I spent like two hours trying to get this pauldron to look right and only got the spark plug to look right. The eye didn't come out how I wanted and I really messed up bug time on the teeth when I tried to take them on.

Is there a better way to get the eye and teeth in there? I think I might have to prepare the geometry a little better.

If your just going to bake it to a normal map I would float all the teeth. AS for the cylinder you need to have geometry dense enough to hold the curvature. You can subdivide and do a boolean or you can try and get tricky and see if you can get away with less since a lot of that is planar.

If that "creased" surface was more curved though there really would be no other way to get that in there other than to add more geo.

Okay, I got three cylinders I want to combine (actually the theory is more about two) and they have different size, so my question is how I best make this work, high poly and lowpoly. Can I keep the two smaller cylinders detached and still make it look merged with the normal map on the lowpoly and what would be best to do with the highpoly? Do I need more segments on the main poly for high (and low if I need to combine)?

Originally Posted by McGreed

Okay, I got three cylinders I want to combine (actually the theory is more about two) and they have different size, so my question is how I best make this work, high poly and lowpoly. Can I keep the two smaller cylinders detached and still make it look merged with the normal map on the lowpoly and what would be best to do with the highpoly? Do I need more segments on the main poly for high (and low if I need to combine)?

Heyd McGreed, usually this is how I do tube/cylinder connect in max.

- create an 8 sided cylinder
- duplicate/clone it by rotating 90 degrees
- go back to first cylinder, use cut tool (with vertex snap on) while using the second cylinder's vertices as guide
- hide/delete the 2nd cylinder
- select the new faces/shape you made (on the first cylinder), then inset
- extrude it then align the vertex
- put your support edges
- smooth

Here's an image of what you'll get. I think same principle goes when the cylinders have different sizes.

The circled red bit is giving me a headache...

Any help would be greatly appreciated..

I first thought of chamfering it, but that didnt work out properly.

I'm Using 3ds Max 2010

EDIT: THe edge flow has since been improved, but it's still pissing me off..

Originally Posted by Eric Chadwick

Floating geometry might also be the answer.
http://www.iddevnet.com/quake4/ArtRe...CreatingModels
(see the screenshots at the end of the "Modeling Your Character" section)

whoa whoa whoa...you're telling me the countless hours I've spent trying to make really tiny indentation detail into my model, I could have just made a separate object floating above it and it would look the same and create better mesh flow?

Hello all!

I cant make this damn thing properly. :/



How would you model it?

The best i can do (is ugly):







Thank you for helping!

Edit: More geometry...

@doip, it's ALWAYS the geo! (not really, but in lot of cases)

Originally Posted by limesimme

@doip, it's ALWAYS the geo! (not really, but in lot of cases)

Yes, but its not just a cylinder that can be easily made with more segment/geometry.

Its the best i can do, (and dont like it):








Tried this and that but cant find happiness.

Originally Posted by diop

Yes, but its not just a cylinder that can be easily made with more segment/geometry.

It kind of is actually. I made this by modelling the top out flat and then using two simple deform modifiers to bend it.

Modo has Constrain to Background which helps a lot. Does max 2011 have a similar tool?

Originally Posted by Spatz

Hi BradMyers82 you can try this method from Körper Klaus
he has made a nice tutorial on vimeo...

http://vimeo.com/3301759

hope this helps...oh by the way he is using max .... but i guess you are a max user too ;)

This video is GOLD!! Thanks!

i´m glad you like it

Originally Posted by Spatz

where is a video OBlastradiusO

Sry Spatz. I meant your video was GOLD! Lotz of great SUB-D info!

Originally Posted by okno

It kind of is actually. I made this by modelling the top out flat and then using two simple deform modifiers to bend it.

Ouch, nice. Would be nice to see the process step-by-step. (:

Plus how can i perfectly fit this shield/grip frame to the grip? In my version i made the grip first, then extrude it, so it fits well.

Thank You!

Spatz did anyone ever tell you, you look just like Mell B?

_

Stupid question but how do you manually make pipes, bends(no splines or modifiers or whatever)?

I'm sure I used to know a way where you could extrude and rotate the faces without distorting/reducing the pipe size.

Maybe rotate-extured with "working pivot" as the center of the rotation. I'd use modifiers or spline extrusion though :/

Originally Posted by r_fletch_r

Spatz did anyone ever tell you, you look just like Mell B?

...Do you mean pretty like Mell B?

I figured a way round about way of doing it.

Rotated the face 45 degrees. Then had an edge loop a bit back, which I flattened(snapped) the vertices, forward, straight along the edges(non distorted edges), towards the rotated ones.

Calibi why are you dismissing Modifiers/Splines? I would have said a renderable spline was the best way to do it.

Cause Wings3D doesnt have any(sort of).

Plus bending wouldnt have really worked, I had to join two parts of a spring together.

ah ok, when you said modifiers/splines i figured you were using max.

Hi, I am new here I found this topic by searching on Google, I read every single page. Thanks to you I really improved my first model!

But now I've got a problem.. I am trying to model these shapes

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/7697/wtfpu.png

I've only modeled the basic shape (the one with the Stag Arms logo).

I can achieve only the base form but not the hole with that circle-like form! Any suggestions?

P.S.: Sorry for my English, it's not my primary language