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Blender 3D Incredible Machines
Blender 3D Incredible Machines

Blender 3D Incredible Machines: Design, model, and texture complex mechanical objects in Blender

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Profile Icon Brito Profile Icon Christopher Kuhn
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$19.99 per month
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.4 (19 Ratings)
Paperback Feb 2016 392 pages 1st Edition
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Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Brito Profile Icon Christopher Kuhn
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$19.99 per month
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.4 (19 Ratings)
Paperback Feb 2016 392 pages 1st Edition
eBook
$33.99 $48.99
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$60.99
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Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Blender 3D Incredible Machines

Chapter 2. Sci-Fi Pistol - Adding Details

In this chapter, we'll cover some additional topics as we work on our pistol. These include the following:

  • Scaling along face normals
  • The Shrinkwrap modifier
  • Cutting shapes into curved surfaces
  • The knife project tool
  • The inset tool
  • Proportional editing
  • Pivot points for rotation
  • Scaling along individual origins
  • Creating pipes with torus objects
  • The Array modifier

Finishing the handgrip

Right now, our handgrip (or handle) looks fairly plain. Let's work on this for a while, and see if we can get a better look at it.

The first thing we'll do is select the large face at the side of the handgrip:

Finishing the handgrip

We'll duplicate this by pressing Shift + D and move it back a bit:

Finishing the handgrip

To add a little more detail, let's run a couple of loop cuts across this face by pressing Ctrl + R + wheel up (rolling the mouse wheel changes the number of edge loops):

Finishing the handgrip

Then, we can drag the lower section back a bit by selecting the bottom-right edge and moving it to the Y axis:

Finishing the handgrip

Next, let's run another edge loop vertically so that we can start forming the shape of the cut-out (for the grip):

Finishing the handgrip

We'll delete these unneeded faces. Next, let's grab this front edge and pull it forward:

Finishing the handgrip

Then, we'll extrude everything across the whole plane to get the basic shape. Before going further, you'll want to remove the faces inside of the mesh (right where...

Cutting shapes into our gun

To add detail (and enhance realism), we'll want to cut various shapes into the side of our gun. First, we want to create a circular cut-out in the middle of the body. Let's start by adding a circle in the Object model and lining it up where we'd like the cut to go:

Cutting shapes into our gun

Next, we're going to add a Shrinkwrap modifier to the circle. This is an incredibly powerful modifier to create cuts or recesses in mechanical parts.

We need to first select the name of our gun object in the Target box. Then, we'll need to set the mode to Project. Finally, we'll need to specify the axis that we'd like it to project on. In this case, it will be the X axis.

Once these settings are selected, you can drag the circle up against the gun, and it will conform to this shape.

Note

The more geometry (vertices/edges/faces) an object has, the better it will be able to conform to the shape of something else.

Cutting shapes into our gun

Let's pick our gun object again, and Tab back into...

Circles, angles, and edge splits

If your Edge Split modifier is set to 30° (by default), then you should never add circular shapes with less than 13 sides to them. Why? Because a 360-degree circle divided by 13 sides equals approximately 27.7° per side.

Circles, angles, and edge splits

Any fewer sides and your angles are going to break the 30° mark and become sharp. So, 13 is the mathematical minimum. In practice, however, it's not an easy number to work with.

You can't cut it into halves or thirds, and each angle is a long decimal number (27.6923076...). This makes it hard to rotate something (such as a cut out) around a cylinder by "one side".

Instead, I suggest using a minimum of 16 sides per circle. It's easily divisible by factors of 2, and the angles work out nicely.

Next, we'll add a Shrinkwrap modifier to our circle object, and press it up against the gun. This is exactly the same process that we just used cut out the large circle.

Circles, angles, and edge splits

Just like before, apply the Shrinkwrap...

Adding final details

At this point, the gun is really starting to take shape. Let's add a little more detail to finish it up.

A great way to add detail (without too much work) is to run loop cuts across the existing faces, and then scale these new edges in by pressing Alt + S. This gives the appearance of a panel line or cut between different the portions of an object:

Adding final details

You can also create one such cut, and then rip the center edges. This will enable you to create a second line or cut that doesn't go all the way across the geometry:

Adding final details

Here, we'll create some additional vents for fins by picking a series of faces on the upper barrel and eliminating them:

Adding final details

Then, we can pick the two edges at the top and bottom and fill in a face. With a series of loop cuts across the face, we can easily create our fins:

Adding final details

We'll continue the detailing by adding a series of basic shapes to our gun:

Adding final details

Then, using techniques that we've already covered, you can go ahead and detail these small...

Finishing the handgrip


Right now, our handgrip (or handle) looks fairly plain. Let's work on this for a while, and see if we can get a better look at it.

The first thing we'll do is select the large face at the side of the handgrip:

We'll duplicate this by pressing Shift + D and move it back a bit:

To add a little more detail, let's run a couple of loop cuts across this face by pressing Ctrl + R + wheel up (rolling the mouse wheel changes the number of edge loops):

Then, we can drag the lower section back a bit by selecting the bottom-right edge and moving it to the Y axis:

Next, let's run another edge loop vertically so that we can start forming the shape of the cut-out (for the grip):

We'll delete these unneeded faces. Next, let's grab this front edge and pull it forward:

Then, we'll extrude everything across the whole plane to get the basic shape. Before going further, you'll want to remove the faces inside of the mesh (right where the two have joined at the mirror modifier). We...

