Case study: wing ribbing

 From:  Michael Gibson
2736.2 In reply to 2736.1 
Hi Jean-Paul, it can be tough to model small "lumps and bumps" with NURBS modeling, overall the mechanisms in things like sweep are more oriented towards creating broader curved surfaces instead ones with little wiggles and bumps.

Often times one of the best methods for adding in small details is to put them in at rendering time using a Displacement, Bump, or Texture map instead of trying to explicitly model them.

Also there are some brush-based detailing programs like 3Dcoat or ZBrush that are oriented towards sculpting those kinds of raised details on a base model, one of those tools may be a better fit for creating those details.


If you do want to try and model those details in MoI, usually the best way to gain additional control is to build the model in smaller pieces instead of trying to do too much all in one go of a surfacing command (like all in one sweep or all in one loft, etc...).

So for example you might start with a broad smooth wing and then model each rib as as some kind of small independent piece, and then merge them together, or possibly let them just push through each other if you are going for rendered output only.

But I would probably first try applying those details as a rendering process rather than as a modeling process and see if you can get good results with that.

- Michael