Post by Anthony on May 4, 2015 1:59:31 GMT
Creating sci-fi imagery in 3D is never easy and requires a lot of patience, although knowing certain techniques can definitely help speed up the workflow.
While each artwork is always unique, hard-surface modelling as a category has many similarities that are repeated, no matter whether we’re modelling a rifle, a tank, a spaceship or a sci-fi interior. Patterns, holes, hard edges and the like will always be present in all of these kinds of art.
Over the course of this tutorial we’ll go over some of the basic bread-and-butter tools and main ideas utilised when doing this sort of hard-surface work.
The main idea is to repeat these things almost procedurally, going from profile views to 3D, remembering to use patterns and holes to create interesting surface details.
Last of all, keeping the topology clean can be time-consuming at first, but it can be an absolute blessing when we start to play with the FFD modifier, which allows for crazy experiments, giving us what’s commonly known as ‘happy accidents’ that create interesting shapes that we can keep and use in our project
As always, let us know what you think of this tutorial on Facebook and Twitter!
And if you missed the issue that this tutorial appeared in, why not pick up a digital edition?
Step 01 – Think in profile view
This is a general rule that applies to anything, whether it’s something sci-fi or not. Working in profile, side or top-down view is great to establish the overall proportion, scale and idea of the piece we are creating. This approach can be utilised to create either small props like the neck areas that I’m doing here, or something massive like the outer shape of a vehicle. Work in profile views, connect the different parts and then extrude out and/or shell it.
Step 02 – Add holes
Holes, or cut-lines, are part of almost any sci-fi creation. They can be achieved in a number of different ways, but one method that I like is using the Loop tools from the Graphite Modeling, as well as the Circle function. Simply delete the faces, Shift+drag the selection while holding the R key and then run the Circle tool.
Step 03 – Make hard edges
The bread and butter of hard-surface modelling in 3ds Max is the Connect tool. Using it in the right places and using the slide to make it just at the right distance will control the tension of your surface, enabling you to create tight-looking planes. There’s nothing less appealing than a wobbly plane or some uneven surface that hasn’t been smoothed out in the right way. In this case, it’s almost like real life – it’s the difference when you see a nice piece of crafted metal and one that has lumps and bumps around the edges. It sounds obvious, but there is a level of subtlety that experienced hard-surface modellers reach and that makes the difference between a high-quality modeller and one that is trying to reach that level. Be smart where you use your connects!
Step 04 – Work with patterns
Patterns and repeating shapes are one of the main features in hard-surface sci-fi design. Looking at the correct reference and right inspiration of where to place them is fundamental to make the design look smooth. Once again, after we punch the holes, we need to ring-connect all of them in order to maintain their straight position. Once the shape has been created, if we need to arrange it in a slightly different fashion later on, we can either control the vertices or use the FFD Box modifier.
Step 05 – Use quad topology
Perhaps my favourite modifier in 3ds Max together with the Shell one, the FFD Box allows for meshes that have been created with quad topology to be ‘shaped’ around in such a nice fashion. It allows us to manipulate a chest piece or a helmet – or an abdomen piece as shown here – with extreme ease. A combination of Bend, FFD Box and Symmetry is absolutely essential for hard-surface matters.
Step 06 – Push the FFD modifier
Experimenting with the FFD Box in combination with the Symmetry is a great way to fix issues with a symmetrical design and/or explore slightly different variations that we did not originally come up with in the first place. I often find myself modifying the FFD Box and Symmetry modifiers a lot around the end of the design in order to get unexpected results that I might want to keep, or perhaps to get ideas for the next step. This process is usually referred to as ‘happy accidents’ – it consists of creating shapes or patterns that are unexpected, but that match what we’re working on, or can be slightly tweaked to match it. It is one of my favorite workflows and one of the main reasons why even if it’s slower, modelling with Quad topology can be effective later on down the line.
While each artwork is always unique, hard-surface modelling as a category has many similarities that are repeated, no matter whether we’re modelling a rifle, a tank, a spaceship or a sci-fi interior. Patterns, holes, hard edges and the like will always be present in all of these kinds of art.
Over the course of this tutorial we’ll go over some of the basic bread-and-butter tools and main ideas utilised when doing this sort of hard-surface work.
The main idea is to repeat these things almost procedurally, going from profile views to 3D, remembering to use patterns and holes to create interesting surface details.
Last of all, keeping the topology clean can be time-consuming at first, but it can be an absolute blessing when we start to play with the FFD modifier, which allows for crazy experiments, giving us what’s commonly known as ‘happy accidents’ that create interesting shapes that we can keep and use in our project
As always, let us know what you think of this tutorial on Facebook and Twitter!
And if you missed the issue that this tutorial appeared in, why not pick up a digital edition?
Step 01 – Think in profile view
This is a general rule that applies to anything, whether it’s something sci-fi or not. Working in profile, side or top-down view is great to establish the overall proportion, scale and idea of the piece we are creating. This approach can be utilised to create either small props like the neck areas that I’m doing here, or something massive like the outer shape of a vehicle. Work in profile views, connect the different parts and then extrude out and/or shell it.
Step 02 – Add holes
Holes, or cut-lines, are part of almost any sci-fi creation. They can be achieved in a number of different ways, but one method that I like is using the Loop tools from the Graphite Modeling, as well as the Circle function. Simply delete the faces, Shift+drag the selection while holding the R key and then run the Circle tool.
Step 03 – Make hard edges
The bread and butter of hard-surface modelling in 3ds Max is the Connect tool. Using it in the right places and using the slide to make it just at the right distance will control the tension of your surface, enabling you to create tight-looking planes. There’s nothing less appealing than a wobbly plane or some uneven surface that hasn’t been smoothed out in the right way. In this case, it’s almost like real life – it’s the difference when you see a nice piece of crafted metal and one that has lumps and bumps around the edges. It sounds obvious, but there is a level of subtlety that experienced hard-surface modellers reach and that makes the difference between a high-quality modeller and one that is trying to reach that level. Be smart where you use your connects!
Step 04 – Work with patterns
Patterns and repeating shapes are one of the main features in hard-surface sci-fi design. Looking at the correct reference and right inspiration of where to place them is fundamental to make the design look smooth. Once again, after we punch the holes, we need to ring-connect all of them in order to maintain their straight position. Once the shape has been created, if we need to arrange it in a slightly different fashion later on, we can either control the vertices or use the FFD Box modifier.
Step 05 – Use quad topology
Perhaps my favourite modifier in 3ds Max together with the Shell one, the FFD Box allows for meshes that have been created with quad topology to be ‘shaped’ around in such a nice fashion. It allows us to manipulate a chest piece or a helmet – or an abdomen piece as shown here – with extreme ease. A combination of Bend, FFD Box and Symmetry is absolutely essential for hard-surface matters.
Step 06 – Push the FFD modifier
Experimenting with the FFD Box in combination with the Symmetry is a great way to fix issues with a symmetrical design and/or explore slightly different variations that we did not originally come up with in the first place. I often find myself modifying the FFD Box and Symmetry modifiers a lot around the end of the design in order to get unexpected results that I might want to keep, or perhaps to get ideas for the next step. This process is usually referred to as ‘happy accidents’ – it consists of creating shapes or patterns that are unexpected, but that match what we’re working on, or can be slightly tweaked to match it. It is one of my favorite workflows and one of the main reasons why even if it’s slower, modelling with Quad topology can be effective later on down the line.