Experimenting with new Modelling technique

[antaris]

Bill, thanks a lot for the head up. It's sound like a plan for me!!!
Once there, I will extrude polygons to give the interior more thickness.
And you're right, in photos all doors have interesting changes in shape and therefore, volume.

As always, thank you all for your kind words and advice.
Best regards,
Sergio Kauffman.

 

[lionheart]

Sergio,

If your Helo has sophisticated door sills, you might think about 'Sweep'. You can extrude a shape opening in the door edge. Select the Border, door opening, 'Create Shape' and that will be your path. Then create a Line that will be the shape (cross section) of the door sill (shape of the sill). Then make a Sweep with the path and add the 'Line' shape and then adjust it till it fits. Its not an easy process, and you will still need to create a interior and then join (some how) the interior sides with the new, cool door sills, but its possible. I intend to do this soon.

You can also always Chamfer the sills as well. Just get rid of all 45 degree angled Edges on the door edges or they will mess up the Chamfer. If you are using 3DS Max, the Chamfer is much nicer then Gmax. Also, use the Chamfer that is adjustable, (small square button), and add it to 3 or 4 edges in the Chamfer for a super nice, smooth edge.


Bill

 

[antaris]

Bill

Indeed she have those sills. I will try this great tip for those; and as I am using Gmax I will try the Chamfer.

Today I'm still trying to make work the exterior and cabin models smashing my head on how to do the polygon account to minimum. I am worried because the overall account now is as follows. Polygonss: 13669; Vertices: 13410. As you teach me a few weeks ago, I will use the ULE method for LODS and multimodeling this project. Believe it or not, for me the fuselage shape was a big head ache. I loose it when I have reached the 100th time redoing it from scratch... Fortunately, now I have what you've seen yesterday.

As you told me last night, this will be one more challenge to tackle; I am working to sloooooowwwwww because Gmax wants to crash from time to time. I will do "poly" modeling technique by "shifting" and dragging" edges to create the interior (Gmax does not have Shell modifiers -as far as I know).

Once again, thank you for being so patient with me and above all, for teaching me all these interesting things.
Kindest regards,
Sergio Kauffman.

 

[n4gix]

Try cloning the exterior fuselage, then flipping the normals, followed by extruding negatively.

 

[hairyspin]

Unfortunately Sweep is not available in Gmax (nor the Shell modifier). Lofting is another option, but usually is accompanied by screams from other modellers running as far away as possible. As n4gix says, and either extrude polys after flipping or use a Face Extrude modifier on them.

Lots of interesting ideas in this thread, not all of them restricted to very recent versions of 3ds Max!

 

[antaris]

Hello Lads

As many of you like, I will use your artistic names from now on!

@ Mr. n4gix and Mr. Hairspin
Thanks for the head ups, all of those are very welcome. Now, back to work, I don't want to waste your time with questions without doing my best effort!

Sergio.

 

[lionheart]

Antaris; When you go to extrude the interior, make sure 'Local' is ticked on. Local is just under the Extrude button. That way, they should extrude inwards nicely and evenly. (hopefully). If they do not, extrude them just a very small amount, then select one side of interior polygons, move them inwards with Move tool, and repeat for the other side.

 

[lionheart]

I Chamfered my interior canopy structure and cabin opening the other day. I took out the odd angle lines to enable it to Chamfer better. I then put in some lines in the corners to help keep it smooth.

 

[lionheart]

This is a short tutorial (very short) that shows you the basics of how Nurms (or TurboSmooth) works in Max. Figure this, when Nurms (TS) is on, one Iteration = 4 grids added to your mesh with (with) rounded edges. With 2 Iterations, you have 16 grids added to your mesh. Thats quite a few, but if your 'base' mesh is 'very' simple, this should be a normal 'modern' smooth model.

The way you 'control' a radius curve along an edge is to add a secondary edge beside it, on both sides. So a corner that must have say a 1/2 inch curve in the edge corner, then you would have an edge added to each side of the corner 1/2 inch away. So then when you click on Nurms to active, you will see a 1/2 inch 'curved' radius along that edge. The secondary edges are the 'controls' for working your curved edges. Bring them very very tight against the original for a 'sharp' edge.

Tutorial;

 

[lionheart]

Here is another tutorial that shows some very good techniques on basic model/Nurms modelling. This is a car seat and it has several parts. You might fast forward in some area's. The person that did it is Mam-B. Look for the other parts. near the end, it is best, as it shows how he makes the Seams edges of the seat and also adjusts the sides.

 

[lionheart]

These are some screenshots of a Maserati seat. I am posting the pics of it here to show you the base model and the finished version to show you how well it turns out. Incredible stuff.

Note how the seam of the leather along the thigh support is a very tight Extrusion inwards which when smoothed gives him the exact look he needs for a seam line/edge.

Same with the little handle clasp on the front side edge, plastic pull handle. Note the version in the basic mesh, how he controls its shape with secondary edges in it.

I wonder how they are doing the stitchings?

 

[antaris]

Hello lads!

@ Mr. n4gix
WOW!!! That mesh in the window, shows how a professional thinks: Clean, neat and fluid topology! Wonderful...
Though I know the theory on how polys and triangles "should" be clustered in a mesh, for me this an art which the The Wizard enhances his modeling techniques with years of experience.

Therefore, and taken from the last videos and pictures the key words for me are: Control loops.

Does The Pinball Wizard reminds you something? To me, yes
Thank you all, my dearest wizards.
Sergio.

 

[bob5568]

i'm intrigued by the difference in the seam between the first back supporting extrusion/bevel, and the next one, compared to the seams above that.

 

[lionheart]

i'm intrigued by the difference in the seam between the first back supporting extrusion/bevel, and the next one, compared to the seams above that.

He must have needed a control set to keep it flat since it was smaller then the others. Dont know.

 

[bob5568]

worked some hours on the rear surface of the mini model this weekend. I'm starting to get the hand of the process of insetting polys, extruding and moving the inner poly, as it works with turbosmooth. That's how I made the two indentations in the back, and the door handle recess. Its a simple process, and makes cool looking shapes.

 

[lionheart]

Man, that Mini looks HOT Bob! She is coming along nicely.

 

[lionheart]

I learned how you can select the interior of a Shell cabin 'only' when the interior and exterior are one piece. Go to Polygon mode, at the top of the object Polygon mode section, where it says 'Select By', click on Angle. Then click a polygon inside the craft and the entire interior should lightup selected. If only half does, then select the other side also, holding down Control button and selecting another polygon. You should then have the entire Cabin selected. Click 'Detach' and name it Cabin.

If you want the Sills also and you want them 'with' the cabin, then when the cabin is selected, click 'Grow' and the sills should light up as selected. Detach and save as Cabin. It might be better to select the Sills separately (as one piece, all sills being one part), and detach and save. It would make it easier to map as well.

Nice find. You learn so much from all those tutorials in YouTube.

 

[lionheart]

I experimented with Paint Deformation today with Max. I have been seeing it with the tutorials by Arrimus on YouTube (where he sometimes uses Z-Brush for bending mesh with 'paint brushes' ). Well, I remember seeing something on this in Max. I was watching a cool tutorial by Arrimus on making cloth. He creates a cloth hoodie for a person model and explains it. He started in Max, but ends in ZBrush. But... Max, has this ability, be it very basic. We can 'paint' deformations onto a mesh via 'Push/Pull'. If you go into Polygon mode on an Editable Poly, at the very bottom is Paint Deformation. Set brush size, turn on Push/Pull, set a value for amount you will push or pull (positive or negative, adjust amount), and start experimenting.

I am so wanting to try this on some seats, some mild folds in corners, etc. Oh man...!!

Couldnt you see this on an old Piper Comanche headliner, old plane, sitting in the weather for ever, fabric all aged and no longer tight.

 

[lionheart]

I got a chance to do some 'Paint Deformation' on my seats in the Rutan Q200.

Seats arent done yet. Experimenting on the arm rest pads.

Seats done. Happy with the results.


You must be careful not to overdo it.

Set brush diameter / size to fit the area you are indenting. Set for a 'negative' number on indentions, positive number for protrusions. Set power really low. 1.0 is too strong. I used 0.3. Experiment. Also use 'Relax' later to loosen up the mesh if you like.

 

[bob5568]

Looks ideal. Great find