Chapter 4
Modeling in 3ds Max: Part I
Modeling in 3D programs is akin to sculpting or carpentry; you essentially create objects out of shapes and forms. No matter how you look at it, even a complex model is just an amalgam of simpler parts. The successful modeler can dissect a form down to its components and translate them into surfaces and meshes.
3ds Max’s modeling tools are incredibly strong for polygonal modeling. The focus of this book will be on polygonal modeling because the majority of 3ds Max models are created with polygons. In addition to mechanical models, in this book you will model an organic low polygon count model—a soldier fit for a game—and use that model to animate a character with Character Studio.
In this chapter, you will learn modeling concepts and how to use 3ds Max modeling toolsets. You will also tackle two different models to get a sense of a workflow using 3ds Max.
Topics in this chapter include the following:
- Planning your model
- Modeling concepts
- Modifiers and the modifier stack
- Look at the mesh you got us into!
- Editable Poly tools
- Modeling a chest of drawers
The most important thing to know before you begin to model is exactly what you are going to model. That sounds obvious, but it’s true. You need to think about your model and gather as many references as you can. The best training is simply by observing the core elements and forms that make up objects in everyday life. Learn how to dissect things around you into component shapes that you can picture in a 3D window. When you look at a barbell, for example, you should see several cylinders connected to each other. When you see an office chair, you should see a few boxes and cylinders arranged and rounded at the edges. When you begin to see objects in this manner, the idea of modeling them may not seem quite as daunting.
“Yeah, but all my friends can sit down and model anything they want.” Be that as it may, if you are a novice to 3D, surround yourself with references. Even if you are not new to 3D or to modeling, you should surround yourself with as many references as you can. Not having a clear picture in your head of where you need to go for your model will just aggravate the process and give you a slack result.
Take pictures all around the proposed object. Get the dimensions, sizes, angles, and slopes of the surfaces of your subject. You could even try to re-create the object in a different medium. Try sketching the subject, or grab some children’s Play-Doh or a plate of mashed potatoes and make a rough sculpture. It may seem like a lot of effort to build something trivial, but it will pay off in the long run.
But enough of that old lecture.
Your first question should be, “How detailed should I make the model?” As you may have read in the first chapter, it’s always a good idea to match the level of detail for a model to what is needed in the shot. If you are featuring the object up close and personal, then you should take care to build it with extra detail, adding as many polygons as it takes to make it look good and still be able to render. If, however, the object is far away and half obscured, detailing the heck out of it would be a waste of time. In Figure 4-1, on the left you can see a park bench in a far shot, compared to a view of the bench up close on the right. It would be a waste of effort and time to detail the bench to exacting levels when the bench will be seen only in a far shot.
You should ask yourself what the model will be used for when you are deciding how best to detail it. If you are not sure how the model will be used in the end, it’s generally best to create as much detail as you think necessary. You can always prune down the details later if, for example, your scene ends up very large and will not render quickly enough.
Here’s another thing to confuse you: You can always add detail to a model with texturing. Textures, when applied well, can really turn an otherwise ho-hum model into a spectacular object when rendered. You can easily add details such as grooves, dents, and engravings with special texture maps called bump maps or displacement maps. You will learn about these maps in Chapter 7, “Materials and Mapping.” Don’t worry about these things yet, though. Most people begin by putting all the details they can into their model, and as they gain more experience, they start to realize that some of the modeling work can be deferred until the texturing phase.
Figure 4-1: The level of detail in a model depends on how much of the model is seen.
To get a foothold in modeling, you will need to understand a number of things. If you are not new to CG or are desperate to get started, feel free to skip ahead and start modeling. However, you still might want to peruse this section for some concepts and terms that may make things easier for you in the coming exercises.
Polygons
A polygon is a surface created by connecting three or more points in 3D space. This flat surface connects to other polygons to form more intricate surfaces. In Figure 4-2, you see a sphere. The facets of the sphere are polygons, all connected at common edges at the correct angles and in the proper arrangement to make a sphere.
The points that generate a polygon are called vertices. The lines that connect the points are called edges. If the polygon has three vertices, its surface is called a face. Polygons are made up of triangular faces by design. In the example of the sphere in Figure 4-2, the polygon’s facets all have four vertices.
Figure 4-3 shows the same sphere with one face selected. See how the face is half of the polygon, using three of its vertices.
The more polygons you have in a model, the more detailed it becomes. However, greater numbers of polygons tax your system and take longer to render. This is where the term low-poly modeling originates. In computer or console games, the machine renders the scene on the fly, so its computation requirements are strict. The fewer the polygons in the scene, the faster the game can play back. Games frequently use low-poly models to maximize the effect in their game without sacrificing precious computational cycles.
Figure 4-2: A sphere is composed of polygons.
Figure 4-3: Sphere with one face selected
Higher-resolution models are typically used in television and film, because the scenes are all rendered beforehand and then laid off to video tape or output to film. A computational ceiling is still dictated by the machines that are used in creating the TV or film animations, however, so it is always a good idea to be smart when creating models.
Primitives
Primitives are the basic 3D geometric shapes that are automatically generated by 3D modeling applications. As such, they do not need to be constructed from scratch. A considerable amount of modeling (perhaps most) begins with primitives, which are then edited and used with other primitives to create more complex objects. Use primitives as the core of your object. For example, to sculpt an apple, you might start out with a sphere primitive.
As you can see in Figure 4-4, 3ds Max affords you plenty of primitives to choose from for your original form. All of these primitives have their own parameters for customizing the form to your liking. You have already seen how to create some of these objects in the Mobile exercise in Chapter 2, “Your First 3ds Max Project.”
Figure 4-4: 3ds Max standard and extended primitives
Objects such as the primitives would be useless in 3ds Max if you could not edit them to suit your needs. For example, you could sculpt a sphere into the shape of an apple. To sculpt a surface, you will need to convert your object (such as the sphere for the apple) into an editable object, frequently called a mesh, to get to the object’s component level where you can move points and reshape faces that make up the object or primitive. We will look at that in the next section.
Meshes and Sub-Objects
Once you have chosen a primitive that will best work for your intended model, you begin the modeling process by changing the primitive into a mesh object to access the components of the object with which you will edit the model (such as vertices, faces, etc.).
In 3ds Max, mesh objects are defined by smaller component pieces that form the object as a whole. The smaller components (called sub-objects) can be manipulated to adjust the shape of the object or to form more complex models. Once you convert your object in 3ds Max to an editable object such as a mesh, you can edit using the sub-objects available for that object.
For instance, mesh models break down your object into a number of individual flat surfaces—polygons and faces. With meshes, you can select any of the sub-objects at different component levels—such as the polygons, vertices, or faces of the mesh—to make adjustments while sculpting your model.
In 3ds Max, there are two ways to create a mesh object: by applying a modifier to the base object or primitive or by converting the primitive to a mesh. Both methods give you access to the sub-object level for editing. The one big difference, however, can be critical if you need to edit the base object—for example, if you want to change the radius of a primitive sphere after you start editing it as a mesh. Instead of converting, you are better off using the modifier method because it preserves the original primitive object intact and allows you to modify the object’s original parameters (such as radius for a sphere) even after you begin to edit the mesh.
In this exercise, you will create an object and turn it into a mesh using a modifier. Follow these steps:
1. Create a sphere in a new scene using the Create panel. You will turn this object into a mesh to check out the sub-objects at your disposal.
2. With the sphere selected, switch to the Modify panel. Figure 4-5 shows the newly created sphere. Notice the Sphere heading in the Modifier Stack on the right.
3. With the sphere selected, choose Modifiers ⇒ Mesh Editing ⇒ Edit Poly. This will apply an Edit Poly modifier to the sphere, giving you access to the sub-objects that a mesh affords you.
4. The Modifier Stack will display a heading called Edit Poly. Highlight Edit Poly in the Modifier Stack. You should see something like what is shown in Figure 4-6.
Figure 4-5: The newly created sphere, shown here with Edged Faces turned on, awaits your command.
Figure 4-6: You now have access to the Edit Poly’s sub-object selections and parameters.
