Cars WIP - Honda Life Step Van (First Mod, help appreciated)

[Omaatjehenk]

Hey all, I have barely touched 3D modeling in the past but decided to take on a project to learn and create new content for Assetto Corsa at the same time. The car of my choice is what I thought to be a relatively simple car. A good starter. So here I introduce to you; the Honda Life Step Van

1 evening of work got me this:

Here is an extra big image so the wireframe is more clear, if you have advise on the geometry and such, please don't hesitate because I'm here to learn!

 

[Omaatjehenk]

I'm working on making cleaner geometries, would like some feedback if I'm going the right direction.

 

[AccAkut]

I'm working on making cleaner geometries, would like some feedback if I'm going the right direction.

Looks fine, but I can see on the upper faces how you extruded and "pulled back" along one axis. You should try keeping those corner angles at the same angle as the face below it Makes smoothing easier later on

 

[Omaatjehenk]

Looks fine, but I can see on the upper faces how you extruded and "pulled back" along one axis. You should try keeping those corner angles at the same angle as the face below it Makes smoothing easier later on

I see, is there a tool to do that easily within 3ds max?

 

[Ben O'Bro]

hey cool project
look ""simple"", yet there are always challenge in modelling a car, so looks like a good idea for a first project.

when you extrude faces, you can choose between grouped extrude, normal etc. here:

some random tip:
to remove a line of edges, click one edge and select "loop" in editable poly,

then "ctrl+backspace" to remove edge + vertices

for example your doors panels look pretty flat in reality, so no need in having so many edges spaced out throughout your doors. You can remove the middle ones. Unless it's here on purpose for later having a detail, for example door handle, air intake and so on.

 

[AccAkut]

I see, is there a tool to do that easily within 3ds max?

no idea, I'm a Blender user, but probably the Scale tool to some degree?

 

[Omaatjehenk]

hey cool project
look simple, yet there are always challenge in modelling a car, so looks like a good idea for a first project.

for example your doors panels look pretty flat in reality, so no need in having so many edges spaced out throughout your doors. You can remove the middle ones. Unless it's here on purpose for later having a detail, for example door handle, air intake and so on.

Thanks for the tips! I knew about the loops and the extrude function, but all tips and tricks are appreciated since there will probably be some I don't know of yet.

The doors have a lot of polies indeed, I have some of those lines follow the lines on the sides of the car, the rest can probably be reduced at some point.

The biggest issue I run into so far is this:

How to fix these and keep a nice geometry?

I am now working on making a cleaner geometry on the front end and I will share it later to ask for more feedback!

 

[Stereo]

Upper one should just move along the edge I marked a black arrow on so that it doesn't affect the 2 triangles but smooths out the quads.

Lower one depends on your interpretation of the shape. If you just move it along green (Y axis) you can fix the problem but if the issue is you want the two corners to have the same radius (instead of the inner one being smaller) you should also move it in the Z direction, blue.


I don't really know Max workflow but in blender it'd be way easier to work without all those extra edge loops along sharp edges, at least until you've finalized the geometry without them.

 

[Ben O'Bro]

in max, you can move a vertex (or edge etc.) with some contraints :
like along an edge, or along face

don't forget to turn it back to none
but when you already have a chamfer, you can't really use it on the second row... if it makes sense. Try and see for yourself

Something else regarding chamfer;
the chamfer in editable poly isn't clean.
There is a modifier, a plugin you can find on the not so dark web called "quad chamfer", that will make a clean chamfer. You can also make connect or cut manually to make it that way (that's the solution i'm using most of the time, and i only do it once i have the correct flow)
left is not clean, right is right

this way, on the right, the smoothing effect doesn't spread on the whole face like the left one does

another ben'o'tip

 

[garyjpaterson]

this way, on the right, the smoothing effect doesn't spread on the whole face like the left one does

I've always called them 'fake chamfers' - You get the correct look without the correct mesh geometry - great compromise between simplicity (not messing with custom normals), number of tris used etc. Also makes LODing a breeze later

 

[Omaatjehenk]

Thanks a lot guys! I turned the "fake chamfer" into a true chamfer and solved the geometry like this:

Is this a right approach to solve it? The quads that look "folded" is still an issue, I cant seem to get rid of them.

