A detailed 3d model of the horse would appear to be one of those hard things to come by, or create - kind of like human anatomy. To be honest, I have yet to find a satisfying model. Digital scans require a neutral horse model, and the right equipment. The poser model, frankly, while good, isn''t excellent. It''s conformation (especially in the head) isn''t what I would call wonderful, and besides, I don''t have the program. How would one go about modeling the horse? I''m talking about a detailed model which shows detailed topology around the nostrils, eyebrows, ears, hocks, pectorals, etc.

There are a lot of general modelling tutorials on the net; a lot depends on the program(s) you have available.

There is an alternative to the Poser horse. It''s a warhorse model made by Sharkey. You can find it here:

http://www.cybergate-corp.ch/webdesig/poser3/charactr.htm

It''s free to download, although the readme doesn''t specify whether comercial use is allowed. I *think* commerical use for 2d images/sprites is ok, but you might check with the creator first.

That said, you don''t absolutely need Poser to use Poser models. The geometry is always in a wavefront obj file, which most 3d programs read. You just won''t get the joint or morph info, which is in a Poser specific format.


To answer your modeling question, I think the most common method is surface subdivision (chiselling a large cube into what you want), but there''s also patch modeling (start from lines and link points to make surfaces), NURBs modeling (using a few control points and let the computer generate smooth surfaces ... not a good description, but it''s pretty easy), and probably a few that I haven''t heard of yet.

Oh, and ZBrush has something completely different - very quick zSpheres and then painting with a depth buffer. It''s an odd one.

I haven''t mastered modeling yet - I''m still in the tinkering stage. But to start I would get lotsa horse pics. Find them on the web, buy a book, drive out to a horse farm with camera, etc.

HTH,
JSwing

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
But to start I would get lotsa horse pics. Find them on the web, buy a book, drive out to a horse farm with camera, etc.

Well, thanks for the suggestion. But that''s like telling a cat to chase mice, telling a dog to bark at the mailman.

The model you pointed to above only seems to have a mane, tail, and feathers in an .obj format. It is assumed that the Poser user already has the horse.

I can't help in any way whatsoever but in my attempt at finding help I came across this and found it pretty impressive.

(I'm sure you already know about the horse you can download at 3Dcafe.com which you wouldn't find very helpful.)

[edited by - GameCreator on January 17, 2003 6:12:42 PM]

The Cyberware horse has a number of problems that aren''t easy to fix. To begin with, his pose isn''t neutral. He''s a draft horse, with extra heaviness in all of the wrong places. His face is a little mushed and non detailde despite the high poly count. And his ears are malformed.

quote:
The model you pointed to above only seems to have a mane, tail, and feathers in an .obj format. It is assumed that the Poser user already has the horse.

Whoops. Sorry.


Also consider that it might be easier to transform an existing horse model (like the draft horse) than creating one from scratch.

A lot depends on your budget vs skills vs determination.

JSwing

I found what I was trying to explain to you in your other Help Wanted - "Modelling a Horse" thread. The concept for automation isn''t there, b/c it''s apparently being done in 3DS Max or one of those other clones. It''s here in printed document format:True Picture Reference Modelling I''m currently reading and trying to understand B-Spline Tutorials. You''d be surprised that there aren''t any good beginner sources for NURBS. Even the article on GameDev goes straight into high-level mathematics notation, as if the writer didn''t even know how to explain something. And I mean the mathematics for implementing NURBS with my own algorithm, not gluNurbs; I like to know what I''m doing. And not 3DS Max modelling, I would eventually need to manipulate the surfaces. About my idea, don''t you just hate it when you think discover a new innovation to solve your problem ingeniously, when all of a sudden you find all the resources you need, and a 10 year-old essay and list of commercial implementations. Anyway, my idea is more than mouse clicking, muahahaha!

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Regarding the above model, if that''s the model I think it is, everytime I''ve downloaded it (if I was able - I can''t remember), I couldn''t convert it to the format I need, which happens to be Wavefront''s .obj format. Every tool I''ve downloaded to read .max or .3ds files just hasn''t worked for me.

Is there any chance I could get that model in the .obj format?