Now that we have blocked out the very basic shapes of what will be our finished prop, let’s take advantage of a few Editable Poly tools and wrap the object up with a finish pass. We will also look at using instances and resetting pivot points to make things easier as we continue forward with completing our first prop.
As you are working with individual pieces, remember to take advantage of hiding and unhiding assets you do not need immediately, and remember to use the Layer Manager to reference back and forth with the concept image.
Adjust GoldMineBase.
1
Let’s adjust the radius and the inner lip of the object using Editable Polygon tools.
Convert the
• GoldMineBase to an Editable Poly object.
Select any edge on the top of the inner circle of the tube, and use the
• Loop tool to select
all of the edges in a loop around the top of the inner ring.
Use the
• Move tool to move that edge selection up a bit, similar to the concept image
•
Using the loop tool, select the inner ring and move it up slightly.
Lesson 08 | Polygonal Modeling for Games 169 Switch to the Top view, and delete the 12 polygons closest to the wheel’s center. Since
•
these polygons are needed and we do not want to have interpenetration on the geometry, we want to clean them out.
Switch to the Top view and select the three sets of inner most polygons.
Press Delete on your keyboard to remove them.
170 Project 02
Refine and instance the WheelScoop.
2
Next we will create refine the WheelScoop using Editable Polygon tools.
Convert the
• WheelScoop box to an Editable Poly object.
Using the
• Vertex subobject mode and the Move, Rotate, and Scale tools, refine the shape to closer match the scoops exterior shape. Do not worry about the interior of the scoop just yet, just get the outer shape first.
Using the Vertex subobject mode, adjust the shape of the scoop to closer match the concept.
With the
• WheelScoop selected, select the front faces that would make up the interior of the scoop and delete them.
Apply a
• Shell modifier, and under the Parameters submenu give it an Inner Amount of 1, and an Outer Amount of 0.
Convert the object to an Editable Poly.
•
Lesson 08 | Polygonal Modeling for Games 171 Select the faces that would make up the
inside of the scoop. Delete the faces.
Apply a Shell modifer. Collapse back to Editable Poly.
Ensuring that the
• WheelScoop is centered on the WheelBaseObject, and that you have the WheelScoop selected, switch to the Hierarchy tab, and select Affect Pivot Only.
A new icon appears. This is the pivot point of the object, and by turning on
• Affect Pivot
Only, any movements or rotations will affect only the pivot, and not the object. To recenter it to the object, press the Center to Object button, which centers the pivot onto itself.
172 Project 02
Next, use the
• Align tool and click the Wheel Base with X,Y,Z and Center/Center options on.
Click Apply. We are now moving the pivot of the Scoop to the center of the WheelBase.
Move the pivot of the Scoop to the center of the WheelBase.
To exit out of adjusting the pivot point, simply switch back to the Modify tab.
•
With the
• WheelScoop selected, make sure you have turned Angle Snap Toggle turned on.
The Angle Snap Toggle ensures that any rotations you do will snap to a default power of a 5-degree angle.
Lesson 08 | Polygonal Modeling for Games 173 Holding down the
• Shift key, Rotate the WheelScoop 40 degrees along the Y axis, and when the option for Copy, Instance, or Reference pops up, create 8 instances.
Create eight instances of the scoop after adjusting the pivot.
Refine the MiddleSupport.
3
Using what you have learned, let’s make some instances of the MiddleSupportPiece.
Align the pivot of the
• MiddleSupport to the WheelCenter object. If the pivot is facing an odd direction and pressing Center to Object does not fix this, try using the Reset: Transform option under the Adjust Transform submenu.
Make
• 7 instances of the MiddleSupport, and Rotate it 45 degrees.
Create seven instances of the MiddleSupport after adjusting the pivot.
Using the
• Loop selection, remove any excess edges that are not defining the shape in the Edge subobject mode, with the Ctrl+Backspace hotkey.
174 Project 02
Refine the SmallSupport and the SideSupport.
4
Next let’s refine the SmallSupport and SideSupport objects.
With the
• SmallSupport 1 selected, holding down the Shift key and using the Move tool, move the object slightly to the left, and create 2 instances.
Using the
• Scale and Move tools, adjust the sizes and positions of the SmallSupport instances to closer match the concept. Remember, scaling and moving will not affect the instances, but adjusting anything in the subobject mode will.
Adjust the
• SideSupport1 object and make any scale adjustments needed to refine the shape closer to the concept.
Tip: When working on your prop, do not be afraid to jump around from piece to piece and slowly refine the shapes so that they closer represent the shapes of the concept. There is no rigid guideline for making art, as it is all a creative process. Find the process that works best for you!
Select all three of the
• SmallSupport instances, as well as the SideSupport and switch to the Hierarchy Tab. This time, choose Use Working Pivot. The Working Pivot defaults a temporary pivot at 0,0,0 and allows for a quick Mirror without having to adjust the pivot points of the objects individually.
Use the
• Mirror tool from the Main toolbar and select Y as the Mirror Axis, and choose Instance.
Lesson 08 | Polygonal Modeling for Games 175 Using the Working Pivot and the Mirror tool to mirror the objects across as instances.
Refine the WheelBase.
5
Next let’s refine the big WheelBase object.
Convert the object to an Editable Poly.
•
In Edge mode, select an edge along the outer and inner sides of the object, and use the
•
Ring operation to select all of the edges in a Ring.
Use the
• Connect tool to add one Edge Segment to the selection.
176 Project 02
Select an Edge on the Inner and Outer sides of the object.
Use the Ring selection tool to select all of the adjacent edges in a Ring around the object.
Using the Connect tool while in Edge mode, add one segment to the selection.
With that same Edge selection highlighted, use the Uniform Scale tool to adjust the inside
•
and outsides of the object, similar to the concept image.
Lesson 08 | Polygonal Modeling for Games 177 Use the Ring selection tool to select all of the
adjacent edges in a Ring around the object. Use the Uniform Scale tool with your edge selection to push the inner and outer rings further.
Final cleanup.
6
Refer to the concept and all of your objects. Continue to make size and scale adjustments
•
as needed.
Select and delete any polygons that are embedded in other geometry or are facing the
•
ground where they would normally not be seen if this object were placed in a world.
Identify objects that have faces that are embedded into other geometry or would be pointed at the ground if this were in an environment. Here are just a few ideas of polygons that could get cleaned up.
178 Project 02
Ensure that your meshes are at least made up of a four-sided polygon (aka Quads). When
•
we created the MiddleSupport it was one giant polygon, which is bad for games. You want to do your best to avoid an object that has polygons with more than four vertices. You can clean the MiddleSupport object up easily by going to the Front viewport and selecting opposing sets of vertices and using the Connect tool to create edges between the vertices, thereby creating three- and four-sided polygons.
In the Front viewport, select opposing vertices and use the Connect tool to connect edges between them while attempting to fix any polygons with more than four vertices.
When you are done making your adjustments, save the finished scene as
•
PROP_GoldMine_05.
Lesson 08 | Polygonal Modeling for Games 179 The finished prop, with various scale and placement adjustments made as needed.
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have finished your first completed prop in 3Ds Max 2010. Hopefully you were able to follow along and learned several new tricks and tools for your modeling needs. As we move forward in the next couple of lessons we will be UVW unwrapping, texturing, and even animating our prop.