Step 5 - Modeling NURBS Car Side Door

In this free video tutorial you will learn modeling side panels of NRUBS car model such as doors, pillars, screens etc. After this tutorial you will be able to model a NRUBS car of your own in Maya.

In this text and image tutorial you will learn Modeling side panels of a vehicle in Maya’s NURBS feature. You will use and learn new tools, commands, options and techniques that are mostly used in NURBS mechanical modeling in Maya. You will model doors, pillars, screens, and other parts of side panels with 2 dimensional CV curves and then you will make NRUBS surface by converting those 2 dimensional lines into 3 dimensional object.

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Let’s start the lesson,

Note: If you don’t have your own file named part_4_side_panel.mb you should download this file now because you will start part 5 of the lesson from the end of part 4.

Open the file part_4_side_panel.mb

Duplicate side panel

Create new layer and name it door

modeling nurbs car side door

Add duplicated copy of side panel to new door layer
Make invisible the actual side panel object layer

modeling nurbs car side door

Go to the side image reference view
Change camera shading mode to X-Ray mode
Create a New Layer and name it door curves

Draw a CV curve on the door image reference line

modeling nurbs car side door

When done, go to Edit Curve Menu and select Open/Close Curve option box
Reset all settings and check blend option
Click Open/Close
Select new door curve and then shift select the duplicated surface of side panel
Go to the Edit NURBS and select Project Curve on Surface with default settings
You have projected the curve onto the surface

modeling nurbs car side door

Got to Edit NURBS and get Trim Tool
Click outside the door then click inside in door and then click enter
You have trimmed the surface

Make invisible the door layer and visible the side panel layer

Note: you will repeat the same actions for creating a hole in the original side panel object, but you need a little wider region than the door so you will have to offset door curve onto the side panel object.

Project door curve onto the side panel in side view
Go to the Edit Curve Menu and offset curve with default settings

Note: Don’t worry if you don’t find expected result you are just going to fix the problem.

modeling nurbs car side door

Go to the Attribute Editor and change the distance slider to -0.01

modeling nurbs car side door

Project offset curve onto the surface as you have done in previous steps for making the door

modeling nurbs car side door

Use Trim Tool from Edit NURBS Menu and trim the region for door out of the side panel

modeling nurbs car side door

Make visible the door layer and invisible the curves layer
Move the door object towards the side panel until it sits properly into the side panel
Now create widow repeating the same things

modeling nurbs car side door

Create a window for rear door

Note: you only need to trim a window for back door and not the whole door again for this specific type of object and if you want to create rear door for animation purpose, you should create it by your own.

Duplicate the surfaces -1 unit on Z axis,

modeling nurbs car side door

Congratulations!

You have done very good work. Now have made main body of the car, in text steps you will model back body, wind screen, roof and other details of the Mini.
Part 5 of project NURBS Car Modeling has been finished.

More Video in this project ..... !!!