thx for the explanation!

i used ep cos cv does the straight lines and curved at same time an i got confused!
wen u rebuild the curve does it replace the cvs?

spz dilberts for clogging up ur thread wiv my q's ill move them over to my thread now

post answer to this here

Good to see you giving it a try, By the way, I'm modeling the new Z4 coupe that just came so it's a little different to the tutorial that you're following.

Anyway, to answer your questions. You use both types of curves for different situations. Bottom line, whichever curve you use, try to build it with as few CV's as possible, and as cleanly as possible (i.e. the curve should be flowing with no severe, sudden shifts in curvature). When you use the birail or squar tool, Maya is going to try to follow your curves as closely as possible, which is a good and bad thing. It's good for accuracy, but bad because if you built your curves badly, it'll still build your surface for you, but badly also (like in your picture). Maya doesn't know what your intentions are, so it just follows the guides you give it. You can rectify your problem by either building the curves again, but more cleanly, or by rebuilding the surface using the "rebuild surface" tool. Problem with rebuilding the surface rather than the curve is that you'll lose the construction history from the birail, or square.

There's so much with nurbs that can trip you up, you just have to go through and experiment. One suggestion I'd give is to put the car model aside for now, and work on something a little simpler to get used to the tools. Go through EVERY nurbs and curve editing tool that Maya has, and really get to know what everything does. That way you'll know the best tool for the job to solve a specific modeling problem. There's aspects of the tutorial that you're following that I think could have been done better/cleaner, so it's really all up to how you model, and the skills that you have in your toolbox.

mmoore, it usually takes a couple of months for me to finish an entire car. Mostly due to the fact that I work my regular job about 10 hours a day. If I were going to pick a car to start with for nurbs modeling, I'd suggest the new VW beetles as they are constructed with nice large flowing surfaces that lend themselves to nurbs modeling.

thank you dilbert ..i have look for nurbs modeling ..i will do what you suggested for pman ..

wow dilberts, you have inspired me so much that I am probably gonna do a 350Z in NURBS (because my friend's dad drives one (sweet car) so I can get the refs real easy).

Great work man, and I CAN't WAIT for a NURBS modeling tutorial from you.

:beer:
-Matt

oh yea dilberts can you post some wireframes.

i wouldnt mind seiing some wires an also the curve layout alone if u dont mind

thx

edit: pics
there r some large pics there u may be interested in

Been busy at work, so I haven't been updating this thread. Well, here's the progress so far. The basic surfaces are almost done. I haven't done any filleting yet to blend the surfaces, but the basic shape is there. I posted a paint test and a tire test also. The tire is actually a Michelin Pilot Sport, not a Toyo, but I only had a Toyo sidewall bump map that I downloaded. I'll make my own Michelin sidewall texture later.

Here's the paint test.

And here's the tire test.

very impressive yet again ..and I thought i worked all the time ..I cant wait to see the paint dilbert. ...

That silver shader is beautiful. Wow man, lol I might need your help on rendering something for me lol

Looking really nice there Dilberts, your words have almost inspired me to have a go at nurbs modelling.

Nice to see your work in this months 3D world by the way.

Keep it up,

Mat.

dilberts is the car master here in simplymaya.

ahh neva spotec ur work in 3d world at first v nice

cars lookin great an i like that silver paint

what method did u use for the tyre??

tyre
this site has nice side an persp pics of rims for the z4 (after purchase 1s) so u can use those instaed of standard 1 if u want an also has the tyre tread patterns to match

You know, I didn't even know that the work I had submitted was used. Is it the Rolex Watch? I'm in the U.S.A. and the new issue hasn't come out here yet, so I'm in the dark on this one.

Thanks for the links pbman, another good site is www.tirerack.com for reference pics. I'll probably go with one of the two stock rims that are being produced for the Z4 Coupe right now, just to keep it current, but the cool thing with modeling is that you can build up a library of wheels/tires, and use them with other models. The tire is the one I modeled for the BMW M3 CSL, and is polys. I used the method of making one strip, duplicating around 50 times in a long row, and then using a bend deformer to wrap it around in a circle. Problem is, these tires are about 1,000,000 polys, so maybe I'll make some nurbs ones to help out with the render process.

Here's another link for some good tips on rendering cars.

http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutori...ng_better_cars

I've tried this guys set-up, and it works really nicely. I have the whole weekend to work on the model, so I should have a lot done by Sunday night.