This week in class we learned how to upload our Hard Surface model into Sketchfab.  We were shown how to change the different settings such as backgrounds and lighting to present our model on Sketchfab.  Alec also showed us how to import materials and textures from Substance Painter into Sketchfab.

This will be very useful when I have to upload my Windmill model to Sketchfab once it’s completed.

 

Hard Surface Model by Samantha on Sketchfab

 

 

 

Chasing Hearts Regular

 

After having talked to Michael, I received lots of great advice for starting to work on modelling my windmill.  I now felt a lot more confident!

I started with a cube and used the CV Curve tool to extrude it into the shape/form I wanted for the main part of my windmill, adding divisions to make it curve more smoothly.

 

 

I then used the multi-cut tool and held CTRL to add in edge loops, dividing up the main body of my windmill.  This was so that later on I would have more to work with when I needed to add in beams and windows.

 

 

Selecting all the faces in each corner right the way up the body, I extruded them to get beams running up the sides of the Windmill.  I had to go back and make these extrusions larger when I went to do the horizontal beams, as there wasn’t enough room.

 

 

 

I experimented with both using extrusions or modelling a cube to fit for the horizontal beams.

Extruded:

Polygon Cube:

 

 

I decided on the polygon cube as I was able to modify it a lot more and I wasn’t limited by the number/position of faces on the Windmill’s body.

After adding the horizontal beams it was beginning to look a little more like the crooked building I was hoping to achieve.

 

 

I used the extrusion tool again to created the extensions out as the side.

 

 

 

However, as this point I realised my corner beams were taking up too much space and so I had to restart…

Luckily since I had done this once it was very easy to get back to where I was, and then the extensions at the side fitted and looked far better.

I also added a lid to the extensions as I thought this made them look a lot more appealing.  The faces of the bottom were removed, I remembered being told not to include any unnecessary faces (faces that are hidden and don’t need to be there).

 

       

 

Last week Michael had also showed me how to make the stars that will dangle from the sides of my windmill as this is something I had been worried might be hard to create in Maya.  I started off with a polygon plane and then, using the multi-cut tool, I cut out a star shape and removed the excess faces.

 

 

I next extruded all the faces to make the star thicker and added an edge loop in the middle going all around the outside of the star.

 

 

Taking vertices from each of the 5 points of the star, I pressed ‘B’ to enable soft select and brought the vertices in to meet at the center edge loop.  I tried to make the star look a little more rounded by selecting vertices in the middle of the star and moving them out a bit.  I bevelled the edges to make everything look smoother and more organic.

To create the window frames, I used a method similar to when creating the star – Adding in a polygon plane and cutting it to the shape I wanted and then removing any of the faces I didn’t want.

 

 

I removed the back faces as they wouldn’t be seen.  I made a variety of different windows to make the windmill look more diverse and interesting.

 

 

The last one is by far my favourite and so I decided to put it at the very top section of the windmill.

I created the blades of the windmill using the CV Curve tool to get a more natural looking curve.  I duplicated the ladders so they were all the same size, and moved them into place.  I changed the pivot point of the one blade I created, duplicated and spaced it out, then pressed shift D to duplicate the other two with the same distance between them.

 

 

I extruded out the faces of the top section at the front to make the base for the blades to connect to.  I made the top of the box slope down so that any ‘rain’ would run off it – making it seem more realistic despite the base being an unnatural shape.  I added support beams for the box and connected them to the thick beam, looking as though clamped onto it.

For the connector, I cut off the top of a cylinder and resized it to fit, then added in another cylinder in the center of it to hold the blades out from the body of the windmill.