Monday class is ON!

OK, sorry for the confusion, but we're going to go ahead with class this Monday night, June 22.

Robot parts

We'll continue with some UV mapping of the robot, then add some individual parts. Then we'll learn about how to rig those model parts for movement, posing, & animation.

Back to it

We'll be back to class tonight after a week off. Dust off your spoons, we'll be finishing and cleaning the models. Then, well begin exploring the texture mapping process in preparation for the full-blown robot modeling.

More poly madness, and more

Tonight we'll practice some of our poly modeling techniques, and learn some new things:

• Layers
• Grouping and pivots
  
• Duplication and instancing
• Proxies
• Mirroring
  

Polygon modeling

We'll be looking at essential polygon modeling tools and techniques tonight, including:

• polygon primitives
• editing polygon components
• polygon component selection and conversion
  
• splitting polys
• edge loops
• merging
• extrusion
• clean cube creation MEL script
  

Also, we'll use our traced NURBS curves as a leaping off point for robot modeling.

Snapping, curves, surfaces & more

Some of tonight's topics:

• NURBS curve creation and editing
• Using curves to create surfaces
• Snapping methods for points, curves, and the grid
• Image planes
  
• Starting the robot model
  

Cube script

polyCube -w 4 -h 4 -d 4 -sx 2 -sy 1 -sz 1 -ax 0 1 0 -cuv 4 -ch 0 -name cube01;
move -r -ls -wd 0 2 0;
move 0 0 0 .scalePivot .rotatePivot;
makeIdentity -apply true -t 1 -r 1 -s 1 -n 0;

Model shelf tip

We'll be making a custom shelf to store our modeling buttons and scripts. One useful one we'll be creating is the Cube button. It'll create a poly cube resting on top of the grid (rather than halfway through it) with a custom name and number of spans.

What you'll learn

Here are some of the topics we'll be covering in class:

• modeling preferences
• custom shelves
• working with projects
• NURBS curves
• NURBS surfaces
• polygon primitives
• polygon modeling
• snapping
• image planes
• layers
• grouping
• sets
• instancing
• duplicating with transforms and arrays
• UV texture layout
• working with proxies
• mirroring geometry
• smoothing
• history
• freezing transforms
• sculpting with artisan and soft selection
• modeling with deformers
• selection conversions
• edge loops
• pivot points
• rigging models
• lighting models