3D Max - Clean Booleans

#1

Hey guys!

3D Max 2017

Okay so I’m trying to pay more attention to the finer aspects of topology and such with my modeling. Trying to be more on top of the stats, how the uvs will lay, etc…

I thought I would try to model the attached rocket ship - but with the above guidelines ran into some issues right off. I started off with a sphere, used some soft selection to stretch it out for the basic shape (roughly the shape of an american football) - so far so good. The trouble starts when I use a cylinder as an boolean operand to subtract the canopy hole. When the boolean was done I had all kinds of triangles and roque vertices. Hell of a clean up - never did get it like I wanted it - I wanted the ability to have some clean loops around that area. I don’t have the skills to clean up that mess. :frowning:

So what would be the best way to model that part? Seems like boolean is going to be a mess.I’d be interested in learning how you guys would tackle this - good topolgy, clean loops around the cavities, etc… and advice will be greatly appreciated! :slight_smile:

Thank you!
Daf

ETA - Image Credit - To Boldly Go by Matt Dixon

#2

Here’s another stab at it and I think this may be best - you tell me. I can’t live with the boolean so I created a sphere - edit poly - cut in half length-wise - then moved verts and edges around to get the shape. I think I’m pretty happy with the topology and it subdivides nicely. :slight_smile:

#3

There’s a few ways to tackle this, you could start with a simple quad polygon, you could do a rough out of the shape with a sphere and then retopo on top. You could subdivide a low poly cube and spherify it then cut the opening. Your topology has some poles that could be improved, but if it looks good when rendered then it’s alright.

#4

Hey thanks, Psyk0! I did some more refining on the topology and it looks good. :slight_smile: