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View Full Version : architectural modeling - general questions

doppelganger
07-26-2003, 03:56 PM
Regards all,

I am modeling a castle in Maya for a school project and I have a couple general questions for the group. I have spent most of my time doing tutorials on organic modeling in which keeping the surface topology as all quads is of high importance. Is this the same with architectural modeling considering the surface dosent need to deform? I ask becaue I am using booleans to create many of the windows and surface greebles. I find that it is difficult to then connect the new edges all the way around the model. I can take the extra time and do this (which will create extra faces and a higher poly count) but if it is not imperative I would like to know. I have heard that quads will keep render times lower as the math is easier for the computer to work then 4+ sided faces. I was aso wondernig if booleans are ok to use. The last time I used them was in 3D studio Max 3 and I recall them being quite buggy. Any suggestions of things to look out for when doing modeling like this or links to good architectural tutorials would be greatly appriciated.
Thanks,

Scott Spencer
Bri_Spencer
07-26-2003, 05:40 PM
Try to do your very, very best to stay away from booleens. They do the job, but they destroy your topology and sometimes create fragments. They then become hard to manipulate later because of the sparatic placement of the polygons. If you are making windows I would make 1 window exactly how you want it to look then duplicate that window to where you want the others t be (you will prob want to make some junk geometry to use as reference). Then combine the windows and extrude the edges so that they all meet. I hope it helps. :D
doppelganger
07-26-2003, 06:22 PM
Thanks for the advice. I had a sneaking suspicion that Booleans were nto the best way to go. How about staying all quads? Is this going to be a big deal since the structure wont deform or is it going to haunt me when I layout uvs?

Scott
Bri_Spencer
07-28-2003, 09:23 PM
Yeah, try to do your VERY best to use only quads. It will be a lot easier to layout Uvs and it will keep you in the habit of using only quads when you create other objects, scenes, or characters. Also in many instances, triangles have a tendancy to make your models have creases in them even if you aren't going to deform the mesh. Have fun! :thumbsup:
MasonDoran
07-29-2003, 10:19 AM
the purpose of the all quad approach is that the smooth algorithms have problems with anything but quads. If their are triangles in the mesh....when u smooth u get little dimples in the mesh. Quads also allow for edge loop modelling....where the edges terminate at a triangle or n gon.....


so it depends on what u intend to do with model...will it need to be smoothed at all? then u should use quads before hand...otherwise its not really relevant to your workflow.

In games it would create problems....but if u are just doing renders it shouldnt matter....

I would certainly use booleans...after all it saves a lot work and you can always clean up the mesh where its messy.
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