|
|
Hi dear reader, welcome to the advanced topics of 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) tutorials. In this chapter I’m going to introduce you to a very exciting topic – Character modeling. Here you will learn the advanced character modeling techniques that will make you capable of modeling any character you want – be it a human, an animal or anything that you can think of. We will use an advanced modeling technique in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) called Surface Modeling.
|
|
| Start modeling the head in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) |
I’ll give a brief overview about what is this modeling technique all about. There is no purpose in talking much about it without showing you how to do. First we will draw the outline of the side view of the character we wish to model (or a part of it) in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ). Now we will connect the opposing vertices using the same Line tool. This process is continued until we make the 2D Lines into a spline cage. Now we start pulling the vertices of the spline cage outwards so that we make the 3D shape we want. Confused? We’ll see it in action. |
|
|
Create a fresh Scene and maximize the Left viewport of 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ). Now choose the Line tool from Create Panel > Shapes. Start drawing the outline of the girl’s face as shown in figure. You can press backspace to undo the last vertex you placed. Hold down the mouse and move it if you want the line at a vertex to be smooth. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When you reach the end, close the spline by clicking on the initial vertex. A dialog box will pop-up asking you whether you wish to close the spline. Choose Yes. Now we have the completed side view of our girl model. |
|
| Creating a reference copy in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) - Tutorial / Lesson |
Now that the 2D outline of our model is ready, lets make it into a 3D spline cage . Before we start doing that, we need a reference copy on which we can see the effect of the changes we make. Switch back to the 4 viewport view in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ), and holding down the Shift key move the outline figure in the perspective viewport along the X axis as shown in the figure:
|
|
|
|
|
When you release the mouse button, the Clone dialog box will come. Choose Reference as the Object type and No: of copies to 1 and click OK. Now the refernce has been created in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ). Now move the reference copy slightly forward (along Y axis) so that the two shapes won’t over lap in the orthographic views. The left view in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) viewport after moving the shape is shown below |
|
|
|
The reference figure we created, is used to preview the effects of the changes we make to the original figure. We will apply the a modifier called Surface modifier on the reference figure. It will make the spline cage into a 3d surface. Since the reference will also get modified when we modify the original figure, we can see how the 3d surface looks through the reference figure. Got it? Before we apply the surface modifier on the reference figure, we need to apply a material on it. With the reference selected, open the Material Editor and assign a material to it. Check the 2-Sided option for that material in the material editor. The surface Modifier in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) will render the mesh properly only when the 2-Sided is on in it’s material. |
|
Save the scene as Chapter12-save01.max. Lets start editing the spline mesh in the next page of this tutorial. |
|
|
