Best way to Model an insect wing?

[swartz]

Hi everyone, I'm new to Maya AND 3D in general, so I appreciate any patient souls out there that could steer me in the right direction.

I'm having some difficulty finding the best way to build a wing of a butterfly.

It needs to have at least a little bit of thickness (so it doesn't disappear when the view is straight on). It also needs to have a texture map applied to both sides (each side will be slightly different). I've created a couple bump maps for the veins, highlights, etc.

I have an outline of a wing that I drew in Illustrator. I know how to import, loft, etc... but I'm not sure that's the best way to go from there.

Also -- should I be doing this using NURBS or Polygons? Which is better for this kind of thing?

Thanks in advance!

[flys]

Try using the draw polygon tool for this one, then before you extrude it for thickness, use the split poly tool to draw in edges where the wing will bend (if it bends at all). Then select the faces and use the extrude face tool.
As far as the texture thing goes, you can apply different shaders to seperate faces in maya. Just select the faces you want then apply the appropriate texture.
Hope it helps,

Dave K.
www.geocities.com/davekstuff
thedavecave@hotmail.com

[swartz]

Cool! I'll give that a shot.

Thanks dave

[perseus2]

In reply to:
Cool! I'll give that a shot.

Thanks dave

As with all modeling and with other things in life, you will discover the best way to create your model the day that it is finished.