Modeling a Pod Racer in Blender – Citizen eBook

by Alex Telford

What is covered in this 43 page Citizen eBook – Modeling a Pod Racer in Blender

Hi Guys, My name is Alex Telford and in this series making of, we will be modelling a high poly pod racer based on a design by concept artist Josh Nixon. This series is designed for intermediate to advanced users covering key techniques required when modelling vehicles such as the use of good topology and modifiers. If you are new to blender please consider checking out the getting started section before attempting this overview.

For those who do not know what a pod racer is, or haven’t looked at one up close, I highly recommend searching pod racer for some close up references, and ideas.You may also wish to look up other repulsor-lift vehicles to see the general design.

Our pod racer is a sci-fi vehicle, so we can adjust and add things to improve our style, while defying the laws of physics, and still keeping it as a semi-believable contraption.

Concept Art Work

I would like to give a big thank you to Josh Nixon – www.joshnixonart.com for providing us with the concept art and orthographics used in this tutorial, as well as the smaller design
variations.

I would also like to note that the term ‘Pod Racer’ belongs to Star Wars and Lucas Arts does is not affiliated with or endorse this tutorial in any way.

 Screen shots of the Model

What is in the download

The download includes the eBook PDF, along with the .blend files, step screen shots and the original concept art.

What is the CG Cookie Citizen Membership?

It is the most direct way you can support this site, and gain access to exclusive training across the CG Cookie Education Network. This includes: Blender Cookie, Concept Cookie, Unity Cookie, and Max Cookie. Citizen members have access to the source files of tutorials on the site, discounts on our workshops, exclusive training and series.

Learn more or upgrade here.

 

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Discussion

82 Responses to “Modeling a Pod Racer in Blender – Citizen eBook”
  1. Callum Tweedie-Walker
    Posts: 49

    Very cool! :D Been waiting for this since I saw the post! Shall download it immediately! ;)

    #
    1
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:10 am
  2. Callum Tweedie-Walker
    Posts: 49

    I get the following error when I try to download.. any ideas?
    This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.

    AccessDenied
    Access Denied
    7AE05020C7B0950E

    233+Q8EFerKoOvLQLYDxBqJ7qhK3AgGzF2K/WHBc03egl8BlT8R8o2QysACB0SZS

    #
    2
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:13 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2963

      Ah sorry about that, you should be able to download it now.

      #
      2.1
       Aug 31, 2012 at 9:13 am
      • Callum Tweedie-Walker
        Posts: 49

        Thanks Jonathan! Very nice book – congratulations to alex! :D

        #
        2.1.1
         Aug 31, 2012 at 11:16 am
      • Toneregg
        Posts: 7

        Modelling is always interresting, but what about the female body series?

        #
        2.1.2
         Sep 1, 2012 at 11:14 am
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2963

        I haven’t forgotten about the Female Body series. It’s still coming. My hope is to do the next part quite soon but currently I’m completely tied up with the Mastering Modeling workshop.

        Thanks for the patience :)

        #
         Sep 1, 2012 at 12:07 pm
  3. Abidal Sarraj
    Posts: 35

    Been waiting for this too, Thank you very much, I try to download but “AccessDenied….” Can you fix it?

    #
    3
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:14 am
  4. Robyn Hahn
    Posts: 28

    Yep, same here… is this a BlenderCookie issue?

    #
    4
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:25 am
  5. Robyn Hahn
    Posts: 28

    Looks like this:

    This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.

    AccessDenied
    Access Denied
    7105CD528917169B

    1f5Chxvz8W8eCjgNcziWJ7AgLfcHAsQZayuENtEwiVLxd02qCeOFC4VAI5JrZ5X5

    #
    5
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:28 am
  6. Robyn Hahn
    Posts: 28

    Trying this again:

    This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
    ‘
    AccessDenied
    Access Denied
    7105CD528917169B

    1f5Chxvz8W8eCjgNcziWJ7AgLfcHAsQZayuENtEwiVLxd02qCeOFC4VAI5JrZ5X5

    ‘

    #
    6
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:30 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2963

      Hi Robyn, sorry about that. The download should work now.

