Modular Modeling and Assembly Tips and Tricks

In this tutorial, I'll share valuable tips and tricks for modeling and assembling a building using modular assets. While I am utilizing Maya for this tutorial, these methods can be done with any 3D software.
I'll point out a handful of tips such as maintaining pivots to ensure proper alignment and proportions. Additionally, I'll demonstrate the assembly process that went into this building.

[@psubst9054]

Great tutorial! Thank you for sharing!

[@chienao9360]

thanks for another great tips for a beginner like me.

[@KurtBernardin]

I’m glad these videos have been helpful for you.

[@jeronimocollares320]

Nice!

[@troyacarpenter]

This was a great video on the nuts and bolts of modular building. I notice you didn't use any of the corner pieces in the assembly part. That part was a tad confusing, but other than that, well done video.

[@NickEnchev]

Thank you for showing this. I notice in a lot of modular asset videos, many people don't seem to use "duplicate special" to create instanced versions of their modular assets, which strikes me as odd since. Do you have any thoughts on when you prefer to instance vs make copies of meshes?

[@KurtBernardin]

There's actually a tool that can easily switch things between a copy or an instance so you don't have to worry about committing to one way or the other. I have a video on this here: czcams.com/video/Fb4meOO6D48/video.html

[@NickEnchev]

@@KurtBernardinThat looks like a very useful tool...after you've made the mistake of not using instances :)

[@ailovemygf]

Greetings, first of all thanks for the video. Do we use different material for each mesh or one material for all of them, like trimm sheet?

[@KurtBernardin]

I think that's entirely dependent on the needs of the project. A trim sheet would be the most optimized way to set this up. For this particular building, I only setup four materials (seamless brick, seamless concrete, seamless black metal, and glass). If I were to push this further, I would probably add some additional unique props that would require their own unique materials.

[@mudoglu]

In combo with Bifrost the assembly could be automated! Have you explored that idea?

[@KurtBernardin]

I’ve never been able to invest enough time into Bifrost to do very much. It’s certainly on my list to learn. Would it made it so I can just type in a number value and it deals with the height/width of the building?

[@mudoglu]

@@KurtBernardin Yes PPG nodes can do that. czcams.com/video/PVBomEk2qw4/video.html

[@KurtBernardin]

@@mudoglu That’s so freaking cool. Thanks for the share. I noticed you have a lot of bifrost content as well. I may have to do a marathon watch thru all your videos.

[@xzeryawilliams2979]

How much would you charge to build modular building/architecture kits (no texturing needed)

[@dogslop3041]

how do you duplicate with equal spacing? (i.e.. time 5:20)

[@KurtBernardin]

Shift-D is the shortcut for "Duplicate with Transform". It mimics the transform you did previously and adds to it. This works with translate, rotate, and scale.