Hi Guys, asking this here because some of you will have 3D modelling experience. I'm wondering how complex objects are modelled in Maya & 3D studio Max? If I were to place a primitive on screen say a cube, can I then deform it into any shape I wish? I want to make a modelling program where I define 1 kind of brick then am able to deform an instance of that brick into something else. And I want to be able to combine several bricks to create new ones also. Thanks!!

Well, modeling is all about understanding how to deform objects. There are tons of different modeling techniques, one of the most common is box modeling.
you create a cube (primitive), adjust the ammount of faces/vertices for what you are modeling, then you stretch and pull the vertices in different view ports (start at front then do sides and back), it helps if you have a reference image.
such a technique is how i made this, http://www.creative-3d.net/GalleryDisplay.cfm?ID=16995 , that entire scene was made using nothing but box modeling.

as for your question here, "I want to make a modelling program where I define 1 kind of brick then am able to deform an instance of that brick into something else. And I want to be able to combine several bricks to create new ones also."
I'm not exactly sure what you mean.

Hi, thanks for the info.

Regarding what I said previously; I would like to make my own small modelling program. I would like to have only 1 brick class, not several eg. Cube, Sphere etc, just 1 kind of brick that can be deformed into anything. I would also like to combine several of these bricks into a composite scene.

Hope that helps explain it a bit better :)

Yes, most advanced programs will do this. Subdivision modeling is more or less what you described.