u/EIiteMastermind

Hi all, there's this Eurovision trophy model that I've been slowly working on in Maya as a side project and I'm generally happy with the blockout I have so far (with some minor tweaks needed). I have the free time to work on it more frequently now, but before that I thought I'd ask how more experienced 3D modellers would go about doing it themselves since I've still got a lot to learn.

The thing I have the biggest issue with is all the detailing/displacement on the microphone part. My 3 ideas for doing this are:

- Just modelling all the indentations manually with real topology and having that be the final model.

- Only modelling a high poly of which the detail would then be baked onto a flat, really low poly microphone like the one I have now.

- Skipping the step during the modelling phase and then doing it in a texturing software, like Substance Painter, with the use of normal & height/displacement maps.

Would one of those methods be the right way to go about it, or am I missing a better idea? Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks for your time!

Current model

Current model (wireframe)

Collection of real life reference

High quality reference 1

\"High\" quality reference 2

Hey, this is going to be a bit of a long one. A few days ago, I was quite bored and waiting for the world's game mode to release. I was playing FIFA and decided I'd try doing another tournament mode, something that I have a lot of fun doing and is probably my 2nd most played aspect of the FC games behind only manager career.

The 50+ new nations had already come out by then, and the mod I was using happened to have all of those nations available in tournament mode which wasn't the case on vanilla FC, so I took the opportunity to simulate a 2026 FIFA World Cup if the swap to 48 teams never happened. I used a post on the r/soccer subreddit titled "How would 2026 World Cup look like if it only had 32 teams? Brief analysis" to get the teams I needed, then sorted them all into the pots based on the FIFA World Rankings as of November 19th 2025, the same as the one used for the real tournament, and then used a random number generator to sort them into all of the groups (yes, even Group C).

Now sit back, relax, and let me tell you the story of (title drop) via the use of images, captions & goal video clips (only for the latter stages of the tournament as unfortunately I can't upload more than 5)

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The draw process for my FIFA World Cup, done on the trusty Microsoft Excel.

Conclusion of MD1 of the group stage, with the most notable results being Turkiye's win against Brazil, Argentina v Austria ending in a draw, and perhaps Belgium's pummelling of Scotland.

Following the end of MD2, we get our first batch of eliminated teams, coloured in red, as well as some teams that have secured advancement to the RO16, but were still fighting for the top spot in their group. Keep a particular close eye out on groups A, B & E.

MD3 ends, and so does the group stage. Switzerland's calm win over Uzbekistan puts them above Germany, who only managed to draw against hosts Mexico and therefore get knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages 3 years in a row. Brazil end any hopes of Croatia doing the same to them, and Uruguay's & Korea Rep's wins see them leapfrog Canada and knock the hosts out of the tournament. Belgium ends their group run on 12 goals scored and none conceded.

How the knockout round shapes up following the end of the group stage. Due to FC tournaments scrambling teams up for the knockout stage, I decided that I would continue the rest of the tournament in Kick Off mode, meaning I could no longer simulate any games and had to watch them all and track all statistics myself.

Before starting the group stages, I decided I would first try predicting the rest of the tournament and see how wrong I was at the end. I had Switzerland billed as the primary dark horse, thinking they could continue the momentum of knocking Germany out and doing the same to two more footballing giants. Considering what the final in my predictions ended up being however, I was hoping that I would in fact be wrong, but let's see!

I managed to get through the RO16 in a couple of days, and successfully didn't forget to note down goals or assists for any of the matches. The results were all pretty unsurprising for the most part but there were a few big teams departing early, namely Portugal, the Netherlands & Brazil. Hosts USA also see their journey end following a loss to England while Mexico continue to go strong. Norway takes Argentina to extra time in a goalfest before eventually falling short.

Benfica winger Dodi Lukebadio embarrasses Portuguese defender Ruben Dias giving Belgium a big win over Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in (at this point hopefully) his final World Cup. They will face Mexico in the Quarter Finals.

We're really getting into the good stuff now with the conclusion of the quarter finals of the World Cup. Belgium knocks out the last remaining hosts Mexico, Turkiye beats France in a huge upset only few would ever dare to predict and England knocks Uruguay out courtesy of a last second Jude Bellingham winner. Belgium v Turkiye, England v Spain, who's going to the World Cup final?

Kenan Yildiz makes an utter fool out of Jules Kounde (as many have last season) confirming Turkiye's win over France in a statement of intent. Will they be able to match or even beat their third place finish in 2002? They'll have to get past Belgium, who are still yet to concede at this World Cup.

Belgium goes out of the World Cup without conceding a single goal! Turkiye beat the Red Devils on penalty kicks to cement their place in the World Cup final for the first time ever. While England have been there before, they reach the World Cup final for the first time in 60 years. Many English 'golden generations' failed to get this far, can this one go even further? Spain beats Belgium in the 3rd placed playoff.