From Under a Bushel
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This isn’t really a question, or even a cry for help & advice. It’s a statement of where I am at, where I want to get to & what appears to be blocking me.
Why am I writing this post? I’m writing as a commitment to getting past those blocks & because I suspect I’m not the only one who has or will get to this point.
This will also the first time I will have shown any of my work on SketchUcation, (other than a couple of diagrams when I needed help). I thought it was about time I showed my hand, so to speak!
As an AutoCAD user for some years (pre 2000) I built for the most part by thinking of models as stone sculptures – creating blocks & cutting away pieces to get the desired end result. (I’ve no doubt ACAD has progressed since those days). Anyway, that’s the language I learned & the language that still influences me.
Now introduced to SketchUp I am able to produce far more creative work, and indeed I have gone far beyond anything I ever modelled in ACAD. However, after 3 years of pretty much everyday use, I have hit a barrier in my thinking when it comes to creating more complex models, (skirted round it for some time actually). When I consider how I am going to build a piece (eg. bent wood chair) I still struggle not to think in terms of sculpting from stone. Also, I start out in what appears to be the wrong fashion. I could give a lot more detail here but I’ll need to prep. some examples to explain my meaning – so I’ll come back to this point another time.
I have also attempted many times to model a decent replica of a car… but always get lost in a cloud of lines about half way through, or end up (via Artisan) with an amorphous blob with in explicable dents & spikes!
I’m about to purchase several tutorials & put some time in working on car modelling (on my wish list for a long time) & furniture modelling. I’m hoping some concentrated study will expel old habits from my thinking and I will finally start to see the process ahead.
In the meantime (and if you have read this far into my ramble…I thank you): Here are a couple of pieces of my work:- scissor handles (2013 attempt with Artisan & Twilight), & a more recent WIP car – which is about as far as I get!
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safe to say no one can claim to be amazing from the get-go.
takes persistence and stubbornness to make it to each level of competency.
i think you've a very good foundation to build on.
keep trucking.
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I would say, don't waste your time using the wrong tool for a job... Sketchup is really not suitable for this kind of rounded/organic stuff. These scissor handles could easily be done in maybe 5-10 minutes using subdivision modeling (in 3DSmax for instance). Non destructive and fully controllable/refinable. Using artisan for this is just a waste of time in my opinion.
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Hey Fiona,
Very articulate post.
I can only speak to car modeling. Despite what others say, it CAN be done with SU. Just depends on how determined you are. My methods are labor-intensive, mainly because I do not use Artisan, but they do get the job done. There are some very good videos on Youtube on the subject, but I would suggest getting a program that allows you to slow them down because a lot happens very quickly and it's very frustrating trying to figure out just what is being done. I use a little program from Enounce called MySpeed, but I'm sure there are other good ones out there.
It would be great to have another car modeler posting on these forums. Hope to see some more of your work. -
Thank you all for the advice.
Rich - Well, I'm always being told I'm stubborn! At last it might pay off!
Nemerobis - You're probably right, but I don't want to purchase & have to learn a third program just now. I have looked at Blender too - but another (difficult) learning curve.
Hellnbak - Good idea, I'll look for those programs. Personally, I like to read a manual read, hence going for the tutorial e-books. Cars are not exactly my passion but a great deal of my business is indirectly for Mercedes-Benz so it would be an advantage.
PS. looking forward to seeing the moon buggy!
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