5. Under the Selection heading in the Modify panel, select the type of sub-object you would like to begin editing. Choose the first icon (
) for Vertex.
6. As you can see in Figure 4-7, small dots appear on the sphere. They are the vertices you can now select. Choose the Move tool and select one of the vertices on the sphere. Click and drag to move the vertex anywhere to sculpt the surface of the sphere, as shown in Figure 4-7.
Figure 4-7: Adjusting sub-objects such as vertices allows you to sculpt your model.
7. Change your sub-object selection to polygons by choosing the Polygon icon (
) in the Modify panel. The vertices will disappear from the viewport. Change to Edged Faces display mode in the viewport either by clicking in the bracketed Smooth + Highlights label in the upper-left corner of a viewport and selecting Edged Faces or by pressing the F4 shortcut.
8. Click on a polygon to select it. Notice that the polygon turns red in the viewport. Move the selected polygon around to see how the surface of the sphere mesh changes (Figure 4-8).
Figure 4-8: Selecting and playing around with a polygon sub-object on the sphere mesh
9. Try selecting the other sub-object types and changing the shape of the sphere.
10. In the Modifier Stack, click on the original Sphere entry. You will see the warning shown in Figure 4-9.
Figure 4-9: The topography-dependent modifier warning
As you can see, you have greater control over the shape of your model once you access the sub-object levels of an Edit Poly. You’ll see quite a bit of mesh editing in the exercises throughout this book. One exercise you can do now quickly is to try to sculpt a simple cartoon head using nothing but sub-object manipulation on a base sphere.
In some 3D packages, you have inherent access to a model’s components (such as a vertex or face). However, with 3ds Max you will need to either convert created objects into meshes or add the appropriate modifier to create a mesh, as you did in the previous exercise, to manipulate the sub-objects. You will be modeling with meshes later in this chapter, and you will learn other ways to access sub-objects on a model.
Topography-Dependent Warning Message
The Edit modifiers perform operations on the explicit topology of sub-object selections. When a topology-dependent modifier is present on the stack, you can adversely affect its results if you visit previous stack operations and change the number or order of sub-objects (such as polygons or vertices) in the selection. If you try to do this, a warning alerts you to the situation. This simply means some adjustments you make to a modifier before that point in the Modifier Stack may cause issues in the model. So be careful, and if you feel nervous, save your scene before continuing, just in case.
Modifiers and the Modifier Stack
Modifiers, as you have already seen, are a way to edit your objects in 3ds Max. In almost all cases, you can apply several modifiers to an object to get the desired result. In the Modify panel’s Modifier Stack, you can access any of those modifiers to change any of its parameters at any time in your modeling. This is perhaps one of the best aspects of modeling in 3ds Max.
3ds Max has tons of modifiers that accomplish any number of tasks. These tasks need not be limited to editing models, though; many modifiers work well in animation and dynamics chores as well. In this section, we will cover a few modeling-specific modifiers and, more importantly, you will see how the Modifier Stack operates.
Figure 4-10: Box created in the new scene
Applying Modifiers
Let’s take a quick look at how modifiers work on editing objects. In the following steps, you will apply a few modifiers to an object.
1. In a new scene, create a tall box in the Perspective viewport, as shown here. The box should have a height of 45, with a width and length of 20, as seen in Figure 4-10.
2. With the box selected, choose Modifiers ⇒ Parametric Deformers ⇒ Twist. The box should now have an orange outline, and Twist should appear in the Modifier Stack. Go to the Modify panel to see the Modifier Stack, as shown in Figure 4-11. Click Twist in the Modifier Stack to access its parameters.
3. Click the Angle spinner and drag the mouse to increase the angle to 240 or so. As you can see in Figure 4-12, the box gets completely strange. You can see the box twist pretty nicely at first, but the higher the Angle on the Twist, the more shearing the box will undergo, to the point where it no longer resembles what a twisted box should look like.
Figure 4-11: The Twist modifier is now applied to the box. You can still access the original parameters of the box.
4. The box is suffering from a case of low definition, meaning the box does not have enough segments to handle the twist deformation without turning inside out. You will need to add more segments to the box for a smoother twist effect. In the Modifier Stack, click Box to access the parameters for the box, before the Twist modifier.
5. To better see the effect of adding more segments to the box, enable Edged Faces in the viewport.
6. Click the Length Segs parameter spinner and increase the value to 4. Increase the Width Segs to 4 and the Height Segs to 16. As you increase the segments in the original box, the Twist modifier takes on a much nicer shape. Figure 4-13 shows the box with more segments.
7. You can increase the segments as much you prefer; however, it’s best to use the fewest number of segments that will give you the desired result. Increasing the number of segments essentially increases the polygons in the surface.
8. Now add another modifier to the box. With the box selected, highlight the Box entry in the Modifier Stack. Choose Modifiers ⇒ Parametric Deformers ⇒ Spherify. Your box should look like a ball (Figure 4-14). Neat!
Figure 4-12: The box is twisted out of shape.
Figure 4-13: Adding more segments to the box makes the deformation from the Twist modifier smoother.
Figure 4-14: Spherify the box.
9. Play with the Spherify modifier’s only parameter (Percent) to see how the twisted box can turn into a sphere. Although this is kind of a neat trick, you don’t really need this modifier, so go ahead and remove it from the stack. In the Modifier Stack, click the Spherify entry and click the Trash Can icon (
) at the bottom of the Modifier List, as shown in Figure 4-15. This will remove the Spherify modifier without harming anything else, and it will return the box to its twisted state.
Figure 4-15: Click the Trash Can icon to remove unwanted modifiers from stack.
Modifiers are powerful editing and animation tools. Take some time to play around in a scene such as the one from the previous exercise. Apply different deformers to objects and see what they do. It’s really best to learn by experience sometimes. The Parametric Deformer modifiers are especially fun to play with, as you can see.
You have not seen the last of modifiers in this book; they are an integral part of the 3ds Max workflow, and we will use them throughout this book. We will take another look at the Modifier Stack in the next section.
Modifier Stack with a Side of Maple Syrup
The Modifier Stack displays the modifiers added to any objects. It gives you access to any of the parameters for the modifiers applied to the object, as well as the original parameters of the object itself. When working with the Modifier Stack, you can access several options through the icons below the stack itself, as shown in Figure 4-16.
Pin Stack If you want to freeze the display on the Modify panel controls on the currently selected object, click this icon. Pin Stack locks the stack and all the controls in the panel so that you can see that object’s stack even while you have other objects selected in the scene.
Show End Result On/Off Toggle When on, it shows the effect of the entire stack on the selected object. When off, it shows the effect of the stack only up to the currently highlighted modifier.
Make Unique With a certain type of object duplication (instancing), making any adjustments to the instanced copy also reflects in the original object. Make Unique separates the objects and disallows a shared adjustment, so if you apply a modifier to an instanced copy, it will not reflect in the original object when Make Unique is applied.
Figure 4-16: The Modifier Stack’s controls
Remove modifier from stack This deletes the current modifier from the stack, eliminating all changes caused by that modifier.
Configure Modifier Sets This displays a menu that allows you to configure the display of the Modify panel and choose which modifiers will be available to you directly from the Modify panel, without having to access the drop-down list.
Sub-object icon The plus or minus icon to the left of the modifier name signifies that you have access to the sub-object (or sub-modifier) levels.
Lightbulb icon This turns the effect of the modifier on and off. This is very useful for troubleshooting and verifying the effect of a particular modifier in a stack.
Order in the Stack
Unless changed, the Modifier Stack contains a history of an object’s modifiers in the order they were applied. The Modifier Stack is read and applied to the object from the bottom going up, with the original object’s entry at the very bottom. As you can imagine, the order in which you stack your modifiers is very important. You can get very different results from the same objects with the same modifiers in a different order.
Fortunately, changing the order of modifiers in the stack is very easy. In the Modifier Stack, click the modifier you want to move and drag it to its new position in the stack. As you drag the mouse button, a blue line will demarcate where in the stack the modifier will be placed.
