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.
I have been following Daverave's excellent Tank track using ncloth thread and saw a jerry can he was modeling for his tank. It has a kind of challenging surface to model so I could not resist giving it a go.
For the body of the can I tried a bunch of methods but in the end I started with a single poly plane at the rectangular part in the middle of the can. I extruded that rectangle to its lowest point. Then I added some cuts and extruded out the X shapes (at the lowest point). Then extruded back up to level with the top of the rectangle. Then extruded the edges outward from the X shape (at the highest point) until I had a plane with the X shape and the rectangle in the middle. Then matched the outer profile. Then added cuts uses cut faces where the can tapers front and back. Then extruded the depth. The rest of the can body was just adding some support edges.
This is the modeling method I use when I find it hard to figure out how to cut in support edges when starting from larger primitive shapes . By starting from a single plane I can progress in small steps and keep the geometry under control.
The cap was fun to model. It is fully functional!
The handles were easy to model the outer shape but because of the open cylinders and plate at the front I had to add thickness. Maya has no thicken! I spent a lot of time fighting with the bajiggered over lapping edges created from maya's extrude.
Just as an exercise I took the darn thing into modo and used the thicken tool and was done in 5 minutes. I think I spent an hour fidgiting with the maya extrude mess!
I would use bump mapping for the 20L and other embossed text.
It was a pretty fun project.
Dave, if you want the .ma file let me know you are welcome to it.
Here is a slightly more refined version:
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
Very nice ctbram
You win, I was going to ask you how you would go about this. I would think there are a lot of modellers looking at this thinking that looks easy well its not and you have done a great job. How did you do the welds, I think I understand how you created the sides sounds much better way then I did. Yes please for a down load ...................dave
Please do not think of it as a contest. I just thought the shape of the can looked challenging and wanted to see how I would model it.
To be honest this would be a very good hard surface tutorial. The starting from a single poly plane method is a good one to learn.
I originally, was just interested in seeing how to model the can body but when I saw the spout hinge and locking mechanism I had to model that.
Here is the dropbox.com link to the .ma file. It's maya 2011 so if you have a different version remember to set ignore revision in your prefs.
For the welds around the handles it's just seperate geometry. If you look at the refs the handle is just plopped on and welded. The mid seam I just extruded out as I created the depth. If you look at the model you will see the left side is a copy of the right. I just removed the spout and filled the whole. I did not want to make seperate geometry in case I made changes I could still mirror.
Please do a tutorial, now I have had a chance to look at you model I can see how much better the mesh is then mine and not that high in polys..............dave
That is the advantage of the poly plane extrusion method you build the geometry in small steps so it is easier to keep the geometry under control. As opposed to starting at a high level primitive and then having to add lots of control edges and route them all over.
I also am a big fan of breaking the model down into parts rather then trying to make one gigantic unified mesh.
I did not clean the polys up much. There are lots of hidden ones that I would remove in the UV process. The handle had to have thickness and as a result has a lot of hidden polys.
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
I did it too dave...similar to ct but extruding edges and creating the central shape with the edges and verts first. I didnt do the whole thing as I know ct had already done it. I also sent you my polymesh
cheers bullet
bullet1968
"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes
Here is my very quick and simple way I had a go at it dave...nowhere NEAR ctbram of course but I did have a crack at the shape. Negatives are hard to do for sure and you have certainly done well. Its suprising..ct and I didnt talk about this negative space thing until tonight and yet we came up with very similar solutions to a feisty problem.
It would be nice if you could make the geo required then attach it to a 'SOLID' (ie the container shape)..sort of like a cloth but without the 'drapery' problems a cloth would cause.
Anyway..interesting subject...negetive spaces..should give people a headache for some time to come LOL.
No way man...you did it...leave it as it is!! mate I just find problems interesting and like to have a go at them. Thats what we are all here for mate...help and share the knoweldge.....
cheers bullet
bullet1968
"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes
Now you are talking...Lager, Bitter, or RUM! now that sounds like a plan...drink said contents to gauge ones hand/eye co-ordination in Maya after 4 hours...bahahah
bullet1968
"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes
model, looks cool. if i uv it and upload it again shall we have a texturing challenge with it? deadline next saturday. which is a super long time for such a task.
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