Maya Issues..

[AALTUVEM]

I´ve been using maya to do stuffs that are really easy, apartments, bathrooms, etc... Basically I have a strong foundation, now, with cars, this is a whole new level of modeling to me.. This is the 5th time I try to do a car, and now that some doors are opening to work doing 3D cars which is like my dream come true I am facing mayor Issues and I really want to kick the freaking computer, this far I have broken a couple of mouses and one keyboard, haven´t hit the monitor yet nor kicked the computer..

I have no problem doing a low poly car, if you see the wip forum you can see a 350 i am working on, now the problem is when i begin to add details to the car.. Man, it is like the dent party..

Lets say, i am doing X bumper, I do the bumper low polly and for details I usually use Split Poligon Tool and Add edge loop tool, everytime I use one of this the chances of getting a dent are 100%, Am i using the wrong tools??

Now, everytime I put two lines too close for sure i am getting a dent, I really want to kick the freaking computer...

I have tryed a 3 different approachs with no succes..

First approach: Begin from the front bumper with a Polygon plane and extrude around it (dent festival)

Second Approach: Use the belt line and start drawing cv lines around the car, pfft dude dent festival is small comparing to this.

Third Approach: Plan from left panel, you know the result..

What would be the easiest approach to start the model?
Am I using the right tools?
Is maya the best program to model cars?

Any advice will be cool coming from you...

[Catlin]

Could you show a picture? im not sure about what tools in maya are called but you need to focus on creating a clean mesh

[greenvampire]

showing pictures will help,
by the sound of things your using the right tools, but without a wireframe picture I couldnt tell you where your going wrong.
im going to take a guess that its probably just normal problems, as I get them all the time in Maya

[NightEye]

Maya is in now way a bad modeling programme. As with everything, you just need to know how to work with it.
Dents will appear with practically 100% of the tools you use and actions you do. They are inevitable. The only way to get rid of dents, is to spend hour after hour working those little dents out. It's tiresome - yet fun sometimes - but definately worth it. Would modeling be fun if it was as easy as making a box? My answer is a clear no. Modeling becomes fun when you encounter the impossible, and just face the problem. Get rid of it. That's the whole challenge, and that's what keeps you going.

The way you're modeling is not a bad way. Beginning with a basic shape, then adding details by cutting up polygons. I must say it's probably even the best way there is Okay, for you Rhino users: there's nothing like NURBS .

With your projects sofar you've gained a lot of experience. You will need it for your future projects. With every project you know just a bit more how to handle those impossible problems. After a while, it becomes your second nature

Good luck, and we're here to help you whenever you need us!

Cheers

[AALTUVEM]

Thanks guys, this is like a tiny light at the end of the tunnel!! ill keep working, i am gonig to take the time to do the front bumper and I will post it on my 350 Wip..

Thanks again for taking the time!!

Edit:

Dont you guys know a good Clay render tutorial for maya??

Thanks again.

[carme]

I get dents too. Was hoping for a solution than slaving over the dent hour after hour.... And cars are solid, I can't imagine doing organic (i'm a beginner)

[et_fone_home]

Maya isnt such a bad program, its fine with modeling cars and such, if you truly give up, try 3DSM, i dont know how 3DSM is, since i use Maya. Its fine with me, i think. You just need to take time to clean the wires. The wires needs to be spaced Equally, so bumps dont occur that often.

With rendering Clays, my way of doing it using Lambert, then add a floor, change the background to white, or light grey. Turn on Mental Ray, change settings to Preview Final Gather, and then done! But there is a few other ways out there.

[peterliang]

Skymedias - Blog Content

A fun way to create a nice white clay render/bake map for it if you're interested...

As mentioned, your methods aren't bad at all it's just that cars simply aren't simple cubes and plain geometry so you will spend a bit of time refining the surface details...some people can take weeks to finish off as perfectly high detailed vehicle for one.

The way I model is by extruding along edges...as I would get the the grip and direction of the mesh flow and don't have to shift edges along too much.

And once you can post a render with wires we can certainly move up from there.

Good Luck