. . . more playing around . . .

Thanks - I'm honestly not too concerned about "reality" - I'm just having fun.

It might not look like it, but the more I play with it, the more fun I'm having.

Having lots of fun is, of course, and perhaps especially in my case, not always synonymous with progress.

I can't believe I learned that new trick - I just grabbed a vertex and began dragging it - then I tried it with adjacent vertices and viola!, a cool new surface was born! I didn't know you could do that. I love this stuff.

BTW - I saw a show yesterday about Google - either History channel or Discovery I believe. I had no idea how big the company is - I wish they had mentioned SketchUp but I guess it's such a small entity that it gets overlooked in a short program. In case I've never mentioned it, THANK YOU for SketchUp!!!

. . . practice doesn't make perfect, practicing it the right way makes perfect . . . at least, that's what I always tell my students . . .

With no pun intended, I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels, making no progress - although - I did learn something really cool today and hope to be using this newfound technique often (dragging vertices (sp?)) . . .

Okay, I'll try zipping them up and posting them at another place - I don't understand how to follow the directions - create a new network blah, blah, blah.

Here's another experiment . . . didn't turn out very well . . . good learning experience though . . .

@unknownuser said:

GT, just follow this thread and upload your files to Kelly's server. He has ton's of space.
I followed the link but it provided a message indicating the service was no longer available.

. . . is there a cure for this . . . could I be addicted to modeling cars . . . this is what I call an 8 minute quicky (imported wheels & tires) . . .

The last one is 712K - the size limit to upload is ~1/2 GB, so I don't know how to share the files. I've never put anything on the 3D warehouse - is that an option?

These files are "sloppy", meaning, I often eyeball stuff instead of using exact dimensions, so, I'm really embarrassed by their "unprofessional character".

Can I zip them up and post a zipped file?

. . . pretty much more of the same . . . I'm doing these much, much quicker than I used to . . . fun!

Here's my first ultra-quick attempt using this technique (new to me). I love it - makes me wonder what else have I yet to discover about this stuff - lots, probably.

@unknownuser said:

I do fenders pretty much the same way. always lay them down like the ground. so the curvature is similar to a hill or mountain. takes a good bit of practice to find out what works and what doesn't but it's worth it.

. . . this opens up a whole new world - I guess it's obvious by my models, I don't use many of the tools & techniques that are available . . . something new to play with! I'm happy!

Thanks for the info!

The seats were just "eyeballed" - no dimensions just did a quick profile, extruded, chop, pull, done - very quick. Attached is the seat file - I have no idea what the dimensions are - might be "in the ball park"

seat.skp

. . . another quickie - just trying something a little different . . . even though I'm not really getting "better" with this, at least I'm still working at it . . .

The proportions are way off - nose too short, back end too long - many areas are "wrong" but this is a departure for me - a good learning experience. The next one will be better.

Like my wife said, "Honey, you should remove the blindfold when you draw the next one."

@unknownuser said:

If you increase the number of segments in your cylinder (and the squished sphere as well) you'll get a smoother look.

Thanks - that's great advice and helps . . . just a word of advice to the other newbs like me - DO NOT set the number of circle sides to 2000 - NO! Use lower values, closer to 100, or so.

Happy modeling,

Brad

Here's what I did . . .

![Here's what I did . . . in this image you can see a cylinder intersecting with a "squished" sphere](/uploads/imported_attachments/fyfz_RaggedEdge02.jpg "Here's what I did . . . in this image you can see a cylinder intersecting with a "squished" sphere")

@unknownuser said:

GreenToaster as much as I like your little car you can't tell me you have put a lot of time into it....you need to play more to learn more.

Yes, I've given up search for the "magic button" - you know, the one you push and something amazing pops onto the screen. I'm excited because I really want to accomplish more and I believe I can.

Thanks for the reality check and words of encouragement. I no there's no "easy fix" and learning this stuff takes time. It's often quite a bit easier to create mechanical engineering models rather than dealing with complex amorphic shapes.

Hello,

Is there a way to prevent the choppy or ragged edges where indicated below:

Thanks,

Brad

@unknownuser said:

The other skill set to develop is bringing the images in your head to life (in drawings or in 3D). For some that's easy, because they can "recall" those images very clearly and project those images into their "canvas". So modeling or drawing becomes like tracing. I sometimes have that vision and I can work from that.
Yes, so true. My favorite illustration instructor when I was in college used to say "If you can't see it in your head you won't see it on paper" - this was before personal computers did CAD, early-mid 80's.

MZ, I really appreciate your comments, links, and models. I think another missing link is the lack of time I spend devoted to a single project. It's difficult as I have "many irons in the fire", so to speak. I would really love to either find and devote a large chunk of time to a single project - or - pick a project and keep "chipping away" until it's "done" - as another great Industrial Designer from Detroit said "Details are EVERYTHING".

Ironic that I used to teach advanced Pro-E classes and didn't even think to start out with a skeleton model. Thanks monsterzero for your post and link to your website with great video showing "how to".

I should add this to my very simple robot - the skeleton will make moving it into position - and back - much, much easier.

Very nice models Rodentpete and monsterzero - I'm not in the same league but still having lots of fun.

Thanks Mike - I've seen people using Blender to model cars really, really well.

I have begun learning Blender but have had several struggles - I've found it to be much more time consuming and difficult to learn compared to SketchUp. I'll try to find more time to do stuff with Blender or 3D Wings or something similar. Blender has some gallery images showing how someone used it to model a car that was really amazing - the detail, the quality of parts, how they all fit together - mind boggling good stuff. I doubt I'll ever make it to that point. I enjoy quick, simple projects like these models I've posted here - at least, maybe my models will lead to more complex, more refined designs & more complex modeling, perhaps with other software. That's the process I want for my students - start with this, then when you're ready for more complex geometry & functionality, use Blender, or whatever.

I love SketchUp - seems like I'm learning something new & helpful each time I use it.