Locomotive
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first let me tell you, that I really like your approach: concentrated learning the tool and using the tutorials available. and obviously it pays off very well, for your work is quite nice already.
and for the round edges you should definitely have a look at the follow me tool. you can easily create round edges by drawing a rounded surface and let it follow a curved path.
and when you are doing this you should know that you can control the level of 'smoothness' that is applied to the surfaces (right-click a selection and choose 'Soften/Smooth Edges').oh, and would you mind showing us your final result here? I am really interested where you get with this model
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I mirrored the side and when I try to connect them they don't line up perfectly even though I try to make miniscule height changes Sketchup seems to have a limit related to how minuscule a move is so I cant get them to lipe un properly, any ideas? Thanks!
EDIT: Sorry I missed your post plot-paris, I think we posted at the same time, thanks for the advice and sure, I'll be glad to post the final result, hopefully it will come out decent.
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further along...
attempting to round out the edges, trying different methods but with no success, wish I used the follow me tool like Paris said, the toughest part is if I manage to make the edges round how will I make it "flow" with the top part?
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To start a project like this I would create 3 polygons with the exact size of the train and put them in the center of each other so that you get a cross. Put the texture you have form the side, top and front on each poly and align it wit the size of the poly.
I would start first with the center part and like Gaieus said only model the half. Now you can create a shape and pull the parts bit by bit and adjust the size every time or create a line segment and copy this a couple of times along the body of the train, use the sandbox tool to connect the lines to create the center part of the train.
Do the same with the nose, but be careful that you use the same amount of segments and that they connect at the same points. T vertices can’t be rendered.
When finished the whole shape make it a group and mirror it, if you change one side the other will be updated as well.
Good luck
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@unknownuser said:
When finished the whole shape make it a group and mirror it, if you change one side the other will be updated as well.
I guess you meant 'Component' (and sorry for being such a smart-arse)
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I’m so sorry, yes I ment “Component”.
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Everything was going good untill I reached the plow, it's very odd in shape and I can't get any working technique, if anyone can show me how please do so (with images if possible) and I'm prettymuch done with the locomotive (yay!).
Current state:
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This is set of images I put together as a demo for one of our students. It is not identical to the plough but I think you could probably apply the same sort of technique.
The final part is done with Booltools but you could use 'intersect with model' if you don't have the plugin
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Thanks for the help cosycat, it's almost done:
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The model is complete and ready to be textured but I made too many groups and componets, I want to delete all the groups/componets and make it one, how do I go on an do that, and "smoothen" the model as in less lines? Thanks.
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The simple way is to right click > Explode (down to the level you want to do this).
However you may wish to keep some repetitive elements (like wheels for instance) components so you'll need to edit (i.e. texture) one only and all others inherit the changes. -
How do I export the texture, as in save the texture so I can edit it in photoshop, I prefer to make the layout of the locmotive, save the texture and actually apply the colors (photo-texture to be exact) in photoshop, is that possible?
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Probably (well, from examples I've seen obviously) it is possible although I'm not an experienced PS user.
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I'm experienced with PS, so how does one export the texture?
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But what texture if you only want to texture the model in PS? You can export a non-textured model and texture it in PS OR texture it in SU and eventually maybe tweak that texture in PS and reload it in SU (now it is even easier than before (works only on single faces); Right click the textured area > Texture > Edit texture image... and it will open PS (provided you set it at Window > Preferences > Applications) and whatever changes you make in PS,on saving, they will be immediately reloaded and reflected in SU.
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Thank you, and how does one see the polycount of the models.. I see SU shows triangles, is it the same thing?
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Window > Model info > Statistics. Triangulated surfaces are generally not good since they are the sign of non-planar geometry/modeling but surely even the least organic model (such as a locomotive) can have them easily. You can "rid" of them showing by smoothing your surfaces (select all > right click > Soften/smooth edges OR do it manually with the Ctrl+Eraser tool)
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I see alot of info but I'm not familiar with these statistics, which is the entire polycount of the model?
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Edges (and faces). In fact, edges AND faces would be fully correct (and in true relationship) only if everything were triangulated although a lot of faces could still share the same edges.
So mostly edges.
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How does one optimise the model besides soften edges, if possible?
As my first model it has tiny gaps and such and I'm trying to prep it up for texturing, also about the groups, i have too many (over 200), just clicking expand will elimiante the group (but not the item that inside)? I wan to delete all groups and start regruping everything properly, how do I go on with the task? Thanks for having patience.
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