I think I posted this in the wrong forum before...

Kimberle

...and my apologies for having done so, so here's the post in the proper forum:

Greetings everyone,

I'm new to Maya and am trying to get past a few bumps in my modeling project of the TMP Enterprise. Specifically, the bevel on the back of the fantail. I've seen several TMP Enterprise tutorials here, though none for Maya, and none dealing specifically with the bevel on this part of the hull. The tutorials I've seen have left it straight as opposed to angled. For reference sake, here are some images to look at that show what I am talking about.

Whenever I model this, I come up with several issues. I try it in NURBS and have had many issues making that section of the hull keep the same tangential flow as the rest of it. So I moved to Polys, in which I had a little more luck, but it stil wasn't creating the bevel properly, and things were exceptionally more angular. I went back to NURBS and this is what I got, but I'm having problems making the seams line up, and I think I have too many trimmed surfaces, as you can see here.

Can anyone offer some advice with this? I'm rather frustrated at it, but am still trying to get it right despite myself. Thanks ever so much, and again, I'm sorry for having posted this in the wrong forum to begin with.

D.M.J.

NURBS modelling is great for making fantastic curves and complex-curved surfaces, but its limitations with regard to arbitrary geometry mean that details and odd-shaped bits can be tricky to make.

Polygons are great for arbitrary geometry, they are almost totally flexible, but they're just no good at all for complex-curved surfaces.

I find the best result comes from modelling the shape as far as you can in NURBS, then convert to poly and use poly tools to refine the shape.

Kimberle

I've tried to do the conversion you've mentioned, but it seems that no matter what options I choose, I end up with more of a plethora of polys just to make the cylindrical part of the hull. I guess what I'm looking for to start out with is a better way to model that back area than the things I've been trying, because I know that there is a better way. The main reason I started with this part was because it was one of the most frustrating parts of the model... start with the hardest and work your way to the simpler, I guess. :P Must learn, after all.