I just gave myself a 10 minute time limit to create an ear.
I did it poly by poly to get the basic shape, and smooth shift afterwards to add a bit more detail.
There is a lot more I’d like to tweak and change but the ten minutes are up. I’ll see if I have time later to finish it.
I used an image that I found in a google image search.
Spline modeling is really quick if you got that in 10 minutes. Great job!
Kvaalen -
Newbie question … when you say poly to poly what are you saying? Draw points using + key, then make poly’s … then?
Thanks for any info.
I create a quad (4 pointed polygon) select two points - apply extender - drag them to the place I want - apply extender again - drag them to the place I want… 
What I like about splines is that you can see the shape, you see the flow (splines ARE the edge loops) and all before you even put one poly down.
The splines dont cover up the background reference, I can easily tweak the spline cage and repatch faster then rebuilding or tweaking a lot of points.
Even though you can make an ear using a number of mtehods, thhis is quick nad produces clean results. I was able to layout the ear in a minute or two and then patch it. In the end the splines were quick because they require much less data. With point by point EVERY point must be hand crafted and adjusted as you go. With splines most of that is done for you. Manipulating a small amount of data is faster then manipulationg a large amount of data. 
one thing about splines is i seem to have to go afterwards and clean up all the points where ‘merge points’ dont catch’em,you know to attach all the polys together
with extend you dont have to cause the polys are connected to begin with so the mesh is solid from the first extend
or am i doing somthing wrong?
One thing that I can’t seem to get my hear around is sometimes I select three or four splines and hit <ctrl>f and the polys fill in like you would expect. But sometimes I just get the ‘curves aren’t crossing in the right direction’ or some such thing. I’ll figure it I spose but if someone wants to chime in … there doesn’t seem to be much in the online help, unless I’m missing something.
Originally posted by modernhorse
One thing that I can’t seem to get my hear around is sometimes I select three or four splines and hit <ctrl>f and the polys fill in like you would expect. But sometimes I just get the ‘curves aren’t crossing in the right direction’ or some such thing. I’ll figure it I spose but if someone wants to chime in … there doesn’t seem to be much in the online help, unless I’m missing something.
This usually happens when the splines aren’t attached and you need to weld some points, or when there is no logic to the order of splines you selected.
Actually I dont see it much from selecting splines out of order.
Its mostly that the splines arent welded somewhere around the patch where they intersect or you are selecting the wrong spline or splines. Check and make sure that when you have 4 splines selected that its really 4 splines.
Click on a point shared by two splines. It should indicate that its one point not two. If you see that two are indicated, weld them.
Also when you patch, parallel and perpendicular are detemined by the LAST spline selected.
Originally posted by Remi
I’m going to have to agree with CIM on this one…making one ear and modifying it is much easier and less time consuming but I do like this method…I will have to try it out some time.
I think that is fine as long as you take a few minutes to make the ear unqiue… not everybody has the same lobes …
Originally posted by CIM
[B]Looks like an interesting way to get an ear.Anyway, ppl. should just model one good ear and paste it on all new head models, tweak, and be finished.
Why would anyone be compelled to do it any other way?
Same goes without saying for much in the way of body parts and more that you create.
That is unless you really like to reinvent the wheel.:eek:
Originally posted by Chewey
[B]Why would anyone be compelled to do it any other way?
Same goes without saying for much in the way of body parts and more that you create.That is unless you really like to reinvent the wheel.:eek: [/B]
Heck why not just by a stock model :rolleyes: just kididng
Originally posted by modernhorse
[B]… that took one hour. Anyhow, here it is. Using poly to poly method.
Not bad, esp for 10 minutes. Are you using reference? Reference is good. Remember to smooth shift the polys in each of those zones (particularly the 2nd and 3rd zone). Most of my 10 minutes was tweaking the little details.
Originally posted by Chewey
[B]Why would anyone be compelled to do it any other way?
Same goes without saying for much in the way of body parts and more that you create.That is unless you really like to reinvent the wheel.:eek: [/B]
Most of the time thats true. One reason I may model something from scratch is so I dont forget the technique or just for the fun of messing with variations of a technique.
In production I did a lot of frankensteining.
Sometimes its easier to start from scratch or nearly from scratch.
On some objects Ill delete out a section of polys and then reconstruct it using splines made from the existing points. This is a really nice thing about splines in LW is that you can do that.
Originally posted by wgreenlee1
[B]one thing about splines is i seem to have to go afterwards and clean up all the points where ‘merge points’ dont catch’em,you know to attach all the polys together
with extend you dont have to cause the polys are connected to begin with so the mesh is solid from the first extendor am i doing somthing wrong? [/B]
so is there any shortcut to welding those points like i asked earlier?anyone?
Originally posted by SplineGod
In production I did a lot of frankensteining.
LOL that’s a great term 
I do a lot of frankensteining myself - why sit and remake things if you have one that works well already
I must admit that I’ve never really got my head around spline modelling though :surprised
Usually I create splines by selecting two points creating a spline, adding points, and then giving it a better shape. That way they are already welded.
If I don’t, and I make a new spline out of scratch (for instance if I use the bizier tool), I right a way make sure it is welded well.
As for a short cut… you can always do it manually since a good spline cage shouldn’t be too detailed, or you can hit m to merge points and give it a fixed distance. :shrug:
Personaly I don’t find that a problem.
Hello everyone:
I am acutally the student in Larry’s class that started this whole ear mess. I have been struggling with the “box” method section of the courseware (no fault of Larry’s I am just a thick headed canuck!). I have tried ears, heads and torsos all via the box method and am not happy with my results thus far. I just can’t seem to manage all the points and polys left over when you cut and create more geometry. With splines the flow is all created cleanly and it is easy to detail after the cage is patched. I don’t know if modelling techniques can be subjective, but splines just work for my mindset.
Anyway wgreenlee1 if I am understanding your question correctly forming spline cages that work with the merge option works in much the same way as you describe with extender. Rather than merging points together, select existing points on existing splines when you go to create a new spline. Using Larry’s techniques I have never had the merge problem you describe. I have had to create entire heads all over again ( I had a slight problem with proportions) because he is a task master but the spline techniques all work.
If I am misunderstanding your question then sorry in advance. I will just hide behind my student disguise.
Thanks,