Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 2
This course will look in the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. It's aimed at people that have some modeling experience in Maya but are having trouble with complex objects.
# 1 01-09-2003 , 09:04 PM
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September Challenge- HappyLemon-Noobie

Ooo Ooo! I'm like a kid in the candy store! I wish this challenge spread out to four month so I can try them all. Since I've never done any of these I didn't know whether it's character or environment model I'll be good at, but I guess I have to pick one....

Concept #1: Action Environment
Genre: Overhead RPG

Correct me if I'm wrong: I'll aim for the exterior, and submit a couple shots of it from differnet angles, and the interior if I have time.

Are we allow to use smooth proxy or just simple poly only?


Last edited by HappyLemon; 01-09-2003 at 09:14 PM.
# 2 01-09-2003 , 09:54 PM
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no, sorry. No smoothing. Polygons in their purist form, only. user added image Looking forward to it!

# 3 07-09-2003 , 03:05 AM
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Finally a post. It is really challenging to comprimise my idea of the scene with the concept drawing. I am afraid that my perferred style is quite different than what was asked, so I better play it safe, I think. I plan to get it 80% look-a-like first and then add personal flare to it in small portions at the end so it doesn't take away the original feeling.

Having lots of fun so far!user added image

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# 4 07-09-2003 , 04:16 AM
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Looking good. For some reason, it looks like a rather small structure, though. Maybe lengthen and perhaps thin the main tower some. Good start!

# 5 10-09-2003 , 09:10 AM
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I built a nice shader network for metal panels, that I can apply individually to each polygon face in my turret. This makes UV mapping trivial since I can just unitize the UVs. However, I want each panel to look slightly different, without having to modify the shader for each one. The shader includes noise nodes, but they produce the same pattern every time. I tried to hook some sampler info attributes into the noise node's time input, but it didn't turn out that great. Can anyone suggest a way to randomize a repeatedly applied shader network? Sample picture below and network next message.

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# 6 10-09-2003 , 09:11 AM
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shader network.

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# 7 10-09-2003 , 12:27 PM
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You might want to reconsider.

The majority of game engines probably won't support such shading networks, mostly because of the amount of memory that would be needed for each one.

# 8 11-09-2003 , 09:20 PM
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A new update on my building.

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# 9 11-09-2003 , 11:10 PM
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I see what appears to be a row of cylinders just below the terret. Care to give a close up of the detail there? I'm curious as to how many polys you put into that and what it looks like close up.

# 10 12-09-2003 , 12:25 AM
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I like the detail on the shapes - has a nice overall look. As Mike suggested maybe raise the tower a bit?

# 11 12-09-2003 , 12:56 AM
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Uh? That was just my attempt to make some windows for the turret, though now it reminds me of an accordeon.... user added image

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# 12 12-09-2003 , 02:04 AM
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I already raised three times! But I'll do it once more....user added image

# 13 13-09-2003 , 08:01 PM
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If you'd still like to use that shading network, you can fake it:

Render out a nice 512x512 top view of a plane with the texture. Save that image and use it as a texture for the actual objects. A few different varients of the shading network will give you a nice start to throw on some of you're objects.

I find when creating a scene (not just an object) having even minor texturing helps me visualize the whole thing. But maybe thats just me cause everyone else seems to be waiting (except Natalia)



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# 14 14-09-2003 , 08:25 AM
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I addded some pipes to the building, but I think I'll get on with texture for now, and come bakc to finish modelling later.

Vectorman, thank you for the input, but what I wanted to figure out is how to build a single shader network that will generate random texture pattern for repetitve objects. There should be a way to do it, it would save a lot of work (or a lot of tiling patterns) but I don't know how to make it simple enough for game engine to support it.

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# 15 14-09-2003 , 07:46 PM
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Cool

That is looking Awesome!!!!! excellent.... Scraggy...

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