The Eagle: take 2

So after my first attempt failed misserably I decided to approach the modelling in a different way. Richard told the class of a wesbite called www.turbosquid.com andI decided to have a look on their for some eagle images. I was really impressed with some of the eagles on their and this gave me a boost of confidence because I thought this is not going to to be impossible to do.

I started by finding an image I liked and one I thought would be easy enough to map. I saved the image and in 3D Max created a plane and in the material editor I attached a reference image so i had a guide to use when modelling. Next I created a box and in the object properties I converted it to see through so I was able to see the image in the background. This was very important because after all this is what I needed to look at whilst modelling. The next thing was to convert the it to an editable poly which would allow me to shape the box.

I needed to add more vertices to the object because I had to pull these in to create the shape. Using the edge selection I clicked on one side of the box then in the selction category I clicked on ring and then in the edit edges category I seleceted connect. I repeated this a number of times so i had enough vertices to build the shape. After this I then selected each vertice to draw out the shape of the eagle.

As you can see from the image the box has been coverted see through and there are a number of vertices on the box ready for me to begin modelling.

I deciced that I would only model one side of the eagle and then I would apply the symmetry modifyer to create the other side so it would be even and saving my time by not having to model both sides.

The image above shows I have modelled half of the eagle.

I then turned on the turbo smooth modifier to get a better feel for the model.

Modelling the Eagle

One thing that I have learnt about 3D Max is it is a very time consuming piece of software and you can spend ages trying to perfect a model. I think this was one of my problems as I spent ages trying to perfect the eagle by editing the vertices and the edge too much. This proved a big problem for me because as I was moving some of the body about the other parts started to look distorted. I tried to fix this problem but it got so bad that I decided I had made too much of a mess to be able to save the image. Rather than starting again I decided to use a different approach to achieve my model which some of my class mates had used and this was to attach an image onto a plane and model this way. I was disapointed having to start again because at one stage my eagle was starting to take great shape and I felt I was actually getting somewhere but I will just look at it as a learning experience as it has helped me become more experieced with the 3D Max software.

The eagle image in 3D Max before I started again as you can see a basic shape is starting to form.

Modelling the Eagle: take 1

To begin modelling i created a box shape in 3D Max, and started to extrude the middle bits to shape it into an eagle, creating some wings and elongating the body. I used an image from the web to refer to its shape and from there I converted the shape into an editable poly and selecting the edge tool I shaped the bird. This method took some time as I had to keep refering back to the eagle image to make it look realistic. As you can see from the image below I have the basic frame of an eagle and need to carry on tweeking it to look more realistic.

Waves and sunset tutorial

I have attempted some of the tutorials that are on Richards Blog to familiarise myself with Max and learn animation techniques. I do find that I work my way through and then get stuck at some point but I suppose its all part of the learning process!!

Cartoon Eagles

I have started to search the Internet to find a cartoon image of an eagle that I will use to model. The eagle will have to have a bright coloured feathered tail because this will be used in the arrow.