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# 5 29-12-2009 , 03:15 PM
ctbram's Avatar
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Michigan, USA
Posts: 2,998
This is Maya. I am still on the fence with modo. I have found that one of the secrets to high poly modeling is NOT to attempt to smooth everything or insist on no n-gons.

One of my banes has always been trying to cut holes in things for panels and wells. I have found it is easier to just boolean and bevel.

For rounded areas just use cylinders and spheres with lots of faces. Enough so that from whatever distance you plan your shots will be from the surface edges look smooth.

For the insets on the side of the fuselage I could have used more sides on the cylinder I used as the cutter. I may go back later and re-drill that opening.

Just boolean and throw a nice tight single segment edge bevel is fine for 90% of the shots. For tighter shots I would just add more segments to the bevel. another advantage to not always trying to smooth is you can literally cut things into parts that will always fit together-minimal worries about edge shrink and have to carry unnecessary edges into areas all over your model.

I am using this model as a simple proof of concept for me and to flesh out the proper techniques and decide where to smooth and not to smooth.

The front fuse, rear engine casing, engine center section are all unsmoothed. The wing is smoothed, but if I decide to cut into it beyond where I have I will probably unsmooth it and edge bevel.

The panel detail would be a bloody nightmare to have put in and attempt to smooth. Once I figure out how to cut sections, then inset and extrude, and DELETE the laminar inner faces that get created I will have a very solid method and you can expect to see some models with very detailed openings and cutouts in the future from me.

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There is some anti-aliasing artifacts near the edges of one of the upper panels but that is only because I am using the default settings to keep render time down.

Trying to build those panels and smooth this model would be very hard. I am happy with the render and if I needed to get in very close I would just add edge bevels the the panels.


"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 29-12-2009 at 03:46 PM.