      Cheers,
      Jonathan

      #
      6.1
       Aug 31, 2012 at 9:06 am
      • Robyn Hahn
        Posts: 28

        Thanks so much, Jonathan – you’re a champion! :)

        #
        6.1.1
         Aug 31, 2012 at 5:21 pm
      • Robyn Hahn
        Posts: 28

        I need to add to this: Jonathan, your Modelling the Female Body series has *hugely* expanded my skills, which were admittedly rudimentary, despite the many years I’ve been using Blender -blushing- … just never learnt it right, I guess. I used to hate video tutorials, but *MY* your series changed my views on that, too. Hope this eBook shows me some new concepts – I do love organic modelling, though. :D

        #
        6.1.2
         Aug 31, 2012 at 5:44 pm
  7. Robyn Hahn
    Posts: 28

    Oh well, it’s an xml error – the blocks are:
    code
    message
    requestid
    hostid

    #
    7
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:31 am
  8. Guenter Nimmerfall
    Posts: 5

    It isn’t possible to download the sources ;-(

    #
    8
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:41 am
  9. Matthew Muldoon
    Posts: 19

    I think I’ve known about this tutorial for over a year from Alex, great job Alex can’t wait to check it out. Also think it’s awesome Blendercookie is hooking up with all these talented artist. Cheers.

    #
    9
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:42 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2963

      Indeed! It’s been in the wings for quite some time (much more my fault than anyone else!). Alex has been doing awesome stuff.

      #
      9.1
       Aug 31, 2012 at 9:05 am
  10. Jan Larmann
    Posts: 60

    wow 4 posts from the same person. Doesn’t work for me either.

    #
    10
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:46 am
  11. David
    Posts: 14

    I can not download the file. I’m sure it will be corrected soon. Thank you for this ebook. I have been looking for a tutorial on something like this. I will be checking back to see if the download has been fixed. Thanks again )

    #
    11
     Aug 31, 2012 at 7:18 am
  12. olson
    Posts: 24

    Denied! :P

    #
    12
     Aug 31, 2012 at 7:28 am
  13. Sacha Descombes
    Posts: 2

    It works now, can’t wait this out :)

    #
    13
     Aug 31, 2012 at 9:31 am
  14. vic robinson
    Posts: 53

    oooooohhhhh pair this with the vehicle modeling series…. i think i have the steam punk vehicle my characters are going to fight with…. like knights of yor!

    #
    14
     Aug 31, 2012 at 10:49 am
  15. Aaron Thompson
    Posts: 71

    I’ll be downloading this when I,am back in my home state and off the road for a few days. I have always loved the content on this site :D

    #
    15
     Aug 31, 2012 at 11:14 am
  16. oldman44
    Posts: 43

    Thanks Alex & Jonathan,

    My kind of tutorial! Modeling & SiFi all in one package with hard copy to boot.

    -OldMan44

    #
    16
     Aug 31, 2012 at 11:26 am
  17. Peter Utinek
    Posts: 80

    wow so many details :) thx for this book I learnt new stuff again

    #
    17
     Aug 31, 2012 at 11:28 am
  18. Robert Moffatt
    Posts: 34

    Definitely snapping this up, and looking forward to working through it (after I work through the vehicle modelling series.)

    The ebook concept made me think of something though…what about an ebooklet listing ALL of the keyboard shortcuts for 2.6? There are shortcut sheets out there, but the most current is for 2.5. I know the older hands here have these things committed to memory, but for a relative newb like me it would be a godsend. I’ve been adding notes to the shortcut sheets I have when I come across something missing while watching a tutorial. A comprehensive e-booklet might go over a treat.

    #
    18
     Aug 31, 2012 at 11:36 am
  19. Ben McCormick
    Posts: 73

    Very cool say Alex how did you get to make this tutorial for blender cookie?

    #
    19
     Aug 31, 2012 at 11:51 am
  20. Bernard Hugueville
    Posts: 71

    Great! Nice to be a citizen :-) ))

    #
    20
     Aug 31, 2012 at 12:21 pm
  21. Chris Ferguson
    Posts: 66

    Yes!

    #
    21
     Aug 31, 2012 at 12:31 pm
  22. Rocky Arbigaus
    Posts: 40

    I can`t sign up, I`m trying to upgrade my account, but the sign up buton does nothing.

    #
    22
     Aug 31, 2012 at 12:37 pm
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2963

      Hi Rocky,

      Are you getting any kind of error? Also, have you tried signing in another browser just in case something is wrong with the current one?

      #
      22.1
       Aug 31, 2012 at 1:07 pm
      • Rocky Arbigaus
        Posts: 40

        No error messages at all. I click the button and nothing happens, as if there is no link on it.

        I tough bout the browser (tried on Chrome) but it`s the same over IE.

        #
        22.1.1
         Aug 31, 2012 at 1:18 pm
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2963

        I was able to test this just now and it seems to be working fine. Can you please empty your browsing cache to ensure it’s not a bug from a mixed cache? Simply refreshing the page a few times may do the trick.

        If that doesn’t work, you can simply go to http://cgcookie.com/membership

        #
         Aug 31, 2012 at 1:38 pm
      • Rocky Arbigaus
        Posts: 40

        Still not working Jonathan. The problems is in the next page, were I choose the subscription level.
        The button is not working. I tried with Firefox as well.

