Hi,
I was modelling this helicopter (attached) and I know it’s not quite right yet, but I have a few questions about it, they’re noobish, but I’m a noob so :p.
Would subsurf be a good idea on something like this or not?
What would be the best way to texture something like this? On my other model it was small and there weren’t many parts to it, but this is rather more complicated. I’ve heard of UV mapping but I’m not too clear on what it is, or what it is used for.
I’d appreciate it if anybody could help me with my question, or give me advice on my model.
Thanks.
Going subsurf now will give you quite some grief cause you will have to work over all your edgeloops to get the edges looking correct. Subsurf gives you the benefit of getting more sloped surfaces making them look more organic/streamlined. But if you haven’t started with subsurf in mind it can be very hard to get the model to look right with subsurf on. Your best bet is to simply apply a subsurf modifier and see how it looks. You can always erase a subsurf modifier and still have your basemesh.
For texturing UV Mapping is definetly the way to go as it will give you the most control over your textures.
Simply spoken UV Mapping is a way of assigning 2d Coordinates (called U=x and V =y hence the name) to a 3d surface. In order for this to work you first have to create these UV coordinates by unwrapping your 3d mesh.
Since you don’t have any experience with it I suggest you start with a more simple example (like a dice) and practive UV Unwrapping there and then take it from there.
For tutorials and information about UV unwrapping in blender go here: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual
Directlink to UV mapping: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/UV_Unwrapping_And_Texturing
For a tutorial go here: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BlenderDev/UvUnwrapping/Suzanne