For example, you can start with a cylinder and apply the Bend modifier (Modifiers ⇒ Parametric Deformers ⇒ Bend) to the cylinder first, as shown in Figure 4-17.
Figure 4-17: A cylinder with the Bend modifier applied
Now if you want to pinch in or taper the bent side of the cylinder, you can add a Taper modifier (Modifiers ⇒ Parametric Deformers ⇒ Taper) to the stack and change the amount of –0.65. The results won’t look the way you would expect, as you can see in Figure 4-18.
Figure 4-18: Trying to taper the bent side of the cylinder does not work with the Taper modifier—yet.
Now go to the Modifier Stack, click and drag the Taper modifier, and move it below the Bend modifier (Figure 4-19). These are the results you want to see. You want to bend the taper, not taper the bend. Using this principle will help you figure out how to order the modifiers in the stack.
Figure 4-19: This is the way it’s supposed to look.
Look at the Mesh You Got Us Into!
As you saw earlier in this chapter, to access the sub-object level of objects, you will need to turn them into a mesh. You’ve seen how you can add an Edit Mesh modifier to an object so you can begin to sculpt the surface using vertices and faces. There are tons of editing tools inherent in meshes.
When you create a mesh from an object, you not only have access to the sub-objects of that object, but you also have access to a host of tools to allow you to edit the surface. How do you get into a mesh? There are at least four different ways that give more or less the same result: by adding a modifier (either Edit Mesh or Edit Poly), or by converting to either an Editable Mesh or an Editable Poly. We will primarily use the Poly methods throughout the book.
Converting versus Adding a Modifier
You can add the Edit Poly modifier to an object, or you can convert to an Editable Poly. Converting to an Editable Poly and adding an Edit Poly modifier are roughly the same; they both host the same toolset and allow you the same sub-object levels for the mesh. To experiment with the modifier method, try this exercise:
1. Create two spheres in a new scene, and place them side by side, as shown in Figure 4-20.
Figure 4-20: Two spheres side by side
2. Select the sphere on the left and apply an Edit Poly modifier to it (choose Modifiers ⇒ Mesh Editing ⇒ Edit Poly).
3. Select the sphere on the right and convert it to an Editable Poly by right-clicking on the sphere’s entry in the Modifier Stack. From the right-click menu, choose Editable Poly under the Convert To: heading, as shown in Figure 4-21.
Figure 4-21: Choosing Convert To: Editable Poly in the Modifier Stack right-click menu
4. Take turns clicking back and forth between the two spheres. You should notice very little difference in the toolsets in the Modify tab. Figure 4-22 shows the Modify panel for the sphere with the Edit Poly modifier, and Figure 4-23 shows the Modify panel for the Editable Poly sphere.
Figure 4-22: The Modify Panel for the sphere with the Edit Poly modifier
Figure 4-23: The Modify Panel for the sphere that is converted to an Editable Poly
5. Notice that the Editable Poly sphere no longer has the same Modifier Stack entries. This sphere now displays as Editable Poly in the Modifier Stack. You should also note that the Editable Poly sphere has a rollout called Surface Properties at the bottom of the Modify panel. Aside from those two issues, the modifier and the conversion are exactly the same.
The convert method has its own advantages, however. Converting to an Editable Poly, as opposed to applying the Edit Poly modifier, saves memory and is more efficient because 3ds Max doesn’t have to save the base object’s parameter information. However, using the modifier gives you a little bit of comfort if you have commitment issues, because you can always go back to the original object and remove the Edit Poly modifier at any time. You cannot reconvert an Editable Poly back to its original object.
Mesh versus Poly
In 3ds Max you can also edit sub-objects for a mesh as we did above by using the Edit Mesh modifier or by converting to an Editable Mesh (as opposed to the Edit Poly modifier or the Editable Poly conversion you have already seen). How do you decide which of these four operations to use? Well, so far you have not seen the Edit Mesh modifier or the Editable Mesh conversion because a more up-to-date toolset for sub-object tools is obtained through the Edit Poly modifier or Editable Poly procedures, and it is the preferred way to go for many 3ds Max artists.
The next question is whether to use the Edit Poly modifier or to convert to an Editable Poly in your workflow. We have shown you both because they are both good to know, and you should understand the similarities and differences in how they function. Having said that, we’ll concentrate on the Edit Poly modifier and Editable Poly for this chapter’s exercises.
The Edit Poly modifier gives you plenty of controls to edit an object.
The differences between mesh and poly are few. An Editable Mesh gives you a sub-object level called faces, which are polygons with just three edges (they have three vertices). Figure 4-24 shows you faces on a box object.
Figure 4-24: Polygon faces on this box have three edges or sides, making them triangular. A polygon on this box has four edges or sides, making it a square.
When modeling with an Editable Mesh (or through the Edit Mesh modifier), having faces gives you an inner edge where the faces meet along the center of the polygon. The inner edge can cause all kinds of problems even when you are working in Poly mode. An Editable Poly is similar to an Editable Mesh, but it gives you access to four-sided polygons instead of faces. It also hosts a slew of other, more refined tools and selection options.
In addition, the toolsets found in the Edit Poly/Editable Poly methods are more fleshed out than those in the Edit Mesh/Editable Mesh method and have been updated more, so they will give you slightly more options. Furthermore, the major difference between the toolsets in the Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier is that you have inherent access to Subdivision modeling on the Editable Poly.
In the next section, you will learn more about the Edit Poly modifier and the Editable Poly.
Edit Poly/Editable Poly Tools
In this section, you will explore further the actual toolsets in the Edit Poly/Editable Poly world. Most of these toolsets will also apply to the toolsets you will find in the Edit Mesh/Editable Mesh world as well, although some may be used slightly differently. In either case, using an Edit Poly modifier or an Editable Poly is preferred.
Similarly, the toolset in an Editable Poly is very similar to those found with the Edit Poly modifier; here is a rundown of the rollouts and toolsets you will find for the Editable Poly. (Many cross over for the Edit Poly modifier as well.)
When you convert a primitive to an Editable Poly, you can see the controls for manipulating an object at sub-object levels in the Modify panel interface. They are very similar to the sub-objects you learned about earlier in the book with the Edit Poly modifier. In all, there are six rollouts (as shown in Figure 4-25). The main ones are Selection, Edit Geometry, and Subdivision Surface.
Figure 4-25: The six rollouts for the Editable Poly
Selection Rollout
The Selection rollout contains tools used to access different levels of the object’s sub-objects and their display in the viewport. You can also find information about the selected components in this rollout, as shown in Figure 4-26.
Figure 4-26: The Selection rollout for an Editable Poly
When you first create an Editable Poly and access the Modify tab, you are in the Object level, meaning you will edit the entire object. By clicking the different sub-object–level icons at the top of this rollout (see Figure 4-27), you can access the different selection levels as well as their relevant tools. Deselecting the icon will return you to the Object selection level.
Figure 4-27: The sub-object icons for an Editable Poly
You can also select the desired sub-object level by clicking the plus sign (+) next to the Editable Poly entry in the Modifier Stack and selecting one of the entries, as shown Figure 4-28.
Figure 4-28: Editable Poly sub-object levels
Here are the different sub-object levels for an Editable Poly:
Vertex Vertices define the structure of other sub-objects that make up the poly. They are simply points in space. However, when a vertex is moved, the geometry that they form is changed accordingly. While your Editable Poly is selected, you can press 1 on the keyboard to select the Vertex level.
Edge The line connecting two vertices together is an edge and therefore creates the side of a polygon. Edges can be shared by only two polygons. Press 2 to enter Edge level.
Border A border is the edge of a hole. A surface’s edge contains polygons that are not flanked by other polygons; in essence, they are on the edge of the surface. The row of edges on the perimeter of that surface is the border. You can invoke Border level by pressing 3.
Polygon A polygon is a flat shape created by connecting three or more vertices, forming a closed shape. Polygons are what actually render when you output your scene in rendering. Press 4 to enter the Polygon level.
Element An element is one of two or more individual mesh objects (that is, groups of contiguous polygons) grouped together into one larger object. For example, if you attach one box to another, you create one mesh object from the two boxes. Each box is now an element of the object. Any function you perform on that object affects all its elements. However, you can manipulate the elements independently at the Element sub-object level. When you attach two or more meshes together, for example, the object becomes a larger single object in 3ds Max. However, the original meshes attached to each other are still accessible as elements of the larger grouped object. Press 5 to enter the Element level.
The Selection rollout has a few options that will help you quickly alter your selection to better suit your needs. The following covers a few of the important selection options:
By Vertex When you click the check box, you can select sub-objects by selecting the vertex they are near. This feature is grayed out when you are in Vertex mode.
Ignore Backfacing When you click the check box you can select only the sub-objects that are facing you. With the default, which is off, you can select any sub-object(s) that are facing you. Think of it like selecting a dot on an orange. With Ignore Backfacing turned on, you can select a dot only on the side of the orange you can see. With Ignore Backfacing off, you can select any dot—even if it is on the side of the orange that’s away from you.
By Angle When you select a polygon with By Angle enabled, 3ds Max will also select the neighboring polygons based on the value given for the angle in the text box next to this check box. This value determines the maximum angle between neighboring polygons that may be selected.
Shrink When you have made a sub-object selection but you feel the selection is too wide, use Shrink. Shrink will deselect the outermost sub-objects to shrink your selection.
Grow Conversely, you can make a small selection of sub-objects and use Grow to increase the selection area outward in all available directions.
Loop Once you select an edge, you can propagate that selection to all the edges continuously around the mesh object by clicking the Loop button. The entire loop of edges is selected in the image on the right in Figure 4-29.
Ring Similar to the Loop function, Ring propagates an edge selection to the ring of edges perpendicular to the edge selected. In Figure 4-29, the left image shows a single edge selection. In Figure 4-30, the edges are selected with the Ring function.
Figure 4-29: Selected Edge (left) and Selected Edge Loop (right)
Figure 4-30: Edges selected with the Ring function
Soft Selection Rollout
As you already know, a regular selection selects only what you pick in the viewport for editing. You can, however, create a soft selection (rollout shown in Figure 4-31), where a falloff effect emanates from your selection area toward the unselected sub-objects. In this case, the unselected sub-objects gain a partial selection value that is displayed in the viewports as a color gradient on the vertices or faces. When you apply a transform—for example, if you move the soft selection—the actual selection will transform at a 1:1 ratio, while the falloff area of the soft selection will react at a lesser ratio according to the gradient falloff. This is similar to picking up a tablecloth with two fingers. The cloth between the two fingers is the full selection, while the cloth around the fingers falls off and does not lift up off the table as high as your fingers.
Figure 4-31: The Soft Selection rollout
You can adjust the amount of falloff using the Falloff, Pinch, and Bubble parameters. In Figure 4-32, a sphere’s vertices are being pulled outward with a soft selection. The area in the falloff, as you can see, is smoothly holding back as the main selection vertices are pulling out. The sphere in the back of the viewport in Figure 4-32 has a vertex pulled out without the benefit of a soft selection.
Figure 4-32: Front sphere with Soft Selection enabled and back sphere without Soft Selection enabled
Edit (Sub-Object) Rollout
This rollout provides tools for editing the sub-object of your poly object. There are tools that are specific to the particular sub-object and ones that are the same for all sub-objects. The rollout heading name changes to reflect the sub-object level you are currently in and shows you the tools available for just that sub-object.
Try this exercise:
1. In a new scene, create a sphere. Convert the sphere to an Editable Poly.
2. Select the Polygon sub-object level and select a single polygon on the sphere, as shown in Figure 4-33. Make sure Soft Selection is not enabled.
3. In the Edit Polygons rollout, choose Extrude, as shown in Figure 4-34.
4. The appearance of your mouse pointer in the viewport will change when it hovers over the selected poly. Click on the polygon you already have selected, and drag the mouse up to extrude the polygon out from the sphere. If you drag the mouse down, the polygon will extrude into the sphere, creating a square tunnel. Pull the polygon out as shown in Figure 4-35 and release the mouse button.
Figure 4-33: Selected polygon
5. Select another polygon and extrude the face inward by dragging down on the cursor, as shown in Figure 4-36.
6. Select a third polygon on the sphere, and this time select the Bevel tool in the Modify tab. Similar to an Extrude, Bevel allows you to taper the extruded polygon. Click the polygon, and drag the mouse to pull the polygon out. When you release the mouse button, 3ds Max allows you to select the taper amount by moving the mouse up or down. When you have the desired taper, click once to exit the tool and set the bevel as you see it here (Figure 4-37).
Figure 4-34: Extrude button selected
Figure 4-35: Extrude polygon by click-drag method.
Figure 4-36: Extrude face inward.
Figure 4-37: Bevel is extrude with a taper feature.
Edit Geometry Rollout
This rollout (Figure 4-38) is the same for all the sub-objects. These tools allow you to edit your object. You will be using many of these tools in the upcoming Chest of Drawers exercise in this chapter.
Figure 4-38: The Edit Geometry rollout
Subdivision Surface Rollout
You have probably heard of subdivision (SubD) surfaces and SubD modeling. A SubD surface is a surface that has been divided to have more faces. However, the SubD surface retains the original object’s general shape, which is sometimes called a cage. You subdivide to add more detail to a model, but you can still edit the original cage of the model to alter its overall shape and form.
The Subdivision Surface rollout lets you access tools specific to modeling with a subdivision surface, as shown in Figure 4-39. You will be modeling with subdivision surfaces later in Chapter 5, “Modeling in 3ds Max Part II.”
Figure 4-39: The Subdivision Surface rollout
Depending on which sub-object mode you are in, the Edit rollout will change—Edit Vertices, Edit Edges, and so on. This rollout has tools that give you access to functions such as Extrude and Bevel to help you shape your model. The next section, “Editable Poly Tools,” will give you some more experience with these toolsets. You will also use many of these tools in the Chest of Drawers exercise in this chapter.
Let’s experiment with some of the other Editable Poly tools. Dive right into the following exercises.
Extrude
When you extrude a vertex, 3ds Max moves it along a normal—that is, a line that is perpendicular to the surface in most cases. The extrusion creates new polygons that form the sides of the extrusion that also connect the vertex to the object.
We will start by extruding a vertex on a sphere:
1. Create a sphere by going to the Create panel and selecting Sphere. Create the sphere with about 20 units radius. Convert the sphere to an Editable Poly by right-clicking the sphere and choosing Editable Poly under the Convert To: heading in the quad menu. Go to Vertex mode, or press 1 on your keyboard. The vertices will appear as blue dots on your model.
2. Select a vertex on your sphere. The vertex will turn red. Go to the Edit Vertices rollout in the Modify tab, and press the Settings button (next to Extrude, as shown in Figure 4-40) to bring up the Extrude caddy shown in Figure 4-41. Set an exact extrusion height and base width, and click OK; this will apply your settings and close the caddy to create the extrusion. You can also click and drag to interactively pull out the vertex. Figure 4-42 shows a single extruded vertex.
Figure 4-40: Extrude Vertices dialog box
Figure 4-41: The Extrude Vertices caddy
Extrude acts the same in three of the sub-object modes—Vertex, Edge, and Poly. Figure 4-43 shows two extruded edges; you saw what an extruded polygon looks like earlier in the chapter.
You will be able to work with more extrude options in the Chest of Drawers exercise.
Figure 4-42: A single extruded vertex
Figure 4-43: Two extruded edges
Chamfer
In the following steps, you will use a different tool, called Chamfer, to create extra detail on an Editable Poly:
1. Undo the vertex extrusion with Ctrl+Z, or start with a fresh sphere and select a vertex. Hold down the Ctrl key and select two more vertices on either side of the one already selected. Click the Chamfer Settings button in the Modify panel to open the Chamfer caddy, as shown in Figure 4-44.
Figure 4-44: Chamfer Settings button
2. The new vertices are created around the ones you selected. You can dial in the exact value for your chamfer in the Chamfer caddy, as shown in Figure 4-45, then click OK. You can also simply click the Chamfer button (and not the Settings button), and click and drag in the viewport to interactively set your chamfer distance.
Figure 4-45: Chamfer caddy
When you chamfer a sub-object, 3ds Max creates new faces around the area you have selected, complete with connecting edges, as you can see in Figure 4-46. Having been offset from the original vertex location, the three vertices are split into four new vertices each and arranged in a diamond formation. Chamfering, in this case, is good for creating some extra area of detail in your mesh or poly.
You can also use Chamfer to cut a hole in your surface. If you click the Open Chamfer option in the Chamfer caddy, 3ds Max will cut a hole where the Chamfer exists, as shown in Figures 4-47 and 4-48.
Figure 4-46: Chamfer three vertices next to each other.
Figure 4-47: The Open Chamfer option in the Chamfer caddy will cut holes in your model.
Figure 4-48: Chamfer caddy
When you are in the Edge sub-object level, you can chamfer edges. In this case, the chamfer splits an edge into more edges and offsets them from their original location. The Chamfer caddy (formally know as the Chamfer Setting dialog box), shown in Figure 4-48, has a new feature since the previous edition of this book. This feature is for adding segments. When you split an edge, you can add segments for more detail or to curve a corner. In Figure 4-49, the corner edge of a box is selected and chamfered (shown in the middle) and then four Connect Edge Segments are added (shown on right).
Figure 4-49: Chamfering an edge in various ways
Use Chamfer with some caution, because you can create overlapping geometry without realizing it.
Weld
Welding vertices helps you combine vertices on a poly or mesh that should occupy the same space. It helps simplify the model by combining together nearby vertices that need not be there. Welding also can help shape your model. The following steps show you how to weld vertices together:
Figure 4-50: Weld Vertices caddy
Figure 4-51: Welding two vertices together
1. Start with a new Editable Poly sphere, in a new scene if you wish. Remember, to get an Editable Poly sphere, create a sphere and convert it to an Editable Poly by right-clicking on the Sphere entry in the Modifier Stack and selecting Editable Poly.
2. Enter Vertex mode, then select two vertices next to each other on the sphere. Select the Weld Settings button to open the Weld Vertices caddy shown in Figure 4-50.
3. Using the Weld Threshold spinner, increase the value in the Weld Settings window to weld the two vertices together, as shown in Figure 4-51. The Weld tool combines selected vertices that are within the threshold you set.
Weld is used a lot when detail is added to a model, such as with a chamfer, and some of the points need to be pulled together and combined into a single point.
Bevel
As you saw earlier in the chapter, the Bevel tool creates a tapered edge for an extrusion. First select the polygon, and then click Bevel in the Modify panel under the Edit Polygons rollout to create bevels like the ones shown in Figure 4-52.
You can also click the Settings button next to Bevel to open the Bevel caddy shown in Figure 4-53.
Figure 4-52: A pair of beveled polygons
Figure 4-53: Bevel caddy
Outline
The Outline function allows you to resize a polygon cleanly. Follow these steps to outline a polygon:
1. With a new Editable Poly sphere, go into Polygon level and select a polygon on the face of the sphere.
2. Open the Outline caddy and set a desired Outline amount, as shown in Figure 4-54.
Figure 4-54: Outline caddy Controls
Then click OK or Apply and Continue. The polygon will change size, and the edges of the polygons around it will shift to accommodate the newly outlined polygon, as shown in Figure 4-55.
Figure 4-55: An Outlined polygon on the sphere
Outline lets you increase or decrease the size of the edges of a polygon. Using Outline is similar to selecting the polygon and scaling it with the Scale tool, but Outline is cleaner and easier to control.
Clicking OK (
) and clicking Apply and Continue (
) in a caddy are not the same. Clicking OK will perform the respective function and close the window. Clicking Apply and Continue will perform the action but keep the window open.
Inset
Figure 4-56: Inset caddy
Figure 4-57: An Inset is similar to a beveled polygon, but without any height added to it.
Similar to the Outline function for a polygon, the Inset function creates a tapered version of the original polygon that is inset from its original location. An inset is similar to a bevel, but it doesn’t add any height to the polygon. Select a polygon on your Editable Poly, and click Inset on the Modify panel’s Edit Polygons rollout. You can click and drag in the viewport to set the Inset size, or click the Settings button next to the Inset button to open the Inset caddy, as shown in Figure 4-56. Figure 4-57 shows an Inset polygon on a sphere.
Hinge from Edge
Now let’s explore some of the more involved tools in the Editable Poly toolset. The Hinge from Edge tool creates a series of new polygons that rotate along an edge on the surface of an existing poly, connecting it to the original object. You can think of it as an extrusion with a rotation.
Follow these steps to see Hinge From Edge in action:
1. Create a new sphere in a new scene, and convert it to an Editable Poly. Enter into Polygon level.
2. Select a polygon and click the Hinge from Edge Settings button, as shown in Figure 4-58, to open the Hinge from Edge caddy in Figure 4-59.
Figure 4-58: Click the Hinge from Edge Settings button
Figure 4-59: The Hinge from Edge caddy
3. The hinge edge is the edge about which the polygons will extrude and rotate. To select the hinge edge, click the Pick Hinge button in the caddy above the OK button. Then, in the viewport, go to the selected polygon and choose which edge you want to use.
4. Once you select the hinge edge, the polygon will hinge out, rotating about that selected edge however many degrees are cited in the Angle parameter. You can use the spinner to select or you can enter the desired angle value for the hinge. The model will interactively hinge the polygon as you set the Angle value. Figure 4-60 shows a small hinge. Notice the hinge is flat, as it has a Segments value of only 1.
Figure 4-60: A hinged polygon on the sphere, but with only one segment
5. In the caddy, change the Angle value to 90, and the Segments value to 5. Press OK to complete the function. Figure 4-61 shows the results.
Figure 4-61: A smoother hinge is created when you increase the Segments parameter.
The Hinge from Edge tool is an interesting way to extrude, and it can be handy in many instances, such as when you’re creating an awning or a curved overhang. Remember, the smoother you need the hinge to be, the more segments you will need to add.
Cap
The Cap function creates a new polygon to fill a hole on a surface. For this function, you’ll need to be in the Border-level selection. To see a cap in action, follow these steps:
1. Create a new sphere and convert it to an Editable Poly.
2. Select a few polys that are next to each other, side by side, and delete them by pressing the Delete key. You should now have holes in your sphere, as shown in Figure 4-62.
Figure 4-62: A border is the edge or edges around deleted polygons
3. You may be wondering why you did that. You need to have a hole in the polygon surface for a Cap function and to check out the Border sub-object. As you may recall, a Border-level selection is the row of edges around a hole in a surface or on the edge of a surface, where only one side of the edge has a polygon. In the case of this sphere, the border is the line of edges surrounding the hole.
4. Now you need to cap the hole. Enter the Border-level selection by pressing the Border icon or pressing 3, and select the border. Under the Edit Borders rollout, select Cap. The hole should be filled with a single polygon, as shown in Figure 4-63.
Figure 4-63: The Cap function fills in a hole with a single polygon.
This tool can be very convenient. If you have done something to a polygon but don’t like it, you can delete that poly and use the Cap tool to create a new one. Keep in mind, however, that cap will use a flat polygon to fill the hole, so a complex surface hole will not be patched with the same surface contours as the original.
Extrude Along Spline
The Extrude Along Spline function works just as it sounds. It will extrude a polygon sub-object along a spline path, which is a curve drawn in 3ds Max. Splines will be introduced later in this chapter and covered more extensively in the following chapters.
To see the Extrude Along Spline function in action, open the Path Extrude.max file found in the Chapter 4 directory’s Scenes folder on the companion web page at www.sybex.com/go/intro3dsmax2011. This file has a sphere that has already been converted to an Editable Poly, and a spline that will act as the path of extrusion. To continue, follow these steps:
1. Select the sphere and go into Polygon mode (use shortcut 4, or select the Polygon icon in the Modify panel’s Selection rollout). Select a polygon; it doesn’t matter which one.