The odd thing is, on the bottom corner I don't have the issue and probably did something right. I don't know how to make the same thing work on the top corner though:

 

[garyjpaterson]

Thanks a lot guys! I turned the "fake chamfer" into a true chamfer and solved the geometry like this:

Is this a right approach to solve it? The quads that look "folded" is still an issue, I cant seem to get rid of them.

Personally I would avoid any chamfers at all at this stage until the overall shape is more complete - its much easier to edit/fix a mesh if its still quite simple without any extra detail. Only once I'm truly satisfied with the mesh do I then proceed to add details like that.

 

[Omaatjehenk]

Personally I would avoid any chamfers at all at this stage until the overall shape is more complete - its much easier to edit/fix a mesh if its still quite simple without any extra detail. Only once I'm truly satisfied with the mesh do I then proceed to add details like that.

Okay, I'll try to keep that in mind for the rest of the bodywork. This is just a big playground for me so far to try techniques and try to make it work. My workflow is probably far from optimal at this point, but that what's learning is for I guess.

 

[garyjpaterson]

Okay, I'll try to keep that in mind for the rest of the bodywork. This is just a big playground for me so far to try techniques and try to make it work. My workflow is probably far from optimal at this point, but that what's learning is for I guess.

Thats the right attitude Don't be afraid of making mistakes, thats the best way to learn imo!

 

[Ben O'Bro]

Thanks a lot guys! I turned the "fake chamfer" into a true chamfer and solved the geometry like this:

Is this a right approach to solve it? The quads that look "folded" is still an issue, I cant seem to get rid of them.

The odd thing is, on the bottom corner I don't have the issue and probably did something right. I don't know how to make the same thing work on the top corner though:

Like Gary said, keep the chamfer for when you're sure of the shape

and a note on the chamfer process
you need to merge the vertices from this

to this

 

[Omaatjehenk]

and a note on the chamfer process
you need to merge the vertices from this
View attachment 300858

to this
View attachment 300859

Thanks! Done that!

This is where I am at now, been working on the front end and the bumper, didn't really touch the rest today.

 

[AccAkut]

Thanks! Done that!

This is where I am at now, been working on the front end and the bumper, didn't really touch the rest today.

you should turn on "Backface Culling" to get a better feel for Normal orientation. that way faces should only be visible form their "front" side.
But it looks really good already. You should probably model that sharp diagonal sideline from the bumper more pronounced now

 

[Omaatjehenk]

But it looks really good already. You should probably model that sharp diagonal sideline from the bumper more pronounced now

Thanks! That thing has been bugging me, not sure how to do it. Any advise?

 

[Ben O'Bro]

for the front face of the car, and rectangle shape, i would draw rectangle using the filet option, and/or converting in editable spline, to get the curvature clean, kinda like redrawing the blueprint in 3D, to have better accurate position for your polygons, like putting in place better the round curves

as such :

as for side, using the technique of "real chamfer" (that was more for the horizontal mid door thing, but could be similar for diagonal )

 

[Omaatjehenk]

for the front face of the car, and rectangle shape, i would draw rectangle using the filet option, and/or converting in editable spline, to get the curvature clean, kinda like redrawing the blueprint in 3D, to have better accurate position for your polygons, like putting in place better the round curves

as such :
View attachment 300881

How do I create these splines to "improve" the blueprint?

as for side, using the technique of "real chamfer" (that was more for the horizontal mid door thing, but could be similar for diagonal )
View attachment 300882

I'll give that a try and show you the result, I'm not sure how to work with it on the pilars towards the roof.