Week 8 - Modeling

This week i spent alot of time on the modeling phase of the project. I snaped Polygons to the curve network by using the Append Poly Tool found in Maya. Overall, this part of the project is easy and simplified thanks to the time and effort taken to build the curve network. As of now, i have well over 100 save points, using Maya's incremental save, and this has come in handy especailly when the Append Poly Tool has failed to work correctley time and time again. I havent had time to upload screen shots as of yet, but i plan to over the next couple of days. Once a section of the car has been made using Polygons, a proxy mesh is created to display the high Poly version of the car. I switch between the low and high poly versions using the Control & Tilda key. This is ideal for displaying the different sub division surfaces in Maya. I estimate that i need to complete at least another 200 hours plus for the overall modeling phase to be completed. Once complete the mesh will be exported out to Hypershot and be Rendered. After the rendering, the model will be compositied in Photoshop for colour correction and be exported as a pdf file for the printers to make a A3 size poster/advertisment.

Will include pics of the modeling phase soon, in the next couple of days.

Week 7 - Curve Network Finalised & Finished

Well, after 103 Incremental saves and after 14 hours of work, i have managed to finally finish the cursed curve network. It was really difficult running into so many various problems and difficulties and not having any help whats so ever. I know that even though the final model may not look 100% right, and may not be modeled 100% correctly, i dont care anymore, because 99% of the people out there will not be able to tell, unless they have modeled this car before. I jumped on some forums for some inspiration and found so many awesome Lamborghini's done in 3D, i got really depressed and hoped that my model would at least look decent when compared to these other models.

I have enclosed some screen pics of the curve network, they are below. What i did was group everything that i have done, and duplicated it over and modified the scale x value to -1, this gave me a complete model. I then proceeded to take some screen grabs of what the final model looks like in curve format. I'm excited to move onto the Modeling after such a delay, and hope that it goes more smoothly than the curves. I believe the hard work is over, and even though i am using an un-conventional way of modeling this car, i believe that my modeling experience will now be alot easier thanks to the network. i must admit that it took a lot longer than i originally planed for, but im sure that my modeling stage will be quick and painless now thanks to the references and exact locations of the curve network....Theres only one way to find out and that is to begin the modeling....

Here are some screen grabs of the final curve network...ENJOY

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

Pic 5

Week 6 - More Curves Networking & Modeling

This week has been a productive week in terms of Updating the Blog. I have nearly completed all NURBs Curves for the basic shape of the Lamborghini. I have been having various difficulties with finalizing the network in terms of getting the general network laid out, due to Maya just being a little bit of a pain. I have over come this problems buy using Incremental saves and going back to previous versions of anything that might have not worked correctly. I have spent way too much time on getting these curves to look perfect, only because once i reach the modeling phase, things will be alot better for me and easier, because all i have to do is snap polygons to the curves, and not manipulating the network anymore, and not modifying the polygons anymore. For this reason, i can understand why i have spent so much time on the curve network, but overall, my work flow will be much improved and faster once this curve network is completed.

I will post up some pictures of how i am going with the overall project tomorrow, as im just to tried to do it now. Overall the IEP project has chewed up alot of my time, and i have not been working on this as much as i could of been. I will focus on getting the network finalized by tomorrow and i will have definitely started Modeling by then.

The only good news to report is that my educational license of Hyper-shot has come through and i can wait to jump into it to create the beautiful renders. Im really looking forward to Hyper-shot, and its just more motivation to finish the model in Maya, and move on to more beautiful things like Hyper-shot and Photo-shop.

Will post more information tomorrow and pics of the final network of curves and the model.

Week 5 - Curve Networks

This week i have been concentrating on Finalising the curve network for my Lamborghini. I have addedd curves throughout maya in corresspondace to the image planes. Once i have completed this section then i will be able to move forward to attaching polygons to the surface of the curves, and begin forming the shape of the car.

Since i have experienced Computer problems, i have not been able to update this blog for a couple of days, i am waiting on parts to come in so that i can build my new Computer. Below i will attach pictures of the curve network and hope to finish this off asap and move forward to the modeling phase of the project.

I have built more than this but due to my computer crashing permanently i haven not been able to restore the previous files. Below is pictures of the frontal curve section that i have built.

Pictures of the frontal curve network i have began to build.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4