Project 1 - Progression

 I start modeling the head from a basic cylinder.

 I extruded, scaled and extruded the top and bottom surfaces to create the top of the head as well as the neck. However, I felt that the edges were too sharp and didn't look as rounded as my toy.

Hence, I used the insert edge loop tool to insert new edges and scaled them to make the head look rounder.

I then started on the body by creating a cuboid and attaching it to the neck.

In edge mode, I scaled the sides of the cuboid to form a trapezium for my body.

I added another cuboid to form the lower body.

 I then started on the lower body by using cylinders to form the thighs of my lego man.

I used cuboids for the legs. Initially, I just pushed a cuboid into the cylinders. Then, I remembered that overlapping is not encouraged. Hence, I used boolean differences to cut out the overlapping areas and connected the two parts nicely.

I did the same for both sides and used the edge loop tool to create and extra edge for extrusion to form the feet.

The arms were the most difficult part for me. I created a cylinder, extruded and scaled it such that I get a rounded surface as shown in the image. I also used insert edge tool to insert edges and scaled them to make it even rounder. This formed the shoulders.

In face mode, I then extruded part of the cylinder to form the upper arm. After extruding, the extruded part looked weird and I had to scale it properly to form the arm. I then rotated the surfaces, extruded and scaled once again to form the lower arm. It turned out better than I expected.

Lastly was the hands. I used boolean differences to create holes in cylinders to form the hands, and extruded part of the back of the cylinders to form the wrists which were then attached to the lower arm.

 

After I was done, I realised that my toy had a hole at the top of its head while my model did not, hence I used boolean differences to create a hole using a smaller cylinder. 

I used images as reference throughout the whole modeling process.

 

Actual toy.

 

 This is the final outcome of my model after I soften some edges and applied colors onto it.

Reflections:

I am generally satisfied with my final outcome, although I do not have textures. I've learnt alot from this project as I had to research and experiment different ways to create different parts to see which method is better. I had trouble with the arms, so I sought help from different sources such as online documents, videos, as well as my friends. Other than the arms, the rest of the parts were relatively simple as I worked with familiar tools such as extrusion and scaling. Modeling a legoman gives me the basic experience of modeling something similar yet simpler to a human, which I am interested to venture into somewhere in the future. I will also brush up on my texturing skills, probably by asking my classmates for demonstrations so that I will be able to texture my future objects. (:

Project 1 - Self critique

For my legoman model, I feel that I lose out on the appearance, as I do not know how to do texturing. Despite trying several times, I just could not seem to get it right. Hence, I settled for applying colors to my model. Hence, my model does not look as realistic as the real thing.

However, in terms of proportion, my model looks fairly proportional. There is one obvious difference and flaw when comparing my model to the actual toy, which is its arms. I had alot of difficulty modeling the arms. I tried various methods, in the end settling for the method in the Olive document, which was to extrude from a cylinder. However, the outcome did not really look like the actual toy.

If I were to grade my model upon 10, I give myself a 7, as it looks rather like the real thing, except for the shoulders and the texturing.

Project 1 - Research

The first reference I referred to was the document on Olive to aid us in modeling a legoman. It has images, but lacks instructions, hence I had to figure out what the images were trying to show me. It all seemed relatively simple, except for the arms and legs. They used extrusion on cylinders, which I haven't tried before. However, the hands of the legoman in the document is different from that of mine, hence I might have to find another way to create my hands.

I was afraid that the extrusion on cylinders method would prove to be too hard for me, hence I asked my classmate for help. He showed me another way of modeling the arm, which was to extrude part of the sphere, I think it would somehow be similar to the cylinder method, but I will try both to see which one turns out better.

I then search for videos on Youtube that might help me in my modeling. I came across a speed modeling of a legoman video which is really good. Although the person was using another program to model, the tools look similar to those of Maya. It gave me a quick overview on how a legoman can be modeled.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QERAUtQY9Yk&feature=player_embedded


I also find a more detailed tutorial on modeling a legoman. However, this too, is using another program.
Links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWfS82EOa4A&feature=related
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwevZNS6CSo&feature=relmfu
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC49cDGZj7k&feature=relmfu

Project 1 - Design

 Front

 Back

 Top

 Bottom

 Side

 

 Side

Wireframe sketch

Project 1 - Shape

My toy is a basic legoman. It looks relatively simple at first glance. But upon further observation, I found out that I might have difficulty modeling some parts which are quite complicated, such as the arms and legs. The rest of the toy is made up of simple shapes.

For primitive shapes to start with, I will most probably use cylinders for the head, shoulder, hands and lower body and cubes for the upper body and feet. As for the arms and legs, I will probably use extrusion on the shoulders and lower body respectively.

I think I will be using alot of extrusion, as well as and boolean differences, for the hands and head. As for the surface, it is smooth without any bumps. The edges of the body and legs are also sharp, which means there is no beveling needed.

Project 1 - Story

Namogel, the legoman, is the rival of the rat in the race. He has been practising with his legomobile for ages, just to prepare himself for the big race. He is well-known, with his own fan base as well as pit crew. Will he be able to beat the rat and emerge champion? We shall see...

Gear Exercise

Process:

  Firstly, I create a pipe polygon with many subdivisions as shown above.

 
Then I switch to face mode. I select alternate faces along the ages and scale them accordingly.

Then I scale them outwards to form the teeth of the gear.

This is my final outcome.

Reflection:

This exercise is relatively simple as the flash video was clear and easy to follow. I've learnt to operate the extrude functions on multiple faces at the same time, which will prove useful when creating objects such as the gear above.