| Using the Extrude Modifier- Making the Table top look 3D - Tutorial / Lesson |
What we have created till now is a 2D curve that defines the shape of our table top. We need to convert this to a 3-D object in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ).
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To do that, inside the Modify panel click on the Modifier List drop down  and from the list, choose a new modifier Extrude. Notice that the new modifier also gets added to the modifier stack in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ). Now when you look at the perspective viewport, you will see the extruded object of our curve. But we need some more thickness to our table top. Inside, the Extrude modifier's parameters, within the modify panel, change the Amount to 10. This increases the extrusion height. Congratulations. You have just created the tabletop using 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ). |
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One of the greatest advantage of the modifier stack in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) is that you can go down any level in the hierarchy at any point of time. Simply selecting the Edit spline modifier within the modifier stack lets you go back to the vertex level editing of the line. After making the required changes to the line, when you click back on the Extrude present in the stack, you'll see the extruded figure of the shape that you changed. ie: even though you add a large number of modifiers one over the other, we can still go back to the previous modifiers by selecting it from the stack.
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| Removing a modifier from the Modifier stack in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max )- Tutorial |
You can remove any modifier from the modifier stack in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ), by selecting it and clicking on the Remove modifier  icon. |
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Constructing the table legs in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) - Tutorial / Lesson
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Our table will have three legs having an angle of 120° between them. First, you go to the create panel in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) and click on the button cylinder. Now click and drag the mouse in the top viewport to define the radius of the cylinder. When you are satisfied with the radius, release the mouse button, and simply move the mouse up or down to define the height of the cylinder. This process, need not be accurate, since we are going to modify these attributes. Now that we have created the cylinder, go to the modifiy panel in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) . Change the radius to 3.0 and height to 100.0. Now from the Modifier list, choose Taper. Set the amount to -0.3 and press Enter. now create another cylinder having the radius 40 and height -12. Now go to the modify panel and add the Taper modifier to the new cylinder. Change the taper amount to -1.0.
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Aligning the Legs in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) - Tutorial / Lesson
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Now we have already created the tabletop, one of the legs, and the base on which the leg is placed. We have to align all these elements properly in the 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) scene. Move both the cylinders, so that they are positioned as shown in the figure. The thinner cylinder needs to be rotated slightly, so that the leg will look connected to the table with a slightly slanting angle. The results need not be exact. Use your own imagination.
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We need three legs to support the table. All we're going to do is duplicate and rotate the legs that we have created. Before performing rotation, we need to group the two cylinders that form the leg. Click on the first cylinder to select it. While holding down the control key on the keyboard, click on the second cylinder that forms the base. Now both the cylinders are selected in the 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) scene. The click on Group > Group. Click OK in the Grouping dialog box that appears. This causes both the cylinders to be grouped together. Grouping one or more objects, helps us to select them as a single unit in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ).
Now click on any one of the cylinders to select the group. Now select the rotate tool, and while holding down the shift key, rotate the cylinder, to an angle of around 120° in the top viewport along the Z axis. The Angle of rotation will be displayed, while you rotate the cylinder. When you release the mouse button after rotation, a Clone Options dialog box appears (since you pressed down the Shift key). In the dialog box, choose the number of copies, to 2 and click OK. This creates two more duplicates of the cylinder group in the 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) scene. Now you rotate, the newly created cylinder groups and position them, so that the whole table looks, roughly like that shown in the figure
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