Introduction 3D Basic Modeling in My Way

yakusu

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Last thread, I shared with you Breaking Down 3D Animation in My Way, from blocking>blocking plus>spline.
Now I want to share with you 3D Basic Modeling in My Way.

The famous meme of learning 3D Modeling will be making a donut, but for me, don't do that!
But do Primitive Modeling.
If you learn 3D Modeling with organic objects first, you won't see the model or object in shape.
You will see a simple object like a cup, a fan, a table, a chair, etc., with heavy thinking like sculpting, high topology, high fidelity, etc. That's the biggest mistake.

So, to learn 3D Modeling first, it isn't actually modeling with Edit Mode or deforming the object, but arranging shapes into an object.
We call it Primitive Modeling, aka Blocking.
In 3D Animation, Blocking is poses. In 3D Modeling, blocking is arranging shapes.
Basically, you play like Lego; each shape you arrange into an object with move, rotation, or scale.
When I taught my students, basically, I was a private tutor for some kids until high school students who wanted to learn and start 3D Modeling. I taught them how to see objects in shapes, like IKEA furniture.
For example, a table: how many shapes can make a table? 5 cubes, if you make the table with 4 legs. A laptop is 2 cubes, a monitor is 4 cubes, a door is 1 cube and 1 sphere, etc.
Screenshot_148.png
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I see some people; this may be a lot, but when they learn 3D and skip this blocking or primitive modeling, they struggle to start modeling. Basically, they don't know where to start. They see an object but can't decide where to start. Do I start from this side or that side?
This happens because they skip primitive modeling, and their eyes can't see shape properly.
For example:
Coffee Machine, how many shapes does a coffee machine consist of?
  • cube → body
  • cylinder → nozzle
  • cylinder → handle
  • cube → base
Basically, shapes are everywhere. If you want to learn drawing, you learn to see shapes.
If you want to learn sculpting clay, you learn to see shape.
It's not just an object; you can make a house with a street by arranging shapes.
Screenshot_149.png

You can make a city with just shapes.
Blocking is actually an essential step in a game studio or an animation studio.
They need to see the structure first, not look first.
Modeling means assembling forms or shapes.

If you really want to learn Blender, you can just start to build a table, chair, or basically any furniture with shapes.
This was a simple PowerPoint of my teaching material for the first meeting, when I taught some kids
First Meeting Material
At the end, I recorded a simple video.
Basically, if you want to start learning modeling, you just need to learn 3 simple things: "Scale, Rotate, and Move." With those, you actually can make anything.

After you can create some objects and be confident about those 3 simple things, you can continue to the next step, which is focusing on edit mode.
In the next step, you recreate what you just created in primitive modeling, but in Edit mode, basically, you will start to learn how to deconstruct a cube into vertices, edges, and faces to make an object, so you just need one cube to make one object. Slowly, you will learn about deformation and topology.
 

ManwX

Im from a Timeline where nuclear war destroyed all
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noice.. good advice to learn basics first. peopl jump into polygon count, modifiers, whatnot too early. It's better to know fundamentals first.
 

Emotica

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I mean this entirely respectfully, and with sincere curiosity: Doesn't A.I make this obsolete? Like a table is a table right? I swear I've seen A.I tools that can turn a 2D image into a 3D one, and it wouldn't surprise me if you could just scan a real object into a 3D environment. Didn't real estate kind of figure that out pre-A.I? I thought that's how they made the interior tours. I also seem to also recall some games experimenting with similar technology pre-A.I too.

Again, I mean this all respectfully. I'm guessing there's a specific reason that this would still be very useful. I imagine there's a lot of times where you need a specific result, I'm just not sure I understand it for generic objects. You can make a city with shapes yes, but if there's nothing super distinct about the city, I'd think it'd take a very long time to do manually, and a very short period of time with artificial intelligence, even if you drew it first.

I'm only asking because I was researching 3D modeling last week, and I was surprised how much A.I seemed to be the default. I didn't really have much time to think about it at the time.
 

yakusu

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I mean this entirely respectfully, and with sincere curiosity: Doesn't A.I make this obsolete? Like a table is a table right? I swear I've seen A.I tools that can turn a 2D image into a 3D one, and it wouldn't surprise me if you could just scan a real object into a 3D environment. Didn't real estate kind of figure that out pre-A.I? I thought that's how they made the interior tours. I also seem to also recall some games experimenting with similar technology pre-A.I too.

