The H&K USC Carbine tutorial starts with a look at reference material to get you going before heading into Maya and setting up image planes ready for modelling. The model is primarily blocked out using poly cubes as a guide to the placement of each individual part.
Moving on from the blocking, the rifle is then split into its own separate sections (like the real thing) and modelled accordingly. The entire rifle is made from polys, using the Maya toolbox in a very minimal way, selecting and using mainly the split edge ring tool and the split poly tool. The latter section of the tutorial covers a brief explanation of the uv mapping tools to guide the modeller in setting up the model for texturing. After a brief overview of this section, the model is then set up for rendering using some built in maya shaders before heading into Mental Ray for final rendering.
