Gun modelling

     Using the book "Maya Studio Projects- Game Environments and Props" I have begun modelling the snubnose I picked in my earlier weapon designs. The guide is not fore exactly the same style of gun however this is good as I do not want to create an exact copy from a tutorial, so this will ensure I have an original design. I loaded my snub nose design in the background to help me achieve the basic dimensions once I began modelling.

The next step suggested that I use the boolean tool to create bullet shaped indentations in the cylinder, this is something we have been advised against in lectures at uni due to the fact that it often leaves messy geometry however I needed to follow the advice in the book so in this instance I decided to use it. I did however pay heed to the advice in the book and make sure the intersecting lines were not too close which should stop anything messing up.

      The next step was to create details for the front of the cylinder, this is for the high poly model, the lighting details for this will then be baked on to a lower poly game ready model. As it turned out this part of the gun was not visible once the model was complete so I have scrapped this detail in the long run however it still counts as practice so the time isn't completely wasted.

 I carried on modelling the rest of the gun there was nothing particularly unusual in the process at this point. I made sure to keep all the pieces separate as I will be animating them later so they need to be able to move separately, and to be honest at this point there is no good reason to start combining them anyway.

     The next step was a learning curve for me. Once I had the the high poly version of my gun modeled I could duplicate the separate parts, and by selecting the vertices with the move axis setting on normal, I could expand the shape so it encompasses the original.

     With these duplicate versions I was able to remove some of the gemometry which will be baked on instead. So I will have a lower poly model of the same gun, but with much more detail included.

The modelling of the gun is pretty much complete my next step is to try out the lighting and rendering in order to apply the required detail. Updates to follow