SPITFIRE BY TUT
 

Hi guys,

as stated in my Lanc post I am giving Kurts Spitfire a crack to learn a little more things I have no idea about. I want to Lanc to be something special as an ode to my Grandad and his mates who fought for us all in WW2, so I wish to learn a little more before trying to finish it (apologies).

Anyway first ones for the night (I hate nurbs) see how I go.

Cheers bullet

Added the wings and duplicated, Im getting used to the nurbs Kurt (kind of). Interesting with the sub-d stuff, I thought it would be difficult but its not as daunting now, thanks so far Kurt.

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/40906...TFIRE?h=307800

I did this tut also a couple of years ago and learnt a lot, dont worry about the accuracy of the model, concentrate on the work flow, then you can make your own later, Kurt is very good at texturing though, make sure you watch through that part.

Thanks paldav,

Im getting used to lots of things, nurbs, subs, etc AND getting used to using the spacebar for the quick hit functions (starting to learn something besides peeling banana's).

Yours looks pretty damn good mate!!! I like the weathering you have applied. Yes I am VERY interested in texturing bro, Im waiting fot the DVD to arrive BUT Im impatient so I will probably download, bahahahaha.

I like the look you have, I think a lot of what Ive seen machinery wise is too 'clean' if you know what I mean? I like stuff that looks used etc like battle machinery, it aint clean baby. Got to have a dirty look, especially spac craft.

Thanks for your comment mate

I will add to all, I can really SEE the faces and creases now, it was invisible before but now I seem to be able to detect problems without lines

Ok guys,

a few hours in this one, Im trying to as much as I can but real life gets in the way. I am up to I thin section 6 of Kurts tut, I am understanding quite a bit and using shortcuts I already know. Im getting used to using nurbs for the blockout (though still un easy) and converting to polys for the intricate stuff. Im reasonably happy so far, I would like it cleaner but Im having a little trouble there, but geometry is fairly faithful. I am also working on a Triumph T100 as a boredom release (cos it gets a tad tiring on the same thing). I know I probably shouldnt but working on something with no tut at all and NOT a plane makes it interesting. I believe giving me more inspiration to get on with it and get back to my Lancaster. Brrriiinnnnggggg on the texture part is all I can say, not a bad tut so far Kurt, may be old but still basic stuff to learn!!!

Cheers bullet

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/40906...00331?h=33833a

Hi again Bullet
Looks like it is comming along nicely, I must admit that I dont use nurbs in my modelling but should keep a open mind about them..........dave

I actually dont like them either dave, being a Surveyor I tend to like poly's myself, BUT as I am a novice, exposing myself to them cant do any harm??? As Kurt used them in the tut I have to follow. I will tend to swing back to the poly method though, I seem to understand vertices on a poly better. Nurbs tend to confuse me as the vertices are outside of the mesh and they can get a bit too 3Dish if you know what I mean, thanks for the support. I cant wait to texture it though!!!!!! I have never done it (some in PS) but no UV;s or anything serious yet.

cheers bullet

That shaped up nicely. Wires looks nice.

Yeah, a lot of people try to avoid nurbs, but there was a time when nearly everything was modeled in nurbs. Characters, planes, cars... you name it. I don't really like the idea of patch modeling an entire character, but I've modeled vehicles in nurbs before. It's not that bad, and results can be very nice.

But yeah, I would say stick with what you're comfortable with for now. Until you're comfortable enough to step outside of your comfort zone... if that makes sense?

Thanks for the comments guys, Im trying hard. Yeh Mayaniac I tend to try and get the lines a little better, when I first started I didnt think about it. Now of course I realise it is important for geometry and mesh simplicity.

Im using nurbs to blockout the shapes mainly, then to polys to organise it along with sub-d to see the results. As I have said before I want to learn other forms just so you have the experience if you know what I mean? Specialist become extinct, diversifaction is the key to move forward. Lets face it there will always be a need to use something else to get a project going/finished. I use all kinds of software for my work, sometimes the one you have isnt enough, so you need to know little bits of everything.

cheers bullet

Ok guys,

added the exhausts, all elevators are on, props complete and it looks ok I reckon. The only diff between mine and Kurts is the number of exhausts (sorry, I know in my head it was a 12 cylinder) and a slight diff on the nose cone. Other than that all is good I hope? Thoughts please?

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/40906...2_WIP?h=7e18ef

Those poly lines are looking very neat which is a great habit to get into especially when you star t to tackle more complex shapes, looking v good keep it up!

Thanks paldav!!

After watching Kurt I learnt a new trick, picking vertices that were too out of shape and scaling to line them up. Also being a bit more careful when moving stuff around, even in nurbs, trying to keep them vertically or horizontally colinear. Only the cockpit and aerial I think, wheels and I should be close to the texture part, yyyeeeeeeehhhaaaaaaa.

cheers bullet

LOL!! this guys enthusiasm is almost infectious!

Keep up the good work

I love learning paldav, it is most satisfying. I have learnt all of my career as a Surveyor by watching and emulating. i have also learn't all of the software needed to do my job WITHOUT reading a manual. I do it the hard way and try to find the most effecient way to do it with minimal fuss. that is why they call me bullet at work, fast, independent and damn well curious. I love the mental challenge, its good for the soul man.

cheers bullet

Another cheat my extraterrestrial friends, when Kurt does the spokes he then goes around sewing up the edges of each spoke individually. I cheated when I did the last extrude, by ALMOST extruding to the point of overlap I saved time. I could then pick the central vertices in front view and merge (a little testing here folks) with my parameters set at 0.15, worked a charm and saved a lot of manual vertex merges.

cheers bullet