Book Progress Post
For our final project, we are tasked with making a stylized book. This will involve making the mase book in Maya or Zbrush, adding details based on a pre-picked theme, then texturing and rendering the book in Substance Painter and Marmoset Toolbag. After getting three different book concepts, I decided to go with a medieval knight book that will consist of a sword, shield, straps, and other details to get that theme across.
To start, the first thing I did was get pictures of some of the elements of the book, such as the shield and fleur de lis, then used photoshop to make the image black and white so that I will be able to use it as an alpha in Zbrush. My plan is to stamp those images onto the book, then use different brushes to both smooth it out and build out the forms.
Zremeshed and Dynameshed Model
Next, I went into Maya and make a good base book. After making a smooth book shape, I used a lattice to slightly deform the book, giving it an old, tattered look. Once the book looked good, I exported it out of Maya and brought it into Zbrush to make sure it looked good. Lastly, I Zremeshed the book to add more polys uniformly and dynameshed it. When importing the book, there were some strange holes, but luckily dynameshing the model filled all the holes and the geometry looks good.
In the next week, I will add the alphas, refine them, and make other elements such as the sword and strap. I will then UV the book, make an ID, then bring it all into substance painter for texturing. After that, I can wrap up by taking the textured book into Marmoset Toolbag and making a beautiful render. So far this is a fun assignment and I can't wait to see what I can do with it.
Car Progress 4
Although the previous week was supposed to be our last, we received an extension on the car project, which gives us more time to truly refine and perfect our cars. Considering that, this week involved adding the last of the details so I can focus on rendering the car and fixing any last-minute issues that arise.
The main things that I was able to complete this week were the wheel and rim, doorknob, adjusting some paneling, and extracting different pieces of the model to make texturing and rendering easier. As well as this, I was able to get my car smoothed and into marmoset to see how it goes and how to use the software. This was definitely the easiest part, as marmoset is very user-friendly and the car looked great so far.
Most everything went well this week, with the only large issue being the tire. The tire was already troublesome to make, as getting a detailed tread is difficult and making sure everything is duplicated correctly. After getting a good tread, I saved the file and resaved it in another scene. However, when loading either scene, the file got corrupted and the tire was mangled beyond repair. I don't know what caused this, but the only solution was to start over and make another tread. Although it was difficult and time-consuming, the second tire does look and work better than the first, and I saved this one in more spots to make extra sure nothing happens to it.
In the last couple of days, all that needs to be done is adding front lights, an exhaust, a little more paneling, and any other small details I see along the way. If all goes well, I will be able to finish everything on Thursday to leave more than enough time to get great renders on Friday.
Car Progress 3
In this week of modeling, I was focused on refining features that I started last week as well as adding more. This is the second to last week we have to work on the car, but I am happy to say that I made good progress and am nearing the end.
The main things that I added to the car this week include a rectangular hole in the front bumper, a side mirror, and brake lights, as well as cutting out the old windows and replacing them, and adding panel lines to split the car into pieces.
There is still a good bit to get done, such as finishing the tire and rim, adding the last panels, and making door handles. Everything else is mostly refining the form and making it look perfect.
I didn't run into many issues this week but the two problems I did face were with the tire and windows. After finishing a good tire tread, I saved the scene and made a backup to ensure the progress wasn't lost. However, when loading both scenes, my tire got severely messed up with holes and skewed lines, making it unfixable and forcing me to make a new tire. In the future, I will make copies of the object and possibly save an FBX to make extra sure it will not be lost. However, I did learn a lot from the first tire that I will be able to use for the new one.
My other obstacle was with the windows, specifically adding trim to the new windows. Deleting and replacing the windows was decently easy, and the front windshield went smoothly, but the side windows gave me much trouble due to the edge flow and topology in that area. The only solution was to grind it out and find ways for it to work, which I was eventually able to do. Next time I will simply do more planning and placement before making trims and bevels to make sure everything works out.
As I said, I do have a ways to go to get the car looking good by next week, but it certainly is doable if I put some good time into it. So far I am really proud of what I have been able to do and I am going to do my best to push myself and finish with an amazing car.
Car Progress Post 2
For this week of the assignment, I focused less on the frame of the car and more on the smaller details, and while I wasn't able to spend too much time on it, those details add a lot to the look and show good progress.
Some of the details I added were the indents and ridge on the hood, the fins on the back window, a front and rear piece with a grill, metal bumpers, and lights. There are a few smaller details, as well as overall adjusting to the frame as I go, so things are looking smoother and the details are starting to tie everything together.
In this next week, my first goal is to get detailed tires and rims for the car so that I will technically have all pieces. After that, I plan to finish the front and back pieces, then get the rest of the small details like the mirror and door handles. Lastly, I will be able to add the creases between the doors and hood.
While I am a bit behind the target goal due to other classes and personal matters, I still feel like I made good progress and I will be able to spend a lot more time on the car this upcoming week. Things are still going well and I had no large problems, I hope the smooth modeling continues and I'm excited to see how the car will transform from a detailed model to a refined one.
