How to Model Anything // Key principles of 3D Modeling

hello everyone i am mario and welcome back so in this video we're going to talk about how to model basically anything so i'm pretty sure that everybody had this uh question asking um how can i model anything that i see how can i mount all this to that so in this video we're going to cover uh at least the key elements necessary to master to actually model anything that we want to uh in addition i written a extensive text or an article and i'm going to link below the description or in the comments uh where you can read that if you want to i'm going to probably add a bit more visual examples if i miss something in this video but it's going to just cover maybe a bit more things that i haven't covered in the video so i understand that starting with 3d modeling can be very very overwhelming especially if you're a beginner so there's a lot of information to absorb and i know that's not all the sources will share exactly the same information so just think of it as a kind of like a road trip so we we know where to go but we actually maybe do not know which terms to take uh we need sometimes just the help of the map or navigation just tells us what is the best and the fastest route and which turns actually could lead us to our destination faster so sometimes the road will be unfamiliar and the trip might be long but this is only for the first time because the second time we will start to notice familiar signs and stops and so on so with modeling it's really similar thing we we're just going to use various guys as often as possible until we're confident enough so that our skill kind of evolves to the point that we can actually model anything that we want to before we actually dive any deeper let's just do here a small breakdown so if we were to split the modeling skill or the modeling in general what would be the key elements that we would need to master so if i would need to put this in three groups that would be understanding the modeling tools understanding the modeling principles in topology and then understanding design flow and function so once you understand the tools topology form function and translating our ideas into 3d will be very very straightforward so uh let's now see how we actually can get there first thing that is going to be very very important uh is going to be the understanding of the general tools and simply the commands operations that i use in 3d modeling software so the good news here is that even if you learn let's say modeling tools in blender or maya cinema 4d you can easily translate that knowledge into another software simply because let's say that we trying to use bevel to bevel sharp corners and add sharp corners uh actually add more smoothness to the sharp corners the bevel operation is going to work exactly the same in blender cinema 4d as you've seen it work here so the operation in general is going to be the same just adding smooth corners to uh sharp corners for example same thing is going to be with the extrusion so let's say if i want to extrude this object and if i want to add more geometry here i simply need to use the extrude operation the same thing again is going to be applied in blender cinema 4d because the extrude operation will always work the same now why are the tools so important and why we actually need to get familiar with the tools before we actually can make anything so um once we know the tools we can then understand how we can use the combination of the tools and do something from it all so in this case we used extrude and we used bevel so if we use let's say these in combination so let's say i'm now using extrude with the boolean with the bevel actually we're now using two operation in combination with one another to create the desired result that we want to so again this is going to be very very a big factor for us simply because we need to plan ahead everything that we're going to do so before we even begin modeling we need to know what tools what operations or commands will help us to deliver the most optimal results that way we can be productive with our modeling and also save time in the process so for example before starting a project we also have we'll just need to have answers to questions like how to do a shape lockout how can i progress from one shape to another or how to advance basic shapes into new and more complex shapes so this will be the questions and we are going to need to have answers to those before even starting uh 3d 3d modeling so for that for that purpose we are going to need to be very very familiar with the tools how the tools operate all right so uh now that we know the importance of the modeling tools let's see why you actually need to understand topology and so for tools i didn't had so many examples because this is more or less like straightforward tools obviously we need to know but again we need to be very very familiar and also very comfortable in knowing them so the next thing on our list is going to be understanding 3d modeling principles and topologies so as we explore the modeling tools probably going to get familiar with the terms like polygons edges vertices so this is going to be a polygon this is going to be an edge this is going to be vertice and then uh depending on how the structure looks like or how it's organized this is something that we're going to refer as topology so topology here can be either a good topology or it can be bad topology and this simply means that the good topology is going to be the one that it's very very predictable it's going to be easy to operate it's just going to be much easier to manipulate on the other hand we're going to have bad topology this is going to be something that it's very difficult to organize it's not going to be as predictable so meaning that let's say if i want to select here loop i can go anywhere i want to and i can select loop here i cannot really do that as you can notice is not really that it's not easy to predict where the loop is going to end like mentioned uh the way polygons edges and vertices are organized we're going to refer to as topology so topology like we mentioned can be categorized as good or bad depending on if we organize edges uh polygons or vertices on our surface and the modeling principle is simply a method that helps us define the shapes while maintaining this good good topology so same as modeling tools modeling principles are very universal and whatever you learn in one software this is going to be translated into others so there's also that question so i'm uh using blender can i follow my tutorial so yeah of course so you can follow any kind of tutorial that is connected to modeling topic regardless of the software so the general principles that it's going to be learned in 3d