A Little Mayan Magic

Meet Dariusz! He works with instructor Michael L. as part of Game-U’s Accelerate program. Dariusz and his instructor both accepted Game-U CEO Mike Kawas’ daily modeling challenge, and with a little Mayan magic, came up with some awesome 3D models to show off!

Using Maya, the industry go-to software for animation and modeling, Dariusz focused on the fidget spinner modeling challenge. (Everybody knows fidget spinners!) He began with the reference images provided by Mike Kawas. While a fidget spinner’s profiles are straightforward, its many curves make for an interesting structural combination. Dariusz modeled the spinner from the reference images and then spent some time tweaking the shape, to get it just right. Thanks to a little piece of Mayan magic known as the mirror tool, however, Dariusz only had to model half of the fidget spinner. The mirror tool let him “reflect” that half of the model so that he could join it and the reflection together into one piece. Dariusz couldn’t resist the chance to have some fun with this design, so he modified it a little – turning a fidget spinner into a ninja throwing star! Mayan magic at its best!

Dariusz wasn’t the only one to get in on the fidget spinner modeling challenge. His instructor Michael L. modeled his own version – first creating a polygon for the spinner and then combining it with cylinders and edge textures. Some smoothing and little more texturing, plus a small animation, completed the project!

Thanks for sharing your work, Dariusz! The spinner-cum-throwing star looks amazing, and you and Michael L. clearly enjoyed experimenting with different ways to bring models to life in Maya. We look forward to hearing more from both of you!