In this quick tutorial, we model what is known as a Sacred Merkaba for 3d printing or digital asset design. Symbolic of ancient spirituality and mysticism, this shape has been part of religious iconography for thousands of years. Geometers and mathematicians recognize it as a Stellated Octahedron, or Star Tetrahedron. I'm using 3dsmax 2012 for this example, but the techniques can be translated to any capable polygonal modeling package.

Another Great tutorial I look forward to completing................

I just uploaded an "alternate" video for this, which shows how this shape can be created in around 1 minute in 3dsmax, starting from a Cube instead of Hedra shape. The difference being, when you start with a cube, you save valuable time not needing to flatten the faces at the beginning. This video has text annotations, but no audio narration, unfortunately. Should be easy to follow along, if you've done the original tutorial first though.

3dsmax: Sacred Merkaba Alternate Technique from John Malcolm on Vimeo