Continuing from where I stopped modelling on Tuesday, I picked up with the frame of the revolver.
I deleted half the semi sphere to that I could attach it to the two pipes I created last time. I combined both pieces of geometry before merging the vertices together so that the geometry is properly joined.
With the pipe and sphere part of the frame complete, it was time to move onto the top part of it. I decided to create a cube that can be attached to an extrusion I will make later. I first sized up the cube to the correct dimensions, and added edge loops in.
I added four horizontally, which will help me get the shape of the curve. The top edge loop was placed free hand before the other three, which I placed equally in the remaining space. The edge loops placed vertically are for the dip in the cube, and also for the extrusion on the bottom right.
The final edge loops I placed were on the top and bottom of the cube, which will be used to attach the extrusions from the other geometry. These are also spaced equally.
With the basic cube complete, I went back to the other geometry. I extruded the two topmost edges up to meet the top of the frame. I adjusted the vertices to match the top of the frame. I used the coordinated of the top vertices of the cube to get this accurate. I added an edge loop to it and then extruded it outwards until it met the cube on the other side of the chamber.
Before I went any further, I used the grease pencil tool to plan out how I was going to progress things. I decided the easiest way to make the frame would be to duplicate the pipe and sphere geometry, flatten one side of it then bridge it. Then, all I'd have to do was mirror it again and I'd have the two halves of the frame ready to attach to the cube.
So I did just that. I decided that mirroring the geometry first would be far easier, as the faces would be the correct way round and I wouldn't have to worry about inverting anything. The next thing I did was flatten the mirrored geometry and get rid of any faces that I didn't need.
To keep the amount of edges equal, I merged two of the vertices on the sphere together. I then positioned the flattened geometry, using the rest of the models I'd already made as a guide. This will also make the process of resizing the entire revolver far easier later if I need to do that, as this may be something I need to do.
I combined them once I was happy with the distance between the two, and then bridged them.
I them mirrored the geometry. Since I'd moved the pivot point to the origin line with grid snapping, I didn't have to move it. I also checked that it fit in with the rest of the pieces of the revolver before moving on.
With all three pieces of the frame made, I combined them into one.
I moved the vertices of the cube to line up with the vertices of the extrusion, before snapping the vertices of the extrusion to them. I then deleted the faces in between the two pieces of geometry and merged the vertices together.
I added another cylinder to act as a guide, since the chamber has to be held in place by something. I added it so that I'd know how the chamber will connect to the rest of the revolver later.
I then went back to the cube section of the frame and adjusted the vertices to fit better with the reference. I moved the top vertices down to create the drop it has going towards the barrel. The last thing I did was extrude the bottom part faces downwards. I offset this by 0.02 to separate it from the rest of the frame.
I added two edge loops to the extruded part of the frame and then deleted the faces in between them. I did this to join the two extruded sides together, since I knew that wasn't how the revolver was supposed to look on top.
I bridged the section before using the multi cut tool to fix the geometry.
It was now time to extrude the top of the top of the frame. In the reference image, there is a clear bevel on the top. So I selected all the top faces, offset them by 0.17 and extruded them upwards by 0.14. This creates the same effect as what is depicted in the reference image, and I will keep the edges sharp with bevels later.
I then went in to add more detail up at the gap for the hammer. Since I left the gap for it, I decided that I didn't like how the extrusion stood out around it and moved the vertices back in line with the original shape. I left the inclining edge going down into the hammer, as I found it more aesthetically pleasing to look at.
In front perspective, I pushed the vertices of the extrusion around to match the exaggerated the bevel of the revolver.
With the frame completed, it was time to bevel it. I went around and selected all the edges. I selected the edges from the extrusion on top as well, as I wanted to keep the definition in them.
I bevelled them with a fraction of 0.09 and two segments, which make it very sharp when smooth.
I went into top-down perspective and selected the vertices of the semi spheres, before shrinking them down a bit. I realised that they were wider than the chamber, which wasn't right and didn't follow the reference.
This is how the revolver looks with the frame. It's starting to come together now, which I'm happy about. My plan is to finish all the basic components before going into detail and perfecting them. So far, my plan is working.
I planned out my next moves before I decided what to do next. I decided to go back and fix some parts of the revolver before moving onto new parts. I decided that my next move would be to fix the hammer, which need to be extruded more.
It only took me a minutes to fix it. I extruded it outwards, and then adjusted the vertices to fit with the curve of the hammer.
At this point, I realised there was a mistake in the geometry of the frame. An edge hadn't bevelled, which made it stick out. I tried bevelling down to match the rest of the frame, but that didn't fix the problem.
I tried to mirror the geometry and fix it, but this got messy and ended up messing up some more of the edges. I tried to fix these by going in with the multi cut tool to try and fix the sharp corners. This worked for the most part, but there were too many edges that had been warped, so I decided to try something else.
I tried mirroring it again, this time adding an edge loop in the centre to make merging the vertices easier. This was far easier than my previous attempts, although I had to merge the vertices individually because the bevels had vertices placed too close together (within 0.01), so they would all merge together if I tried to merge them all at the same time.
With the frame fixed, I could finally move onto the next part of modelling.
I decided I would start on creating the barrel of the gun. Using the reference image, I planned out where I would put edge loops.
Before I started on this, however, I moved the metal connector up to better fit in with the spheres of the frame.
I decided that a cylinder would be the best shape for the barrel, as I can easily hollow it out if need. I pushed the subdivisions down to 8, and rotated it by 22.5 degrees so that the flat side is facing upwards. I also added a subdivision to the top, just in case I do need to hollow it, or extrude it outwards to be the muzzle.
I added the subdivisions in at the appropriate places. For example, there's a catch further down, which I gave two subdivisions, and the front sight right by the muzzle, which needs to be extruded upwards.
I decided to create the front sight before I did anything else, so I offset the selected face by 0.06, before extruding again to extrude from the offset instead. I didn't want the front sight to have the same measurements as the barrel, so I thinned it down a bit instead.
The final thing I did that day was fix the metal connector. I decided that I had made a mistake in making it so long, so I moved the pivot point down to the edge of the first face I selected and shrunk it back down.
I decided that I wanted to make the end of the connector more elegant, so I spend the last few minutes of the day experimenting with different shapes.
I eventually went with this squared shape, as the edges had already been bevelled. I added more subdivisions to the top part, before selecting the edge and disbanding it inwards to create a divot. After bevelling the edge loops to keep the shape, I moved onto making the top of it more elegant.
I selected the vertices of the top and pinched them inwards to create what I can only describe as a fancy doorknob. I liked the effect it created, so I decided I was happy with it for now, although I may change it later.
This is what my revolver looks like at the end of this week. I'm proud of how I'm progressing with this project for far. I've had my fair share of mishaps and mistakes so far, but I'm glad that I've been able to solve them relatively quickly.
The only mistake that took me a lot of time to fix was the one with the frame, which almost took me half the day to figure out. It was also unfortunate that although I've been making regular saves and incrementing my work, I hadn't incremented before bevelling, so it would've set me back some time no matter how I'd tackled the problem.
This problem did get me to realise that I should check what I'm doing before I get too far ahead. I also need to be more careful about the steps I take to achieve something. In future, I'll make sure to check my work as I move forward, which will definitely prevent mistakes in the future.
Comments