Recommendation: NSDT scene editor helps you quickly build 3D application scenes that can be redeveloped
step 1. Create a sphere on the top viewport with the following settings:
step 2. Convert a sphere to an editable poly:
Step 3. Go to the Edge sub-object level and cut the following edges:
Step 4. Select the following edges, then press Ctrl-Backspace to delete edges (holding Ctrl also deletes vertices).
Step 5. Switch to the Vertex sub-object level and select the vertices shown in the image below, then scale them down on the Y axis to bring them closer together.
Step 6. Select the two vertices shown in the image below, and zoom in on them on the Y axis to separate them further.
Step 7. Switch to the left viewport and select the 4 vertices shown below and move them up.
Step 8. Choose a TurboSmooth or MeshSmooth modifier from the Modifier List, and set Iterations to 2.
I enabled contour display for the TurboSmooth modifier, but it's not required.
Step 9. Switch to the Vertex sub-object level again and move the center top vertex up a bit.
Step 10. Open to display the end result. This will allow you to see if the ball will become round in the next steps. Select 21 vertices, as shown in the image below:
Step 11. Zoom in on the vertex selection on the Y axis to separate them further so the ball becomes round again.
Step 12. The ball doesn't need to be 100% smooth yet, it may have a small bump or indentation as these will disappear as we add more detail. But make sure the ball is at least round and not egg shaped. For best results, you can add a second sphere of the same size but with 32 segments at the same location as a reference sphere. If you can do this "manually", you can skip this step and the next two steps. Starting at the center of the first sphere, create a second sphere on the left viewport, and you'll see something like this:
Step 13. Press F3 to turn on shading in the viewport, and your sphere should look like the image below (the green sphere is the second sphere we created as a reference):
If you only see one sphere, increase or decrease the size of the second sphere until they partially overlap. As you can see in the image above, we need to move the top of the ball down a bit to make it rounder, which we will do in the next step. Use F3 to toggle shading on and off as you perform these steps so you can view the results in both wireframe and shaded versions.
Step 14. The goal is to make sure the balls overlap an almost equal amount on the top half of the ball. Select Sphere01 again and press F3 to switch back to wireframe view. Go to Vertex mode, select 37 vertices as shown in the image below, and move them down a bit.
Step 15. As shown in the image below, select 21 vertices, move them down a bit, and zoom in a bit. Toggle F3 to check the result. You should end up with something similar to the following:
Step 16. When you're happy with the roundness of the top half of the ball, select all the polygons on the bottom half of the ball and delete them. Also hides or deletes the reference sphere.
Step 17. Select all other polygons. Snap toggle button by angle. Hold down the Shift button to rotate the polygon selection 180 degrees on the X or Z axis. When you release the mouse button, select Element in the Clone Part of Mesh dialog and press OK.
Step 18. Move the polygon down below the top half of the ball. Rotate (bottom half) 90 degrees on the Y axis (horizontal).
Step 19. Select the bottom row of vertices in the upper half and the top row of vertices in the lower half (see selection rectangle in image below), press the square button next to Weld. Increase Weld Threshold as needed until you have a total of 122 vertices in the model. 32 vertices should be selected before welding and 16 vertices should be selected after welding.
Step 20. Set the Iterations setting of the TurboSmooth or MeshSmooth modifier to 1. Right-click on the modifier and choose Collapse All.
Step 21. After collapsing the stack, the object becomes an editable mesh, so we need to convert it to an editable poly again. Right-click Editable Mesh and select Convert to Editable Poly below the options:
Step 22. Switch to the "Top" viewport, select the edge shown below, and press the Loop button (or ALT-L).
Step 23. Click the small box next to the "To Chamfer" button, set the Bevel Amount to 3, and press Apply.
Then change the Bevel Amount to 0.3 and press OK.
Step 24. Select the edge as shown in the image below, then press the Loop button (or ALT-L), then chamfer the edge loop in the same way as in the previous step, first using a Bevel Amount of 3, then 0.3.
Step 25. Select the edge as shown in the image below, then press the Loop button (or ALT-L), then chamfer the edge loop the same way you did in the previous step, first with a Bevel Amount of 3, then with 0.3.
Step 26. Select the edges shown below and press the Loop button (or ALT-L).
Step 27. Right-click the viewport and choose Convert to Face. Press the shrink button.
Step 28. Press the small square button next to the ramp button. Enable the Local Normal option, set the Height value to -0.5, set the Outline Amount to -0.1, and press Apply.
Step 29. Change the Height value to -0.4 and the Outline value to 0.6 and press OK.
Step 30. Press the "Grow" button.
Step 31. Press the M key to open the material editor, change the diffuse color of the first material to black and assign it to the selected polygon.
Step 32. Choose Invert Selection from the Edit menu (or press CTRL-i) and assign an orange material to the selected polygons. Set the Specular Level to 25 and the Glossiness to 15.
Step 33. Press F3 to turn on shading in the viewport. Assign a TurboSmooth or MeshSmooth modifier and set Iterations to 1.
Step 34. Add a Noise Map to the Bump slot of the orange material and set the Size value to 1.0 in the Noise Parameters section. Finally, render your basketball:
This tutorial was originally created for 3Dvalley.com. You may not redistribute this tutorial in any form.
Original link: 3Ds max graphic tutorial: high-precision basketball 3D modeling (mvrlink.com)