INSIDE 3DS MAX® 7 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

1.

Open the file 7_Kitchen_Cooktop_Start.max. The scene consists of a few Chamfer Cylinder primitives, a set of predrawn spline shapes, and some profile curves. You're going to use these splines to construct the cooktop's details and furnishings.

2.

In the viewport or from the Select Objects dialog, select the spline named hob_main_panels (Figure 7.17). (A hob is a cooktop burner.)

3.

From the Modify panel, apply a Bevel Profile modifier. Click the Pick Profile button, and in the Top viewport, pick the spline labeled Hob_curve_profile. Turn off the Capping for the End section of the modifier.

4.

max will run the profile around the panels, but it's currently in the wrong direction, so we'll fix this. In the sub-object under the Bevel Profile modifier, select the Profile gizmo, and in the Perspective viewport, rotate the profile 180 degrees in the Z axis (Figure 7.18).

5.

If you render the cooktop, you can see through the surface you've made. This is because the faces are in the right place but facing the wrong direction. To rectify this, you must flip the direction of the object's normals. Apply a Normal modifier and ensure that Flip Normals is checked (Figure 7.19).

6.

In the Top viewport, first select the shape named hob_bar01, and then, from the Create panel, navigate to Compound Objects and choose Loft.

7.

You need to pick a shape for the loft object to use along the path (hob_bar01). Within the loft object's parameters, under the Creation Method rollout, click Get Shape. From the Top viewport, pick the rectangle labeled Hob_bar_profile (Figure 7.20).

8.

Now that you have the basis for your metal bars, you'll need to tweak some of the default settings to make things simpler. From the Skin Parameters rollout for the loft object, check the box marked Optimize Shapes. This will result in the loft object using only as many steps as your chosen shape object, and in this case, fewer polygons as well (Figure 7.21).

Compound objects require two or more elements for their creation. In the case of a loft object, this is a path and a shape. Both of these must be spline-based objects. Once added to a Loft object, the shape is "run" along the direction of the path to create a mesh.

1.

Once again, select the shape named hob_bar01, and from the Modify panel, apply an Edit Spline modifier to the top of the stack.

2.

Enter the Vertex sub-object mode in the Edit Spline modifier, and select all the vertices in the spline. In the Fillet field, enter the value 0.3 and press Enter (Figure 7.22).

By using an Edit Spline modifier instead of directly altering the base object, you can simply and quickly undo or alter any changes you make. This is extremely useful when you're working on designs that aren't finalized, or when fleshing out ideas.

3.

Move to the Perspective viewport. You can see that the fillets have affected the loft and resulted in much smoother corners (Figure 7.23).

4.

Repeat the previous steps on the two remaining splines that represent the cooktop's bars, and apply the dark metal material to the loft objects (Figure 7.24).

5.

Using the same shape for each of these three lofts means that you can now change the cross-section of all three simultaneously. Select the rectangle named Hob_bar_profile again, and from the Parameters rollout, change the Corner Radius value to 0.05 (Figure 7.25).

You can see the effect this has straightaway. The bars are all equally rounded at the edges and no longer have a harsh, unnatural edge.

6.

Now create the rest of the bars' support. Select the shape named hob_bars and apply a Bevel Profile modifier, picking the same Hob_bar_profile (Figure 7.26).

7.

You need to duplicate the bars you've created for the other side of the cooktop's surface. In the Top viewport, select the three main bars; group, mirror, and position them accordingly (Figure 7.27).

8.

All that remains now is to group and name all the elements for the object as hob_complete (Figure 7.28).

9.

Save the file as 7_Kitchen_Cooktop_Finish.max.