A new project

[fabmedia]

Okay, I had left a post to see if anyone had a Macintosh G4 model lying around, and there were no takers. So I reluctantly started. Now I have 2 here in my office, but i have a tendancy to overlook somethings so all that are familiar, please let me know if everything is looking okay as a start.

thanks
Arlen

[Zarathustra]

Pinching at the handles where they join the body.

If you have Macs around, why were you looking for someone who had one?

[fabmedia]

I was feeling quite lazy and unsure whether i really could pull it off. I guess I would say that I'm still a newbie, but getting better as time goes on. I think one of the reasons why i asked if anybody had one lying around is because I'm really detail oriented (not anal though). So this thing will probably be some god awful number of polygons. Whereas if someone had one, I would take it at face value and just deal with it.

I'm really my own pain in the ***.

Pinching at the handles? Are you talking the corners of the handles?

Arlen

[Zarathustra]

I'm really detail oriented (not anal though).

It's all relative.

You shouldn't have a lot of polys - it's like the posterchild for sub-d modeling. Don't get carried away like that poor fella making Buck's Starfighter.

I would make one side, flat, then bend it. Mirror then extend to make the front and back.
Don't forget the screws at the base of the handles ;)

[fabmedia]

Well, I have all of those little holes in the back, the ports, etc. I'm a bas-tard when it comes to that.

I did only model the one corner, then flipped it, copied it, etc. So technically it's not too bad. I just have to make sure that my one corner is going to be good.

I have another here. Just ignore the ugly black stuff. I just wanted to do a quick test...

Arlen

[fabmedia]

What would that surface stats for Acrylic be? I'm stumped on that one. It's not glass, it's not plastic...

A

[fabmedia]

here's an update. I've managed to fix a slight error in the mesh, but I'm just checking out the acryllic for rendering.

A

[fabmedia]

and another...

[Zarathustra]

yeah, looks good. Need those screws and the underside of the handles have grooves.

[fabmedia]

Ha! There are no grooves on the news G4's. I think I'm saved, but I guess I can always map the grooves. What do you think?


Arlen

[fabmedia]

How would you go about puting the logo on the side? I'm going to model it on, but not sure how to do it.

arlen

[Zarathustra]

How would you go about puting the logo on the side?
Well, you should have done that first when you were making the sides. Oh well.

Create the logo shape and extend out and merge with the outside edge of your sides. Do the same with the screw holes.

[fabmedia]

Well I model in a great way. I do a bit, save it, model a bit more, and save it as another sequential file. But I'm lucky here because I can go back as far as I like. Bear in mind, that the handles, body, and the inner and outer side panels are seperate items on separate layers. I was thinking of drilling the logo into the side (how do I do that?) and then smooth shift the rest. Good idea? Bad?

If you haven't guessed, I'm still kind of new at this. I've only been working with Lightwave seriously for about 4 months now, but have had it and used it off and on for a couple of years.

Arlen

[Zarathustra]

You can drill it, but that's messy and extra messy with sub-d polys. You'd have to turn smoothing off, stencil, fix any >4 point polys then turn smoothing back on.

I think my way is cleaner. Think clean when you model - less points and polys as possible.

[fabmedia]

So what you are saying then is to create the logo, then from that, create the side casing?

[Zarathustra]

Ideally, yes.
Since you've done so much work already, though, I think you could extend the outer edges of the logo and stitch it into the center of the side panels.

Gotta run - Flyers are starting in a few minutes.

[Stewpot]

Hi fab,

Those handles on the top have a sharper curvature on them, and there are three very distinct ribs on the underside. (At least there is on mine.). It may be that, you propose to add these as a bump, but I would have thought they would look more authentic, and give better distortion if they were made.

[fabmedia]

Ah, stitch away I must. The ridges on the back of the handles are not on the newest Macs. I have a dual 800 and they are as smooth as a baby's bottom. But considering that the image I am creating is my own home office, and that i have 2 G4's and an iMac (know anyone who wishes to part with a mesh?), I might as well put the ridges on one just for the heck of it.

I'll have something coming soon. I'm going to fake the radiosity thang...

A