Weeks 1&2: Modelling techniques in Maya

Week 1

A new module has started after a long break. This module is all about modelling techniques for creating 3D assets for film and games. 

We started off this week's class with fun quiz on modeling. Then the lecturer started explaining about the importance of reference and using them to create models or any aspect of art creation for that matter. We also had a fun exercise where we were made to draw a fish on a piece of paper without looking at any images and quite frankly my drawing turned down not so satisfactory as it was quite basic while lacking a lot of details which could have been better if there was a reference image to look at and draw. For this purpose, our lecture recommended an app called PureRef which was wheelable to download online for free and with quite helpful and collecting images by simply just clicking and dragging and dropping them onto the screen of the app.

What are N-Gons, Tris and Quads?

  • N-gons or faces with more than four edges or vertices. They can't be used for subdivision or be present within a model used for animation.
  • Tris are faces with three edges or vertices and can be used for creating game assets. 
  • Quads are faces with four edges or vertices which are the most stable type of polygon as they deform well and are commonly used in the industry.

Week 2

In this week, we covered more modelling concepts such as extrude, boolean, bevel and twist. To practice these, we did two exercises, that is modelling a USB and the other one being twisted metal.

To model the USB drive, I followed the internal tutorial and used tools such as the 'Bridge' tool which allows to connect faces in the mesh and also the 'Snap to Pivot Point' function / process which aligns any vertices in the Orthographic Mode.



To create a twisted metal, we used twist deformers which allows the user to ‘twist’ a mesh to be get the desired shape until history is deleted.



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