Stegosaurus

For our first lesson's homework we had to model a Stegosaurus, (Steg, from now on, to retain my sanity), we had to show our work in progress, starting with a box model, then an editable poly and finally complete with turbo smooth added.

At first this was an unmitigated disaster. I came into Uni on a sunday to model for a few hours and tried the various techniques I had learned in lessons in the Foundation year, such as modelling on top of reference shown on a plane. I ended up deleting the half finished model and starting from scratch 3 times over before starting to use the techniques we had covered in the first lesson.

I was trying to model quickly and in some ways, cheaply which left me with undisciplined models with bad geometry in the meshes. This taught me first hand that slow and steady really does win the race!

I started from scratch with a plain box, as described in lesson. See below. For a box.

I then divided it into segments using the parameters on the right hand side tool bar and proceeded to craft the model as an edit poly using extrusions and editing by polygon/faces using the rotate and scale tools. This helped create the basic shape of the Steg.

From here I could add the legs and spikes which would provide the model with the detail needed to identify it as a Steg. I did this by using a few techniques I was aware of from my time in Foundation year. I selected edges and connected them to add more polys to the model and used "inset" to make a thin base for the spikes, which were then finished by using extrusions.

The model itself was supposed to be very basic but as I had always done very basic modelling I wanted to attempt to be a bit more ambitious and provide more realistic detail than was required. This is often a flaw of mine when working on some projects but in this case I think it was an advantage as I had already done very basic modelling and could only learn more from the experience.

I added front and hind legs and finished the detail on the model by adding eyes and a simple mouth.

From here I was practically finished and relatively happy with the results over all. I added "Turbosmooth" to the model as this would increase the poly count but hopefully add the desired smoothness to the mesh. The results are below.

I took these two renders of the model with the quick render tool and without adding any lighting to the scene.

I'm fairly happy with the majority of the model, though there is clearly room for improvement over time in various areas of my work. But hey, that's the reason I'm doing this right?

For next time I definitely think I could improve the discipline of my work and use that to improve the legs on my model which still look poor, even with Turbosmooth added.

But on the positive, I feel I learnt alot in the short time I was working on this model, particularly that I need to take my time and learn to walk before I can run, but I am excited by what I am going to learn over the academic year and look forward to the next model we will be working on.

See you next time!