High-res modeling in Maya

[Deleted User]

I've taken several modeling classes at my university in Maya and know quite a bit about poly-modeling in that package, but all the projects covered modeling of characters for animations. Now as an animator this is good stuff to learn, but I've always wanted to try modeling starships.

All the high-res models I see seem to have some very intricate detailing on them, and I am at a loss as to how to go about that in Maya. Are there any tutorials about it, or should I just give up and learn how to use Max? I've been hesitant to jump into max since I know how to animate in Maya and hear the conversion process is a pain.

D.M.J.

Hmm, I'm not sure what you mean here, I generally do detailing the same way I do the modelling, just on a smaller scale, or alternatively I do it with maps. Some models lend themselves to detailing with ZBrush much more readily.

Do you have an example of some detail that you don't know how to do in Maya? A link to an image or SFM thread might help.

[Deleted User]

Sure. Let me give you an example:

Taken from the ascendence-class WIP thread by Don't shoot:



http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachments/3d-wips/73945d1256064445-ascendence-class-tos-reimagined-excelsior-asc2-112.jpg

The details on there - they seem like combination of booleans and separate meshes but I am not rightly sure - most of my experience is in Animation so this is still rather foreign to me. Is this possible in Maya, or is Max more suited to doing really high-res technical meshes?

Guerrilla

The application doesn't really make any difference in the end result. The tools maybe in different places, but they're largely the same and you can accomplish the same result no matter which modeling application you use, as long as you know your way around the UI and know the basic fundamentals of modeling.

Here, try this:

http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/3d-art/modeling-and-texturing-a-photorealistic-usb-cable-with-maya-and-mental-ray-part-1/

After you finish it, try to make something else on your desk using the same techniques you just learned on the tutorial. Once you know approximately where to find the tools in Maya, try your hand at a starship of some sort.

[Deleted User]

Awesome. Most of this stuff I know how to do, I guess just need to think a little bit more creatively about how to use the tools. This is a great tutorial, one of the few good one's I've seen. Thanks!

[Deleted User]

if you know what your looking for this site might be able to help you

Photoshop Tutorials and Flash Tutorials - Tutorialized

i learn quite a bit of basic moddeling from this site on 3d max some guides better then others its more a collection of guides from all over

D.M.J.

Guerrilla: Nice find, that tutorial actually coincidentally happened to also point out how to do a depth pass in Maya, and I was slowly going crazy trying to work that out for myself!

Guerrilla

Happy coincident, seeing as I'm a max user. Happened to be looking for some other tutorial on the site at the same time and figured it looked useful.

lukanoski

there are always a few ways to make to add details in maya. one way is to make multiple meshes and add divisions that you'll extract- exemple http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/3d-wips/71814-bsg-nova-class-battlestar.html

or you can make displacement maps over your uv snapshot in any 2d app and render in mental-ray

Sly Assassin

Proberly a bit late to add something to this now, but I use Maya 2008 and find the best way to detail a starship is a combination of seperate objects and details hand cut into the ship. Firstly I block her out and make all the larger details then start working my way down to the smaller 'greebles' and add those in.

I just need to learn better lighting and material combos now plus UVmapping and I'd be sweet, but life doesn't always let me get to those things