Tuesday 31 January 2012
Boolean and ProBoolean
Boolean and ProBoolean allow you to subtract one object from another. To do this you create two objects, in this case I used the Drill Head from the Lofting exercise as the first object and then entered some text. I entered the text "The Drill" and extuded it slightly, I then placed the text over a side of the box attatched to the Drill and intersected it slightly. I then selected the box and chose the Boolean tool. I then picked the Text as Boolean B and subtracted it. This left an indentation in the block from the Text. However, when viewing the Wire Frame I found that it had created lots of extra lines. ProBoolean works the same, but doesn't leave the lines in the Wire Frame so I used this after the Boolean.
Loft
Today we learnt how to use the Loft tool. The Loft tool allows you to create a object by using a shape and a path. From this i was able to draw a helix path and a circle to create a spring. To do this I drew the Helix and the Circle and then selected the Circle and selected the Loft tool. Under the Loft tool details I selected Get Path from the Creation Method section and then clicked the helix path to make the spring. From this I then modified the height and the number of turns in the helix and created a new object using a rectangle. This created a Drill Head.
Creating a 3D model from a 2D shape
Today we were shown how to create a 3D model from a 2D shape. First method we were show was by using the Line tool to create a Spline, this created a 2D shape in 3D Studio Max and we then used the Extrude tool to create a pologon.
The second method involved using the Lathe tool. The Lathe tool creates a 3D shape by spining a 2D shape around a pivot point. To do this we created the cross-section of a shape in Illustrator and then imported it into 3D Studio Max. The first shape I made was a Chess Pawn. To do this i drew the cross-section in Illustrator, imported the 2D image into Studio Max and then used the Affect Pivot Point only tool. This tool allowed me to move the point at which the object would pivot. After moving the Pivot Point, I then used the Lathe tool to create the Object and rotated it to stand upright.
I then created and Apple and a Wine Glass using the same method. However with the Apple the object was created inside-out and so to correct this I flipped the Normals of the object to prevent it from being shown as inside-out. The Banana was also created using this method and i included the use of the Bend tool from last week.
Fruit Bowl
Using the modify tools I was able to create a Fruit bowl and some fruit. To create the Apples I started with a basic Sphere shape and then used the Edit Poly tool to modify the shape. With the Edit Poly tool i was able to give the sphere an indentation in the top and bottom. I achieved this by selecting a single Vertex to edit. I also used Soft Selection so that as i moved the vertex the area around the vertex was also effected to give a soft drop into the centre. The Edit Poly tool was then used again to pull a few Vertexes out from the sphere to create the uneven shape.
The Banana was more difficult, first i started with a cylinder with four-five sides. I also gave the cylinder five segments which would be used to bend the shape. To create the stem of the Banana i used the Extrude tool to pull the end face out slightly and then re-size it. This created the angle of the stem. Finally i used the Bend tool to bend the Banana to the desired angle.
The finally piece of fruit i attempted to make was an Orange. To create the Orange i repeated the steps i was to make the apple, however before using the Edit Poly tool i was the Scale tool to "squash" the sphere.
The Fruit Bowl itself was again made using a Sphere. I then changed the settings in the Soft Selection tool to make the top half of the sphere effected by the movement of the top Vertex. I then moved the Top Vertex down using the Edit Poly tool, which bend the Sphere in on itself and this created the Bowl Shape.
The Banana was more difficult, first i started with a cylinder with four-five sides. I also gave the cylinder five segments which would be used to bend the shape. To create the stem of the Banana i used the Extrude tool to pull the end face out slightly and then re-size it. This created the angle of the stem. Finally i used the Bend tool to bend the Banana to the desired angle.
The finally piece of fruit i attempted to make was an Orange. To create the Orange i repeated the steps i was to make the apple, however before using the Edit Poly tool i was the Scale tool to "squash" the sphere.
The Fruit Bowl itself was again made using a Sphere. I then changed the settings in the Soft Selection tool to make the top half of the sphere effected by the movement of the top Vertex. I then moved the Top Vertex down using the Edit Poly tool, which bend the Sphere in on itself and this created the Bowl Shape.
Tuesday 24 January 2012
First 3D Model - Pantheon
During my first tutorial using 3D Studio Max we were instructed to create a building using only the Standard Primitive tools. I chose to create a model of the Pantheon Building in Rome.
To begin with I built a cyclinder as the main body of the Pantheon. the roof was made using a Sphere which i reshaped using the reshape tool. To roof shape was achieved by using the reshape tool on the z-axis to "squash" the sphere.
The front of the Pantheon was a little bit more trick to achieve. The Pantheon has a small rectangular section at the front which connects the pillers and front roof to the main body. I had several issues when creating this simple shape as i tried to use typical commands that I have used in most other creative design software. Those commands however ended up coping the objects meaning i made multiple copies of one object.
Evenutally I was able to get the object to the desired shape and then I used the align tool to align the center of the rectangular object to the cyclinder on the y-axis. Once these two objects were aligned, i began trying to create the front roof. First attempt involved using the rotate tool to rocate two boxes to create the triangle shape and using another to create the base of the triangle. the problem I then encountered was filling the triangle. At this point I heard Richard explain how you can change how many sides and object can have and that this feature made it possible to turn a cyclinder into a triangle by giving the cyclinder only three sides.
As i did with previous objects I rotated the traingle to the required deimenions and then used the align tool to align the tip of the triangle to the top of the rectangle. The pillars were then created by changing the sides of a cyclinder to eight to create Hexangonal cyclinders. Using the re-size tool i made the pillars a sensible height and diameter. Using the copy feature I stumbled upon earlier to place the first pillar and they create multiple copies at set intervals apart.
To fiinish i selected every object and changed the colour to more suitable colour for the Pantheon.
To begin with I built a cyclinder as the main body of the Pantheon. the roof was made using a Sphere which i reshaped using the reshape tool. To roof shape was achieved by using the reshape tool on the z-axis to "squash" the sphere.
The front of the Pantheon was a little bit more trick to achieve. The Pantheon has a small rectangular section at the front which connects the pillers and front roof to the main body. I had several issues when creating this simple shape as i tried to use typical commands that I have used in most other creative design software. Those commands however ended up coping the objects meaning i made multiple copies of one object.
Evenutally I was able to get the object to the desired shape and then I used the align tool to align the center of the rectangular object to the cyclinder on the y-axis. Once these two objects were aligned, i began trying to create the front roof. First attempt involved using the rotate tool to rocate two boxes to create the triangle shape and using another to create the base of the triangle. the problem I then encountered was filling the triangle. At this point I heard Richard explain how you can change how many sides and object can have and that this feature made it possible to turn a cyclinder into a triangle by giving the cyclinder only three sides.
As i did with previous objects I rotated the traingle to the required deimenions and then used the align tool to align the tip of the triangle to the top of the rectangle. The pillars were then created by changing the sides of a cyclinder to eight to create Hexangonal cyclinders. Using the re-size tool i made the pillars a sensible height and diameter. Using the copy feature I stumbled upon earlier to place the first pillar and they create multiple copies at set intervals apart.
To fiinish i selected every object and changed the colour to more suitable colour for the Pantheon.
The Brief
The Assesment for this module looks very interesting upon reading. I have a small interest in Leonardo Da Vinci, but his inventions are more appealing to me than his paintings. To have the chance to model and Animation one is exciting, however "3D" modeling does sound difficult to begin with but it should become more clear in time.
3D Studio Max will be fun to use and play with, hopefully i will be able to doownload this software to use at home in order to get more practice with it.
3D Studio Max will be fun to use and play with, hopefully i will be able to doownload this software to use at home in order to get more practice with it.
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