Old Gas Pump

[pixelmech]

Hello,

 

Here's an old gas pump I have been working on. Mechanical modeling drives me NUTS, mainly because I stink at it. C&C welcome.

[Fishman]

Tom,

Don't be so hard on yourself! That looks pretty good! There are probably ways to reduce the splinage somewhat, but I don't no how important that is. My guess is that texturing will make a bigger impact.

It looks like you did a very nice job beveling it. What you might try to do is take out all the bevels and use Emile Leroux's trick of reducing the magnitudes to somewhere in the 4 to 10% range. If you watch the Sweeper tutes, he used that technique a lot. Then you can see which is easier.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Scott

[itsjustme]

What Scott said...looks like it's turning out nice, is there an entire gas station?

[pixelmech]

Thanks guys, interesting you mention Emilio - I watched him do that but wasn't entirely getting it. I should watch it again. I do feel like I have too many splines. I always have a problem with edges and bevels, making them look right. I tried the Zevel plugin but it doesn't work for me.

 

Whole gas station! ha! Actually maybe at some point. I have ideas for a set for it for something in the future. I wanted the items to be simple since they will primarily be background or props, but I'm going the opposite direction it seems!

[apprentice]

I like it! The shape and colors look sweet. If it's made of candy I'll lick it yum! Hey, someone should make candies in ordinary object shapes like your gaspump, chair, hydrant. It'll be fun!

[pixelmech]

Mmmm candy... here's an update. I'll probably just use a decal for the gauges so a little test for that. I have a bulb light inside the logo light up top at 100% with the housing set at 85% transparency, but it's not really shining through at all, not sure why.

[R Reynolds]

Since I don't know the actual shape you're going for this may be a useless nitpick.

 

However I would suggest a little bias driven crease reduction is called for along the areas I've indicated especially around the price indicator where you seem to have a raised edge before dropping into the cut-out. I think industrial design for this era of pump would have gone for a smoother, more streamlined look.

 

But you're the final judge.

[pixelmech]

I was hoping you'd chime in Rodger! Yes, those areas you point out are wrong. I'm not sure exactly how to fix them, but sounds like you're saying play with the bias, I'll try that. I've definitely left out some detail that would be in there if I were going for ultra realism. Here's a reference photo... Notice I've omitted the chrome around the window.

[pixelmech]

Here's a couple more... let me know what you think based on those. You can see on the marine one the light I'm wanting to get.

[Kamikaze]

Gosh Tom,

 

That's excellent !!!....you stink at mech modeling? I think not.....

 

Michael

[pixelmech]

Ok, here's my big problem with mechanical stuff. Take the gauge window. I make a nice rounded corner square. Then I extrude it, scale it down, extrude it and scale it down to get my bevel.

 

The problem is, the circled CPs seem to not be in the right place when I do it that way. Sometimes I try to manually line them up, but then sometimes I get other problems. I can't seem to get a real smooth look like I see people get. This makes me think I am going about it all wrong. And the problem is, in a model like this you end up doing stuff like that a LOT. I can't help but think I'm using the wrong technique.

 

P.S. Thank you Mike! Not to have a false humility or anything, but I just feel I'm lacking some specific skills especially in the mechanical mode, and I have high aspirations I guess!

[R Reynolds]

I would suggest building the bevel the "opposite" way. Don't start with the perimeter spline. Start building the spline in cross-section as shown in the attached image. Extrude it once longitudinally, check for creases and tweak bias values as necessary. Then continue extruding to outline the rectangular shape you're after.

 

BTW

26 cents per gallon; now those were the days

[pixelmech]

Ok, I see. Now, from there - how would you go about closing off the front to make it either a window or a flat panel? Just pull splines across and connect the dots, so to speak?

[Kamikaze]

Tom,

 

Do you have the sweeper plugin ,not sure if that would do what you want though.....Also I cheat sometimes and use what beveled primative that closly resembles the shape Im looking for......I hate starting from scratch but sometimes its the best way to learn.......like with cooking

 

Michael

[R Reynolds]

...how would you go about closing off the front to make it either a window or a flat panel? Just pull splines across and connect the dots

Exactly.

[modernhorse]

Hi Tom -

Think this looks great. I recently saw one of these on some show and thought "hmmm wonder if we'll see some of these in the next Pixar movie". Then thought hey I might model one of those. Then saw yours. Now I don't need to model one. hehe

 

Keep going, can't wait to see where you go with it.

 

Doug