I’m quite curious about this. Let’s say that you choose an object to model…let’s say, a shirt. How would you begin? Would you start with a cube, or a sphere…would you start with the collar, or the sleeves, or the stomach? What induces these decisions, how easy it is, or how it will affect the rest of the model, or what?
I’m having some problems wondering how to begin modeling some objects, can anybody give any ideas?
That is a pretty common yet hard to answer question. If you do a search here or on the whole web, you’ll find plenty of informations on modelling techniques, approaches and whatnot.
It depends on your personal style which you’ll have to find for yourself in the future. Some people start even with a single face and go from there. For a shirt it might really be a good idea…on the other hand, a cube wouldn’t be bad either (well, actually modelling a shirt is very hard, if you already have a body mesh it will be much easier) - extrude the arms, make it thin and you have something that looks like a T (shirt) already.
I personally don’t think that there are things which “induce” one specific modelling method. With time comes experience and with experience comes a certain understanding of what your right approach of modelling is. Make sure to experiment and try out different things - then you’ll gain that experience.
Well, I’m sure this won’t help you at all…
when i did a blouse, is took a chainsaw to a makehuman mesh, and then scaled it up a little, and bingo, was done in about 5 minutes. For the skirt though, I took a cylinder, scaled in the waist, subdivided vertically twice, sculpted it around the waist and hips, and was done with it. So, even within the same subject area (clothing), two different approaches work well.
I think you get a knack (I’m still waiting for me to get it) for looking at something and ‘seeing’ what objects its made of. Then you get another knack for texturing. Or lighting, or watching something move and be able to translate that into what bones are needed and how they move.
The make-human-mesh-expand way is just assuming that you’re lazy, though. A way to actually MODEL it would be to polymodel make the actual pieces, like from a pattern, then attach them together, adding appropriate creases in the mesh to denote seams.
EDIT: This way is probably better, because at best a smoothed down make-human model would be featureless, as opposed to a reasonably complex dress shirt, which would have to have pockets and stitching and lapels and cuffs and a collar and what-not. Not including buttons and button-holes.
Thanks guys. Yes i do know it is a common question. What i normally do, is start off with point by point, then do line extrusion. I don’t know why, but i never do box modeling unless its obvious that a particular object is meant to be made with box modeling.
Thanks :), feel free to comment more on this topic, but I’ve got other stuff to do 