6
$\begingroup$

Been modeling for 1.5 month now, and realized that my biggest struggle in every model are proximity loops cuts. Particularily in this model when I wanted to "cut-out" sound pickups (green) I had to make somewhat of a couple dozen loop cuts, which of course affected other parts of the model (distorting the smooth shape, generating shape-ruining angles). So I wonder how do professionals handle this (probably one of the most common) problem? Do they also make a lot of loop cuts? Or would they in this case just add another cylinder mesh, and array-clone it into desirable amount of pickups? In this case I also read that it's a bad practice to have a lot of separate meshes in your model file as they affect file size etc. I saw some ppl using mean crease thing, but as I'm intending to sell my model on Turbosquid, such creases are prohibited.

The 2nd question is when I was cutting out the notch for pickup selector (red), new loop cuts went through the top surface of one of the knobs (blue), distorting their rounded shape. How would one go around that? Deleting obsolete edges creates N-gons which is obviously not acceptable, at least for Turbosquid CheckMate Pro.

enter image description here

Thanks!

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
4
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ why are you trying to do it in one piece, especially when this object is made of several pieces? $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 8:17
  • $\begingroup$ Hi, moonboots. As I stated in my message, in one of the 3d modeling courses I was told, that you should use as few meshes as possible, as it affects several parameters like file size etc. Maybe I took it too literally? $\endgroup$
    – Plastic_Whopper
    Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 8:54
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Sometimes its useful or even necessary to build your object with a unique mesh, but there's no real reason why you should do it in your case: the real object is made of several parts and you're increasing the amount of vertices a lot. And also, note that you can have several distinct meshes in one object, you don't need to have several objects. $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 9:01
  • $\begingroup$ Also by using as little objects as possible you can't take advantage of instancing which helps optimize memory and workflow $\endgroup$
    – Duarte Farrajota Ramos ♦
    Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 12:43

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
13
$\begingroup$

You don't have to make several objects, you can keep all of your geometry in a single mesh, but if the pieces are separate in the real world referece, then separate them in modeling.
You must have misunderstood some of the guidelines, this also won't increase your files size. It will likely decrease it because you can use simpler geometry. You can also Separate P and combine CtrlJ meshes at any time.

Good models will have good topology and edge flow. The edge flow should also be subdividable. Topology-Guides on tumblr has very good references on this topic.

If you really don't want to use separate pieces in your geometry (although you should), there is no problem with using triangles in planar areas. If you absolutely only want to use quads, here is some ugly topology.

Start with the base quad, inset it, add a supporting loop on each axis.
enter image description here

Extrude it and add additional supporting loops. Make sure, subdivision works well
enter code here

For the top pieces, make a single one and duplicate them with the array modifier. During modeling, rely on mirror and array modifier, apply them only before exporting. The topology is going to be almost the same as at the base, but we can use the adjacent connections to our advantage.
enter image description here

Here is, how one piece could connect to an adjacent piece using the mirror and array modifier.
enter image description here

enter image description here

This would be the resulting geometry. It subdivides well, but is extremely convoluted with meaningless edges just for the sake of okay-ish topology.
Third time's a charm: Use disconnected pieces of geometry for disconnected objects.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Hi, Leander. Thanks so much for this detailed answer. "If you really don't want to use separate pieces in your geometry". Actually, I don't know it myself whether I want to use them or not :D I'm just interested in professional modeling, so I'd like to know how pro-modellers do stuff. Generally I found out that using separate meshes isn't a bad thing (I guess that course has misleaded me) and that it's definitely better than cutting numerous loop cuts on a single mesh and then clean it all up. $\endgroup$
    – Plastic_Whopper
    Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 8:57
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I think this is a great answer .. It strikes me that the struggle with, and advice on, overcoming variable levels of detail in unified (single-surface) sub-d models is important only if the model is expected to deform. That advice is often mistakenly carried over to models which will never be used that way. $\endgroup$
    – Robin Betts ♦
    Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 10:01
1
$\begingroup$

I agree that in hard body modeling there is no reason to maintain one mesh, or even maintain a model as only quads. If there a large flat areas, then I see no reason why they can't be ngons, like the top of a cylinder. A mesh that deforms maintaining quads is much more important. As long as a hard body model is clean, with clear normals then it's topology is good. At least that is my feelings about it.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .