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- When Modeling Goes Bad
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In The Blend, I break down 1 Blender technique each week in a micro-lesson.
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Soda render I made ages ago. I thought about doing a re-render for this post but can't find the file. Also try not to have nightmares after seeing the compression artifacts. If you want a more bearable version of this render reply to this email and I'll send you one.
One day, I put a can of Coke on my desk.
Bright-red. Brand-new. Chilled.
I thought it would be cool to make one in Blender.
I could do all kinds of stuff with it. VFX, product renders—I could even design my own label for the can.
1 problem, though. It would be really hard to model. The basic shape (a cylinder) wouldn't be too hard, but what about the top? Did I actually need to model those details? Could I fake it with a normal map, like a game asset?
All these questions kept me from starting the model.
Months passed.
I finally started the project. Made the easy part: a cylinder, extruded and beveled.
More weeks passed.
I wanted my can model. I'd decided that I wanted it all to use actual geometry (no fake normal-map details), so that I could have closeup shots of it.
One day, I started the modeling. I started by using the Knife tool to cut out the shape of the pull-tab on top of the can (though I don't remember too many details of the process.)
What I do remember is that is was a mess. A total mess. Once I had the shape cut out, I tried to get it to make some kind of sense with the top of the cylinder. (I wanted to be able to cut some edge loops to form that little divot on top of the can.)
Failure there. I ended up cutting those edge loops by hand, with the knife tool. They weren't even symmetrical. What's more, I was forced to use a few triangles.
My mesh was a wreck and I hadn't even started the hard part yet.
It was all downhill from there. The pull-tab took me the better part of a day to model. I started by duplicating one of the edge loops from the top of the can.
Mirrored it, used the knife tool to cut out the general shape. I was trying to do it all right. Quads only. Smooth edge flow.
It was very good modeling practice. (Highly recommend as a modeling exercise. No booleans allowed.)
My final result was horrifying. Even after I cleaned it all up, n-gons and triangles were everywhere. The mesh was random and messy. Have a look:
After you look at this go look at some beautiful topology to clear your brain
Fortunately, I hit upon a solution:
Do nothing!
That's right: nothing at all. This is a tiny, tiny part of the completed model. Even in an extreme close-up render, it's gonna look totally fine. It's just a tiny little piece of bent aluminum. If it looks a little beat up, nobody's gonna care.
I left it just like that. Not symmetrical, full of bad geometry.
And everything turned out great. The can looked amazing in renders. People said "wow you even modeled that detailed bit on top."
Turns out geometry and topology don't actually matter, unless:
you're going to animate that part of the model
you're going to show off your amazing topology work
you want to be able to come back and easily add more edge loops later
Sometimes you do need to put the effort into making a nice mesh. Sometimes.
Not always.
As long as it does what it's supposed to do and looks how it's supposed to look, the topology doesn't really matter.
You just learned:
Symmetry is nice, but you can survive without it
Bad geometry is OK, a bad model is not
The occasional n-gon won't kill you. Just try to keep the n-gons flat and they won't bite. (hard-surface modelers know about this. Everybody else doesn't.)
Have a great week. You'll see me again next Monday. (Yeah, I know my last email came on a Tuesday. Maybe it was Monday if you're on the other side of the planet.)
Weekly Render Prompt
Don't know what to make next? This week, try making:
> Something gigantic. Anything from a star destroyer to an ancient monolith. 🏰
P.S. (unrelated) Love reading fiction? Check out Voyage. You get a new, original piece of short fiction every other Friday. (And it's totally free.)
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