tips on organic modeling???

[treed]

Hey whats up. I think I'm in the exact same position that your in, I'm 17 years old, working with max for about a year and a half, and also suck at modeling.

Yeah polymodeling, or patch modeling are probably the easiest. If your planning on modeling people, just plan on taking a long time making it detailed and also knowing what tools to use. :bounce:

heres some websites with good modeling tutorials

http://www.3dlinks.com/tutorials_max.cfm
http://www.3dbuzz.com/




treed

[Exterminator89]

thanks, I have been to those sites, its just none of them go into detail on making to details, they just have the basic outline and then go from that to detailed. btw, I am 14 years old

[nimajneb]

Firstly, can you draw? I'm not talking about stick figures, magna & comic book characters. I'm talking about unglamourous still life and figure drawing. You need to learn that, and more importantly the subtle skill drawing teaches, observation. Once you have some proficency there, see if your local community college offers sculpture 101. Take it. Take 202, & 303 if they have it. This is going to give you a sense of form in 3D without having to worry about the myraid of variables that go into learning an application like Maya or MAX. All this traditional media work is to lay a foundation, so that when you open MAX, you have a clear mental image of what you want to do. Most bad modeling is not a result of not understanding how the software works. It's a lack of knowledge on the part of the artist about what they want their subject to look like. The only way to develop that knowledge is to study the forms you're trying to replicate until they are so familiar that you can name them and draw/create them from rote. If you're really wanting to work this out on the computer alone, I'd say pick objects that relate to the human form. Start with bones. Model a skull, a femur, a ribcage, finger bone, teeth. All these are complex organic forms by themselves and will supply hours of modeling practice for you. From there move onto muscles. Get some anatomy textbooks and model from the drawings. Try noses, ears, lips. Focus on parts, don't try for the whole on the first try. You will not be able to hit it and you will frustrate yourself. Above all, get honest critque of your work. That are several sites (including this one) where you can post and get feedback.

[Exterminator89]

ok thx nimajneb, I just happen to have clay, lots of it, and like I said I am 14 years old so I cant take a sculpture 101 unless it's in the summer, so I will model with clay for a lil while, hands, arms, skulls, ribcage, head, ear, mouth, nose etc... also I suck at drawing, I just started to draw though, I draw during classes from help of my friend he is like being a drawing coach, anyways I will practice with drawing and clay modeling

[nimajneb]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395530075/qid=1050351542/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-5846158-6431345?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0874774241/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/102-5846158-6431345?v=glance&s=books&st=*

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078948045X/qid=1050351689/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5846158-6431345?v=glance&s=books

Here's a few suggestions to get you started. You might want to see if any of your local Art Institutes have any classes in basic drawing and figure study, or perhaps there maybe a more informal figure drawing group in your area. The Nicolaides text (link above) details a comprehsive drawing program from the figure, and the Right Side of the brain text (above) is a more general drawing workshop. The anatomy text (your guessed it :) above) has large photographs in multiple postures as well as good detailed sketchwork on anatomic details. I've a few of these type of books and this has been my favorite so far. At your age I would counsel you to focus on drawing, if you have friends who draw set up regular sessions where you can work on a still life. This gives you a peer group to support your learning and a critique group to help you improve your skills.

[Exterminator89]

ok... one problem I live in a sucky city and it really sucks there is no Art Institutes around or anything... at least there is a mall hehe... that and a College is the only big thing it has :hmm:

[edaddy]

the biggest modeling tip i can offer newbs is to pay attention to all the viewports, and just go w/ how it 'feels' - you'll hear ppl mention things about keeping the mesh clean and only 4 sided polys and such but don't worry about that now... concentrate more on just getting the general shape of whatever it is you choose to model.

Drawing is a nice skill to have but it's not neccessarily gonna 'make or break' your 3d dreams or anything. However you should practice it alot to train your eye to see proportions and whatnot, even if you 'suck' at it ....

[Exterminator89]

thanks for the tips and encouragement edaddy

[ThE-BirD]

I have to second nimajneb's suggestions. I'd suggest starting with Drawing on the right side of the Brain. It might sound a little strange at first to pick up a drawing book when you want to learn digital sculpting, but it's all about learning to really 'see' and translate it into whatever medium you're working in. Betty Edwards book is an awesome place to start;) Good luck!!

[cheezi]

I would check out the Joan of Arc Tutorial at http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc/joanmenu.asp. It's an awesome tutorial on poly modeling. I did it a couple of times following the instructions, then i learned the basic process behind it and created my own guy with a similar method. I can now basically adapt what i learned in this tutorial to modeling more complex human figures. But it's not easy, and knowing how to draw and understanding the anatomy of a human will help.

Cheezi

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