New Project: District 9 Tessla Riffle - Page 2

# 16 01-11-2010 , 06:34 AM

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Modo has been praised several times on here over the past year or so. Ive only ever used Maya, and I think I'd find it hard to switch to anything else - not that I have the money to do so even if I wanted to!

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# 17 01-11-2010 , 08:48 AM

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Playing with the vent portal things on the sides of the lower part of the stock...

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 18 01-11-2010 , 09:27 AM

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whats your aims with this project CT?

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# 19 01-11-2010 , 09:36 AM

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More tinkering with the vents...

exploring different looks for the vents.

My aims? I just had some free time, the first in like 7 months and felt like modeling something. I plan to model it and texture it.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 20 02-11-2010 , 03:27 AM

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Worked on the grip bits a little...

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 21 02-11-2010 , 11:31 AM

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when you say you worked professionally as a hard surface modeller CT, what was it you did?

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# 22 02-11-2010 , 01:07 PM

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i have to say #1.... Still looking great Rick.
#2. i find no problem working hard surfaces in maya, Its as natural as breathing to me most of the time, sure i find some shaped i have to think about for a few minutes here and there, figure out where i went wrong, but all in all its all intuitive .. Mayhaps as we all know maya has a lot of fallacies in the modeling area, but all the tools given in maya are at the very least adequate to get the job done, adn some of them are much better then other packages offer.. I'm by no means saying that maya is better then the others in this specific area, but i will say that maya is the best there is all around at least in my opinion. if there is a tool you want, Learn mel and write it yourself. its what the studios do aye?..
My ten cents.
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# 23 02-11-2010 , 02:38 PM

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I worked as a mechanical engineer building models for finite element analysis in the automotive industry and I can tell you that maya's poly modeling and nurbs tools are sub standard for hard surface work!

I also worked for SGI as a senior systems engineer for high performance graphics and scientific computational analysis.

SGI owned maya for a short period while I worked there and I had the opportunity to chat with several of the programmers. I was also the SE account manager for ILM, Pixar, and Lucas Studios. On a side note I had a chance to watch the modeling and animation guys working on several parts of original Jurassic Park and Terminator movies.

I can tell you all they did for the nurbs portion of maya was implement inferior versions of the code from studiotools while leaving out critical features. That is why things like the round and fillet tools are so unstable and so many people are afraid to use Maya's nurbs tools beyond making blobby starting shapes to convert to a bazillion polys and then sculpt.

If you want accurate nurbs surface models you have to use programs like studiotools, autocad, rhino, solidworks, etc.

If you want better hard surface tools for poly modeling in maya then you either have to buy ridiculously expensive and version specific addons like NEX or write your own as legend suggests. I don't like either of those options.

I stand by what I said before: You can build nice looking hard surface stuff in Maya but it's HARD!

Legend: You say Maya is the "best"? This is based on what experience you have had with using what other surfacing applications? Poly modeling is not the same as surface modeling. Surface modeling is used for building actual things and include packages like autocad, studiotools, rhino, and solidworks and I have used all of them. In these packages you have very accurate control of bevels, chamfers, rounds, fillets and tangency and surface flow. These are all critical things in hard surface modeling not just for manufacturing but for any hard surface modeling. They are all sadly either very poorly implemented in the nurbs portion of maya or unstable or missing completely from the poly portion of maya!

Words like "easy" and "hard" are relative. If you have not used applications designed to build accurate hard surfaced things then what is your basis for comparison?

I started this model to give myself a break from a very long and stressful 10 months and the pressure is not subsiding, so I do not care to get into any more pissing contests! If my comments based on my experiences bothers people here I just won't bother to post my work anymore.

I have said about all I need to say on this topic.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 12-11-2010 at 01:48 AM.

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# 24 03-11-2010 , 01:27 AM

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Rick mate, First off , We're friends, spoke on the phone several times, Hell i would venture to say i'm one of only a hand full of people who have even tried to keep up with you and make sure you were doing ok in the last ten months that being said, Lets make sure we are strait on that My opinion and how it differs from yours in relation to Maya and the pro's and con's of it as a modeling package in whole is just that a different in opinion, not a personal attack against you, if it came across as such i do whole heartedly apologize.

