Book Image

Blender 3D Incredible Models

By : Arijan Belec
Book Image

Blender 3D Incredible Models

By: Arijan Belec

Overview of this book

Blender is a massively popular and powerful 3D program, with versatile modeling abilities that make it a great way to enter the 3D modelling world. Blender 3D Incredible Models is an extensive guide for those new to hard-surface modeling with Blender, helping you understand the complete range of tools and features it offers and how to employ those efficiently to create realistic models. You’ll be led through progressively more challenging modeling projects— from an assault rifle and an army tank to a sci-fi spaceship model—giving you a glimpse of all the skills you’d need in Blender’s vast ecosystem of features and functionality, ranging from textures, rendering, and UV mapping to lighting, rigging, and beyond. Each engaging project builds upon the last until you’re equipped with everything you need to tackle your own modeling challenges, whatever they may be. By the end of this Blender book, you won’t just know how to create the models covered here, but you’ll be able to turn your own concepts and references into 3D Blender models too!
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Part 1: Introduction to Hard Surface Modeling
3
Part 2: Modeling an Assault Rifle
7
Part 3: Modeling a Sci-Fi Race Ship
10
Part 4: Modeling a T-72 Tank

Generating an Edge Mask

In this section, we are going to use Blender’s Cycles render engine to generate an Edge Mask. In other words, we will tell Blender to detect sharp edges and create an edge wear effect around those areas. This technique will significantly improve the appearance of our model, and we will apply it to the other models we create in this book.

Detecting edges

We begin by creating an edge detection node setup, which we will refer to as an Edge Mask. Essentially, this is a combination of nodes that will create white areas around the edges of our FN SCAR. We will later turn these white edges into edge wear on our basic materials from the Creating materials section.

Here are the steps to creating the Edge Mask:

  1. Select all faces of the FN SCAR, and in Edit Mode, press U to open the UV Mapping menu. In the menu, select Smart UV Project. This will unwrap the entire model onto a 2D surface. Before unwrapping, correct the normals by pressing Shift ...