Modeling
Module Overview
| Est. time | ~60 minutes |
| Type | Skill — evidence-grade modeling |
| Prerequisites | Module 02 — Data & Methodology |
| Read first | Modeling Fundamentals — the workflow, techniques, and mindset |
Description
Building in an investigation is not building in film or games: a cinematic model only needs to look right from the filmed angles, but an investigative model needs to measure right from every angle, because the whole point is that it can be checked. This module covers the modeling workflow and the core techniques — a survey, with the deep detail on the reference pages you'll return to as your cases demand.
What You'll Be Able to Do
By the end of this module you will be able to:
- Follow the investigator's modeling workflow — reference first, scale and origin, block-out to detail, verify against source
- Choose the right technique for the job (reference, direct, boolean, precision, mesh repair)
- Keep your work reversible with non-destructive modeling
- Model simple evidence-grade geometry you can defend
What's Inside
This module is organized as the modeling mindset and workflow, applied through the core techniques:
The orientation to the whole module: the investigator’s modeling workflow, the techniques you will reach for, the non-destructive habit that runs through it all, and a room-scale exercise to ground it.
You'll learn: The mindset that separates investigative modeling from cinematic modeling — measure right, not just look right.
Geometry comes to be in three broad ways — by hand, by algorithm, or by capture — and a real reconstruction usually blends them. Knowing which generator produced which part of the scene is part of documenting the method.
You'll learn: The three ways geometry is generated, and how to choose the right one for each part of a scene.
Reconstruction is not a straight pipeline. Techniques collide, scales mix, and the scene gets quickly messy. Managing that complexity is a deliberate skill: choose techniques on purpose and be able to say why.
You'll learn: A decision framework for selecting and combining techniques without the scene falling apart.
A destructive edit is permanent; a non-destructive one is a decision you can revisit. Investigation work lives or dies on reversibility, because new evidence will arrive and the model has to absorb it.
You'll learn: Why non-destructive modeling is a core habit, and how to manage the point at which you commit geometry.
Modeling runs in phases — from ground-truth block-out to committed detail — and each phase is a version. That version history is the chain of custody: it shows the reasoning, not just the result.
You'll learn: How the phased workflow, with versioning, keeps a reconstruction defensible end to end.
Knowledge Check
Test your understanding of the module before moving on. Ten questions with immediate feedback; the question order and options reshuffle on every attempt.
Modeling
Check the mindset and fundamentals — purpose-driven modeling, the technique spectrum, and the phased workflow.
Resources
- Modeling Fundamentals — the module's intro and mindset
- Foundation Syllabus — where this module sits in the course
Sources
- Blender Official Site: download, requirements, and project home