More on modeling.
I'm hoping this isn't too long or boring... In the last month, I pulled up an old modeling challenge I had set for myself over 10 years ago. I had found an interesting hard surface model I felt represented many of the challenges I would like to conquer as I developed my modeling skills.
In the late 90's, as CEO of Human Code, we bought a design firm in Tokyo based on a personal relationship I had with the owner (a fellow Industrial Designer). Over the years I visited Japan over 30 times, and very much enjoyed the culture. The anime Ghost in the Shell had just come out, and it's sketchbook displayed a ridiculously talented team of artists and designers with a very interesting design language, not unlike what Syd Mead had created in the first Blade Runner.
In the book, was the following picture:
While it looks like some sort of hybrid Winnebago, it definitely has some interesting design challenges. My goal was to be able to design it in a single sitting, not days, but hours.
Over the years, I tried polys, in both SketchUp and Lightwave. Then I tried to do it with SubDs in Lightwave, which I had become somewhat proficient at (
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3036295/4-wearables-that-give-you-superpowers ).
Then I discovered the HardOps Blender plugin, and it's author, Jerry Perkins.
(
https://www.artstation.com/jerryperkins1447 )
Turns out he lives in Austin so we set up a lunch to visit.
It turns out Jerry is probably one of the top 10 best Blender modelers in the world. He's amazing and I've been lucky to work with him over the past 9 months on Alamo Reality as well.
We hangout a lot while I created all the Alamo architecture and new shaders, and he created all the characters, animations, and workflows. In the meantime he taught me Substance Painter as well, which I am forever grateful for.
One night I suggested we take a break and "take the Ghost in the Shell challenge" -- him working in Blender and I in SketchUp. I had not tried this in SketchUp in awhile and my chops have been fine tuned after the last 10 months working in SU and Unity. The goal was not a perfect model, but just a "proof of concept" for the top shape.
So, we both shared each others screen and began. After a very short time, I realized while I *could* build it in SU, it would take days, not hours to get it right-- so I switched to MoI.
Now, keeping in mind I really haven't touched MoI in over a year, I was able to create the toughest part of this in literally minutes, not hours. Suffice to say, Jerry was impressed as he quickly recognized the simple form of the top of this model was not as easy as it looked.
This is what I came up with in probably less than 30 minutes:
and then in KeyShot:
For me it cemented in my mind a couple of key points I can sometimes forget.
1. A key component of 3D software is not only ease of use, but also how easy you can return to it and "pick up where you left off."
2. Nothing beats NURBS when it comes to after the fact adding details! Full Disclosure, I did end up exporting as STEP to Onshape for some of the more problem fillets, but it took only a couple minutes and imported perfectly back into MoI.
In my mind, another testament to NURBS over Polys (for some things) and the ease of use AND ease of remembering HOW to use in MoI!
