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 18-07-2007 , 07:15 AM
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Detailed Electric Guitar

I thought it would be nice to do something I never done before. A guitar is it. I decided to do a little bit more of a detailed look. Instead of just having the body shape and then putting the pickups over it, I actually modeled what the guitar would look like in an individual piece. Here is a nice half hour render of a close up.

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# 2 18-07-2007 , 07:16 AM
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The tremelo mesh. Done all by looking at my guitar right in front of me.

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# 3 18-07-2007 , 07:17 AM
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Just some guitar parts in full pieces.

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# 4 18-07-2007 , 07:18 AM
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Some wires for the curious ones.

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# 5 18-07-2007 , 07:19 AM
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And finally the full mesh so far. Still incomplete, 4 hours of work on this.

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# 6 18-07-2007 , 09:47 AM
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Hey nice job Xtreme

The detail is very well done so far....


Cheers
Jay

# 7 18-07-2007 , 10:19 AM
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Looks good. Can you give some details of how you started this. As I am looking to do the same sort of project. Did you start out with a polygon cube then extrude it out or did you create a custom polygon and extrude that out. Did you just bevel the edges and how did you do the "scooped out bit that is cut out at the rear of the guitar to allow to sit comfortably against your body?

Sorry for all the questions

# 8 18-07-2007 , 06:40 PM
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Jay - Thank you
Here is a little update with some added parts such as screws and frets.

Junkie Inc. - Allright I'll get you some techniques to get you started. I remember before I modeled anything, the first thing I tried was a guitar and I couldnt get the body right. After doing some car modeling, this was a piece of cake. Allright let me explain some things. There are many ways of modeling a guitar. You can start off with a block and extrude it out to the shape of a guitar. You can just use reference and use a plain and "connect the dots" sort of thing. For this project I particularly used an EP curve tool. Got the shape down and just extruded a plain to the curve. You can use one of those plane tools under the surfaces menu in 8.5. Thats If you are lazy it will make a plane for you out of the curve. I would not recommend that. Sometimes it works, but I like to keep my mesh's vertex just how I want them. Ok now you asked about the bevel. Use what you like. They all work fine. You can either smooth out the body once you added depth, Sub D it, or use the bevel option. I would say use whichever you are more comfortable with. Now for the scoop. First off, if you just want a render, I dont think you need to add that scoop since it will be covered up by the pickups either way. The pickup will stay on top of it. As I did on the neck. Necks have the 6 holes for the tuning pegs. I just left them out because it wont change anything due to an overlap of the pegs on the headstock. But if you must know, there are several way, both which have their problems. The easier way - once you got your mesh down and know you wouldnt modify the body, simply get the shape of the scoop and use the Booleans diference option. Once done, do not try to convert to other options. The harder way - you can actually take out the time and arange your vertices to for the shape of the scoop and then extrude out the scoop. Problem with this is your guitar body won't be so smooth since its a good bet you will have many lines close to each other which will form a sharp edge on the body. So with knowing that, GOOD LUCK!

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Last edited by XtremeAMX; 18-07-2007 at 06:43 PM.
# 9 18-07-2007 , 10:53 PM
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Looking great XtremeAMX!


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# 10 19-07-2007 , 12:00 AM
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sweet work man could you post a full render fully textureduser added image

# 11 19-07-2007 , 01:27 AM
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This guitar looks great. Really good details.


"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

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# 12 19-07-2007 , 05:27 AM
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Perfecto - Thank you!

acid44 - Thanx, I want to see it rendered as much as you do. But you must be patient. Its a WIP and I still have some detail to put in before I start rendering. This is 2 days of work so far. You can expect renders soon.

AnthonyCg - Thank you

Here I have added a tremolo bar and the pickup switch. I didnt go crazy with the bar as it would be a dark color either way. Heres the update.

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# 13 19-07-2007 , 06:58 AM
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Yet, another update. The plugin jack and the tremolo locking bridge is complete. Now only left with the tuning pegs and the back panels to have the completed guitar.

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# 14 19-07-2007 , 08:06 AM
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XextremeAMX

Thanks for the tips. Guitar looks really good

# 15 19-07-2007 , 12:39 PM
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this is looking very nice XtremeAMX user added image

the bend in the tremelo bar is looking a little sharp though - maybe a bevel where it changes direction could help soften it a bit?

looking forward to seeing some textures...

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