Two Useful Techniques

Following on from the previous post of blocking out... I would just like to share a couple of techniques I learned from the Sci-Fi Environment videos on Digital Tutors. 

Camera/Concept art

From what I've learned so far and depending on the company, a 3D environment modeller isn't required to create the concept art. They simply just use concept art as a reference to modelling the environment. A simple technique to use in Maya is to set up a new camera in the scene, position that camera to look at a section of the environment and apply the concept art image to the camera while decreasing the image's Alpha (making it transparent). When the camera is set up this way, the modeller can roughly match up the blocked-out level to the image. This helps for positioning, scale, and detail when modelling out the concept inspired environment. 

Camera/Concept image technique in Maya. 

Guides

Another technique for blocking out is using 'guides'. These guides can be objects the modeller creates in Maya and uses them for scaling, positioning and even angles. One technique I learned was to create a square plane and split the poly from corner to corner (X shape). At the time, I was modelling the Sci-Fi door (in my first post) and I used the guide to create perfect 45 degree angles on the edges of the doors. 

I've also used a guide recently in my block-out for the scaling the doors. By using the grid (set to meters) in Maya, I made a plane 2 meters high and snapped it to my model in order to get the correct height of the door. 

Guide for scaling door correctly

When I find myself learning and using different and new techniques, I'll write them up on this blog.

Thanks for reading, 

Gavin