Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Suggestions for Modeling Polygons
Poly modeling lends itself nicely to a wide range of objects—practically anything you can
think of, and some things you can't. Try modeling the following objects to fine-tune your
skills and explore the toolset:
Dining Room Table and Chairs
This is an easy place to start. There is good amount of lee-
way in the design, which will give you as much of a challenge as you feel you can handle.
Computer Monitor
With all its angles and overall surface details, a monitor makes for a
great extrusion and face-editing exercise.
Desk Lamp or Floor Lamp
This can be a quick exercise, so try to keep it highly detailed.
Car
This exercise can be a real challenge, so keep it simple at first and increase the amount
of detail the next time. Try to keep your model to the overall shape of the car, and don't
worry making doors and windows that actually operate. Try to model the faces so that
different parts of the car have different faces. Use NURBS surface tools to create poly
patches to form the body of the car.
Summary
In this chapter, you learned about the basic modeling workflows and how best to approach
a model. This chapter dealt primarily with polygon modeling and covered several poly-
gon creation tools as well as several polygon subdivision tools. You put those tools to good
use by building a hand and smoothing it out, as well as making a complex model of an
old-fashioned steam locomotive. The latter exercise stressed the importance of putting
a model together step by step and understanding how elements join together to form a
whole model. You'll have a chance to make another model of that kind in Chapter 6, when
you create a little red wagon.
Complex models become much easier to create when you recognize how to decon-
struct them into their base components. You can divide even simple objects into more
easily managed segments from which you can create a model.
The art of modeling with polygons is like anything else in Maya: your technique and
workflow will improve with practice and time. It's less important to know all the tricks of
the trade than it is to know how to approach a model and it it into a wireframe mesh.
