Hi. First time posting here. I’m quite new to modeling and I’m trying to model an acoustic guitar. I’m having problems with my topology. Currently my quads stretch out from sound hole to edges of the guitar. This causes problems for example with beveling. The area marked with green line has straight edges and bevels look good, but at the side of the guitar, marked red the bevels go more like down the body. Also I haven’t found a way to add edge loops on the body that are even distance from the edge of the body, because the body is now so stretched.
Any suggestions or tips how to make this better? Can I do some tricks to fix this or should I do the whole thing in different way? Thanks.
Hi,
this one is not mine (comes from here https://free3d.com/es/modelo-3d/classical-guitar-7174.html) but it has the exactly main topology I’d use for a shape like that:
Support edges, vertex/face reduction towards inner center.
That said, if the surface is flat and you don’t need to deform anything the topology is not so determinant for the final render (but if you are like me and you know that the object has bad topology… this makes impossible to sleep at night… )
First of all, make sure you’ve applied all transforms (select mesh, ctrl + a in object mode).
Next thing, it depends on what is your objective. Let’s assume full realism and fidelity. You need to focus on edge flow, meaning you’ll have to guide the geometry in a structured and logical way. The image above is the perfect example.
And something I don’t see people use often in Blender, is edge crease. This allows you to have sharp edges with subdivision without having to add geometry. Works super amazing in a lot of scenarios.
This is more of an practice. Going for more high fidelity than a game asset. I did apply transforms, but those short skewed faces mixed with long and straight edges cause a lots of problems. I tried to play with edge creases also. I suppose the main problem was the stretching and uneven topology. Adding edge loops there was hard since they went far from the edge from other areas and near the edge from other places.
Split the mesh in half, lengthwise, then apply a Mirror modifier to create the other half. It’ll save you half the work. If you have to edit the shape, it’ll save you half the rework.
Once you get the shape to look the way you want, if you don’t like the modifier, you can apply it to make the shape whole, again.
Duplicate the shape, edit out the sound hole and you’ll have the back of the guitar. Space the two apart, the thickness of the guitar body then join them into one object. Connect the vertices along the respective perimeters using Grid Fill or Bridge and your guitar body is complete.
Add a Solidify modifier at the end if you want to simulate the thickness of the wood.
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