'Project Overview Tutorial'

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"Modelling a Fiat 500 using Polymodelling " by Karabo Legwaila


The Exterior
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Setting up the first Polygon

Create a plane object in the left viewport with one length seg and one width seg. The actual size doesn't matter but make it small and position it in front of the front wheel arch as shown left.

Now you have to convert this plane to a mesh by clicking the "Modify" tab and selecting "Edit Mesh" from the modifier list dropdown menu. This adds the "Edit Mesh" modifier to the top of your stack.

Right-click the "Edit Mesh" modifier on top of the stack and select "Collapse To" from themenu. You will get a little warning but just click "Yes" to continue. Now "Editable Mesh" is left on top of the stack. We have now created the first polygon of the car.

Now that the polygon is lined up properly in the left viewport with the side blueprint, we have to make sure that it's lined up correctly with the top blueprint. Drag it across the top viewport as shown below:

Go back to the left viewport and draw lines from the center of the wheel as shown. These lines will make it easier to get a rounder shape for the wheel area. Make sure that "Edged Faces" is selected for the viewport (right-click the name of the viewport and select "Edged Faces" from the menu). This will make it easier to see the polygon edges.

 

 

Hit "M" for the material editor and create a new material for the car. In this case I used a blue material with the opacity set to 50% so that I could see the blueprint through the polygon. I also made the material shiny to better see any imperfections in the mesh. The material settings are shown below. Select the polygon and click the "Assign Material Selection" button I've circled below:

OK, we are off to a good start now, the modeling can now commence!

Beginning to model the car

With the polygon still selected, in the stack, expand the "Editable Mesh" modifier and select "edge" from the sub-object list. The will take you into sub-object edge mode and you can then you can manipulate the polygon's edges.

Below the stack, further down the panel, there is a button labeled "Cut." With that button activated, go to the polygon in the left viewport and click on the top edge and then again straight down on the bottom edge to cut the polygon in half along the guide line we created earlier.


 

 


Now back on the stack, select "Vertex" from the sub-object choices to make the vertices of the polygon visible drag the vertices to the positions shown below. Align them with the guide lines:



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We need to position the vertices in the top viewport as well. Select and drag the vertices until you have them set up as shown on the left:

Shift-drag to create two new polys as shown on your left. Make sure you line everything up with the blueprints in all the viewports.



It's coming along nicely but there's still a lot of work to do.

Next Page: Detailing the wheel arch.

 

 

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