3D Modeling Techniques

3D modeling is practically the basis when you do the work associated with 3d art. However, there are several different modeling techniques depending on what model you create. Below are some methods that will help you develop your workflow.

3d modeling techniques vary depending on what you want to do. Different is used for modeling the character, different for plant, and different for the car. It is important to know a few ways how to do it, to make your results look really good.

Box Modeling

Although the name suggest the box, it does not necessarily have to be this geometric primitive. It may well be cylinder, sphere or cone. But the principle is similar in every case. You start with the most basic of shapes, and then with the help of the several tools you change its shape. Connect, cut, extrude and other such options will be necessary for you.

Once you have the most basic shape of your object, you are going to subdividing the mesh. With the densier mesh you follow similarly until you get satisfactory results. Probably this is the most popular 3d modeling techique. It allows you to create both organic and non-organic objects. Using it, you also have a lot of control over the density and the shape of the mesh.

Digital Sculpting

This technique is used especially in organic modeling. Although recently in programs such as ZBrush, you can also create hard surfaces.

This 3d modeling technique consists in creating the model as it would in reality. By working this method, you model it like a clay using such tools as push, pull, flatten and others. 3D sculpting also allows the use of huge amounts of polygons without significant computer load. This allows you to get incredibly detailed models. They also can be then retopologized to low poly mesh with normal or displacement maps extracted.

3D sculpting is the most popular method of creating characters lately. It is used by the largest film studios to create amazingly detailed humans or monsters.

Edge Modeling

This modeling technique is somewhat similar to box modeling, but has a lot of differences. Here you do not start with the primitive object like box. Instead, you’re making the model polygon by polygon. Then you make the appropriate edge loops and set the vertexies.

This is the most laborious method, but thanks to it you have full control over the shape of the mesh you create. It can be used for all kinds of models, both hard surfaces and organic. It works great when creating models such as base mesh of human face.

NURBS

The model created using this method, actually does not have polygons or vertexes. It consists of surfaces that combine with Bezier splines. The principle of operation resembles creating images in the vector graphics program. But using NURBS, in addition to 2D, you have a third dimension at your disposal.

You create the object here with Bezier curves, which after combining with each other create surfaces. NURBS modeling is the most popular modeling method for industrial and automotive models. It allows you to easily create smooth meshes with different degrees of curvature.

Photogrammetry

Personally, I really like this 3d modeling technique. Generally speaking, it involves the creation of models based on a series of photos. You can make them from several dozens of cameras, but in the case of simple non-moving objects, one is enough. The software then calculates common points on the pictures and re-creates point cloud in 3D space.

With a ready point cloud, you can then make the mesh and its texture. In the right conditions, you can almost perfectly reproduce the thing you are modeling. Using other tools, you can retopologize the surface to make it more usable. The only downside of this method is that the objects you take pictures must have matte surfaces to achieve good results.

Photogrammetry is gaining more and more popularity in 3d industry and is quite an interesting method. Especially if you want to present all the details on the site, and you do not have too much artistic skills. More about this technique you can learn in this post about photogrammetry.

3D Scanning

The last of 3d modeling techniques that I would like to mention is 3D scanning. It’s a bit like photogrammetry. But to use this method you need to get the right equipment – 3D scanner.

These devices use the laser light to triangulate the mesh you are scanning. They allow you to maintain the surface’s remarkable accuracy, but are also expensive. Their price ranges from several hundred to even 50k dollars.

Procedural

This method is often used when creating graphics of abstract or repetitive shapes. But this is not the only application of procedural modeling. There are several applications on the market that use procedural mesh generating to create amazing scenes.

Programs such as Terragen or Vue, thanks to their procedural basis, allow you to create naturally-looking terrain, clouds, or even whole planets. Thanks to the use of applications that use procedural generation of objects, you can save an unbelievable amount of time and energy that you would have to carry if you wanted to model everything yourself.

In addition to the terrain itself, you can import other objects in these programs, and then use this technique to pulace them on the ground. Procedural modeling techniques are used by some of the best film studios. For example, the Paramount company logo was created in Terragen.

As you can see the choice between 3d modeling techniques that you will make the model is not such a simple matter. It’s worth considering which one will be the best for you with the model you are currently making. I hope that this short introduction to 3d modeling techniques will help you make this choice.