively low density parts of a mesh to allow for areas with loops. So that’s what takes time and experience to figure out. Part of the challenge of this is that a pole vertex in a non planar area or one not limited by a face loop may show some odd artifacts.
If you want a good example of loops going around openings, the wires on the recent thread by Syblend on the “Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato” might give an idea. Should be fairly obvious around some areas like where the wheels go, or the headlights. There’s also loops going around the windows and such too, but the density at the screenshot’s zoom level makes it hard to see.
Thanks a lot for the feedback!
I will add more edgeloops near the openings as you wrote but probably keep that task as one of the last ones to do as I am concerned of having too many loops too soon.
I applied shading/smooth after posting which helped somewhat.
Noticed the Aston Martin thread, thanks for pointing it out again, indeed a good example and one to keep as a refernce too.
Will post an update soon. Thanks again for the help!
I arranged some edgeloops and increased the distance between some. Surface looks a bit smoother. I noticed that irregularities are easier to spot in glossy matcap.
Once the major outlines are finished, I will add more detail.
Modeled the major openings while trying to keep the surface as smooth as possible. This is a process of trial and error while trying to figure out the best workflow.
Often when I place a control loop, the smoothness of other parts is interrupted and whenever that happens, I’m looking for alternative ways to sharpen edges.
Best advice I can give you is… Don’t use subdivisions, atleast don’t rely on them. Try to smoothen edges with ctrl + b.
Hey; Take a look at this video, it’s a real life/model saver :yes:
https://cgmasters.net/free-tutorials/advanced-subsurf-modeling-techniques-to-avoid-pinching/
Hey, thanks for your comment on my finished project thread! 
Yours looks good so far. The Datsun 240z is very tricky to model at some parts.
I’ll definetly follow your progress 
