First Stage of Slug

Nothing impressive here, I found using a cylinder with both caps removed a better base shape than using a sphere, here it is so far. More updates tomorrow.

Second creature!

Ok, seen as time is pressing on!! I have chosen my second creature to be a slug!

I know this seems a lazy creature to model, as really it's just one manipulated shape (perhaps a sphere for this one) but I can model the creature in a day and a half max (one hopes!!) and then spend time texturing it.

On the plus side, slugs have a really interesting texture to them and I think learning how to texture this creature will be beneficial to me fully understanding texturing in 3ds max which will help in me texturing blinky (praying mantis) to look as realistic as possible using the techiniques I will learn through the slug. I will name this slug Cecil.

Second thoughts! Where's blinky's mouth?!?!?

Sorry, just noticed that blinky isn't fully complete, he's missing his mouthparts!! I will model these and post them up at a later date!

I won't model them to the same level as this will take time, probably do the crossover look with those sort of mandibles mantis's have, as can be seen on this picture, although on this picture the mantis's mouthparts are open, but nonetheless you get the idea.

The Mantis (Blinky) modelling completed!!

Finally! The model is complete, all I have to worry about is the texturing now, I think with this mantis model Im gonna go with the leafy textures, i suppose because those types of mantis (can't remember the name of the breed) I have been using mostly as reference imagery to model the anatomy of my mantis.

Claws completed

Once i was happy with the way the spikes looked on the claws I selected all objects on the claw then cloned the whole lot (lazy, but time friendly!). I positioned the claws on to the thorax the way i wanted them to be, because the thorax was too narrow i then had to tweak the thorax out a bit (by selecting polygon) to ensure the claws would fit without popping out of the thorax's mesh and look grim for rendering, it took a little bit of messing about to get it right because then I had to mess around with the size of the thorax casing, I used the vertices to tweak that. I realised from reference imagery, that mantis's have feet on the end of there claws, i just used the same method of extrusion for these parts as I did for the main legs using a polygon cube with NURMS subdivision switched on and the caps removed to get the shape, so I could extrude. When I was satisfied with that I just slotted them into the claw's mesh, phew! got there in the end!! :)

The Spikes

Ok, so at this point, I'm now satisfied with the shape and size of the claws and i started work on the spikes. Originally the idea was to create the spikes from the model using the loop/ring tool then using connect to create more vertices and edges on an area of the model i chose, I really enjoyed experimenting with this way, but i found it extremely time consuming (I really really wish i had more time on old blinky's claws!!) so instead i just modelled the spike using a cylinder shape and shaping it the way I wanted, i then cloned and resized the spikes and slotted them where I wanted them to go.

Claw stage 2

Ok, from looking at pictures of mantis's claws as a reference to how my claw should look, I found that I made the forearm too small, the joints too chunky looking and the upper arm too big. If you look at the mantis's front claws you can see that the forearm section is much bigger and thicker looking.

So with a bit of tweaking using the vertices and also selecting edges and then using the ring or loop tool and then followed by connect, to create more edges (and in turn more vertices) I could sculpt and adjust the claw the way i wish it to look for the final shape, I',m reasonably happy with the current stage and shape of the claws, next stage is to add the spikes on the claws and then texturing!!

In this post there are two pics with turbosmooth switched on and two pics showing the model without being smoothed.

Claw so far

Ok, so Ive gotten my basic shape for my claw, using same modelling methods of extruding from the border to create this and switching on NURMS subdivision. There's a few more tweaks required, I'm probably going to add more vertexes to the mesh in order to create the spikes on the claw (as shown in the mantis picture at the top). I should have this finished by tonight all being well, I may just work on shaping the leg to get nicely shaped and remove any awkward angles then I will shape in the final shape of the arm removing the chunky, blocky look and turning them into mean looking killing machines!!!

Thorax casing complete

Ok, completed the thorax casing, as mentioned earlier, using the same method as the wing casing creating a plane, adjusting it to the right size and making it shape using the vertices, once I was happy with the shape, I would then smooth the thorax casing to produce more vertices to play around with. Right then, the finale of the mantis modelling, next chapter, the claws!

wingcase finished

Ok, so after a fair bit of tweaking around with the vertices ive now pretty much finished the wingcasing, i just need to tweak the back end as it looks a bit angular, but i will go back to do that, now onward with the thorax, for the thorax I will do the same as i have with the praying mantis's wingcase, create a plane and shape it around the creatures thorax, then the big finale of modelling it's cursed claws then onto texturing!!!!

