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Old 7th October 2007, 03:39 PM   #1
rocky90
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Red face How to Create an Automobile From scratch

I am a Newby to 3d modeling. I've modified the racecar model and car model with little problem,(following the tutorial). I'd like to make a plain COT, (Nascar Car of Tomorrow), but haven't had much luck starting with the grided cube and moving vertices. I also tried to use the filled polygon, but i wind up with something unrecognizable. Can anyone help?
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Old 8th October 2007, 03:35 PM   #2
lisa
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Default Re: How to Create an Automobile From scratch

The "gridded cube" (subdivision\box modeling) you mentioned is my favorite method.

I know this video goes really fast--its just screen grabs of my WIP files, unfortunately I didn't think to capture it as I went--but you can see a basic progression of the method I use here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEfDw8YMxKo

Here's one of my favorite box modeling tutorials:
http://www.3d.sk/tutorials/Modeling_a_foot_in_Maya.htm

Usually, the mistake that most new artists make is that they try to start with *too many* points. Start with as few points as you can manage, and then extrude the end a slice at a time. Often, I'll start with a plain cube without any grids at all.

First, you need to find\draw a good reference image. Place your image in the background to use it as a template from the Orth menu. Ideally, you want three reference images: one for each view. Make sure they are scaled the same so the images line up when you place them in the background.

Draw a cube around one end of the car. It doesn't really matter where you start. I usually start at the nose, but it's just as easy to start at the hood or the roof. Pick a small section, maybe only a foot or two long.

Set your subdivision levels. You can increase your subdivision level from the object menu. If you press the 'D' key on your keyboard, you can toggle subdivisions on an off.

Adjust the cube to fit the "hull" of the car. Concentrate on getting the vertices lined up at the edges, so that the bottom matches the bottom of the car, and the top matches the roof. Ignore things like wheel wells for the time being. The cube won't seem to fit very well... that's okay. Just try and get the top and bottom lined up.

Next, it's time to make the cube fit better. You'll need to add a few cuts whereever the car's body curves, usually around the bottom of the window, and again at the side moulding. Use either 'Slice Surface' or the 'Divide Loop' tool at supercoldmilk.com to add a slice to your cube. Grab the new vertices, and move them to fit the curve of your car a little better. Be sure not to make too many faces!

At this point, you should have what looks like a belt in the shape of a slice of car. If you want to, you can cut your cube in half so that you can use the mirror mode. Otherwise, you'll need to model both side of the car.

Once that's done, it's time to start extruding out the rest of the car. Select the faces at the end of the cube where the rest of the car would be. Using the extrude tool, pull the faces until they reach the next visible curve in the car.

After you have extruded, you should have a new set of faces. Grab the vertices of these faces, and adjust them to match the hull of the car at this slice. When you are satisified the vertices are lined up, it's time to extrude the next slice.

Keep repeating this a slice at a time until you have the body of the car. Again, don't worry about things like wheel wells or door handles. Just concentrate on getting the general shape of the car.

After you've fleshed the main shape out, you can start adding details. Wheel wells can be added with the boolean tool, or by deleting the faces around the wheel area, creating a disk, and then using Create Ordered Surface to merge the disk to the part of the car you've done already. Once you've gotten the general cutout, use the extrude tool again to lift out the fenders.

From the point on, it's really just a matter of continuing to add small cuts to add in detail. You can use the Divide Loop plug-in for this. Make Hole is also really good for things like door handles. Pick a surface, choose Make Hole, then fill the hole back in with Create Ordered Surface. You can then extrude the door handle or repeat Make Hole again to add more detail.

I hope this helps!
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Old 9th October 2007, 04:52 PM   #3
rocky90
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Default Re: How to Create an Automobile From scratch

Thank you Soooo much lisa. I'll try to post my WIP when I think it's worth viewing. At least now I have a starting point.
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Old 9th October 2007, 05:33 PM   #4
lisa
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Default Re: How to Create an Automobile From scratch

Cool. Look forward to seeing it!
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