[Tutorial > Modeling] GreenToaster "6 Minute Car" Vid Tuts

[GreenToaster]

Thanks Bob C & igor.

Please keep in mind, the techniques certainly aren't 'mine' and I tried to demonstrate just one of many techniques which can be used with SketchUp "out of the box". To go a bit further, you can use "plug in's" like a free form deformation (FFD) script to help define geometry as well. I'd probably recommend getting proficient with the basic software first before using an FFD script.

Some SU users are very good at car modeling by creating wire structures and filling in the surf's as they go or other techniques. Although I use other techniques as well, the process I tried to illustrate here is a bit different and could be called "section pulling and shape manipulation" (SPASM)? Perhaps a better name could be "Forming And Reshaping Triangles" . . . oops - no, not that . . . in any event, the envelope needs to be pushed where more and more S/U techniques are shared - I know they already exist.

A great blues guitarist once said "When you can think of a nice little tune in your head and then play it on the axe (guitar) without thinking how to play it, that's when you're a real guitarist." It's my hope that any mastery of the software will produce the ability to document & develop what happens in one's head - modeling an idea. Sometimes only after seeing some geometry do I see how it could be shaped differently - idea development.

It's very satisfying to be able to take an idea in your head and then quickly jot it down on a piece of paper and then model the stuff with CAD. I'm far, far from being good at this but I'm getting a little better at it and I'm convinced SketchUp is truly a wonderful tool for creating some phenomenal very fast 3D models which could be categorized as "conceptual 3D sketching/modeling" (which is my favorite type of hand-generated drawings).

When I see so many truly talented artists out there who create professional quality renderings of truly phenomenal work,

for example http://www.suurland.com/

I sometimes have to really push aside my feelings of inadequacy and force myself to keep posting my dorky, unfinished & primitive shapes . . . for some reason I seem to think my simple contributions may be helpful to others - I hope so anyway and keep modeling with the idea that someday, maybe with enough diligence and effort, perhaps I too can learn how to be a real car design artist.

Enough rambling - let's go & create some more models, eh?

Happy Sketching,

Brad

[ely862me]

when u like something u find a way for making that something,when u see that way is not enough u try something better,so step by step u discover by yourself new things that u never believed u ll find.
great tutorials Mr G. but let s make a shortcut:why u don t draw on a plan the mid section of a car and after pushing and scalling it until u want and then make the side?

[GreenToaster]

@unknownuser said:

why u don t draw on a plan the mid section of a car and after pushing and scalling it until u want and then make the side?
That technique is good - it seems like the technique I illustrated may give a little more flexibility to create a wide variation of transitions where sides join - maybe not. The bottom line is the end result - how someone gets there is important, but not more important than the finished model. No?

[GreenToaster]

Just realized the site hosing that video chops off anything beyond five minutes so the last two minutes are missing . . . I'll try to crank up my computer and create the last two minutes of the video, then upload it, link it here & so forth.

As is, I guess you get the main point showing how Follow Me can be used for blah, blah, blah . . .

[GreenToaster]

Hello,

Here's another (pretty lousy but very quickly done) video tutorial showing a "follow me" technique. Apologies for the poor quality of the video and overall car design - but this technique could be used to create some nice stuff.

Comments - positive & negative - are always welcome.

Thanks & happy Sketching,

Brad

[flash=448,361:464815vv]http://i103.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid103.photobucket.com/albums/m157/ShermanPeabody/bw_sfe_01.flv[/flash:464815vv]

[GreenToaster]

[flash=448,361:1nzs5y7w]http://i103.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid103.photobucket.com/albums/m157/ShermanPeabody/SU/bw_sfe_02_project.flv[/flash:1nzs5y7w]

[GreenToaster]

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