"Nurse - had me the zappy paddle things...I'll keep this forum alive...unless it dies..." I thought about listing this question in my previous post but thought it's probably best in it's own line.. As the title says - what's the most challenging thing you've had to model - not necessarily the flashiest thing you've done - but what you have (preferably enjoyed and taken satisfaction in doing) had to learn, study, overcome obstacles to get just right.. Now everyone from beginners to those of you doing this for a living must have had a project that's stretched your limits and made you learn new things to get the job done - tell us about your favourite one :) For myself - at this time I'd have to say going through the inside lightwave 6.5 book doing the schoolhouse tutorial - everystep was learning something new - but the most challenging part was texturing and building the windows for me personally the rest of the building was not so bad...Now given time this will probably change to something not tutorial based but everyone has to start somewhere :)

So far, modelling a mascara bottle was the most challenging thing, for me, because when I made the model, I made the insides of the object as well as the outside, including properly tapering the threads on both the inside of the cap and the outside of the bottle top. I made my own textures, logos for the cap and side of the bottle etc... without once looking at the manual. This was not because I knew what I was doing, but because I wanted to see if I could make anything without looking in the books :-) Everything in it was a first for me, first proper model, first textures etc... But it was fun. Shanna :-)

for the rhino challenge back in december, i set my heart on modelling a victoria doll, with clothing. i just could not get the face right, the way i thought a victorian dolls should look....and, the little "dimpled" hands....the hands from hell i tell you. suffice it to say, she's still in bits and pieces on my computer at work. i never finished her...but, don't fear...i have lightwave, now, and it is better for dollmaking (the heads, anyway), i think. so, one of these days, when i have learned more in lw...i'll try again.

Interesting thread... my most challenging model was for a LightWave Forum Challenge... where I had to model a character. I don't do organic modeling... but I managed to conquer my fears, get my feet wet and made tons of educational mistakes. What did I learn from all that? That I still suck at organic modeling. LOL! :o) Characters are still my biggest modeling weakness... whether they are mechanical robots or organic creatures, these are still the most challenging for me. Cheers! M

A replica of Kenilworth Castle Inner Court as it was in 1575 with Cinema 4D. It would have been a challenge for the experienced, but this was the first thing we ever did! Creating something which used to exist has it's own problems because you can't just do what you want. There's some artistic license, but not much. We had to work off plans, Elizabethan drawings, documents and whatever we could get our hands on. It was extremely rewarding, and will be for the months to come as we try and create the rest of this massive magnifecent palace. Mak

Forgot to mention that we learnt just about EVERYTHING we know from doing this and most especially... how to CHEAT! Mak

At the time of creation, that is the most challenging....so that would be all of ours. Sharen

hmm..probably my generic Hammond organ. Went together like a wedding cake, made the keys seperate, then built from the feet to the drawbars..3 weeks..and, being Strata .dxf, only 12 megabytes..if I even have the time to learn texturing, I'll have to try it again in Wings or Anim8tor..;)

Like Moe, I suppose my biggest challenge was for a competition over at the Lightwave forum. I made a kind of underwater dragon thing, some dolphins, and the scenery. I knew next to nothing about Lightwave when I started though I knew roughly what I was doing with sub division modelling in general terms. I had to learn procedural texturing, lighting, volumetrics and displacement mapping. Made masses of mistakes and learned a hell of a lot. I loved every minute of it :o) - Baz

Making a 3D model of my Pontiac. Either that or trying to make a human head (got bored a little bit, now looks more like some kinda alien.) My Pontiac model is semi-complete externally, but still needs more work. It still has it's flaws though compared to the one I drive (my reference.) But considering that it was done using subdivision modeling and not with nurbs has to count for something. (Using Wings3D as my primary modeling program; Bryce4 for other modeling, animation, and rendering.) lol. Right now my car model "is on the backburner", but perhaps I'll get back to it and have a completed model in the future.

I have never HAD to model anything, but the most challenging thing I have modeled is my chinese junk.

Good point!

every new thing i start :-)

My first organic model was the toughest thing I've ever made. Ended up with a result I could live with, but there was some serious hair pulling along the way....

All of them! Rend ate my previous post, so I'll make this short. I try to tackle new techniques and new issues with every model. Modelling is not comfortable for me; I rarely go back a step and throw off something with the lessons I've already learned. That said, toughest model I ever had was my first try making a face in a vertex modeller. And no, I'm not posting anything here, not with the competition above!

I'm working on it now lol. An odd little house from the Dinotopia books. The house is a sphere and the roof is all straights and curves that has to be conformed to the sphere, not to mention doors and windows that have to conform. I'm trying to do it with nurbs, which I haven't worked with up till now.

It would have to be my fembot. i love her and hate her. Modelinsg is all mine, and conception is all mine which was part of eth problem. As soon as I mde a part andother idea enetered my mind. It was tought trying to make it look mechanical and feminine The hands and feet were a !&*^@(^& pain. Although you cannot see the detail in this render, I made them to be functioal and move as real robot. I thik because it was as much enginereering as art. Still not happy with the abdomen.

Just about anything I try is the most challenging. I'm "NURBS Imaired". Having a hard time getting the file size under control on this one and want to learn that before the next. Next is an A-10 thunderbolt. I have the blueprints set as templates in EIU. Still have some techniques to learn though.