I'm wanting to model an existing toy and then heavily modify it, as well as make original ones. (Currently I want to do Beast Wars Rampage.)
I've got plastic calipers, but like angles and complex curves I'm not sure how to measure.

I used 3D Studio Max about 10 years ago, but I'm currently on Linux only, with Blender, and still learning it. I'm getting really overwhelmed and discouraged.

Do I want to use NURBs for complex curved surfaces? Is it harder to later convert a polygon mesh to NURBs or the other way around?

Do I want to use 2D bitmap? Do I want to use 2D vector? If so, how far do I go with that, since working in 3D helps understand shapes better at which point modifications to the design might want to be made. What do I need to learn to optimize that technique, since you can use a method for years inefficiently without learning how to do it more efficiently. (like... keyboard shortcuts. I dunno. or like maybe NOT using vector or bitmap might slow you down.

 

I know practically nothing and you already know more than me, but you might want to ask Fakebusker, Nonnef, Javaco, Zoso1900, or one of the other artists that regularly use Shapeways (who you can find here http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/creative-general-discussion/432018-master-shapeways-store-list.html and in the Art sub-forum).

I can mention Shapeways again too. They're a company that has a similar user end as YouTube. People make 3D models and upload them to their site. From there people can buy the model to be printed on their 3D printers.

 

Blender's got a steep learning curve, so that's probably 90% of your problem.

I never mess around with nurbs, as all my outputs (3D printing) are mesh-based.

A good protractor or similar should help you with measuring angles, curves are much harder, I usually start with a curved primative (sphere, cylinder), and subtract from it. As for measuring curves, if you learn a little geometry you should be able to calculate based on measuring start/end/mid points with your callipers, but honestly, the mechancial-parts of toys typically just use simple spheres and cylinders, and any surface detailing doesn't need to be super-precise (most of the time anyway), so I've never had to fuss with that.

I would advise against using bumpmaps, initially they probably seem like a good shortcut to create complex surfaces, but they're hard to control, and can complicate your mesh, and won't neccessarily be properly supported once you port your mesh anywhere else.

Blender's system for handling 2D Vector shapes is actually very nice, and if you have more confidence in drawing the 2D profiles of your shapes, that can be a great place to start from. If you weren't in a linux environment, I would suggest "Shapeshop3D" as a very intuitive interface to start getting your feet wet creating 3D shapes from 2D profiles, it's hard to get a high precision mesh out of it, but it's a great learning environment and can be amazingly useful for getting the correct overall shape of an object defined before moving to other software that doesn't do organic curves as well.

Hope some of that helps....

 

Thanks.

I've always heard there is no "better" 3D modeling program, but then I've become acquainted with how much worse GIMP is from Photoshop.

I'm just worried that a mesh won't be smooth enough. I guess for 3D printing you want to sand it anyway because it's rough.

Have you ever used a 3D scanner or some kind of software that can use just a camera to scan?
I'm kind of tempted, but I'd still have to learn how to play with the model once I get it, so I'm not sure which would be more frustrating.
Still, I have a second figure I'd like scanned that I can remember (and probably more), and another one done from photos (that unreleased OTFCC Defensor head)

We're getting a ProJet 1500 3D printer in our city library. It says... Min. Feature Size: 0.254mm , Min. Vertical Wall Thickness: 0.64mm

When is working in vector more useful than skipping that step? Despite drawing for all my life (and then stopping in my teens) I never developed any kind of workflow technique or whatever you'd call it.

I did get WINE working, so I could probably try Shapeshop. (assuming it doesn't crash.) I see it's free, and stand-alone rather than add-on.

 

It's POWERFUL and very versitile for all manner of 3D tasks, but it was designed by talented 3D and Software engineers...evidently without thinking to hire anyone with Human-User-Interface design skills.

Even people that love the program (I use it a lot myself) will tell you the interface is just stupid.

There are a lot of good smoothing tools both in and outside of Blender. I usually use Meshmixer for smoothing, so I really am only familiar with Blender's most basic smoothing tool, which is "subdivision" which doesn't actually change topology, but breaks each face down into a finer mesh, but depending on your output target, even that can make a big difference.

And I'm lucky enough (or invested deeply enough) to have a very high res printer so I don't usually need to and, so I want my meshes as smooth as possible as well.

I've not had a chance to play with a commercially built scanner yet, but I have played with just about every variety of home-brew scanning rig, and done a LOT of photo-reconstruction.

123D Catch is my favorite "scanning" solution.

When I started out, I got a lot of mileage out of "scanning" a real object to give myself a starting point, as my skills developed that became less and less useful. You'll only ever get a moderately accurate mesh, even the "real" scanners on the market now don't get particularly precise results, but they are getting better.

And if you do decide to play with photo-reconstruction, don't expect to get any results by downloading images from the internet. You need usually about 20-30 photos in decent resolution, in VERY consistant lighting, and with the object in 100% consistent position taken from a clean arc of angles. If your photos meet those requirements you can work magic, anything less than that and it's a muddy deformed mess like the T-1000 melting in molten steel.