        #
        22.1.2
         Aug 31, 2012 at 1:46 pm
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2963

        It seems the page is working fine here. This does make me suspicious that it is a local problem. Were you able to clear our your cache?

        Also, which subscription level are you wanting to sign up for? If you’d like I can send you an invoice manually and then upgrade your account on this end.

        #
         Aug 31, 2012 at 1:57 pm
      • Rocky Arbigaus
        Posts: 40

        Yep, I`ve tried to clean the cache and I just installed Firefox to try it too. Just now, to be sure, I wiped the cache again. Still nothing. I thinking that maybe I need a reboot on the system. LOL.
        What is weird is that when I hover the mouse over the button, it shows no link on the status bar.

        I`m trying the Citizen Quarterly.

        #
        22.1.3
         Aug 31, 2012 at 2:10 pm
      • Rocky Arbigaus
        Posts: 40

        WAIT!!! It was just me being stupid. The problems was the Math thing that I didn’t know what was for. Now I know that is kind of a captcha thing.

        I just found out when I was trying to upgrade via Android, and it scrolled the screen to focus that.

        #
        22.1.4
         Aug 31, 2012 at 2:19 pm
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2963

        Ah good to hear you got it worked out! Let me know if you have any further trouble.

        #
         Aug 31, 2012 at 2:44 pm
      • Rocky Arbigaus
        Posts: 40

        I just can`t figure it out why my avatar is not working. I just joined Gravatar, added the picture, but is not showing up o.o

        #
        22.1.5
         Aug 31, 2012 at 2:34 pm
      • Jonathan Williamson
        Posts: 2963

        Gravatar will generally take about 20-30 minutes to show up the first time. Just give it a little bit and it should be good to go :)

        #
         Aug 31, 2012 at 2:43 pm
      • Rocky Arbigaus
        Posts: 40

        Ohhh, ok, thanks again =].
        And sorry about all that bother, LOL. I just when bananas when I saw that tutorial.

        #
        22.1.6
         Aug 31, 2012 at 2:46 pm
  23. George Lakie
    Posts: 85

    Hi Jonathon: This link didn’t work for me as well until I hit the compatibility view button a couple and now all is working as it should. Thanks for the link to this and my congrats and thanks to Alex for this.

    #
    23
     Aug 31, 2012 at 1:59 pm
  24. Rigs Juarez
    Posts: 16

    This is just cool !

    Thanks guys.

    #
    24
     Aug 31, 2012 at 2:45 pm
  25. Jorge Diaz-Ramirez
    Posts: 7

    excellent … now I can download it … greetings and thanks

    #
    25
     Aug 31, 2012 at 3:10 pm
  26. Nick Benge
    Posts: 2

    Oh no my Citizen sub ran out! I’ll have to resubscribe for this though. Thanks!

    #
    26
     Aug 31, 2012 at 3:17 pm
  27. jcue
    Posts: 22

    are we allowed to print the ebook?

    #
    27
     Aug 31, 2012 at 6:19 pm
    • Alex Telford
      Posts: 454

      I personally think it is fine to print it out, but it belongs to cgcookie so they would have to confirm that

      #
      27.1
       Aug 31, 2012 at 6:45 pm
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2963

      By all means! I hope you will print it :)

      #
      27.2
       Aug 31, 2012 at 6:57 pm
      • jcue
        Posts: 22

        thank you. i just wanted to make sure i wasnt breaking any copyright laws…im sure kinkos wouldnt appreciate.

        #
        27.2.1
         Aug 31, 2012 at 8:34 pm
  28. alec farai
    Posts: 146

    i already know how to model stuff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6auEafanceA&feature=player_detailpage i wanna learn the rigging, rendering and composting parts those are the tricky bits i wanna know :)

    #
    28
     Sep 1, 2012 at 7:23 am
    • Alex Telford
      Posts: 454

      Cool model, This tutorial is heavily focused on hard surface modelling, but I do have a little bonus at the end which covers how to set up a quick rig for the pod racer.
      For characters though there are some great tutorials here on blender cookie on rigging, and an excellent one on rigging a ninja on cgmasters I would recommend checking out :)
      For rendering and compositing there is a ton here on cgcookie on those :)

      #
      28.1
       Sep 3, 2012 at 2:35 am
  29. Josh Clark
    Posts: 36

    This has just mad this film makers day thank you

    #
    29
     Sep 1, 2012 at 7:41 am
  30. Nicholas Tindall
    Posts: 96

    Ebook – nice change from a video /nod

    #
    30
     Sep 1, 2012 at 9:33 am
  31. Aaron Thompson
    Posts: 71

    I am finding this Ebook tutorial very interesting and a little more difficult than watching a video. I am an intermediate blender user and I thank you for making this available and I hope there will be more of this content down the road.

