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

1.

Restart max and create a Box primitive in the Perspective viewport (Figure 9.1). In the Modify panel, set the Length, Width, and Height values all to 100. Right-click the Select and Move tool on the Main toolbar to open the Move Transform Type-In dialog. Right-click each of the X, Y, and Z spinners to set them to 0.

Tip

Right-clicking any spinner sets it to its lowest possible value, which in most cases is 0, regardless of the original or default value. It's a quick way to center things in the scene.

2.

With the box selected, apply a MeshSmooth modifier. Ensure that Iterations is set to 1, right-click the MeshSmooth modifier in the modifier stack, and collapse the box to an Editable Poly object (Figure 9.2).

3.

In the Modify rollout, select Polygon as the sub-object, and then in the Front viewport, drag-select the polygons on the left side of the object and hit Delete (Figure 9.3). You have now halved your object, so you'll apply a Symmetry modifier to give you a whole one back. You must exit sub-object mode to apply the Symmetry modifier.

Note

Most characters are bilaterally symmetrical, and the Symmetry modifier is an essential tool for creating them. It allows you to see your object as a whole as you model while cutting your effort in half.

4.

Now to start pulling a pig out of that ball. In the modifier stack, make sure you are at the Editable Poly level and that Show End Result is turned on so you can see the effects of Symmetry as you work. Also, turn off the orange Control Cage that is on by default. The Control Cage is very useful when you edit with MeshSmooth or TurboSmooth, but you won't need it at the moment. To disable it, uncheck the box labeled Show Cage in the Edit Geometry rollout.

5.

Switch to the Edge sub-object mode in the Perspective viewport, select the appropriate edges (Figure 9.4), and then choose Ring from the Selection rollout. Switch to Edged Faces mode if you need to see the edges. You may have to rotate your Perspective viewport to select the correct edge for the symmetry to work. With these edges still selected, choose Connect from the Edit Edges rollout to create a new loop of edges (Figure 9.5).

6.

These new edges don't quite follow the curve you want for a fat pig, so change the selection level to Vertex by Control-clicking the Vertex icon. Then, with the Scale tool, nudge them ever so slightly outward until the curve has returned.

7.

Now go through the same steps to create another two Edge loops in our model (Figure 9.6).

1.

At the Polygon sub-object level, select four polygons at the base and bring up the Extrude Polygons dialog (the button next to Extrude in the Edit Polygons rollout). Keep the Extrusion Type set to Group, and enter 20 as the Extrusion Height (Figure 9.7).

One of the most enjoyable aspects of modeling your own character is that it isn't an exact science. No one can say your pig's feet have to be a certain size, so, if you like, you can make them any size.

2.

Right now our pig would definitely wobble around on those trotters, so let's even them off. Keeping the same polygons selected, find Make Planar in the Edit Geometry rollout and press Z (Figure 9.8). This will force the polygons to flatten off in the Z Axis and give us some flatter feet.

1.

Apply an Edit Poly modifier above the Symmetry modifier in your stack. While editing inside the Edit Poly modifier, any changes that you make to the mesh will no longer be reproduced on the other sideyou have, in effect, "collapsed" the model, with the added bonus that any changes you don't like can be undone by removing the modifier. Select the two rings of edges that run around the middle of the pig, and connect them to create some more detail that you can use for the head (Figure 9.9).

2.

Select and extrude the newly divided eight polygons at the front of the pig (remember that because we're no longer using Symmetry, any operations you perform will have to include both sides of the model), and using Outline once more, pull them in slightly (Figure 9.10). Once you are happy with the neck shape, right-click the Edit Poly modifier and choose Collapse To.

Note

Collapsing geometry will bake the effect of any modifiers applied to your object, so it's wise to make sure that you're not going to lose anything that might be hard to change later. That said, in modeling you will often move back and forth between a collapsed and a modified object as you progress. In this case, you are going to re-apply a Symmetry modifier to reduce the amount of work and also speed up the modeling process.

3.

In the Front or Top viewport, select the left-hand half of the pig's polygons and delete them. Apply a Symmetry modifier (Mirror Axis set to X) to reclaim the lost half. In Vertex sub-object mode, reshape the end of the neck to make it rounder and ready for the start of the head (Figure 9.11). Once you're happy, collapse the object again

4.

Select the four polygons that are going to make up the snout. Use Bevel to extrude the polygons and outline them before finally moving the vertices to create a rounder shape (Figure 9.12).

5.

