new modeler, looking for advice

[hero4682]

hi guys,... so i finally got off my butt and learned how to use blender..

 

ive made a few (rough) things and actually put them in oblivon, very awesome accomplishment for me!!

 

anyways, on my next project im having trouble getting this right:

im trying to make some kind of BELT/ STRAP that wraps around a body mod.. very similar to this (chest armor); http://www.he-man.or.../toy.php?id=792

 

is there any tutorials that cover this type of work, the straps i made look hideous!!

Edited December 23, 2010 by hero4682

[baduk]

Hi!

 

Its good to hear about u and blender. a really great hobby to have.

 

Anyway. so u been trying to make belts with extrusion, or duplicating underlying faces. Its just not looking quite what u want? well if u want a smooth even strap to start out with u can try the nurbs.

 

I make my straps with em always, just get em around where i want em and then use proportional editing to fine tune em. they turn out great.

 

use add menu >curve>nurbs. choose circle or curve depending on what u want.

 

I dont find them necessary to subdivide cause they have plenty of vertices.

 

Then when its where u need it select it in object mode and hit alt-c, or convert object type from object menu. IT make into a mesh and now u go into edit mode , select all the vertices and duplicate it (shift d or in mesh menu)

 

Move it straight in one direction for regular kind of strap. that is select local transform orientation with alt-space or the little dropdown thingy about the middle of your 3d pane bar. (might say global by default)

 

select the duplicated one hit g for grab and z twice to lock it to local z axis then moov the duplicated ones and make it as far away as you want your strap to be wide.

 

Then u can go in and select 2 opposing edges at a time. edge select mode, and hit f to make faces between the 2 meshified curves.

 

It ends up with a nice strap of all quads and good local atributes.

 

Hope u like this way!

[hero4682]

very cool,...

 

got to try it now,.. thanks for the tips!

[LHammonds]

This tutorial mentions how to manipulate the body when working with items that cover it up partially. Depending on your item, you may not need or want to delete any of the skin under it but you do need to build on top of the base model and export together.

 

LHammonds