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Brilliant Lofting Tutorial

Just did this 'glasses' arm in short time.

Brilliant tutorial. I owe that guy a beer!

In this build segment, I was recreating a low poly part for some sunglasses I purchased online for a model.



Bill
 
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lionheart said:
It appears to be a super early Max version, so it should work properly in Gmax as well.
Click to expand...

"Super early?" 3DS Max 2009 is what he's using. Look at the top bar... :D

It was a nice tutorial. I even managed to learn something new! ;)
 
Hey Bill,

Man, I didnt think you could make all those sub-adjustments to the mesh structure and spline 'after' doing the Loft. That was brilliant!


Get this... I was praying my morning prayer this morning, and 'looking up Lofting' came to me right as I started to pray. I am so glad I found that. The part I was going to redo this morning (that sunglasses arm) was perfect for Lofting, just what I wanted.

Sometimes He gives us what we need before we ask... :)

I do remember someone here figuring out how to do something like this, but I never could figure out how to make it work. The part/Spline always wound up sideways, etc. From this, it looks like you draw the Spline out from top and it works its way automatically (so far) into the Path.

I had found several Lofting tutorials, but that one was the best yet. The others had circles and things that were pretty cool in how they could make elaborate shapes with cut sides.

Anyways.. All the more parts we can make now, more easily...

Pieces is parts.. Parts is pieces...
 
Now that was a very interesting and informative tutorial. :D

I can see how that would be useful for creating some of the more "exotic" switch levers.
 
Good find, Bill! There's an old video at FSAlpha using lofting to build a nosecone, but this one's much better.

lionheart said:
I would like to find out what software it is that they record this with. Might come in handy.
Bill
Click to expand...
It's at the end of the video and it's called Jing.

http://www.techsmith.com/jing/
 
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I was going to do the usual, painstakingly difficult extrude/rotate/repeat of bringing out a curved edge from a Winglet and thought, I'll try the Loft on this.

I went into Edges mode on the Ed. Poly, selected the end set of Edges, clicked 'Create Part From Edges', had my 'Shape' Spline immediately created. Then made a quick path for it, a curve, on center, that I wanted the shape to follow.

Clicked the Compound Objects, Loft, Get Shape, and BING!

The part at first had 5 steps added, and was half inside out, probably because the shape was too tight for the path, and it was a bit overscaled, but it was basically done, and in the click of a couple of buttons.

Took a couple of min's to edit it to scale and then a angled it with a forward-ish rake.

Nice....! Loving this new tool.
 
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Just a followup on that winglet, totally off topic...

I realised, in studying the shape, that I was so way off, lol... The fin came up out of the top edge of the wingtip, not the side, so I had to remodel it a bit, using a cloned wingtip as the starter base, and blending in the fin structure.

Here it is improved.

Note on how it starts. I deleted some from the fin, aligned it onto the wingtip, deleted a join zone for the fin structure to be welded into, aligned to, then Attached it. Next, I built the joining poly structure bridges to it, then worked with combing the mesh (making them into proper arcs from front/top/side views) so that the shading became more smooth appearing (no odd shadows). I was going to do a Iteration of Mesh Smooth on it, but they caused worsening of the shadows and made it look clumpy, so I didnt go that route.

Whats nice is adding a giant 'CAP' to a Ed. Poly/Border (hole that is sealed all the way around). Then all you do is add your Edges (Ed Poly/Edges/Create) and then align them, and if needed, Edges/Divide and add Vertices and then Edges to divide and create a new row into the structure across some polygons for a bit of curvature.

1 day on a winglet. No wonder my production is so slow... arrgh.
 
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I was experimenting with Lofting today. I created a mouse with a simple side profile shape (half of a side), and used a circle Spline to create the Path. I also had moved the Center Gizmo out from the center of the Shape so that it was wider.

I noted that Steps in the Shape didnt smooth well, the algorythm doesnt account for roundedness and just adds in rows of edges without causing increased roundedness which usually Mesh Smooth does well. So I used Mesh Smooth instead, later down the road.

I also added a Edit Spline to the Loft/Path and gave it the tear drop top view shape.

The second one was a quickie Airship design, 20 passenger Loft experimen using again a side (half) shape Spline and the Path was a Spline that ran down the center of the hull. I used a very basic shape, no Steps, and then manipulated the shapes structural effects (bumps and things) via the base shape and checked in Mesh Smooth for the added effect.

I added a bit of a rib thing on the belly al-lah Laviathon from Farscape, (Moya).

Just playing.. Thought I would show you all how the uses for this can vary.


Bill
 
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interesting stuff Bill! I hate to model big parts - the fuselage or wings because I always fail at the more complex structures. For instance the connection between nose to the cockpit to the cabin section...

Can lofting help me with that?
 
I'd have thought using cross-section splines, CrossSection and Surface modifiers would be better there, because you can place the cross-section splines exactly where needed - with lofting you're restricted to a percentage position.

That's if you've got decent cross-sectional information, Vitus...
 
Vitus said:
interesting stuff Bill! I hate to model big parts - the fuselage or wings because I always fail at the more complex structures. For instance the connection between nose to the cockpit to the cabin section...

Can lofting help me with that?
Click to expand...


Hey Vitus,

Tom is right. For me, and perhaps you, Spline Cross Sections are best. Lofting has its departments, but I think as a fuselage maker, it may not be the best, though it could surely do it via the percentage dialer in Loft.

For me, the fuselage is better made with Splines where you can line them up with precision, then skin them all at once. I also only do half sides, then when done and skinned, I make a Mirror clone and weld them up.
 
The cross section is not a problem, but I think that a cross section is just not enough for this complex shape. Take for instance the Electra:
240673396_3946276a97_o.jpg


The first few inches of the nose are completely round, than the sides develop a straight part. The Cockpit windows are planar but in an angle that drives me nuts. Crosssections wont help here I think due to the acute angle of the glass. So the nose is not a problem and the cabin neither buuuuuut the whole section in between the first two cockpit windows....
 
This was a huge problem for me with most planes, starting from the back of the cowling on over the windscreen. In FSDS I learned how to work that one, single area. Even today though, each plane is a unique problem in that exact same zone.

Now, what you can do is create the rest of the fuselage and then come back to that one. Then, you could delete the area in the plexi zone, create the base two panels that make those windscreens, then Attach and join/bridge the areas together. That makes it a bit easier.



Bill
 
Well... I'm somewhat relieved that I am not the only one having these issues. Although I'd prefer to read the perfect solution for this problem :D
So back to vertex-bending!
 
Today I had an odd error. I was trying to create a Loft to make a weather stripping molding around a door seal. However, the 'Select Shape' button wouldnt illuminate, locking me out.

I found later that I had made my Spline 'Path' via 'Create Object from Selected Edges' and had accidentally selected a 'Y' junction (off branch, making a Y shape) and that didnt allow me to do the Loft part as a Path. It cannot have Y intersections.

So in case you have that issue, thats why..


Bill
 
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