hi, iv’e been studying blender for a more than a week now.
and im having a disconnect from skills learned from tutorials and application. i find tutorials too specific.
ill keep studying more tools, but this is the extent and fruit of my study and going back and forth here in this forum.
i think i have a workflow problem, i need advise on how would you guys approach making this knife…
for sure i did a big mistake somewhere. hearing you out will help me avoid mistakes and better workflow.
kinda proud at how some parts look kinda similar to the model…
but at the same time very disgusted that it is completely wrong…
change the speed to 2x, i forgot to speed up the video… my bad.
p.s. if anyone know of a place to exercise modeling skills like this, but for complete beginners, that would help as well…
the one i linked was too advanced and not for complete beginner like me
you seem very dedicated, if you’d like i can mentor you, where i just make sure you dont derail. i very often deal with beginners, but just realising that tools and workflow are often the first things to focus on already puts you miles ahead of most people.
i too often get people who wants to make a game as their first project, or a full fleshed out character with hair and everything.
You’re learning polygonal modeling basics, topology, interpreting forms and proportions, requirements from end use and the pipeline, Blender tools, and try to combine all of that into a workflow. None of the tutorials I’ve seen so far teach all of that, and a week at it is nothing.
It takes a lot of tutorials and practice to get most of the information. Use many information sources instead of just one or few. The workflows you learn are yours, and they will be in a constant change. Learn enough so you can make stuff and learning after that should feel a bit easier.
When you practice, you will fail a lot, but one way to learn is to analyze why something feels slow and how to do it better, and why tools don’t seem to behave like you expect them to.
Didn’t watch the whole video but few things I noticed while skipping through it:
Knives are made out of multiple major parts: the blade with its stem, finger guard, handle, and the handle is attached either glue, screws, or end cap. When you model everything with one connected surface, you’re describing something that is carved out of one part and one material. Sometimes there are reasons to do so, but modeling separate parts separate makes the structure of each simpler, and looks more realistic
At 4:21 you made and started to work with non-manifold geometry. We’re dealing with surface type modeling paradigm and are supposed to describe the outer surface of a solid. The edge and the following surfaces you created can’t be part of such surface because it goes through itself. A bit like a steel cube which somehow has the outer surface you can touch, and just one surface that goes through itself which you can’t touch because it’s inside and don’t describe two halves. Mesh errors like that also mean that tools don’t necessarily behave like you might expect
You will notice that selections take quite a lot of time when modeling. Most don’t bother to figure out faster ways to select, but there are many tools to do it. Blender manual describes the various selection tools very well, and I’d suggest going through them while you model more. They will also teach you about reading model structures.
Forgot to mention. the reference image you were using isn’t that great. While estimating proportions is often something you just have to do before and while modeling, in this case it would probably be easier if you used another image as a modeling sheet.
Because the image you had is from this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCiGKMRUuEw which in turn uses a scaled down version of the fallout knife. it’s not a good tutorial though.
The finger guard and the end cap aren’t circles, and neither is the handle.
Then there’s the game model, which is textured like it’s a double edge blade, which it wouldn’t be and only work in entertainment context. It’s a saw back blade such as this one https://german-knife-shop.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Eickhorn-Aviator-III.-Combat-Knife-820113-003.jpg
The teeth on real ones are put on the thicker back, and while they can be beveled, they don’t seem to grind them to double edge blade on the saw. The only ones with a saw back like that are 3D models. Not that a saw like that on the back of the blade is very effective.
An actual serrated edge on a blade would work better for a rope they mention on the site, and for small branches the weight of the knife does more good than the saw back. It just looks cool and makes the “feature” list longer, along with the buzz words to make a sale “Tactical Combat Pilot XTreme Military Hunting OMG BBQ Knife” https://www.amazon.com/MX-8054-GHOSTS-Tactical-Military-Throwing/dp/B00PDJL5NO
But if you actually use the saw on that, this is what it looks like https://i.imgur.com/r8GV6.gif
Best reference for machined/tooled objects is to search for images of the object disassembled. Then model the parts it’s made up of. Detailed blueprints are also useful however best again in a per-detail form.
