Cell Modelling
 

Hello, people. Here are my two questions:
What technique do you suggest for me to model a cell with long processes (like "arms")? Something as such:
http://www.maxon.net/pages/gallery/pix/neuron.jpg

And how do I get a fluid-like figure, as this one:
http://www.creationscience.com/onlin...macrophage.jpg (I know this is an electronic microscope based picture, but still, how can I get this with Maya?)

Thank you already, and excuse me if I'm aiming a bit over the fence.

Uhm... sphere with tubes coming out of it... boolean them all together (2 at a time because else the boolean command goes bonkers) Smooth them up, bevel the edges.

Once you got the basic form of the phage (in spite of the edges looking rough) -- run the smooth command a couple of times. Then once you completely believe that you can possibly have no more polygons... displacement map using a noise shader and convert to polygons.

There you go, exactly like the neuron cell picture.

... you're on your own for the procedural shader used to material it though.

Note: You'll end up with a **lot of polygons**.