how to go about modedling this

[wantafanta 13]

hello i was working on an elcan scope in 3ds max and theres a bit of detail i have no idea how to model.. the part im having problems with is marked on the pic below. im thinking i could use booleans but any suggestions to how i should go about doing this would be greatly appreciated.

Edited August 9, 2014 by wantafanta

[LCpl Aaron 11]

this is how i would approach it but there is a few different ways to approach it but this is how i would tackle it. I used Sub-D techniques to model this.

[miketim 20]

seems like something you would do with a "bumpmap" to me.

I am no texturer/modeller in arma.

Maybe you would generate some type of map from the current high poly or something.

Then again that probably requires you to to this anyway so.

[alleycat 28]

booleans. bool carve that shit like it owes you money

[PuFu 4600]

Only if you're using modo + meshfusion. Otherwise skip booleans. Pixar openSubD

[wantafanta 13]

Only if you're using modo + meshfusion. Otherwise skip booleans. Pixar openSubD

i have read this in multiple places, but i dont get why people avoid booleans :/

[sebj 10]

If I was in your case I would recommend you to simple use a texture with bump map (Normal map + occlusion etc... with RVMAT) as MikeTim said.

It will be a little bit less beautiful than 3D modelling but result should be good for this little detail.

If you start do this detail for the scope I don't imagine how munch poly you'll get for a complete weapon.

[PuFu 4600]

If I was in your case I would recommend you to simple use a texture with bump map (Normal map + occlusion etc... with RVMAT) as MikeTim said.

It will be a little bit less beautiful than 3D modelling but result should be good for this little detail.

If you start do this detail for the scope I don't imagine how munch poly you'll get for a complete weapon.

I guess everyone who previously said "model it" means : model it for high poly baking...

[da12thMonkey 1943]

If I was in your case I would recommend you to simple use a texture with bump map (Normal map + occlusion etc... with RVMAT) as MikeTim said.

But as MikeTim also said: If he's doing a proper normal map (one baked from a high-poly source mesh) he'll still need to model an at least an approximation of it himself and let meshsmooth do the rest, in order to generate the high poly for that normal map. i.e the subD techniques Sw4l and PuFu are suggesting.

Doing it completely with nDo or some other 2D-based normal-map plugin (which is what I think you're suggesting - apologies if that's not the case) probably wouldn't look as nice as either alternative. However, it's much easier to do :D

Like the other's I'd use subdivisions and avoid booleans. But I use Maya, so can't really speak for whether using bools in other software would be any more, or less difficult to clean up than it can be in the software I use.

Edited August 8, 2014 by da12thMonkey

[alleycat 28]

Booleans are perfectly fine if you do it clean. So in your case, create the "negative shape" of the depression as a separate object, then bool carve it. Booleans only get a bad rep when people overuse it in places where regular poly by poly modeling would be more clean.

[wantafanta 13]

bool carve? i assume you just mean using the subtraction boolean?

[sebj 10]

Doing it completely with nDo or some other 2D-based normal-map plugin (which is what I think you're suggesting - apologies if that's not the case) probably wouldn't look as nice as either alternative. However, it's much easier

Yes I confirm that I was talking about 2d technics because I'm a lazy boy :) otherwise for this 3d part I would recommend too a negative extrusion and smooth as explained in second post. And yes booleans are really bad in most case because faces are Not very well organised most of the time after this type of operation and difficult to correct after for what I saw in my little experience...

[Macser 776]

Yeah.Boolean operations tend to leave behind a bit of a mess.Not so much of a problem for a hard surface object that's being used for renders.But for a game model it's best to go with the extra loops.Besides being visually neater and less prone to lighting artifacts,subdivided meshes can be more easily scaled up or down in density.

[olli_ 13]

here's how i would do it:

http://i.imgur.com/hFN6miO.png

you can add the text in with an extruded text spline

edit: and just bake that down to normals

[LCpl Aaron 11]

here's how i would do it:

http://i.imgur.com/hFN6miO.png

you can add the text in with an extruded text spline

edit: and just bake that down to normals

ahh the bending technique, i just learned that a month or so ago and haven't got to use it yet. That is a very good technique for this situation.

[wantafanta 13]

thanks everyone, it turned out quite nicely in my opinion.

http://i.imgur.com/mE2BmGM.jpg (139 kB)