What you'll learn

Throughout these LightWave 3D tutorials, we'll be modeling a Bell 407 helicopter, which is popular for use with TV news programs, military reconnaissance, highway patrols, and other uses. We'll start in Photoshop, preparing a blueprint drawing for use in LightWave. We'll then move into LightWave and once our background is set up, we'll model the helicopter using a variety of techniques including working with polygons and sub-divisional surfaces (Sub-Ds). We'll learn to handle hard surface modeling with Sub-Ds, including how to make sharp corners or soft, precise curves. Finally we'll set up basic textures using images from Photoshop and UV maps made in LightWave. Software required: LightWave 3D 11.6.2, Photoshop CC.