A few years ago I sold all my stuff to explore the world, creating 12 startups in 12 months and building $1M+/y in companies as an indie maker such as Nomad List and Remote OK. I'm also a big pusher of remote work and try to analyze the effects it will have on society. Follow me on Twitter or see my list of posts. My first book MAKE is out now.
Feb 12, 2016

Day 10 of Learning 3d 🎮 Making complex objects by combining shapes 🙆

Learning 3d

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We’re now a few days in to my challenge of learning 3d. I want to create a Tokyo street scene in 3d. I’ve never done any real 3d before. My first day in 3d was eventful and I learned how to do the basics. Then on day 4, I got some help from someone who visited the actual street and filmed it.

From basic shapes to complex shapes

When I started to learn 3d, I expected that most complex shapes were somehow made by just drawing outlines of them. What I learnt however, was that most complex shapes are built by combining basic shapes and using tools like extruding to create them.

Screen-Shot-2013-11-12-at-4.23.37-PM

Drawing custom shapes yourself

There’s exceptions though. There’s still stuff you have to draw yourself. Like curtains. You draw a line:

Screenshot 2016-02-22 15.08.40

Array layers as group functions

Then there’s other cool stuff, they’re something like group layers (called Arrays), but they have a function. For example, to make two lines connected into a 3d shape, you can add a Loft group layer.

Screenshot 2016-02-22 15.09.12

Then you add the two paths (or as they call them Splines), and they’ll make a new 3d shape.

Screenshot 2016-02-22 15.08.27

It reminds me somewhat of adjustment layers, although these layers are a group that apply a function to its child layers.

Screenshot 2016-02-22 15.42.03

Screenshot 2016-02-22 15.50.14

Conclusion

Next step is adding more objects and more details.

P.S. I wrote a book on building indie startups called MAKE. And I'm on Twitter too if you'd like to follow more of my stories. I don't use email so tweet me your questions. Or you can see my list of posts. To get an alert when I write a new blog post, you can subscribe below:

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My first time floating in a sensory deprivation tank ☺️

Day 4 of Learning 3d: @shoinwolfe visits the actual street I'm modeling 🏮😎🏮