Hi all, I'm new to 3D. I have my background drawings of an aircraft I wish to model already set to insert into the respective backgrounds of my modeling program. I have C5 pro and Hexagon 1.2.1. My questions are: 1. Which program would be best to use? and why? 2. How should I develop the basci model? by using box modeling or polylines converted to surfaces as in the carrara 4 car modeling tutorial I found in 3dxtract. TIA, Tim

I am new myself. I would say if you are new do what is easiest. Of course that is a personal opinion.The models you finish and the reduced frustration go along way. You can always then try another way. There are some airplane modelers here tho. Box modeling can get you alot of places. 3dxtract.com and eovia3d.net have some good tutorials, as well as others and more coming. Hex is more robust and easier in my opinion. As nice as the VM is now, I ended up getting hex myself because it was so much quicker and easier to me. I held off. Waiting for pro...thinking it would do because I didn't know much about hex. The only advantage I see to c5pro modeling is it is in c5pro w/ all the other goodies. If they get the two connected more so you can send things on over and update...that would really make them a set.Like to see surface paint tools in c5pro...they have said it is planned. Don't see that happening to hex since they want that to be modeling only, however, I would like to see some more robust uv tools.Believe it or not...I think texturing will be more of a challenge. Having a great model is so cool, but if you don't have textures like you want...you will not be satisfied. I think in general box modeling works better for organics and polyline for mechanical stuff. I could be wrong there.

Message edited on: 12/27/2005 21:12

I do a lot of aircraft and space vessels in C4. I don't yet have C5, but I also have most of the other 3D apps like Lightwave, Maya, 3Ds Max, etc. I tend to use Carrara most often due to it's simple interface and the way you can just scroll around with less hassle. It really depends on what you are doing however. I sometimes pull at my hair in frustration when trying to design a particular piece for a hull or fuselage though. It would be nice if you could map points in the main assembly room, of two objects and line everything up in there. The basic thing you have to be able to do is to visualize the part and how it is composed. Like an engine cowling for a radial engine would be best done as an extruded shape using the front plane as the drawing plane. For wings I usually use a series of ribs with 4 vertexes each as looked at on the side. As for which is best, each package has their own good and bad points but I usually recommend Carrara because it is easy and fast but has some very powerful capabilities for any level of proficiency.