Maya modeling

[Axela25]

hey sorry im new to Maya but if i were modeling some sort of mech and wanted to put armor on should i just make the armor separate or build right in i do plan on animating the model when i finish.

[sgr]

First off welcome to VFXTalk.
I don't want to sound discouraging but if your new to Maya and modeling / animation - then getting started with a Mech model can be a very daunting task - and I would suggest you start with something less complicated and until you get a hang of it.

But the way I would go around making it, would be to model it completely in a T pose (if it fits the T) then move on to make the connections and then animate it.

There is a great Behind-the-scene from Blur when they did Transformers the game on game trailers (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/20766.html). There you will also hear that some of the models that they got from ILM had from 300 to 500 moving parts - So there is a lot of planning and thinking put in to it.

But again it just about trying otherwise you would never know.
Best,
Sofus

[Axela25]

well i guess im not totally new ive had some schooling on it but i dont know it all.
well its for a school project this semester we build and next semester we animate it. so i was thinking of doing something kool so i just thought id ask,

but thank you for you response.;)

[sgr]

NO problem - and I would at any time encourage to dig in - but I am only talking of experience that when the ideas in the head gets too extravagant the end result tent to lack the same spark... But learning by doing is properly the best way to go and it has served me well (both positive and negative).
But I am not aware of any tutorials that is based around mech design - I've only seen a few piston tuts on you tube.
But I am sure if you choose to dig in that the forum here will help as much we can... :-)

[TekniX]

I had a similar project one time, never finished it though, but for rigging i found the best results where achieved by doing the character and the armor separately ( although here i have to say that my character had one object for every part of his body ( mech is ok , for human i guess its a nodo ) ) and then parenting each armor piece to the piece of the body it should stick to. But, like sgr has said, its not really easy :D . Good luck !
\TekniX

[Axela25]

yeah i figured it was going to take a bit of time to do once i started but if i dont finish it ill just give him what i got and he said thats fine and ill be doing it over the winter break so its all good but uh u know of any good tutorials for maya like a website or something cause i tried google-ing some stuff but a lot was for 3d max or some other program.:radar:

[TekniX]

well you can look into the following i know that all have maya specific tutorials
www.digitaltutors.com //some free video tutorials that i like to look at here and there
www.highend3d.com //maya tutorials for a lot of stuff
http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Maya/Modeling/1
http://www.3dmd.net/MAYAtutorials.htm

well thats basically a dump of mind and a few bookmarks . But from there on you can go for yourself
! Good luck :)

[Axela25]

Thanks man just what i was looking for.:niceone: