Actually that one looks like a good candidate for NURBS modeling.

The main idea is that you've got to think more in terms of larger sheets.

The tricky part is that those larger sheets are often going to be extended further than the final model result because you're going to trim them with other things to produce more details such as cutouts or indentations, etc...

This idea that you're going to discard portions of your shape later on in the modeling process is a really different thing than what you do with polys/sub-d, so it can take some getting used to.


You don't want to follow all the final details of your end result shape while building the initial sheets - the initial sheets should be broader and more simplified and kind of provide the basic underlying form. You get more of the final detail as you intersect and trim out various bits after some underlying pieces are in place.


Here are some steps (here I am replaying by undo/redo steps) to show the kind of general idea:



I started by drawing some curves, then did a sweep for the central body sheet. Then the side looked rather mechanical with a totally flat piece so I did another slightly curved sweep to make a side sheet. Then I moved those sheets so they were punching through each other and use Fillet to trim them and build a smooth connection piece.

There are still several other steps needed to finish the model, but I hope this might give you a good starting point for how to start to approach forms like this with NURBS.

Since it is not a very mechanical shape, you're going to end up using surfacing tools like Sweep and Network primarily and not so much extrusions unless your shape is fairly blocky.



- Michael