modeling this is something that's going to be translated in any any other software so uh why what are these three modeling principles and what makes them really so important and why do we actually need to understand topology uh to to model anything so um so modeling principle will consist i would say out of two very very important factors so we're going to focus on edge flow and edge direction so or edge control so edge flow is going to be this so then you can see the edges how they're flowing this is going to be your flows and edge control is simply going to be controlling the edges into our advantage so i'm going to show you example of this here so here we have an example of the edge flow all right so uh let's define what edge flow is if i would need to explain it in the most simplest way i would say the way the edge loop flows along the surface we are going to call edge flow so this would be our edge flow and then later as a result the flow of the edges will manifest as a highlight on our object so uh we can see an example of this right here so i can actually isolate this one and here we can see highlight and here is going to be maybe more visible here's going to be our edge flow so this is the flow of the edges and then this flow is forming the highlight by manipulating the flow of the edges we are going to determine the highlight we're going to get so now i'm just changing a bit of that edge flow so it's no longer flowing so close to the neighboring edge so now it's a bit further apart and the moment we put something further apart we're going to get more of a smoother highlight so why is this important to us so this is something that we're going to manipulate later um just to get the highlights we want to and then by knowing the highlights uh then we're going to also easier break down the object so it sounds very simple in theory but where things get a bit more complicated is where we actually need to maintain the flow while also maintaining the object so here i have two examples and as you can notice um they have very very different highlights iron on their surface so on one side so this is going to be the left one uh the edge flow is going into this direction and it's sort of like messing up the geometry so technically the flow is here but it's messing up the geometry and we are not maintaining uh the shape that we want to on the other hand we kind of have here the same thing so we want to let's say create this detail and this detail is from here to here and similar detail can be found here but the let's say now let me just select everything here the thing about this detail is that it's actually standing pretty good on the surface and the surface is maintained so this is what i mean just that with the flow of the edges we're also going to just need to be sure that once we manipulate the flow that we also maintaining the shape of our object so if we lose the shape of our objects while changing the flow for the sake of the details that we're trying to do then this is going to be not not a good thing for us so in the end it's very very important to understand that the flow needs to be controlled while maintaining the clean topology and not impacting the surface so this is going to be very very important to this so in the end similar to where we need to plant the tools ahead so in addition we also need to plan the edge placement so the reason for that again is very simple edge placements will form the flow which will define the highlights like we've seen uh right here so it all comes down to this so why is this important into modeling anything and how can that help us actually to create or recreate anything well if we know the highlight then we can also know what the edge flow behind that highlight is and if we know what the edge flow is then we can also easily recreate that object so i'm going to show you that here in practice and how would that look like so uh one of the biggest questions is going to be always how can i begin with an object where to even begin how to like also the question from beginning that we had on it on discord is if i would to break down the object to a simple primitive how could i find where is that where is that primitive so uh here we have very basic examples and what i'll show you here this is also going to translate into more complex stuff as well and that is if you know the highlight you know the edge flow if you know the edge flow you can guess uh the primitive so um here what i'd like to just just quickly demonstrate so we're going to go into photoshop real quick uh we have here the same thing in photoshop and what basically before trying to model anything like we mentioned before we would need to understand the tool set so that we know what tools are we're going to use so in our case we need to probably know the tools to create objects to create cuts to create extrusions bevels and actually making highlights once we know that we can also know now but understand better which tools to use to create the operations that we're going to talk about here so like we mentioned if we know the highlight then it should be pretty easy to break down the flow and if you break down the flow like this so basically what you're trying to do here is just sort of like draw on the surface the best you can what do you think the flow would look like just by tracing the highlights so in our case this would be if again just take here something if it would need to trace the highlight the high highlight would be this and then the highlight will be this right here and then we just need to connect everything that comes in between those highlights and solve the edge flow so this is something that again will take time but again finding the highlights defining the edge flow will also help you understand again which object to start with so in our case this is going to be a clear clear cylinder so the same thing here on the other side so if you if you were to define the highlight here the highlight is going to follow the main shape and then the only thing is we we need to do is kind of like find the general points so let me also make this a bit higher so it's easy to understand so general points where the mesh breaks so this is where the mesh breaks so this is where you would see the highlight and once you know the mesh breaks then this will be your connection as you can see here and then after that it's just going to be very very easy to fill out all the gaps and maybe solve the flow so you just fill everything then in the middle to do a proper proper flow so it would be let's say something in the middle but this again comes later after you know uh the highlight and once you know the highlight you just draw the form as best as you can to to see which primitive would uh fit to the best to