2. Click the Settings button next to Extrude Along Spline to open the caddy for the tool, as shown in Figure 4-64.
Figure 4-64: Extrude Along Spline caddy
3. Click the Pick Spline button and click the spline next to the sphere.
4. Immediately, you will see an extruded element coming from the sphere. It probably doesn’t look very good because you still need to work with the parameters.
5. Start by adding more segments; setting it to 20 should give you a good-looking extrusion. The extrusion in Figure 4-65 is the result of 11 segments, –0.5 Taper Amount, and 2.0 Taper Curve.
Figure 4-65: A polygon on this sphere is extruded along a spline path.
Play around with some of the settings to get a good feel for what this tool can do. As a matter of fact, it’s a really good idea to play around with all of the tool settings you have seen here and some of the ones you haven’t. This is a good way, if not somewhat frustrating, to learn 3ds Max—or any 3D program, for that matter. Use this sphere, or another Editable Poly you create, to experiment with the different tools available in this rollout for all the sub-object levels to get a basic idea of how things work. You can rely on the text in this book, as well as the online user-reference dialog titled “Autodesk 3ds Max Help,” which you can launch from 3ds Max’s Help menu from the Main Menu bar.
Let’s finally put some of your newfound knowledge into practice. If you skipped to this section from the beginning of the chapter or even from the beginning of the book, look at the previous sections in this chapter after you finish this model. Doing so will help fill in some of the gaps in your CG education and better explain how or why you’ve accomplished some of this exercise’s topics.
In this section, you will model a chest of drawers (or dresser) to develop your editable-poly muscles. Why buy a chest of drawers when you can just make one in 3ds Max? Make sure you make it large enough for all your socks.
Ready, Set, Reference!
You’re so close to modeling something! You’ll want to get some sort of reference for what you’re modeling. Study the photo in Figure 4-66 for a look at the desired result.
Figure 4-66: Modeling this chest of drawers
There are plenty of reference photos, and you will access them throughout this exercise to help build different parts of the chest. You may want to flip through the following pages to see the various photos to get a better idea of what you will be modeling.
Of course, if this were your chest of drawers, you could have captured tons of pictures already, right?
Ready, Set, Model!
Create a project called Dresser, or download the Dresser project from the companion web page directly to your hard drive.
Top of the Dresser
To begin the chest of drawers model, follow these steps:
1. Begin with a new scene (choose File ⇒ New, and click New All and then OK in the New Scene dialog box). Select the Perspective viewport and enable Edged Faces mode in the view (click the viewport mode and toggle on Edged Faces from the menu). Go to the Create panel. In the Object Type rollout, click Box. You are going to create a box using the Keyboard Entry rollout shown in Figure 4-67.
Figure 4-67: Keyboard Entry rollout
2. Using the Keyboard Entry rollout allows you to specify the exact size and location to create an object in your scene. Leave the X, Y, and Z values at 0, but enter these values: Length of 15, Width of 30, and Height of 40. Click Create to create a box aligned in the center of the scene with the specified dimensions.
3. With the box still selected, go to the Modify panel. You can see the box’s parameters here. You will need to add more height segments, so change the Height Segs parameter to 6. Your box should look like the box in Figure 4-68.
Figure 4-68: The box from which a beautiful chest of drawers will emerge.
Figure 4-69: Graphite Modeling Tools Polygon Modeling panel
Figure 4-70: Polygon panel in the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon
Figure 4-71: Bevel caddy controls
4. To start the process of using the new Graphite Modeling Tools, we will convert the box into an Editable Poly. Below the Main toolbar and below the Graphite Modeling Tools tab, click on the Polygon Modeling panel. This will expand and you will see the Convert to Poly button. Press it, as shown in Figure 4-69. You can always go through the Modifier Stack to convert the box to an Editable Poly instead of using the menus.
5. Press 4 on your keyboard to enter the Polygon sub-object mode. Now select the polygon on the top of the box. As you can see in the viewport, the polygon is shaded red when it’s selected.
6. Now go to the Polygons panel in the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon and select Bevel (Figure 4-70), click on the small arrow below the button, then click the Bevel Settings button, which will bring up the Bevel caddy controls (Figure 4-71). We are going to bevel several times to create the lip on the crown of the dresser shown in Figure 4-72.
7. Enter the following parameters: Height: ) and 3ds Max will apply the specified settings without closing the window to give you results that should be similar to Figure 4-73.
8. In the still-open Bevel caddy, input these parameters: Height: 0.3 and Outline: 0 (as shown in Figure 4.74). Click Apply and Continue ().
9. For the last bevel, input the following values: Height: 0.1 and Outline: -0.03. Click OK. Your dresser’s top should resemble Figure 4-75.
10. Press 2 on your keyboard to enter the Edge sub-object mode. Select the two new edges that were created with the Bevel, as shown in Figure 4-76.
Figure 4-72: The lip of the dresser
Figure 4-73: The first bevel for the crown of the dresser
Figure 4-74: The second bevel
Figure 4-75: This shows a rough version of the dresser’s crown.
Figure 4-76: Select these edges.
11. Go to the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon, and in the Modify Selection panel click on the Loop tool. This selects an edge loop based on our current sub-object selection. The loop is different from the previous version loop; you can loop in any sub-object mode (see Figure 4-77).
Figure 4-77: Loop tool in the Modify Selection panel
12. Now with the edges looped all around the top of the dresser, go to the Edges panel in the modeling ribbon. Choose the Chamfer tool and be sure to select the Chamfer Settings drop-down (arrow below the button) as shown in Figure 4-78 to bring up the Chamfer caddy.
Figure 4-78: The Edges panel
13. In the Chamfer caddy, enter the following parameters: Edge Chamfer Amount: 0.1 and Connect Edge Segments: 2 (Figure 4-79), then select OK. Figure 4-80 shows the result.
These values are not necessarily set in stone. You can play around with the settings to get as close to the image as you can or to add your own design flair. You can load the Dresser01.max scene file from the Scenes folder in the Dresser project from the companion web page.
Figure 4-79: Chamfer settings
Figure 4-80: The top of the dresser is ready.
I Can See Your Drawers
In the beginning of this exercise, you created a box with six segments on its height. You can use those segments to create the drawers. This is an example of thinking ahead and planning your model before you start working on an object. This was by far the easiest way to go; using another tool to add segments for the drawers after the box is made is doable, but much more laborious.
For simplicity’s sake, in this exercise you will not create drawers that can open and shut. If this dresser were to be used in an animation in which the drawers would be opened, you would make them differently.
First, take a look at the drawers and see what your next steps should be. Figure 4-81 shows the drawers and an important detail we need to consider. Luckily, you needn’t worry about the junk on top of the dresser.
To model the drawers, begin with these steps:
1. Create a small gap around the edge of the box. This gap will represent the space between the drawer and the main body of the dresser (Figure 4-81). Go to Polygon mode (press 4), and select the six polygons on the front of the box that represent the drawers. Remember to hold the Ctrl key while selecting the additional polygons; this will allow you to make multiple polygon selections, as shown in Figure 4-82.
Figure 4-81: Checking out the real dresser drawers
Figure 4-82: Selected polygons on the front of the dresser
2. In the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon, go to the Polygons panel and click the Inset Settings button to bring up the Inset caddy. Set the Inset Amount to 0.6 and keep the Inset Type set to Group, as shown in Figure 4-83. Click OK. Figure 4-84 shows the result of the Inset operation.
You can load the Dresser02.max scene file from the Scenes folder in the Dresser project from the companion web page to check your work or to begin the next series of steps.
3. Keep those newly inset polygons selected (or select them) and go back to the Polygons panel to select the Bevel Settings button to bring up the caddy. Change the Height to ). The polygons will now extrude inward a little bit, as shown in Figure 4-85 (left). Keep those edges selected and repeat the procedure in step 2 to create another inset, as shown in Figure 4-85 (right).
