In this tutorial, Joe takes you through his process for modeling a Colt 1911. Using an image plane for reference, he creates the low polygon slide, handle, trigger guard, trigger, barrel, hammer, and sights. He then creates the Sub-D and high poly slide, handle and barrel models. Joe shows how he optimizes the geometry for rendering normal maps and lays out the UVs of the slide, handle and barrel. He discusses trouble shooting normal maps, common errors and things to look for and demonstrates how to create a grayscale 2D normal map, and composite it over the high poly normal map. Finally Joe completes the final model in Maya with textures applied.
Topics Covered# Using Image Planes
# Optimizing Geometry
# Normal Maps
# UV Mapping
# Troubleshooting
Chapters1. Low Poly Modeling
2. High Poly Modeling
3. UV Mapping
4. Rendering Normal Maps
5. Photoshop Details, Normal Maps
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The Gnomon Workshop - Modeling a Next-Gen Weapon in Maya 
