I am coming back to Blender, and this time I decided it was time to make an actual model. For a project, I need to model a tank top, so that’s what I will be doing. In Maya, I would use the target character as a template, and then model the tank top on top of it, using symmetry tools to make sure both sides are the same. My plan is to do the same in Blender.

I have seen some of the work in Blender has to be done via modifiers. There is a Mirror Modifier that can be used to model something with symmetry along an axis. Basically, what I did was to create a cube and then set the origin of the cube to one of the vertices, so the Mirror would use that vertex as the pivot point for the symmetry. I am learning all these things via tutorials on YouTube, and the authors use a lot of shortcuts to make their operations. Shortcuts only work when you are using Blender with its default navigation model (not the “Industry Standard” mode). For this reason, I had to switch to the Blender navigation mode and use my 3D mouse.

The first thing I did was to simply test how the Mirror works. I added the Mirror Modifier and then I added some edge loops to one of the sides, and saw the edges were added to the other side automatically. I also moved vertices around, and saw the vertices on the opposite side also moved.

After that test, I decided to just jump into creating the tank top. I began to add loops and move vertices around until I had the rough shape of the tank top. After that, I deleted some faces to create the holes of the top and then I used the Knife tool to soften the transition between the main part of the outfit and the suspenders.

I then adjusted the bottom part, to make it fit better the under-boob area, and added more edge loops to make the overall shape better.

And then I added a Subdivision Modifier to make the entire model smoother. As expected, the smoothing causes some parts to go back into the skin, but that is easily fixed by moving vertices. Another thing I notice is that I need to add more edges around the lower part, to make the crease of the under-boob look better.

I decided to add UVs to the model, and I used a simple unwrap followed by a mirror (since the original model was the result of a Mirror Modifier). One thing I didn’t quite like is how Blender seems to lack a UV symmetry operation. I found some work-arounds to this issue, like using UV mirroring and also some add-ons in the Blender Marketplace, but I think that’s way too many extra steps when, in Maya, I can simply select half of the object and add symmetry to the UVs along an axis.

Next, I will work on adding extra details to a higher-resolution model, so I can then bake normal maps for the tank top.