[3ds max 10]

[subzero364]

Hi everyone! Im working on creating a custom guitar, so I can see what I might want to have built in the future, in 3ds Max. Im starting with this body:

http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/46957_l.jpg

And so far I have a Nurbs curve for the outline that has turned out nicely, but Im unsure how to go about modeling the top of the body.

The top is carved, as you can see by the way the light reflects off of it. If we take the outer edge of the body as a reference, then the top protrudes about 1 cm at the highest point.

Now Im fairly new to modeling organic shapes such as this, so any tips on how to proceed with the top are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Tuk]

I'd scratch my head if i had to model something like that, so take my advise with a grain of salt :)

I guess you could give spline cage modelling a go, so you have good control over the curve you want to describe...
If you don't want to go down that road, you could just manually pull up some vertices spread around the surface of the body, but that would probably make the surface a bit messy and uneven instead of smoothly curved, hmm..

Ah, maybe apply a Displace modifier to the set of poly's that make up the surface you want to deform... set the Map type to Spherical and play around with the size/strength/decay. With this option you have non-destructive control over the shape (see image below for the effect).
http://student-bkv.hku.nl/~jesse1/so/3dtotal/displace_sphere.jpg
Hope this helps! Let me know how it goes...

[H2O-3DT]

I would use basic poly modelling for this.

Here are some links that can give you som pointers.

Tutorial (http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_3/makingof_unplugged/page01.php)

Thread (http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=63732&highlight=guitar)

Thread (http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=55486&highlight=guitar)

[Tuk]

Only the last thread is relevant for his specific 'curving surface problem', but doesn't give insight in how he actually modelled it. The wireframe is a good reference tho...

I wonder if 'manual' poly modelling the curved surface will give the smooth and consistent result required.

Then again, i suck at modelling =)

[H2O-3DT]

By using the transform type in dialog box in 3dmax it should give him the required precision.

[poopipe]

I would expect this to be what's technically referred to as a complete b*stard to model

I'd think doing it by hand with traditional poly modellng & a turbosmooth would be the most successful approach but its not going to be straightforward.

I'd either ...

draw some splines that follow the main curves to use as reference and start with the top surface rather than the sides.

or

rough it out in zbrush, retopologise and then smooth everything out in max.