    #
    31
     Sep 2, 2012 at 5:26 pm
    • Alex Telford
      Posts: 454

      Glad to hear your enjoying it :)
      If your having trouble remember there is more screenshots and the blend files in the project files.
      If your having trouble with anything feel free to contact me or cgcookie and we can help you through the tough bits

      #
      31.1
       Sep 2, 2012 at 5:30 pm
      • Aaron Thompson
        Posts: 71

        So far the reference pictures and the blend files included are a very big help. I like working through the steps and check the included blend files to see how I did. I’ve been getting it really close so far :D

        #
        31.1.1
         Sep 3, 2012 at 10:58 am
  32. hellhound
    Posts: 7

    Congratulations on the ebook and getting into 3dworld Alex. I just saw the issue preview on zinio a couple hours ago.

    #
    32
     Sep 3, 2012 at 1:26 am
  33. Lele Da Revine
    Posts: 14

    Nice book! The Pod look awesome…

    How many download could I do in a month of membership?

    #
    33
     Sep 3, 2012 at 6:29 am
    • Jonathan Williamson
      Posts: 2963

      As many as your bandwidth can handle. We don’t limit the number of downloads you’re allowed in a month. However, we do ask that you don’t simply download everything to stash it. Only download what you specifically want at that time as each download increases our server bill.

      Cheers,
      Jonathan

      #
      33.1
       Sep 3, 2012 at 11:06 am
      • Lele Da Revine
        Posts: 14

        many thanks! I’ll try to do my best! :D

        #
        33.1.1
         Sep 3, 2012 at 11:58 am
  34. verticies
    Posts: 228

    I was able to download but my 2003 version of excel couldn’t open it.

    #
    34
     Sep 3, 2012 at 10:44 am
    • Lele Da Revine
      Posts: 14

      isn’t it a PDF file? Try Adobe reader

      #
      34.1
       Sep 3, 2012 at 10:47 am
      • verticies
        Posts: 228

        I was actually returning here to say never mind. Thanks for the reply.

        #
        34.1.1
         Sep 3, 2012 at 11:43 am
  35. Nathanial Ryan
    Posts: 23

    Great reference art and tutorial!, thanks for this! I’m trying to make a grungy version, but my texturing needs some work. I’ll get it there.

    #
    35
     Sep 3, 2012 at 5:02 pm
  36. charliemcgruff
    Posts: 2

    Awesome! In a country where we are severely charged for internet cap, I REALLY appreciate Ebook tutorials (Videos are great, but large…) and would love to see more! Thanks a million :D

    #
    36
     Sep 4, 2012 at 2:21 pm
  37. jeppe
    Posts: 2

    Awesome, never thought about using the shrinkwrap as a tool to add in details on a smooth organic surface using a clean mesh to work on!!!

    I’ve always tried modeling it on my blocked out mesh, without ever getting a good result.

    Thank you!

    #
    37
     Sep 5, 2012 at 5:45 am
  38. Pavel Vlasov
    Posts: 7

    A.W.E.S.O.M.E. Thank you. Hope there will be more eBook tutorials.

    #
    38
     Sep 8, 2012 at 7:53 am
  39. jadhav333
    Posts: 1

    Hi,

    I only wish to bring to your notice a type and don’t want to sound wrong on this.. but the spelling on the title page is wrong.. Vehicle is spelled V E H I C L E and not V E H C I L E.. :P

    Keep up the good work.

    Regards
    jadhav333

    #
    39
     Sep 10, 2012 at 10:22 pm
  40. aarons123
    Posts: 1

    I’m having problems when it comes to the turbine. I added an empty object and created the array modifier, but can’t get each piece to snap together.

    #
    40
     Dec 6, 2012 at 5:15 am
    • Alex Telford
      Posts: 454

      Hi Aaron,
      do you mean they are not merging?
      you can enable merge on the array to have them join, and make sure this is above the subsurf.
      -Alex

      #
      40.1
       Dec 6, 2012 at 2:25 pm
  41. darth_gimp
    Posts: 77

    Alex, I’m having some minor trouble following along.. I think its just me.. but any chance you could do a video on this?

    #
    41
     Feb 24, 2013 at 11:50 pm
    • Alex Telford
      Posts: 454

      Hi Darth gimp, what is it that you are stuck with? It would take too long to make a video, but we do have a hard surface series coming up

      #
      41.1
       Feb 24, 2013 at 11:58 pm
      • darth_gimp
        Posts: 77

        I guess right at the start I am having some trouble wrapping my head around the technique used. Specifically with the shrink wrap in stage 2.

        #
        41.1.1
         Feb 25, 2013 at 2:19 am

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