Wing case and thorax section

Ok, so looking at a mantis's anatomy, you can quite clearly see there is a wingcasing which envelopes around the abdomen and around the thorax, cleverly disguised as a leaf. This is where I currently am with this and to show this I have uploaded a pic of a mantis alongside my model to show the wingcasing, next post will be this complete. The method iam using is through using a standard plane and just tweaking the planes vertices to sculpt it around the body (of course the colour will be changed on completion).

It's stable!!!

Ok, so here's some pictures with the mantis with his four out of six legs. Now with this creature I need to look at how to model the shielded section on it's thorax and abdomen, then finally the CLAWS!!! Also in these pics I have the mantis with one leg too, before the others came along.




I know that on these pics the legs are a little bit skew wiff looking but I'm in the middle of putting the creature into the pose I wish to and also it doesn't look right for something like this to be symmetrical looking, hope you like these pics guys!!

Feet!!

Ok, so once I was satisfied with the shape of the overall leg, I then had to model the feet, so I continued the process then added the face back onto the end of the shape once I completed (because originally to model i deleted both faces to make it easier to model the cube into the beginning shape I wanted). The foot does look a little bit strange, but I'm quite happy with the way it looks, also tho focus won't be on the feet and texturing will help improve the final look. I also chose to model the feet (front and back) independently so they look a little different from each other. But

Give the poor thing LEGS!!!!

Ok, much apologies, im a bit behind with my updates!!!

Ok the next step was to create the legs, now to create the legs, I used the same method as the body only I didnt use a cylinder shape, I used a cube. I found using the cube made it a lot easier for me to shape the leg the way I wanted. I then right clicked on the object converted it to editable poly, I then switched on NURMS subdivision. The modelling technique I used was once again same as the body, I removed the top and bottom faces of the cube then instead of using the extrusion tool, I selected border then selected the border I wished to extrude and held down the shift key and extruded.


For the joints in the leg (as shown in this picture) I just used the scale and rotate tools and continued with extruding the border of the cube using the shift key.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

My strength comes from the fact that I have had previous knowledge with using MAYA and doing various 3d projects within MAYA including animation. Also, this is my favourite aspect of the course, so I feel that I'm in my element with this and I am willing to learn more with each one of the models I complete by looking at the flaws in each model and research and reproduce the model to understand a more efficient method to get the same or better level of modelling for my future projects.


Weaknesses

3DS MAX is a little different to MAYA in comparison, yes the principles are the same but time is still required to re learn how to execute the same outcome using a different approach, but I am enjoying it nonetheless!!

Opportunities

This module will help me to become a competent modeller in 3dS MAX which helps in contributing towards being more diverse in the 3d industry seen as some studios do not use MAYA and some studios do not use MAX etc. Also above all, it expands my portfolio, helps me learn more tools of the trade so I can knuckle down with my personal projects for my professional portfolio.


Threats

The only real threat in this module would be time and my paperwork side of things, these are the two aspects which I think will have a significant difference on my overall grade, I really need to do more updates on my blog, more frequently!! Also the last creature I still haven't fully decided upon which is a little bit worrying, but I am looking in the direction of some form of mammal....

Mantis Stage 2 (fine tuning)

From using this picture as a reference for my Praying mantis, I found that the shape of the main body of the mantis was ok, but there's gonna have to be some fine tweaking. On my model, the abdomen curves to being almost horizontal, but here we can see that the Mantis's abdomen curves downwards and stays just millimetres from the ground, plus the abdomen is much more plump in comparison to my models.

Mantis Stage 2 (Body)

To create the body, I used a combination of the extrude tool, using the manipulation tools (move, rotate and scale) and using the soft selection tool. Although at first I had a go at using the extrude tool but found this to be a bit too fiddly to use for creating a body on a large scale (I have found the extrude tool in MAX more awkward to use than in MAYA) and used a different method of removing one of the caps off my cylinder shape, then using the edit poly modifier, I selected borders, clicked on my new gaping hole in the cylinder, this selects the border of where the cap once was, then holding shift acts as an extrude. I found this much better to use than the actual extrude tool!