Re: A pumpkin
Hello Frances,
Offhand, I don't know of any great videos for the SubSurf (Subdivision Surface) modifier, but it's really not hard to understand.
To get an idea... open up a new scene and add a cube (or use the one that comes up automatically, if you still have the default scene loading at the beginning). Select this cube and make it smooth and then press Ctrl-2. Look what happened to your cube!!!
In the image below, they are all just cubes with SubSurf level 2 applied. The difference is ONLY in where the control loops are placed. (See why they're called control loops?) The left one has no control loops. The middle one has 2 vertical and 2 horizontal towards the middle. The right one has the same control loops as the middle one, except they are much closer to the edges of the cube. Making a rounded edge cube in modeling takes some effort. Doing it this way takes almost no effort and gives you continuous control!
Using SubSurf modifiers allow you to make curvy, organic shapes and generally smooths out blocky shapes.
In the following image, the right one is a copy of the left one, but smoothed and with SubSurf (level 2) modifier added. See that for shapes/objects that have a strong rounded, curving quality, the SubSurf modifier gets you there much more quickly and generally produces better looking shapes than if you tried to recreate it strictly through modeling. Look at the one on the right. You can see that it might take a lot of fiddling in the modeler to make that shape. Looking at the one on the left, you can see how easy that one was, just adding the SubSurf (and smoothing) and voila!
Below is one more example. The right object is the same as the left object, but with smoothing and SubSurf (level 3) modifier added (along with some control loops).
I'm sure your imagination has already started spinning with ways that this can be used. This is one of the most useful of all modifiers...
Hope this helps!
James
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