Blackbird

Case Study Gallery
MicroScribe® Connections for Maya - SR-71 Blackbird

Courtesy of Bryce Gunkel

Figure 1: The scale model that was digitized

Figure 2: The polygonal wireframe model

Figure 3: The final smoothed model

I decided to digitize a medium scale plastic model of an SR-71 Blackbird for potential use in a game. The general approach was that the entire body would prove too difficult if one attempted to digitize it as a whole. So I decided to bring in the plane piece by piece, ultimately reassembling the within Maya. After taking a glance at the model building manual, and popping off the required pieces from the sheets, the digitizing process was off and running.

Using a polygonal strip method, the general shapes were brought in quickly and easily, creating an overall feel for the plane’s shape in a short amount of time. Next, continuing into the second stage of the polygonal strip process I began breaking the long segments into multiple four-sided polygons. However, when further detailing the jet I chose to construct many of the small areas (antennae, landing gear, etc.) using basic geometric shapes modeled "by hand". The resulting blend then produced an overall feel to the craft that is stealthy yet machined, just the thing I was aiming for.

Yet even with a certain degree of detail being paid to the vehicle there are many rivets and seams not present on the surface. I purposely chose to not try and model everything, since attempting to do so would quickly push the model into polycount numbers much higher than wanted. What I have with the current version of the model is something easily capable of game integration with the option of using textures to further enhance the details.