Now, as far as your question to me about my previous experience with graphics packages. I have used Nendo, ( old ass program from the early nineties, ) Rhino, 3ds, I've actually had a college professor about ten years ago show me some of lightwave though i don't recall much of the interface form the 5-6 hours i got to mess with it, i do recall i did not like it. I've used Bryce ( Landscape generation program mainly, though you can model in it) ...I've messed around with terragen, (HAte it) I've dabbled with XSI. I just personally chose to follow the Mayan path. Never messed with Modo much, at least as of yet. So i do have experience with alot of major packages out there, and i have 5 Years and over 3000 projects with auto-cad behind me as a civil draftsman, so i know all about its Tools as well, and you can rest assured that i would never, NEVER use auto-cad for any form of 3d work, Simply because i am
not a structural engineer.

Your opinions on this subject as a Structural engineer are just that, form the point of view of a structural engineer, Not an artist. Perhaps mate, you should open your eyes to the world of art and leave structural design in the past?

Which i believe is a good lead into my next point mate.

You are looking at modeling from an engineers standpoint, or so it would seem, trying to get 'perfect' surfaces for hard surface that you would send to a plasma cutter to cut the shapes out for Assembly at a later date. Maya is a program for artists, which i might say you are a damn good one, But you need to look at it as such, it was never meant to produce structurally accurate representations of anything that could be used for an engineer. Yes sure you can create these things, but that is not its purpose.. it is meant to create objects that are easy on the eyes and look good in movies and games. That's all, and it is damn good at that, hence why it is a standard tool of the industry for Special effects applications. We all know of the short comings of maya here, and you can always feel free to share your opinions on a subject of graphical importance here, as that's what this forum is for, But please, my friend...Please i implore you to be open to hear the opinions of those who read your posts, to see your work, and get your ideas..it should go without saying, that if you are going to share your opinions you should be willing and receptive of those opinions around you as well. IT is not an argument when there is a discussion taking place about the ups and downs of a specific software in this industry. only a simple discussion among friends.

This being said, I hope mate, that this friendly discussion about differing opinions does not hamper our future friendship. I've always tried to stand by you as a friend through some bad times in your personal life as i am sure you recall, But I will state my opinion and the facts as i see them, just as you do..as all friends should

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# 25 03-11-2010 , 02:32 AM

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Guys sounds like your both friends, and this looks like it's going to turn into one of those pointless Mac vs PC discussions.

Remember arguing on the internet is like running in the special Olympics, even if you win your still retarded.

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# 26 03-11-2010 , 03:02 AM

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Worked on the back upper part of the stock, the down pipes from the gun barrel, and started to block in the carburetor looking thing on the top.

A lot of stuff in this area is still being blocked in.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 27 03-11-2010 , 03:20 AM

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Looking pretty impressive so far. Looks clean which I like.

I look forward to seeing it finished.

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From a readers' Q and A column in TV GUIDE: "If we get involved in a nuclear war, would the electromagnetic pulses from exploding bombs damage my videotapes?"

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# 28 03-11-2010 , 03:36 AM

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Amazing detail work, it looks really neat. I also look forward to seeing this progress.

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# 29 03-11-2010 , 06:51 AM

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Looking good as usual Rick...starting to be nice and detailed now...I like the look of it (even if it is a weird lookin gun).

I can understand your frustration with software....I am but a meagre Surveyor...but I have to use up to 3 programs to achieve what I need these days. So I too feel what you are saying...the only difference is Im usually being yelled at by some halfwit Supervisor who doesnt understand the sats are still in orbit...the software is asleep...LOL (or the Surveyor...double LOL).

I too have had trouble getting my head around what very little I know to model....I expect AutoCAD or Civilcad functions and it doesnt have them LOL..though I still think they do in my head. (Im still waiting or searching for a good scale tutorial...David..LOL)...trying to scale and model a house is driving me CRAZY.

All points raised are valid etc but in the end...its the software guys who make the desicions on what is required...which is a shame sometimes as they cant always see the need for critical (to us as users) functions. Again the masses win and the expert users just have to work around...bloody painful stuff.

Anyway keep up the good work mate.....I hope there will be an arc involved in the finished product?

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"A Darkness at Sethanon", a book I aspire to model some of the charcters and scenes

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# 30 03-11-2010 , 09:48 AM

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Updates:

- Added another component to the rear upper stock (the fan looking gizmo)
- Started to detail the box where the lower pipes enter
- Added some misc details

Negative space is tough! You have to use all kinds of tricks to make it work. The little notches in the big tank on the back upper stock cut through the beveled edge of the tank. It was fun getting clean insets.