Over the course of this extensive 7 day series. Shray Khanna will guide you through the entire process of creating a next-gen, low poly vehicle using Maya and Photoshop. Throughout the series, Shray covers the complete next-gen pipeline in detail. Starting with the low poly modeling in days 1 & 2, and then moving onto uv mapping, high poly modeling, baking, and finally texture creation.
Step 1
Whenever we plan to do a vehicle in 3d the very first and necessary step is to properly set up the blueprints first. So the blueprints for this Armored Car (Staghound) can be found on online (you can easily find them on www.the-blueprints.com ) when searching for T17E1 Staghound Armored Car. So now to make sure that these blueprints match correctly to each one of its orthographic views, what we can do is to take these images into Photoshop and with the help of a ruler, we can match the contours and dimensions of the images. (It’s very simple and to save time I have already done this.)
Step 2
Now that we have made sure that our blueprints are matched correctly in photoshop, our second task is to use these as image planes in the Maya viewports. Open the Four-View layout, and in the Side view go to "View>Image Plane>Import Image”, and import the ‘Armored Car Side’ image.
Do the same for remaining viewports (i.e. front and top).
Step 3
Now if for some reason one of our images came out bigger than the other, and all the images will be at the grid center by default. To fix this, we have to move the positions of them accordingly to model our asset. To do this we have to drag select any one image, and then in the "Channel Box" under the Inputs for the Image plane, we can raise it’s center X value so that it will be pushed away from the center
Repeat the same step for the top and front image planes to position them or to scale them if necessary (Using the width and height scaler) according to your viewports. And then you’ll have your images setup properly.
Step 4
Now create a polygon cylinder, go to "Create>Polygon Primitives>Cylinder".
Step 5
In the Channel Box, under the Inputs for the Cylinder, enter about 0.3 for the "Radius", 1 for "Height", 12 subdivisions for the "Width", and 1 for subdivision for the "Height".
Step 6
Now go into your side view and enable your "X-ray view" from "Shading>X-ray".
This will make your model see-through so that you can view your image plane easily, and match the contours.
Step 7
Move the cylinder over the image, and then start matching the outline of the model by editing the vertices. You can do this by "holding down the Right mouse button on the cylinder and choosing Vertex". Use the move and scale tools. These are the keyboard shortcuts for them. (W-move, R-scale, E-rotate.)
Step 8
Now go into face mode by ""holding down the Right mouse button and choosing face", and then select these end faces.
Step 9
Now go to "Edit Mesh>Extrude". When using extrude make sure the option "Keep Faces Together" is ticked on, this will keep all the extruded faces together.
Step 10
Move the extruded faces using the gizmo that appears after extruding. And move them until they match the contour of the side blueprint, as shown.
Step 11
Now go to "Vertex" mode and scale the vertices up using the scale gizmo (R) and match it to our side blueprint.
Step 12
Select the end faces and extrude them again, move them according to the blueprint.
Step 13
Now go to "Panels>Orthographic>Top", and make sure the model is also matching up with the other blueprints.
Step 14
Click on the "Wireframe on Shaded" mode button, so that you can see the wireframe of the mesh.
Step 15
Now go to "Create>Polygon>Cube".
Step 16
Create a new "Cube" by dragging the box over the blueprint.