That's pretty decent tech there, the Projets are nice in general. I'm very happy with my machine, but I'd LOVE to have access to one of those!

I use vectors whenever I'm dealing with moderately complex 2D shapes that need to be "popped" into 3D Extrusions. Text and logos are great examples. Get a nice vector of an Autobot symbol, and Blender can turn it into a 3D mesh you can add onto the surface of your models, for instance.

It's worth playing with, especially if you have freehand drawing skills to begin with. I really DON'T, but I still tinker with it when I need to figure out a particular organic shape. You might find it useful as a learning-tool if nothing else.

Good luck, and feel free to bring more questions as they arise  

 

Most of that went completely over my head. So I think I'll just stick to how I do things for now. It works fine for me.

 

That's one of the things I like about 3D modelling, the approaches, tools, and techniques are highly varied, no matter what your style or strengths, there's probably SOME accessible way in.

 

This is exactly what I went through last year.
destrongerlupus was also there to answer a whole bunch of my questions which I'm still very much appreciative of =)
Time to pay it forward I guess

Firstly Blender. I use blender almost exclusively for my 3D printing needs.
I went with Blender because it comes with a 3D printing tool kit(activated in preferences), it's free and the project I was working on (TFP Predaking) requires curves which I can't imagine achieving with something like Sketchup.

A little background, I've previously used 3D modelling software (3Ds max, C4D) as well as CAD software (Solidworks) mainly for interest or school work related stuff. So I do have some 3D modelling exp and didn't start from scratch.

I did create a blender cheat sheet for some of the more common keyboard shortcuts I use because Blender has a lot of those. Like destrongerlupus mentioned, the UI sucks, but once you get the keyboard shortcuts into your work flow, you start being able to get things done fast.

Now for NURBS and Mesh.. I know you can go from NURBS to a Mesh, I don't think you can do it in reverse. If they were graphics, NURBS would be like Vector and Mesh would be like bitmap.

If you need a smooth mesh, Blender's subdivision modifier would be what you're looking for. Go look up some tutorial on Creases in Blender, I'm not sure if the option exist in 3Dmax or Maya but Creases + Subdivisions will blow your mind.  

3D scanners. Don't even bother. At the TF scale, 3D scanners simply will not pick up enough detail to be useful at all. When modelling a part that needs to fit on an existing toy, you need precision and iteration. Iteration is expensive... if you don't stay in the US, like me, it's going to be even more expensive. Precision helps cut down in the number of iterations you need.

Which brings me to units. Make sure you have the units for your scene set to metric in Blender or whatever software you eventually decide to use. Always keep in mind the resolution of the printer. Nothing sucks more than spending hours on a design only to find out it doesn't print because the "walls are too thin".

Get calipers, it's best if you can get a digital one like what I have in my sig. I avoid designs that require precise measurements of curves... I don't have the tools to properly measure angles on a part at the TF scale let alone constantly changing angles along a curve. I usually just take a photo and make a very rough trace and hope for the best when it comes to curves and angles.

You'll need to get netfabb to work on wine and if it doesn't, you'll need to either get a VM with windows or dual-boot Windows. Netfabb is not optional, check out the tutorial on how to use Netfabb on shapeways.

Almost forgot... my blender cheatsheet.

 

I use Lightwave 3D for my work since it's what we use for the animation class at my school, so I am most familiar with it, and already have it.

 

Awww, glad I was able to help!!!!

And great cheat sheet, you might convince me to up my Blender useage percentage

 

Zero progress. Every time I open up Blender I just close it again. I don't know what I'm doing. Nothing. I'm doing nothing. I don't think the best mood could possibly get me through this.

 

You don't get better if you don't try. You can either overcome your faults and limitations or be defined by them.

 

There will always be faults and limitations.

I'm sick of it all, even more than usual. World full of fools and liars.

 

I wish I could tell you some magic thing that will make you feel better, but I can't. The first time I tried working in RHINO (that's a Nurbs modeler) I was so freaking pissed off at it. It takes time to get into the groove and understand how things work.

Have you tried sketchup? I know it's not the best, but the basic version is free and in some ways has more in common with CAD based modeling than 3D modeling like blender.

I'd watch a lot of online tutorials. You are not going to build a robot your first try. Shoot for something simple, like basic shapes of cubes and spheres, than build onto that from there. Sometimes the tutorials will have sample projects that you can follow along with.
One other bit of advice, is try to find a tutorial that is using the same version of software that you are using. the different buttons can move or change the look over different versions and it can be frustrating just trying to find the command they are using but you can't find since it's been changed. I feel like half the battle with these programs is figuring out where buttons are and what they can do. Once you have that groundwork you can start "exploring" more.
But just opening up a program and clicking buttons isn't going to get you very far, and will anger you more than teach you. Good luck!!  

Randy!