Creating a Wooden Chest in Maya: Part 1

Creating a Wooden Chest in Maya: Part 1

What You'll Be Creating

1. Modeling Wooden Chest

Step 1

Start Maya. With the perspective camera selected, press Ctrl-A and change the focal length to 88 mm which is nearest to the human eye sight.

Step 2

Create a cube, press and hold D and V keys, click on the Y-axis pivot and snap the pivot point to the bottom of the cube.

Step 3

Press and hold X and click on the Y-axis pivot to move the cube onto the grid.

Step 4

Scale bigger the cube and make it into rectangle shape.

Step 5

Jump into the face selection mode, select the face at the bottom of the cube and then scale smaller.

Step 6

Duplicate the cube by pressing Ctrl-D. Hold Shift-RMB and select Insert Edge Loop Tool.

Step 7

Go to Tool Settings and select Multiple edge loops. Set the number of edge loops into 1.

Step 8

Insert an edge loop in the middle of the cube.

Step 9

Turn on Symmetry World X. Change the settings to Equal distance from edge.

Step 10

Insert more edge loops at the side of the cube’s edges.

Step 11

Hold Shift-RMB and select Target Weld Tool.

Step 12

Snap the vertices like the image below.

Step 13

Select the faces like the image below for front and back.

Step 14

Hold Shift-RMB and select Extrude Face. Increase the number of thickness and a little offset.

Step 15

Insert again an edge loop on the extruded faces and adjust the shapes.

Step 16

Delete the unwanted faces.

Step 17

Select the edges at the corner, go to Edit Mesh > Detach.

Step 18

Go to Mesh > Separate. Select the edges and extrude, then increase the thickness. Repeat for other object’s corner.

Step 19

Using Insert Edge Loop Tool, add bevel for the objects. Press 3 to view the subdivide result.

Step 20

Select the objects, go to Mesh > Combine.

Step 21

Duplicate the first cube we created, go to Modify > Freeze Transformations. Then snap the pivot point to the top of the cube by holding D and V.

Step 22

Change the Scale Y to -1 to flip to opposite side.

Step 23

Insert edge loops and adjust the shapes into a semicircle.

Step 24

Repeat Step 14-16 for the chest’s cover corner. Delete the unwanted faces. Using Insert Edge Loop Tool and add bevel for the object.

Step 25

Duplicate again the chest cover, insert edge loop again at the side, then extrude the faces like the following image.

Step 26

Delete the unwanted faces. Press Ctrl-1 to isolate the selected object. Select the border edges and extrude, then increase the thickness.

Step 27

Using Insert Edge Loop Tool to add bevel.

Step 28

Repeat Step 25-27 for the lower part of the chest.

Step 29

Repeat the previous steps for another wood plank.

Step 30

Repeat Step 25-26 for leather stripes. 

Step 31

Select the border edge loop but don’t select the bottom edges, Hold Shift-RMB and select bridge. They should have connected now without any holes.

Step 32

Insert edge loops near to the wood plank, pull out the vertices to avoid intersection.

Step 33

Using Insert Edge Loop Tool to add bevels.

Step 34

Repeat steps for the lower part leather stripes.

Step 35

Jump in the front view. Go to Create > EP Curve Tool options.

Step 36

Select 3 Cubic and draw a curve on the chest as the handle.

Step 37

Duplicate the curve and adjust the positions.

Step 38

Select both curves, go to Surfaces > Loft options.

Step 39

Change the settings to Polygons and Control points. A new geometry will be created.

Step 40

Extrude the faces and increase the thickness. Insert edge loops to add bevels.

Step 41

Duplicate the chest cover’s leather, delete the unwanted faces and the bevel edges. Insert an edge loop in the middle of the object.

Step 42

Hold Shift-RMB, select Multi Cut Tool, draw lines on the surface.

Step 43

Select the middle edge loop, hold Shift-RMB and select Bevel Edge. Then extrude and increase the thickness.

Step 44

Add bevels for the chest cover and box by using Insert Edge Loop Tool.

Conclusion

In the next tutorial, I'll be finishing the modelling and start unwrap UV.