Again, I mean this all respectfully. I'm guessing there's a specific reason that this would still be very useful. I imagine there's a lot of times where you need a specific result, I'm just not sure I understand it for generic objects. You can make a city with shapes yes, but if there's nothing super distinct about the city, I'd think it'd take a very long time to do manually, and a very short period of time with artificial intelligence, even if you drew it first.

I'm only asking because I was researching 3D modeling last week, and I was surprised how much A.I seemed to be the default. I didn't really have much time to think about it at the time.
Topology is the main difference between AI and Human. You surely can generate it with AI, but the topology will be a mess.
Mostly, they have a lot of vertices and faces, like thousands, whereas a table is just a simple object; surely it's under 100 or even less.
For example, if you generate a table with AI, you have a lot of vertices and faces; however, if you create your own table, you only have simple faces and vertices.
3D-generated AI is usually for 3d printing, because 3D printing usually doesn't give a shit about topology.
You can't give a rig to an AI-generated human model.
You can't give an image texture to an AI-generated table model.
Because of the topology. In elementary school, you must be learning about making a cube with cut-out paper, like this
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Without your knowing, you actually learned about cube topology and UV unwrapping for texture.
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Topology and UV unwrapping need a human hand.
An example of AI model and bad uv
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That side of the house doesn't need 4 faces but 2 faces.
Look at the cube above; imagine one side of the cube like that house side, you have two diagonals/some diagonal line.
1773643489557.png


The more faces you have, the more performance you need. Optimization is the key.
An example, Project Neo from Adobe.
It's 3D, but it's not 3D traditionally; it's vector 3D, you can't export your result into 3d file like OBJ, FBX, etc, because it's fake 3D, they used only for commercial purposes, like posters or social media posting.
In the real estate industry, they just need to find a render artist, not a modeler, because the real estate industry isn't like an animation or game studio; they use SketchUp, which is more precise and efficient for architects or civil engineers. The model or the building is made by the Architect, civil engineer, or drafter, and the rendering is made by the rendering artist.

City Blocking is an important step, for example, from ArtStation.
1773639787107.jpeg

The purpose of city blocking is to establish the foundational layout, scale, and spatial relationships of the environment using simple objects. It's not about the look; it's about the layout. Most importantly, you will see an object in shape.
Believe it or not, every time I see a unique house or some unique object in the street, my brain will immediately dissect it. "That building starts with this shape on this side; after that, I go to that side, etc."
Understanding the flow of modeling in shape will result in great topology.

You can use AI for 3D printing stuff and some fun stuff, but you can't use AI if you actually want to learn the behind-the-scenes of the industry: Topology and UV. I think those two things are what AI can't create properly.

Big example
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If an AI-generated model, they usually generate like the Garten of Banban model. That drone is actually a massacre; it's not an organic shape. Why is it so high-poly? You can start with 4 cylinders, 1 sphere, and 8 cubes.
I spent a little bit of my time to do this
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The left is the model from Garten of Banban, and AI usually generates like that. On the right is what I tried to recreate using a simple deformation.

Primitive Modeling isn't about looks; it's about you learning to see shapes and geometry. Like in the post, I met some people who are struggling to start modeling because they don't know where to start.
A steam train is actually a great way to see the shape.
1773642559018.png

If you can already see the shape, you don't need to build the train with primitive modeling; you can just go into the next step, but if you can't see the shape or still struggle with where to start, then you need to go back to primitive modeling.
AI understands surface appearance, but it fundamentally lacks the logic of construction and purpose.
Primitive modeling is about learning the logic of construction and purpose.
 

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Emotica

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Topology is the main difference between AI and Human. You surely can generate it with AI, but the topology will be a mess.
Wow. I'm gonna have to read your entire post two or three time to really understand. I understood some if it based on my research last week, but this is most certainly the most I've learned about 3D Modeling, period. I guess the part that's not clicking for me at all yet is with something like that Garten model, that's all just... shapes? Obviously it is, I just don't see it at all. I can kind of follow how you'd make the drone or train, but when it comes to 3D character models, are you just "pulling" at the shape and freezing it until it sticks? I understood (I think) the part about A.I only really understanding the surface, but in the case of character modeling, I don't see how A.I wouldn't suffice? Like on a typical character, would clothes and hair be their own independent objects? How do you get from a static and moveable/rigged character to the actual physics of it.

By the way, don't feel obligated to do homework for me. I'll research it regardless, but if you like sharing, then you're very good at explaining these things. You're very talented. I was researching 3D modeling because I figured it would be a good pathway to creating reusable environments.
 
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