Cover Artwork —×— Last updated: August 23, 2022

<aside> ℹ️ This documentation aims to teach what eyeballing is, how references should be used and what is ‘proportions diagram’.

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<aside> ℹ️ CTRL + SHIFT + L for dark theme

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👀Eyeballing and 📏Proportions

🔬 Overview:

Eyeballing is necessary unless there is scan or measurement data available. Eyeballing is not only unreliable, but also inevitable. Accurate data, such as blueprints, semi-ortho images, and measurements, can minimize the need for eyeballing.
It’s important to research what’s being modeled and should have a solid start in the beginning phase. Eyeballing will be easier with a solid starting point. For a weapon this can be measurements and caliber; for a vehicle this can be blueprint (which isn’t the best way) or images for perspective modeling. Gathering accurate and reliable information that can be added on is the best way to avoid issues when eyeballing instead of just brute-force eyeballing looking at the image.

Some starting reference examples:

Perspective Modeling — Saksham Kumar

Cartridge system is universal and can be used as a starting point for different weapons

GD&T of a Lathe Chuck Key — frankpolygon

Researching is the vital phase of modeling. Having a good grasp of what’s going to be modeled will make the process much easier. It will help see and understand what is actually going on with the thing that’s being modeled. It’s possible to miss details without knowing about what’s being modeled.
If it’s a weapon, vehicle, etc. it’s important to note the differences in variants. For example, an entire website dedicated to the weapon SKS. It shows the differences among SKS variants. Without this information, it’s easy to get confused by different reference photos showing different details.

The original SVD Dragunov bolt carrier vs Izhmash Tigr bolt carrier
Youtube videos, auction websites, user manuals, catalogs, forums, PDFs and diagrams have the detailed information an artist might need. References can be anywhere.
Researching is not only useful for proportions but also useful for texturing. Knowing materials used, manufacturing process, surface finishes, etc. will help with the accuracy of textures.

This topic entirely depends on the size of the project and available information. It’s a matter of balancing pros and cons (just like everything else in 3D) and doing what’s best for that situation. For example, some Forza cars are laser scanned because Forza is a game that focuses on cars and Forza players want accurate models. On the other hand, a blueprint can be used for a random abandoned car for an environment as it doesn’t have to be extremely accurate.
An important note: mixing different types of data for proportions might lead to inaccuracies. For example, using both dimensions and semi-ortho images at the same time might give inaccurate results. References should be checked if they match each other first.