the form that you just uh drawn out so this is very simple object but the same thing will apply if this objects would be very very complex uh so this is something that you can also find on the youtube this is a part of the kia bash library practice so if you wish you can also check the complete process it's right here on youtube but the same thing will apply here so what would be the approach to break down this object and again just drawing the basic basic shapes so just tracing the highlights so again you can notice just tracing the main highlights ignore every single detail details not matter detail come later and they're not relevant to creating the shape so first things first we're just defining the shape based on the highlights that actually is defining that shape so this would be that main main highlight if you want to if you want to make things even more easier for you you can also create solids out of all that just to draw out and see what shape that would be so that you can easily recreate that in our case here probably we'll just use the regular cube flatten it out and then extruded this top part that it's found here and then this would be very very easy to to create that shape and then later once you have that you can go ahead a bit more uh just break it down and see what connections you would need for details for example this detail right here if you're not sure how to do specific details this is also what i'm going to mention uh later do a small case study so if you're not sure do not start modeling the whole thing just focus on this one part start with the cube and what do you think how this detail would would be and then only later once you know the flow around this then you'll be able to let's say add a boolean operation with the cylinder cut this out and then connect the proper geometry so it's easy to plan your projects ahead like this so this can be for really any type of project so if you start with something really really big and you're not sure where to begin try to just draw it out and see what would be the basic shapes that you can get out of the highlights that actually are defining the shape so ignore the details ignore everything else just the general shape and then later once you know that then you can break down even even further and see how to do so for example this is now the cylinder even though that it has this connection in the back it still would be that beginning primitive would be a cylinder and then that cylinder you can either then connect uh the the sphere on the back or even if you want to you can then start with the sphere extrude it but again this is just that planning this is how you just plan ahead and think about the terms of the tools that you want to use and the approach so like i mentioned you can either start with a cylinder and then connect to your later or simply start with the sphere then extrude the sphere to get a cylinder additionally again the more experience you get you're going to understand that once you subdivide the cube let's say that you're going to get spherical topology and once you have that you're going to have very very clean topology to start so you might also start with a cube subdivide it two more times to get um a spherical like looking shape extrude that part and then you get cylinder with clean topology in the end so it's very about it's really a lot about part of building the experience and then just breaking down your projects before you even start uh start working on that so this is why the topology part is going to be very very important understanding how the edge flow works because we are going to understand where to redirect edges direct edges and how to form a specific highlight so this is now connecting to the edge flow so we covered the tools are going to be important because we need to know ahead of time which tools to use and then second thing we need to know the topology because we need to simply know how to break down the highlights and which flows to use to get the desired highlights the third key element is going to be understanding the design and function so we talked about planning and preparation in in terms of we need to break down the object look for the highlights look for the edge flow plan uh which objects to begin with plan which tools to use to get there faster but this is not actually where the project begins the planning of our modeling already starts with the design and function so uh how can understanding design language and function help us actually model anything so um uh if we understand the object's function or purpose we can better explain the design so if you understand the design choices translating any object into 3d will be that much easier so to make things easier uh here's an example so this is going to be called more or less like uh synergy that determines uh the design so we're going to take a car as an example so here have a lot of concepts and this is made by ct-31 and beacons if you want to check it out so here is a great example that i wanted to showcase so let's say we are modeling a car and we are trying to model uh car out of our own imagination uh so we know the primary function of a car is transportation so let's say that the uh car design has no doors uh we cannot enter or sit inside so in this case the car design will contradict the function so there has to be a way to sell the design somehow so like in this case for example we're going to see that's there in a door so as a modeler this is going to be a concept you need to solve the situations that are maybe not presented in this concept so let's say that i'm now a beginner and i would like to model this car right here i need to predict that the doors will need to come here somewhere because the doors are going to be very very important and integral part of the function so concept is again just a concept is an idea but as a modeler that is going to transfer this into 3d we need to predict what the function of the car is going to be and if we do not know what the function of the car is probably we're going to model everything as is and totally ignore that there is even doors and the doors needs to be built in same thing let's say um as with the steering uh same principle will apply to materials if the brakes were made out of paper or suspension out of plastic so the card would probably fall apart and in that case the primary function would contradict the design again so so again just to summarize if you let's say model this concept which this is as a concept it's a great concept shows a lot and again a lot of stuff later it's going to be solved in modeling if we uh forgot to build in the door so if you forgot to model doors then the function will just contradict the design another example of this is going to be a weapon