Before you finish the snout, apply a MeshSmooth modifier to see how your pig is shaping up (Figure 9.13). You can see the effect that subdividing the mesh hasit rounds and smoothes the shapes. However, soft isn't always what you want, and we're going to sharpen things up for the snout.

6.

Leave the MeshSmooth still applied, and go back down the stack to Editable Poly, making sure that Show End Result is turned on. Go to the Polygon sub-object level, select the Bevel tool, then pull out the polygons to start making the snoutjust a little for the first Bevel, then one longer extrusion followed by another small step to tighten up the shape (Figure 9.14). At each stage, you can experiment with how much you Bevel the snout outward as you go.

Tip

Placing two edges close to one another will create a much more defined crease in your model. Following this practice will help you put detail and definition into your creations.

7.

Delete the MeshSmooth modifier from the stack and once again delete one half of the pig and re-apply a Symmetry modifier. Select the two polygons on either side of the snout and extrude them outward to create the ears (Figure 9.15).

8.

Using the Scale tool, size the polygons down to bring the ears to a point, and then use the Move tool to bring the tips of the ears forward so that they point in the right direction.

9.

We're going to give them a bit more curve now. In Edge mode, use Ring and Connect to give us some more points to play with, and then pull the new edges out (Figure 9.16).

The Edit modifiers (Poly, Mesh, and Spline) are fantastic for making alterations to an object while retaining the underlying structure. So if you want to see what horns look like on your character but don't want to have to live with them if you don't like them, you can keep your edits in an Edit Poly modifier and protect your original mesh.

1.

Apply a MeshSmooth modifier at the top of the stack. With the Edit Poly modifier selected, enter Polygon sub-object mode. Select the polygons at the end of the snout for nostrils and the polygon at the base of the snout near the top of the head for eyes. By pressing F2, you can toggle Shade Selected Faces, which can make it easier to see which faces you are editing.

2.

Inset the polygons inward and then extrude them down (Figure 9.17). You can edit the eyes or nostrils as you see fit, perhaps adding some more edges to change their shape or size.

1.

If you're happy with the eye and nostril edits you've made, collapse the model to an Editable Poly again and venture to the Create panel, where you'll choose Splines and then Helix. In any viewport, drag out a Helix, clicking three times to set Radius 1, Height, and finally Radius 2. In the Modify panel, set these values:

• Radius 1 = 2

• Radius 2 = 2

• Height = 15

• Turns = 2

• Bias = 0

2.

With the pig selected again, apply an Edit Poly modifier and enter Vertex sub-object mode. Choose where you would like the tail to start and select that vertex, then use the Chamfer tool to create a new polygon from it.

3.

Select the new polygon, and open the Extrude Polygons Along Spline dialog (the small box to the right of the Extrude Along Spline button of the Edit Polygons rollout). Ensure that Align to Face Normal is checked, then click Pick Spline and choose the helix (Figure 9.19).

4.

3ds max 7 has now created a tail for you, but it still needs some tweaking. Set the Segments value all the way up to 20 to bring out the twist, and decrease the Taper Amount to bring the tail's size down at the end. Experiment with the Rotation as well for a perky pig or a droopy hog (Figure 9.20).

5.

Apply a MeshSmooth modifier to see what the new tail looks like (Figure 9.21)! If you're happy with it, then you can move on. If not, then you can just delete the Edit Poly modifier and try something else.

1.

With MeshSmooth still applied to the pig, go to the Create panel and choose Sphere under Standard Primitives; also, turn on AutoGrid. This will align our sphere to the surface of any object in the scene, so it saves us having to manually move and rotate the eye in place.

2.

In the sphere's Creation settings, check Base To Pivot (this just means that you are creating the sphere from its base instead of its center). Now pan and rotate in the Perspective viewport so you can see the head and eyes clearly. Move the mouse until you see the transform gizmo in the place where you want the eye, then drag out a sphere until it's the size you want (Figure 9.22).

You can do the same for the other socket, but to keep things flexible we're going to make an instance of the one you have just created.

3.

Select the newly created eye, click the Select and Move tool, change the Reference Coordinate System from View to Pick, and click the pig. You are now "borrowing" the pig's coordinate system, which means that if you set the Use Pivot Center flyout to Use Transform Coordinate Center, you will have the exact center point of the pig.

4.

Use the Mirror tool (on the Main toolbar), and from the Mirror dialog, choose X as the Mirror Axis and set the Clone Selection to Instance (Figure 9.23). Now you have two eyes for the price of one, and because they are instances, any changes made to one of them in the Modify panel (such as UV Mapping) will apply to the other.