Figure 4-83: Inset Settings caddy controls
Figure 4-84: The inset creates the detail needed to make the drawers
Figure 4-85: Using Bevel to perform extrude and inset
4. In the original reference picture (Figure 4-66), the top drawer of the dresser is split into two, so you need to create an edge vertically in that top-drawer polygon to create two drawers. Go to Edge mode and make sure you select the top and bottom horizontal edges on the top drawer, as shown in Figure 4-86.
Figure 4-86: Select the upper and lower edges of the top drawer.
5. Go to the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon and in the Loops panel, click on the Connect Settings button to bring up the caddy (Figure 4-87). Set the Segments to 1, Pinch to 0, and Slide to 0 (Figure 4-88), then click OK. The end result is shown in Figure 4-89.
Figure 4-87: The Loops panel with arrow pointing to the Connect tool.
Figure 4-88: Connect Edges caddy
Figure 4-89: Added edge for split drawers in the dresser
6. Select the two polygons in the newly created top drawers. Go back to the Polygons panel and click Inset Settings. Set the Amount to 0.25. This time we are going to change the Inset Type from Group to By Polygon, as shown in Figure 4-90.
This setting insets each polygon individually instead of performing this operation on multiple, contiguous polygons (which is what the Group option does). Click OK to commit the Inset operation and close the caddy. Your polygons should resemble the ones in Figure 4-91.
Figure 4-90: Inset caddy with settings for the top drawers
Figure 4-91: The drawers are inset separately.
7. Perform the same inset operation on the remaining drawer polygons on the front of the box. Set the Amount to .25, and set the Inset Type to By Polygon. This will inset the five lower, wide drawers, as shown in Figure 4-92.
Figure 4-92: The remaining drawers are inset.
8. Select all of the drawer polygons. Go to the Polygons panel and click Extrude Settings. Set the Height to 0.7. You don’t need it to extrude very much; you just want the drawers to extrude a bit more than the body of the dresser (Figure 4-93).
Figure 4-93: The drawers are extruded.
You can load the Dresser03.max scene file from the Scenes folder in the Dresser project from the companion web page to check your work or to skip to this part in the exercise.
Bottom of the Dresser
Now it is time to create the bottom of the dresser. This dresser doesn’t have legs, but nonetheless it has a nice detail at the bottom, as you can see in Figure 4-94 and Figure 4-95. To create this detail, you need to extrude a polygon.
1. You should already be in Polygon sub-object mode if you are continuing with your own file, so select the polygon on the bottom of the dresser, as shown in Figure 4-96.
Figure 4-94: An angle view of the dresser’s bottom corner
Figure 4-95: A straight view of the dresser’s bottom corner
Figure 4-96: Select the polygon at the bottom of the dresser.
2. In the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon, Go to the Polygon panel and select the Extrude Settings button to bring up the caddy. Change the Height to 2.5 as shown in Figure 4-97 and click OK. This will extrude a polygon out from the bottom of the dresser, essentially adding a segment to the box, as shown in Figure 4-98.
Figure 4-97: Extrude Setting caddy
3. The polygon will still be selected, so select the Inset Settings button (
) to bring up its caddy. Change the Amount to 0.6, and click OK. This creates an inset poly, as shown in Figure 4-99.
4. The poly should still be selected, so select the Extrude Settings button to bring up the caddy, enter a Height of –2.0, and click OK. Figure 4-100 shows how the bottom of the dresser has moved up into itself slightly.
To create the detail on the bottom, you need to cut into the newly extruded polygons to create the “legs” in the corners of the dresser that you saw in Figures 4.94 and 4.95. To do this, you will use the ProBoolean tool. This method uses two or more objects to create a new object by performing a Boolean operation. Simply put, it uses the first object to create a union to, subtract from, or intersect with a second object.
Figure 4-98: Extrude the bottom of the dresser.
Figure 4-99: The inset polygon
Figure 4-100: The dresser’s bottom lip
To use this technique on the dresser, we will need another object to flesh out the shape to cut from the bottom of the dresser. We are going to create this object in the shape of the cutout at the bottom of the dresser (refer to Figure 4-95). It is a very specific shape starting with a simple rectangle.
5. In the Command panel, click on the Create tab, go to the Shapes button (
), and click on the rectangle tool, as shown in Figure 4-101.
Figure 4-101: Select the Rectangle tool.
6. In a front view, make sure you can see the front of the dresser, then create a rectangle with Length: 3.0 and Width: 26.0, as shown in Figures 4-102 and 4-103.
Figure 4-102: Front view of dresser and rectangle
Figure 4-103: Rectangle parameters
7. Move to the Modify Panel (
) and add to the rectangle an Edit Spline modifier from the Modifier List drop-down menu. Click on Vertex to enter Vertex sub-object mode, as shown in Figure 4-104.
Figure 4-104: Vertex sub-object mode
8. Select the two top vertices by clicking and dragging a selection box around them. Then under the Geometry rollout, click on the Fillet tool, as shown in Figure 4-105.
Figure 4-105: Fillet tool
9. Click and drag on one of the two selected vertices to create the fillet (a rounded corner appears). Because both vertices are selected, they will both get the fillet, as shown in Figure 4-106. The amount of the fillet is 0.9. You can watch the value of the fillet in the Geometry rollout.
10. From the Modifier List choose Extrude, which will then appear in the Modifier Stack above the existing Edit Spline modifier. Use an amount of 30.0 and then move the extrusion so that it penetrates both sides of the dresser.
11. Do the same to the side of the dresser:
a. Create another rectangle but make it smaller to fit the side of the dresser.
b. Add the Edit Spline modifier.
c. Select the two top vertices and fillet them.
d. Add an Extrude modifier and change the Amount to 40.0.
e. Place that object penetrating through the side of the dresser, as shown in Figure 4-107.
Figure 4-106: The two vertices are filleted.
Figure 4-107: Objects placed for Boolean
You can check the ProBoolean objects you just created for the bottom of the dresser against the file ProBooleanObjects.max found in the Scenes folder of the Dresser project on this book’s web page.
Now for the ProBoolean operation itself. Don’t get this confused with the regular Boolean operation, however. ProBoolean is the latest and greatest version, with a more advanced toolset than the regular Boolean.
1. To begin, select the object you want to keep; that is the dresser object.
2. In the Create panel under Compound Objects (selected from the drop-down menu) and at the bottom of the Object Type rollout, click the ProBoolean button.
3. In the Pick Booloean rollout, click the Start Picking button (Figure 4-108).
Figure 4-108: Click the Start Picking button to subtract objects from the dresser.
4. Click on both extruded rectangles placed at the bottom of the dresser. By default, ProBoolean is always set to Subtraction, so the object’s shape will be subtracted from the dresser, as shown in Figure 4-109.
Go grab yourself a frosty beverage! The dresser is finished. Of course, there are many things we could do to refine the look, but this is only an introduction and we will dive in further for more modeling experience in later chapters. Go ahead and name the dresser. You can even change the color of the dresser if you’d like. Go to the Name and Color type-in box (shown in the Command panel’s Modify panel to the far right of Figure 4-110), change the name of the object to Dresser, and pick a nice light color.
The finished dresser body should look like the dresser in Figure 4-110. Remember to save this version of your file. You can also load the Dresser04.max scene file from the Scenes folder in the Dresser project on the companion web page to check your work or to skip to this point in the exercise.
Figure 4-109: Finished dresser bottom
Figure 4-110: The finished dresser body is named and given a color.
Creating the Knobs
Now that the body of the dresser is done, it’s time to add the final bit of detail to make the dresser complete: knobs. We will use splines and a few surface creation tools new to your workflow. Goose bumps, anyone? Take a look at the reference for the knobs in Figure 4-111. You are going to create a profile of the knob and then rotate the profile around its axis to form a surface. This technique is known as Lathe, not to be mistaken for latte, which is a whole different deal and not really covered in this book.
Figure 4-111: A Drawer Knob
Here’s a quick rundown of what a spline is. A spline is a group of vertices and connecting segments that form a line or curve. To create the knob profile, we are going to use the Line spline, shaped in the outline of—you guessed it—a knob. The Line tool allows you to create a free-form spline.
