Tracker Model Completed

I finished the Tracker unit the other day and started the process of uploading and fixing any errors that came up with the website tool. Unsurprisingly I had several 'wall thickness' issues just like before, but thankfully they were minor issues rather than anything substantial. My attempts to model the character and smaller details with the minimum thickness requirements in mind had worked and there was nothing on the model that was too thin! Yay! 

I was really pleased about this, it meant I had effectively addressed all the problems I'd had previously meeting requirements and meant I didn't have to fumble around trying to rescale or alter parts of the model that could have caused problems or undesirable changes to the way it looked. I also didn't had to scale up the model at all (which I had to do last time) which increases the price of printing massively.

The majority of the issues I had was with sections of the shirt being too thin. Within 3DsMax I found this was because while building the model I had accidentally grabbed the mesh behind the shirt (the Ork's body) and pulled it forwards. This meant the wall was much thinner in those sections. This was easy to fix as I just moved the internal mesh backwards.

Another minor issue I had was with a band on the Ork's arm. The band itself was fine but in one section the Ork's arm dipped inwards following its musculature, resulting in the band not interesting the arm mesh at this specific point, making it too thin. Again this was very easy to fix by just raising the mesh at this point so it properly intersected.

The only other problem I had with the mesh was due to the way I had broken it up. Breaking the mesh is not really necessary but I have chosen to do it as it will make painting in all the details much easier. While building the model I was very careful to ensure the arms, head and backpack would be detachable and purposefully made the geometry easy and clean to break at these points. This meant that once I was done modelling I could pull these parts away from the main body and use a very simple sprew to connect them (ensuring there was no floating parts as is required to print).

This in itself didn't actually cause problems, but it was the sharpness of some of the angles caused by 'capping' the ends that became to thin. Thankfully this was relatively easy to fix. I was able to simply extrude some of the faces in these problem areas out slightly to reduce the sharpness of the angle. I am fully aware doing this will prevent the parts fitting back together perfectly but I don't think it will be difficult to shave the extruded parts down or cut them off entirely.

This shows the slight addition to the mesh I needed to make to prevent the wall being too thin around the break off point of the arm.

These images show the final model that I uploaded to Shapeways to print, including the very basic sprews holding the parts together that I will cut off when I'm ready to stick the model back together.

Overall I am extremely happy with this model. I think it looks really good and I was able to build it in the way I wanted, bearing in mind the need for chunky, thick details that are relatively simple. There were very few issues and non of them caused specifically by the way I had tried to design and make the model, just small accidents etc. I am also well on track with my time plan, actually I'm a little bit ahead, which is always good. This unit still needs his pet 'Squiggs', but these are of less importance than getting the other models done and are smaller, so I am leaving them till later once I have got the other 2 models done.

A few things to bear in mind for my next model:

• Be careful not to select parts of the mesh behind that which I am currently working on
• Make sure all smaller details  are fully interesting the main mesh, especially in parts where the model changes shape under the details
• Ensure sections of the model that are being broken off don't leave sharp angles/thin walls

I have uploaded the model to Shapeways and have an estimated delivery date of the 4th of March. So far I have been receiving the models on the expected shipping date, so with any luck I should have the model by some time next week.