hi guys im a newbie so bear with the question im going to ask… im modelling a vintage car...uhhmmm a mustang… so what i did was create an image plane (front and side) then i created a polygonal plane and traced the shape by moving the vertices and cutting the faces. after i finish modelling on the side view im finding it hard to extrude it to the front view because there are so many vertices that when i extrude it there are so many vertices and face. am i doing it correctly? could you give me more detailed tips? it would be a great help! happy new year and thank you… hoping for your helpful reply guys!

The ‘trace and extrude’ method can work if you just keep in mind that you should trace using the absolute fewest points possible.
I would suggest giving the Create Polygon Tool a try found under Mesh. (check out maya help if you need some info on using it.) This will give you one face with lots of verts that you can connect using the Split Polygon Tool.
Don’t try to get each and every detail in your orginal tracing...beacuse as you found out you will end up with way too many verts.
It is easier to add detail than to take it away.
So, I would suggest retracing the side view with half the number of points than you used before...then try tracing it again with half the number of points again.
You can keep doing this till you see just how few points you need to define the shape of an object.
This is is good way to start seeing how verts and edges define the shape of the mesh.
Take the time to make sure the overall shape of the body is spot on, because this will be 90% of what makes the final model ring true.
Think of all the details and extras as the icing on the cake.

Keep in mind, when starting out it’s hard to throw your work away and start again...but it is a good lesson to learn.
The work will always be better if you re-attack a challenge from the start, instead of trying to make your first attempt work.
The true method of how to get solid results the first time is often lost in all of the extra steps you took.

All the best with your work.
~Ben

thank you for the reply… so im doing the right procedure but just too many vertices? saw ur 3d demo...wow ur good! thank man!