Scorpionman head

[alex.h.]

hi steve..
i lookt at the joan tutorial, and its great if you model in that way, but like i told you in
the mesage i model in freeform concept and thats like modeling whith real clay so i
am not that god in giving crit on your scorpion modeling but i am going to visit here
and have a look when you update it..
if a dident model in the way i do i probably had tryed to box modeling it..
looks ok so far..sorry for spelling..a swed in uk..

[SteveIacopetti]

I added a little detail in the mouth and front eye. Giving character for expressions and such in case I want to animate this monster.

-alex.h.- Box modeling is another process new to me. To this day I have only modeled using basic shapes and splines.
Modeling in this way makes me feel like I am digging into the program, kind of getting my hands dirty.
Thanks for telling me about that program it sounds interesting.

-Steve-

[alex.h.]

you seems to be on the right track, and try to keep the mesh in quads and so litlle triangles as possible,because they can break the surface.
good going.. :thumbsup:

[SteveIacopetti]

Got rid of some triangles that I saw as you suggested alex.h.
Did some work on the side eye and begun working on the lower mouth part.
I am thinking about mesh smooth. I will play with that once I am done forming all the parts.
Thanks for your comments.
-Steve-

[jmBoekestein]

Hey Steve,

Keepin' an eye as promised, looking good. You should put meshsmooth on the stack asap, because you're geometry will look different once applied and you'll have to tweak the mesh. You're model isn't heavy at all so I don't think it will mess up your speed in modelling and viewport interaction. btw, maybe it would be cool to make those eyes separate objects, good for materials and also you could make them appear to "shine", like riddicks eyes or sommin'.
Cool thing about the stack in 3ds max is you can turn of modifiers by right clicking their name and selecting off or off in viewport. One more tip: If you want hard edges but not creases you should put 2 edges very close together and give them a high weighting. That gives more control without stabbing woundlike setbacks.

Keep at it, and good luck!

edit:ps: You could also convert your object to an editable poly(in one of many ways), because edit.poly's have meshsmooth built in. scroll all the way down and you'll find the rollout: subdivision or use NURMS subdivision.(I always memorise keywords and where the menus are, sorry)

what the ****! that smily is actually PS with : before it.:surprised

[SteveIacopetti]

Thanks for the multitude of tips jmBoekestein.

The eyes are separate exactly for the reason you suggested and I see what you mean with the mesh smooth. Allot of time would have been saved if I would have built with that from the start. I turned this into an editable poly and have smoothed the back lower mouth feeler and will go into more detail in giving it a segmented look next time. The mouth itself poses an interesting challenge, no work tomorrow so I will put in a good amount of time working on this rather then just the few hours before I go to work.

-Steve-

[SteveIacopetti]

I spent hours playing with the mesh smooth only to come to the conclusion I am better off putting in verts by hand at this point in my 3D max experience.

I got rid of a few more triangles, I want to form the head shape better. If I have time tomorrow I will focus on that.

-Steve-

[SteveIacopetti]

I formed the head a little nicer.

Next time I work on this I will put in the remaining eyes.

-Steve-

[alex.h.]

its getting there, keep up the good job.. :thumbsup:

[SteveIacopetti]

I have been taking in a bit more sleep than usual to help combat this cold I caught for Christmas, too little time to do much but I did add an eye. The next eye will be one that looks back, not represented well in the sketch.

Thanks for the pat on the back alex.h.

-Steve-

[jmBoekestein]

Well, here I am again,

with yet another tip:wise: .
I was looking at the part below the big eye on the side, and you have some very small polygons that all join up on one larger polygon. This will give you trouble when you subdivide/meshsmooth it. My suggestion is to also get rid of those, making steady progress otherwise. In my experience it's indeed better to insert edges or verts, that's one way of adding more uniform topology. You can also use the cut tool in edit geometry rollout(I think it's there:surprised)in both edge and verts mode, and even face modeI think. If your mesh is slightly irregular and you want rid of that, look for the relax modifier. That's a quick way of getting out kinks. Best to do that on largely uniform topology as it gets confused.
Keep it up dude. I'll try and keep it short next time.

[SteveIacopetti]

All eyes are added, and I had a moment to put in some color and some mood lighting.
Looking back, it might have been better to build this with block modeling though, I have a lot to learn. It's about time for me to head back to school and I tend not to have time for posting, though I do tend to look at whats being worked on and etc.

jmBoekestein, that was what I meant by adding verts. I used the cutting tool alot as well as the shortcut of #1 and #2 (glad I know that one). As always thanks for your posts.

Cheers,

-Steve-

[jmBoekestein]

:thumbsup: The eyes are cool man!

I really like the way they look when backlit. This will be cool when you finish it.

[bluemagicuk]

Good to see that you are keeping at it. It seems to be coming along nicely.
I wish i could give you some advise on max but all i know is how to make a teapot with it :)
I use maya personally.

Only thing I can suggest is to learn as much of the modelling tools as you can it will speed up
your modelling and make the whole process more enjoyable.
Anyway keep at it. I think it took me about 30 deeply frustrating modelling attempts before i
came up with something palpable. Practice makes perfect.

look forward to more updates .

[alex.h.]

you have done some more on it, i see...looks good.. :thumbsup: ...keep up the good joob..

[SteveIacopetti]

Thanks for your replies.

jmBoekestein, I really wanted to give it a horror look. When this abomination is done it will be a sight to see.

blue magic, thanks for coming by and giving some feedback.

I have been doing some reading of the MAX bible and I think I have an understanding of rigging. When I build the body I will try adding that in as well.

Monday its back to school so updates are going to be few and far between.

Cheers,

-Steve-

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