Car Progress Post 1
With this classic car assignment, we were first tasked with picking three classic cars that we would like to model, then deciding on one of those for this project, with my choice being a 1969 Dodge Charger. We are to watch video tutorials on some tips for modeling a car, then simply model the car we chose with as much accuracy as possible. This does not include the interior or bottom of the car, and it was recommended that we try using curves as a framework when making the base of our vehicle.
This was the first time I used curves to set a guideline for a model, and while it did take time to get everything defined, it is making the modeling easier and more accurate. I was able to get a lot better of a frame than I originally thought I would in the first week, and the next week will mostly be spent tweaking vertexes to make the frame look more accurate before I add more details.
So far, while this assignment does take a lot of time, the process has been mostly smooth. The only issue I have encountered this week was making accurate curves, as EV curves were best for the curves of my car, but I haven't used them much so there were spots that could have been better, but the curves along with reference photos allowed me to still make a good frame.
Making a classic car has been difficult, but I am already learning a lot and this is the first project that feels like something I would do in a modeling job. Taking the extra time this week to get everything looking good should help make things go faster in the next weeks so I am excited to continue and see how it goes.
Lego Progress Post 2
In the past week, I was able to make more steady progress on the lego assignment. However, unlike last week, I was less focused on tutorials and more focused on getting some of the extra pieces done. The only remaining tutorial piece I have is the complex axle piece, everything else being extra pieces that I must model using previous pieces and newfound knowledge from this project.
Scene Layout
The wheel and tire are the two tutorial pieces I modeled this week, as well as some of the axle. The extra pieces I made include the double bridge, 1x1 flat, 2x2 flat, 2x3 flat, 2x4 flat, 1x3 flat, 1x4 flat, 1x2 wavy piece, and the 1x2 and 1x3 super flat pieces. None of these were too difficult to make, but it checks off a good portion of the needed pieces and gives me a better sense of progression than just finishing the axle. Along with this I also organized my scene to nicely display all the completed pieces, which helps show off what I've done and makes it easier to see which legos still need to be done.
Double Bridge and Super Flat Pieces
Luckily, I had very few issues with modeling this week, and almost everything went smoothly. The only real obstacle I faces was with the reference images. The lego references we are given for this assignment are of good quality but can show some blur and misleading perspectives, which can throw off the model. This did happen to me when working on the axle, as there were two or three times when my proportions got skewed because I tried to line up to a blurry edge but was a bit off. This didn't cause too much pain, as readjusting vertices was enough to fix the issue, and while I didn't take the pictures myself, this does show the importance of gathering perfectly clear and straight images to make modeling that much easier on yourself.
Flat Pieces
All that is left to do for this assignment is finish up the axle, get through the 10 remaining extra pieces, and put the car together. While it isn't too much to do, it will take some time, so I may need to grind the modeling to get everything done and looking good. So far this has been a fun and very informational project and I can't wait to see the end result.
Lego Progress Post 1
For the lego assignment, we are tasked with modeling several lego pieces with great precision and accuracy, then using said pieces to build a small lego car in Maya. We are able to follow tutorials to make most pieces, but some are missing, requiring us to work off previous pieces and use our gained knowledge to make them with the same attention to detail.
So far, I am almost halfway through the tutorials, but considering that some pieces aren't covered in the videos, I am a bit less than halfway through the entire project. This is fine since it has only been 1 of 3 weeks, but I still plan on increasing how much I get done this week to make sure there is more than enough time for me to finish everything without stressing.
Some of the pieces that I have already completed include the 1x1, 1x2, 2x2, 2x3, and 2x4, as well as the bridge and half bridge, flat 1x2, flat 1x2 claw, and flat 1x2 bar. While this is a good start, I feel the pieces will get only more difficult, so I will need to use what I learned in making all of these blocks to efficiently make the others.
So far there have been no serious issues besides working out small problems not covered in the videos, but other than that, it has been smooth sailing so far. I am optimistic about how it's going so far, and I hope that I have the same success this week.
Faucet Assignment
In this assignment, we were tasked with following nine tutorials to make a faucet as accurately as possible. This included using a reference and measuring tools, as well as implementing a wide variety of modeling techniques to get it as close to the real thing as we could.
I was familiar with some of the techniques used, such as beveling, mesh combining, multi-cut, and extruding, but there were many that I didn't know about or better learned how to use. Some of my favorites that I learned about were mesh conforming, setting the move tool from world to component, and how to better use the curve tool. It had also been about 3 months since I did any modeling so this assignment was able to get me back in the groove and refresh some of my previous knowledge.
Making the faucet was also decently easy, with very few obstacles to slow me down. The only real issue I had during the assignment was with adjusting the nozzle head and button, because I had yet to learn about switching the move tool to component mode so my adjustments would look slightly off. After learning about the solution, I was able to quickly go back and make everything look perfect.
Even though this assignment was an easy refresher, I learned a surprising amount of stuff that I will easily be able to implement into my future modeling. With the faucet also not taking a long time, I am left feeling excited and eager to start the next task.
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