I’m having a bit of trouble with making an American Football. What would be the best way to model such a model? Use splines and Lathe or maybe just a sphere and pull it out in the ends?
Should I model the seems or should I use a displacement map?
I don’t think the laces will be any problem, I just can’t get the shape of the football right.
Do you guys know any tutorials or tips on how to proceed?
either way you mention would work fine, but make sure if you use the sphere technique, you have the pinched ends be the ends of the football. either way you’ll have to model in the four big seams of the football, but you might be able to get away with displacement for the white ties on it.
http://shop2.mailordercentral.com/illiniunionbookstore/prodinfo.asp?number=A05610
if you use an image like this as your background (or reference plane), getting the shape shouldn’t be too hard. 
more reference:
I guess the sphere will be the easiest way to go, so I’ll try that out later today when I got some time on my hands. MANY thanks for posting mackdadd! Some real great stuff over at turbosquid. Low res but those wireframes are great for learning purpose!
Consider using 3 symmetry modifiers, one for each axis. This will allow you to rought in the shape, and should make modeling the seems easier. You will want to collapse before you add the stiches though.
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