Cutting shapes into our gun


To add detail (and enhance realism), we'll want to cut various shapes into the side of our gun. First, we want to create a circular cut-out in the middle of the body. Let's start by adding a circle in the Object model and lining it up where we'd like the cut to go:

Next, we're going to add a Shrinkwrap modifier to the circle. This is an incredibly powerful modifier to create cuts or recesses in mechanical parts.

We need to first select the name of our gun object in the Target box. Then, we'll need to set the mode to Project. Finally, we'll need to specify the axis that we'd like it to project on. In this case, it will be the X axis.

Once these settings are selected, you can drag the circle up against the gun, and it will conform to this shape.

Note

The more geometry (vertices/edges/faces) an object has, the better it will be able to conform to the shape of something else.

Let's pick our gun object again, and Tab back into Edit mode. We want to run a couple of...

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon

Key benefits

  • Develop realistic and awesome machines for your 3D projects and animation films
  • Gain the ability to look at a piece of machinery in real life and then recreate it in Blender
  • Develop a comprehensive skill set covering key aspects of mechanical modeling

Description

Blender 3D is one of the top pieces of 3D animation software. Machine modeling is an essential aspect of war games, space games, racing games, and animated action films. As the Blender software grows more powerful and popular, there is a demand to take your modeling skills to the next level. This book will cover all the topics you need to create professional models and renders. This book will help you develop a comprehensive skill set that covers the key aspects of mechanical modeling. Through this book, you will create many types of projects, including a pistol, spacecraft, robot, and a racer. We start by making a Sci-fi pistol, creating its basic shape and adding details to it. Moving on, you’ll discover modeling techniques for larger objects such as a space craft and take a look at how different techniques are required for freestyle modeling. After this, we’ll create the basic shapes for the robot and combine the meshes to create unified objects. We'll assign materials and explore the various options for freestyle rendering. We’ll discuss techniques to build low-poly models, create a low-poly racer, and explain how they differ from the high poly models we created previously. By the end of this book, you will have mastered a workflow that you will be able to apply to your own creations.

Who is this book for?

This book is intended for consumers and hobbyists who are existing users of Blender 3D want to expand their capabilities by diving into machine modeling with Blender 3D. You are expected to have experience with basic Blender operations.

What you will learn

  • Reacquaint yourself with Blender s modeling toolset
  • Practice fundamental skills that are applicable to a range of modeling projects
  • Know when and where to use various types of geometry—something that saves time in one instance will pose significant problems in another
  • Think ahead and plan your project out to significantly improve both quality and efficiency
  • Create models for freestyle use
  • Overcome challenging modeling problems
  • Create customized game models that can easily be exported to other formats. This is one of the most popular uses of Blender, and the results can be incorporated into game design!
  • Get comfortable with the start-to-finish process to create any type of hard surface model

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Feb 29, 2016
Length: 392 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785282010
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Publication date : Feb 29, 2016
Length: 392 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785282010
Tools :

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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
1. Sci-Fi Pistol - Creating the Basic Shapes Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Sci-Fi Pistol - Adding Details Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Texturing and Rendering Your Sci-Fi Pistol Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Spacecraft – Creating the Basic Shapes Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Spacecraft - Adding Details Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Spacecraft – Materials, Textures, and Rendering Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Modeling Your Freestyle Robot Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Robot - Freestyle Rendering Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. Low-Poly Racer – Building the Mesh Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Low-Poly Racer – Materials and Textures Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.4
(19 Ratings)
5 star 63.2%
4 star 26.3%
3 star 5.3%
2 star 0%
1 star 5.3%
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Sandrino Caruso Jun 01, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Good book. Complete, perfect for intermediate level.
Feefo Verified review Feefo
pe Mar 01, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Ein Buch von einem Blender-Entusiasten, umwerfend, sympathisch, unterhaltsam, lehrreich, viele echt coole Tipps. Dabei ist der Autor gar keiner der ganz Großen am Blender-Himmel. Aber groß in seinem Können, großzügig im Teilen seines intelligenten Workflows. Natürlich muss man manche Techniken für sich umwandeln. Aber was für eine Inspiration!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Michael Dale Harrison Jan 20, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Another great book by Christopher. If you are into modeling, read this. Excellent techniques explained and an engaging writing style. This is a winner. It is more advanced than his motorcycle book, so if you are fairly new to blender and/or modeling, I would start with that one first. This one is perfect for intermediate hard surface modeler.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Paul Siegel Mar 15, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I got the book a few days ago and am very satisfied with the purchase. I started learning Blender a few months ago and have gotten to the point where I know where everything is, but was a little shaky as to what the methodology was in building a complex model. For an intermediate user this book is gold. It shows you enough to get you going but not the really basic stuff which was not necessary. Was was great is it gives you a systemfor breaking down complex models into easier chunks. In the beginning he shows how to model something but then shows you details to build and lets you figure it out for yourself. I finished the modeling phase of his steam punk gun and just left off some details I felt were a little overkill. I am working on his spaceship now and everything is going smoothly. I never did want to model people and creatures so him not covering them is OK by me.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Readomatic Mar 14, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This work by Christopher Kuhn is worth every cent you spend on it, and every minute you spend with it. Aimed at the experienced, intermediate Blender developer and it delivers.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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