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

1.

Open the file 9_body_start.max (Figure 9.25).

2.

This hand model is missing a couple of fingers. Select the finger in the Top viewport. With the Shift key held down, move a copy of the finger up until it's roughly in the right place (Figure 9.26).

3.

Now, in the Perspective viewport, you can rotate and move the finger until it's in a more natural position compared to the rest of the hand. Once this is done, select the hand itself, and from the Edit Geometry rollout, open the Attach List dialog (the small button next to Attach). Choose both of the fingers before clicking Attach (Figure 9.27).

4.

The fingers are now part of the same geometrymax will treat them as one object. However, they're still not fully attached, so let's fill in the gaps. In the Border sub-object level, select both the open ends of the fingers and the holes in the hand (Figure 9.28).

5.

From the Edit Borders rollout, open the Bridge dialog (the button next to Bridge) and note that the gaps from the fingers have been closed over (Figure 9.29).

Note

The Bridge tool is a new addition to max 7 and can be used to connect polygons or borders of an Editable Poly, or an object with the Edit Poly modifier applied, with a set of parameters defined by the user. It is perfect for when you need to fill in gaps or join objects together.

6.

These new polygons are great, but since you need to match the structure of the finger that's already attached, you'll want to change some parameters. Set the Segments value to 3, which gives us more edges to play with later. Apply a little Taper to make the join more naturalaround 0.16 should be enough. You can also set the Smooth angle of the newly created polygons; it's not essential for what we're doing right now, but if you want the faces to "fit in" with the smoothing of the model, you can set this value to 180.

1.

If there are no objects visible in the scene, right-click in any viewport and choose Unhide All from the Display Quad menu. Otherwise, you'll see a floating torso and biceps in the scene. First things firstlet's heal the join between the two. With the Torso object selected, choose Attach from the Edit geometry rollout and then select the Biceps object (Figure 9.30).

2.

Now you'll apply an Edit Poly modifier and enter the Polygon sub-object mode. Select the two large polygons opposite each other between the torso and the biceps, then use the Bridge tool to fix the gap (Figure 9.31).

3.

You might notice that our biceps and our torso don't quite fit. Let's go back down to the base of the modifier stack, and with Show End Result enabled, edit the vertices on either side of the newly bridged gap to smooth things out.

With Show End Result enabled, you can see how the changes you make will affect the Bridge operation in the Edit Poly modifier above. If you add a MeshSmooth modifier at the top of the stack, you can get an even clearer idea of how the arm looks (Figure 9.32).

4.

Once you're happy with the edits you've made, remove the MeshSmooth modifier and collapse the object back down to an Editable Poly. Use Attach to make the hand part of the same object so you can finish off the arm.

5.

Select the open borders of the biceps and the hand and Bridge across, setting the Segments value to 3 or more (Figure 9.33).

Note

Increasing the number of segments is important: Not only will it provide you with more geometry to control the shape of the arm, but it will also help when the character is rigged. Too few polys in key areas like the forearm will result in the object flattening when the wrist turns or the elbow bends. So the more divisions, the more "support" that area will have when it deforms.

6.

If you apply a TurboSmooth modifier to the body, you'll see that the forearm is a bit rigid and overly straight along the edges and surfaces. This can be a problem when creating organic characters in Editable Poly. As character artists, we have to make sure that the shape is as natural as possible. So a bit of manual vertex-pushing is needed to round off the surface. With the TurboSmooth still at the top of the stack, go back down to the Editable Poly level, and with Show End Result turned on, move the new vertices to smooth things over.

Note

TurboSmooth operates much faster than MeshSmooth when editing complex geometry. It lacks a few of MeshSmooth's classic features, but TurboSmooth's speed increase more than makes up for this if you have to make alterations to an object and want fast visual feedback.

7.

All that's left now is to take one half of the model and make it a whole, so apply a Symmetry modifier to the body (under the TurboSmooth modifier in the stack) and set the Mirror Axis to X if it hasn't been set already.