You can use your last file from the Dresser exercise, or you can load Dresser04.max from the Scenes folder of the Dresser project from the companion web page. To build the knobs, follow these steps:
1. Make sure you are in the Left viewport so you can see which side of the dresser the drawers are on, as shown in Figure 4-112. You are going to create a profile of half the knob, as shown in Figure 4-113. Don’t worry about creating all the detail in the knob, because detail won’t be seen; a simple outline will be fine.
2. Go to the Create panel and choose Shapes (). Click the Line button. Use the current default values in the Creation Method rollout, as shown in Figure 4-114.
Figure 4-112: Left view of the dresser
Figure 4-113: The intended profile curve for the knob
Figure 4-114: Line tool parameters
Figure 4-115: The knob’s profile line’s vertices are numbered according to the order in which they were created.
3. In the Left viewport, click once to lay down a vertex for this line, starting at the bottom of the intended profile for the knob. This is the starting point for the curve. When you are creating a line, every click lays down the next vertex for the line. In essence, the vertex controls the position of a point of the line. If you want to create a curve in the line, click once and drag the mouse in any direction to give the vertex a curvature of sorts. This curve vertex creates a curve in that part of the line. You will need to follow the rough outline of a knob, so click and drag where there is curvature in the line. Once you have laid down your first vertex, continue to click and drag more vertices for the line clockwise until you create the half-profile knob shape shown earlier in Figure 4-113.
Figure 4-115 shows the profile line with the vertices numbered according to their creation order.
To create a straight orthogonal line segment between two vertices, press and hold Shift to keep the next vertex to be laid down orthogonal to the last vertex, either horizontally or vertically.
4. Once you lay down your last vertex at the top, finish the spline by either right-clicking to release the Line tool or clicking the first vertex you created to close the spline. For this example, it really doesn’t matter which method you choose. Either an open or closed spline will work; however, a closed spline is shown in Figure 4-115. Drawing splines entails a bit of a learning curve, so it might be helpful to delete the one you did first and try again for the practice. Once you get something resembling the spline in Figure 4-115, you can edit it. Don’t drive yourself crazy; just get the spline as close as you can.
When you are creating a line, you can click once to create a corner vertex for the line, but you need to click and drag to create a Bezier vertex if you want to put a curve into the line.
5. With the spline selected, go to the Modify panel. In the Modifier Stack window, you will see the entry Line with a plus sign in a black box next to it denoting that it has sub-object modes. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the list of sub-objects, as shown in Figure 4-116.
Figure 4-116: Line sub-object modes
In some ways, a line’s sub-objects are similar to the Editable Poly sub-object modes. However, when you are working with a spline, you are working with a 2D nonrendering object. A spline is made up of three sub-objects: a vertex, a segment, and a spline. As you know, a vertex is a point in space. A segment is the line that connects two vertices. The Spline mode allows you to select and/or transform a single spline or multiple splines within a spline object. To continue with the project, follow these steps:
1. Choose the vertex sub-object for the line. Make sure you are still working in the Left viewport. When you’re working with 2D splines, it is always best to work in Orthographic view. Use the Move tool to click on one of the vertices. The vertex has a Transform gizmo just like an object. Use the Move tool to edit the shape to better fit the outline of the knob.
Be sure to read the sidebar in this section entitled “A Line’s Vertex Type” to learn more about the types of vertices a line can have and how it can change the curvature of a line. If needed, you can change the vertex type of your line’s vertices to control the curvature.
To catch up to this point, you can load the Dresser05.max file from the Scenes folder of the Dresser project from the companion web page.
2. The profile line is ready to turn into a 3D object. This is where the modifiers are used. Get out of sub-object mode for your line. Choose Modifiers ⇒ Patch/Spline Editing ⇒ Lathe. (You also could go to the Modifier List and choose Lathe from the alphabetical list of modifiers.) When you first put the Lathe modifier on your spline, it probably won’t look anything like the knob (see Figure 4-117)—but don’t panic! You need to futz with the parameters to get it right (Figure 4-118). Right now the object is turned inside out.
Figure 4-117: Eeek! That isn’t a knob at all.
A Line’s Vertex Type
When you center your cursor over a line’s vertex and right-click to bring up the shortcut menu shown, you will have access to several vertex controls. In that shortcut menu, under the Tools 1 heading, you can choose a vertex type, as shown in the graphic below.
The vertex types are the following:
Smooth A Smooth vertex creates a smooth continuous curve. The actual curvature at a smooth vertex depends on the spacing of the adjacent vertices. This is a nonadjustable vertex, meaning it has no handles with which you can control the curvature directly.
Corner A Corner vertex is nonadjustable, which creates sharp corners.
Bezier A Bezier vertex is a vertex that has locked continuous handles that create a smooth curve. You can directly adjust the curvature at a Bezier vertex by manipulating its handles. Adjusting a handle on one side of the vertex will also adjust the other side’s handle, as they are continuous.
Bezier Corner A Bezier Corner vertex creates a sharp corner like the Corner vertex, but it has discontinuous tangent handles with which you can control the curvature of the line at that vertex. The handle on one side of the vertex will not affect the handle on the other side.
Figure 4-118: The titillating parameters for the Lathe modifier
3. Go to the Parameters rollout and under the Align heading click the Max button. It’s a knob! Now that is more like it. You just had to change the alignment of the axis so the lathe revolution would be correct.
If step 3 does not work properly for you, try clicking Min instead of Max under the Align heading. When you are creating a line, where you begin to create that line and in what order you place the vertices (clockwise or counterclockwise) are both important. This example drew the knob’s profile line in a clockwise direction.
4. Rotate the perspective view so you can see the top of the knob. You should notice a strange artifact. To correct this, check the Weld Core box under the Parameters rollout for the lathe.
That’s it! Check out Figure 4-119 for a look at the lathed knob. By using Splines and the Lathe procedure, you can create all sorts of surfaces for your models. In the next section, you will resize the knob, position it, and copy it to fit on the drawers.
Figure 4-119: The lathe completes the knob.
Copying the Knob
Now that you have a knob, you may need to adjust it and make it the right size. If you still want to futz with the knob, go back down the stack to the line to edit your spline. For example, you may want to scale the knob a bit to better fit the drawer (refer to the reference photo in Figure 4-111). Select the Scale tool, and click and drag until the original line is about the right size in your scene. The Lathe modifier will re-create the surface to fit the new size. You can also delete the knob and restart with another line for more practice. In the following steps, you will copy and position the knob for the drawers.
1. Position and rotate the knob to fit on to the front of a top drawer. Change its default color (if you want) and change its name to Knob.
2. You’ll need a few copies of the original knob, one for each drawer. Choose Edit ⇒ Clone to open the Clone Options dialog box (Figure 4-120). You are going to use the Instance command. An instance is a copy, but is still connected to the original. If you edit the original or an instance, all of the instances change. Click OK to create an instance.
Figure 4-120: Using an instance to copy the knob
3. Position the instanced knob in the middle of the other top drawer.
4. Using additional instances of the original knob, place knobs in the middle of all the remaining drawers of your dresser, as shown in Figure 4-121.
As you saw with this exercise, there are plenty of tools for the Editable Poly object. Your model doesn’t have to be all of the same type of modeling, either. In this example, we created the dresser with box modeling techniques, where you begin with a single box and extrude your way into a model, and with surface creation techniques using splines.
You can compare your work to the scene file Dresser06.max from the Scenes folder of the Dresser project from the companion web page.
Figure 4-121: The dresser, knobs and all
In this chapter, you learned how to model with 3ds Max. Through exploring the modeling toolsets and creating a dresser, you saw firsthand how the primary modeling tools in 3ds Max operate.
You began by examining how best to plan a model. Then you learned some modeling concepts and how to use modifiers and the Modifier Stack effectively. You moved on to learning the differences between objects and meshes and how to use sub-objects to edit your surfaces before you began a series of short exercises describing some of the poly editing tools. With that under your belt, you learned how to put these tools and ProBoolean to use by making a simple dresser.
Modeling is an artful craft. It is best to know where you are trying to go in your mind’s eye so you can get there with your models. Becoming a good modeler takes time and patience, so stick with it.