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    Should I make my models as one big mesh or is it better to separate moving parts?

    tommypepsi
    posted to: Modeling a Low Poly Room

    So I am currently making my chair. I did the base and then I started to be confused a bit when doing the wheels. What I did now is I made a wheel as a separate object then set it as a child of the base of the chair and made a couple of duplicate link.

    Is this the right way to go or does it make more sense to make the wheels part of the mesh? I kind of stopped there because I'm having the same questioning about the top of the chair. What I'm thinking right now is, if I want to animate someone spinning on the chair it's better to have the moving part separate, like that I can for example simply rotate the top of the chair. But maybe it's not as much of an issue as I think. 

    Another question I have right now is, is it ok to have shapes that goes through each other without being connected? For example I made the wheels out of 2 cylinders going through each others:


    They are both part of the same mesh. Is that ok or should the 2 shape be connected?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • spikeyxxx replied

      Hi ttommypepsi ,

      As to your first question: it is not something to worry about too much; you can easily change your mind and make everything one Object (in Object Mode select the different parts that you want to combine and then use the CTRL+J hotkey), or split parts off (in Edit Mode select a part and then use P > Separate > Selection).

      With the wheels, if you make them separate Objects, you can indeed make Linked Duplicates, which is an advantage. Also you can have different Modifiers on them if parts are not one Object. (There are some Modifiers that can work on only a part of the Mesh, but not all Modifiers have that ability...)

      Basically, just do what you think is best and adapt if necessary.

      And for your second question:

      intersecting Meshes are extremely ugly and frowned upon and should (usually) be avoided, but with your example, I think you can get away with it (if it won't keep you awake at night, that is...), because it probably will not be seen and it's not worth the trouble (just don't tell anybody...).

      2 loves
    • Dwayne Savage(dillenbata3) replied
      The one object vs multiple object is a common question and the answer is: It's a matter of preference. As far as animating it, separate objects if you do objected based rigging/animating(I don't recommend this). If you use an armature(Recommended) then it will work either way.  Now for your second question. Modeling is all about purpose and expected use. I'd say the your method is good and it works, unless you plan on doing closeup or just the caster wheel(s) for your renders.
      1 love
    • Jonathan Lampel replied

      Great answers from Spikey and Dwayne! 

      One other thing I think about when deciding to combine objects or not is if their local orientation is useful. For example, I would probably want to keep those wheels separate just to make it easier to rotate them around that off-center axel without building a rig, but that's still just personal preference. 

      3 loves