so let's say that we are modeling a weapon for a film or a game and we do not do our research and we simply start modeling the weapon how we think that the weapon is so here i have two examples one example is where the weapon is completely made out of one piece and again uh here the design contradicts the function because we all know that the function of the weapon is going to be you need to have a trigger to fire the weapon and you need to have some kind of opening that's uh the projectiles needs to project only to exit somewhere in this case we do not have a trigger and we do not have any kind of opening and everything is built out of one piece so that again simply means that real weapons are probably not going to build out of one piece x instead they're going to be built out of multiple pieces to allow some kind of a function so in the second example we have here multiple pieces that somehow explain the function but again the the key elements are still missing and the key elements are still being ignored so this still looks like a weapon can be sold as weapon but it will function as a weapon probably not so again before starting any project we just need to be sure that we understand the general function of how everything works before we even start modeling if you want to create a very very realistic image of what we are actually trying uh trying to model so in short we will base the formant function the synergy between the two is what defines the design let's come back to the car example and now we're going to talk about how to use the function to our advantage and let's say based on the information that we talked here uh how would you actually recreate a 3d model of a car so before we begin we would gather a lot of reference that could actually explain the cars function as a whole or just parts so furthermore we would search for answers to questions like are we modeling a street car or are we modeling a terrain car if it's rain car what is the engineering behind its role that supports its function so or how the engine parts were built are they singular pieces or complex pieces made out of many smaller pieces or why do brakes uh why the brake calipers uh look the way they do or do they have some kind of function or is the design random so also an important thing why ferrari why ferrari is looking like a ferrari so what key design separates ferrari from every other car and why is it so let's say recognizable so if you would see it on the street just by light you would know that this is a ferrari so i'm guessing that there is the key element to the design that we need to uh research why is it like that and also translate it into our modeling so that we also translate the key language of the ferrari if we let's say modeling ferrari not just focus on the general concept and let's say start modeling there so doing proper research it's going to be very very crucial and these would be some of the questions to answer before even starting with modeling so knowing the answers will greatly increase the chances of creating a proper 3d model representation and once we understand the real world function we can focus on translating the design into a 3d so we could go even further so we could adjust the design the way we wish based on already established principles of function and when we talk about principles function let's say that the thread patterns of a tire are designed to displace disperse water so that the tire and the road would maintain contact and then let's say the design of the brakes will out the distribution of airflow and support cooling and the car design in general will just let's say be there for a better terrain adjustment or aerodynamics so you're going to notice that the sports car have very very different and very close to the ground design as terrain cars so terrain cars have again different function therefore different type of design this will just be a very very important factor so when the design complements the function it's just easier to break it down introduce new ideas from existing or imaginary sources so i just hope that that makes sense and one once we know the rules it's easy to see which ones we can break and use into our advantage so finally then we can maybe answer uh the question so how to model anything uh mastering the tools the topology and the synergy of form and function the defined design provides us with the experience necessary to model anything we want so this is in general ed then like i mentioned i will share the article that i've written and might answer some questions in general but here i'll just give you a few final tips before you start working on any projects of your own so references this is going to be very very important so before you model anything just arm yourself with a lot a lot of references on how things work and what is the purpose or function um they perform so whatever let's say you're trying to model weapon just make sure to again find a lot of references of a weapon you're trying to model see what purpose it is what function does it perform and for what reason uh second thing is going to be case studies so let's say that um you're modeling a robot and you're not sure how to model arms or hands uh if you know that in advance that hands are your weakest spot do not start building a robot from scratch and then get stuck in hands uh do hand studies uh do five six ten examples of how we would approach hands do anatomy studies and then transfer that into your own design and then try to build your own robot that's going to save you a lot of time so break down the most complex pieces or whatever you're trying to model if you feel you might struggle with some parts of the model isolate those parts and do case studies uh third thing is the third tip is going to be sketch your topology so if you're not sure about the topology flow or where to begin uh sketch the flow to plan your steps uh break down the forms into multiple pieces if necessary if that part shows to be difficult to try to practice some smaller singular and easier objects before moving to any complex parts so and finally explore the tools just take the time to explore the tools it's not necessary to know all of the tools but knowing us but having a sole understanding of uh at least the basic ones will already be a big big plus so yeah this covers it for uh this video in case you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below answer them if i can and yeah that is that is all for this video i hope you find this helpful and yeah thank you for watching and i'm gonna see you next time

Channel: Elementza

Views: 118,944

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Id: PVvyc9Y0xmA

Length: 27min 58sec (1678 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 11 2021