I decided to model a simple chest I found off Home Depot:

Here’s how the finished chest turned out:

Oh, what’s THAT?

I missed grouping this rouge piece in with the rest of the chest. Glad I caught this and fixed it.

There we go.

You’ll notice the latch is properly raised on the lid of the box, as it’s been animated to do that when the box opens.

Wireframe shots:

Video:

Shadowed:

Wireframe:

Challenges:

If I even blink, something happens in Maya that I don’t end up catching until way later in the game. For example, the straps on the lid of the chest are gone.

The extrude tool and I became close friends very quickly. I also beat up a lot on my W, E, R, and Z keys as those became super useful and quick to help.