Problem modeling a mouse

[Phasmatis]

Personally, I think the best way would be to point model (with hypernurbs) the whole mouse and the buttons, it may be difficult to get the shape you're after but with a bit of fiddling you'll get there in the end.

I created a mouse a while ago too and it was very difficult, I had only been using cinema for about 2 months but point modelling was the only way I could get it to look right.

[H. Ikeda]

Hello, I'm also new here. I agree with Phasmatis, Hyper NURBS modeling may be suitable for mouse. Attached figure is rather rough sketch for Hyper NURBS (plus Symmetry) mouse. You can make it realistic with further modeling and subdivision. I hope it will help you. For slits between buttons and mouse body, you can use Boolean cut as the simplest way. But if you use spline, I would recommend using some background images.:buttrock:

[TheLegend299]

If you make some sketch’s of the mouse by hand then scan them into your computer you can use them as guidelines (on a plane) for your hyperNURBs this gives great accuracy (as long as you have a scanner otherwise Photoshop would be ok). Also I wouldn't recommend Booleans operations it will mess up you mesh (if you use C4D I can give you a better way).

[TheLegend299]

Ok this might get confusing so tell me if you want anything explained. First select the points that you want to make up your buttons then copy them using the structure tab then paste into an empty polygon object and use the bridge tool. After you have A flat polygon of the right shape you can shrink it a bit and add thickness BUT because this is using hyperNURBs you will need to use the knife tool to "pin" back the edges of the button I highly recommend you put these into your model before you start shaping otherwise you will have problems getting the shape right. I hope that helps if you need more help just ask (or if a load of rubbish came out of my mouth just tell me to shut up)

[H. Ikeda]

Thanks a lot for your supplement, TheLegend299.:thumbsup: Yes, you are right, Boolean may be possibly not good (I meant 'as the simplest way' as 'simple but not good'). Your way will be one of the best ways of making a mouse, I would think. A second way may be that of using Extrude Inner and Move polygons for slits, and you can safely split buttons if subdivision near slits is enough.

[SinCity]

I will try out both of your tips,

should be "easy" now... :-)

[Burlap_Sack]

I was beating my head against the wall about a very similar modeling problem fairly rescently.

cinema is a very good animation/rendering /modeling tool.
but its just not designed to do industrial design.

if you want to make a very accurate model you'll probably want a more comphrehensive nurbs modeler, like rhino or formz.

however you can make a very good approximation of anything with polymodeling/hypernurbs. but sometimes it can be more time consuming than its worth.

the real question is why & how much is it worth?

however all this will change with edge weighting in R8. I think it will prove more efficient than anything else.

[SinCity]

... a result ...

at the cost of some sweat...

still anything but perfect,
nevertheless a mouse better than anything i got before posting my question.

[LucentDreams]

Looking pretty good I say, oyu may want to increase the AA a bit, the mouse weels got some issues right now.

Outside of that only crit isn't on the model but the shader, looks a little too reflective/glossy for my, but of course thats just the mice I'm use too, I know I saw a silver plated one at london drugs once, so you never know.

[tkay]

I think it´s just the texture on that wheel, not AA, Kai

[tkay]

I cooked up the buttons starting from a plane and then knifing, point-tweaking, thickening, cutting and sawing...

[tkay]

Here´s the structure. Hope this helps:

[SinCity]

... a long thread,

another rendering here:

Ooh, pixel-chaos at the wheel is really the texture (dirty-nuts shader), not an AA-issue.

Next thing I will try out is doing it "tkays" idea... will take sometime.
thanx!

[TheLegend299]

looks good you did some nice work :p, but for a quick improvment maybe replace the wheel with a cylinder with around 3-4 height segments (play around with it a bit) that has been placed in a hyperNURBs parent and optimised. This will give you smooth edges and total control over the curve.

[sad]

have a look at the points where the edges you get sick of are appearing. maybe there are double ponits that ain't melted togehter. (melted? :beer: )

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