Part 2 - Modeling

This part of the blog deals with modeling your 3D objects, from using standard geometric primitives to the more complex organic modeling. Modeling your 3D objects is usually the first step in creating 3D animations. In addition, this stage in animation is the hardest and longest compared to the rest of the steps in the animation process. Let’s start with the basics of modeling which are the geometric primitives.

A. Geometric Primitives

Primitives are the basic shapes in 3D animation. They are very familiar to us because most of these primitives we have learned from kindergarten to geometry in high school. It includes the simple circle and the more complex Torus. You can actually model a complex object from any of the primitives especially the box. I’ll introduce to you how to model simple objects using the standard geometric primitives found in 3DS Max.

BOX

The first primitive you can see on the command panel. In the figure below you can see a box on the Perspective. Focus your attention on the lower right portion of the command panel that says ‘Parameters’. Observe the different parameters you can use to modify your box object.


Figure 2-1. The Box primitive.

Try This!

1. Place a box on the front viewport by simply clicking on the ‘Box’ button on the command panel and drag it on the viewport.

2. At the lower portion of the command panel, go to ‘Parameters’ and place the mouse pointer on the ‘up-down’ buttons just beside the text box labeled ‘Length’.



3. Just drag it upwards or downwards until you reach the desired length of the box. Do the same for the width and height of the object. You can also type-in the values for the length, width, and height of the box if you want a more accurate measurement.

Try doing the same box as you can see below.



4. That’s how you model your box just by changing the values in the parameters section.

SPHERE

Just try and explore the rest of the primitives. For example here’s what you can change from the parameters section of a sphere.



Try This!

1. Change the number of segments from 32 to 5 and check out how your sphere will look like.

CYLINDER



Try This!

1. Check on box labeled ‘Slice On’ and move the arrow down beside ‘Slice From’ and you’ll see your new cylinder.

TORUS



CONE



PLANE



There are many primitives in Max that I will not cover in this book. I suggest you take a look at them and try them to see how you can use them in your models. In the activity below, we’ll make a simple 3D model of a table.

Try This!

1. Place a box in the Perspective viewport and follow the Parameters as shown in the figure below.



2. Now, place another box on the Top viewport somewhere at the lower left side of the first box. Use the following parameters. This will be the leg of the table.



3. With the box (leg) still selected, press the ‘Shift’ key and drag the box to the right, then release the Shift key. The ‘Clone Options’ dialog box will appear. Just leave the default settings as it is. Notice that we are going to copy only 1 box.



4. Do the same for the last 2 remaining legs of the table.



5. Our table is complete. All we have to do is to rotate all the objects together so that the model will look upright on its 4 legs. Select all the objects in the Front viewport and rotate the table upwards using the Rotate button.



6. There it is! Your 3D model of a table using boxes. Go and experiment on the different Geometric Primitives and try to model real world objects such as furniture and appliances.

The Main Toolbar

Figure 1-2 The Main Toolbar

The Main Toolbar is located just below the Main Menu. It has several buttons which I will introduce to you in this section.

UNDO AND REDO BUTTONS


Figure 1-3. The Undo and Redo buttons (encircled).

These buttons are used every time you want to make changes to your work. But there’s a catch! You can only make until 20 undos. I have checked it out and it really does count only up to 20. Unlike MS Word, which you can list down all the changes you made to your document, you have to be sure of the changes you make to your MAX files.

SELECT AND LINK AND BIND TO SPACE WARP


Figure 1-4. The Select and Link and Bind To Space Warp buttons.

If you want to link two or more objects, then you can use the SELECT AND LINK button. It works pretty much like on how you group objects in a document file. You can also link a 3D object to a space warp such as Bones. I’ll teach you how to use these buttons when we reach Part V which is Rigging and Animation.

By the way, you can place the mouse pointer on top of every button to see the label of the button you’re trying to use.

SELECT AND MOVE, ROTATE AND UNIFORM SCALE


Figure 1-5. Select and Move, Rotate and Uniform Scale buttons.

We’ll be using these buttons more often than the other buttons found on the Main toolbar. Let me just go over and discuss briefly what these buttons do.

SELECT AND MOVE – When you want to select or move your objects in the space, you use the Select and Move button. Just a note, use this button if you want to change the position of the object/s you are working with in the virtual space. You will encounter another button which functions similarly with Select and Move but does not affect the position of the object you’re working.

SELECT AND ROTATE – Use this button when you want to rotate the object relatively in its position. Again, there’s another that works just the same as Select and Rotate. I’ll introduce these buttons later.

SELECT AND UNIFORM SCALE – Curiously, you can also change the length, width or both at the same time using the Select and Uniform Scale button. Don’t worry, you’ll be working with these three buttons shortly.

MIRROR AND ALIGN


Figure 1-6. The Mirror and Align buttons.

Copying 3D objects in Max is also possible. There are two ways. One is to use the Mirror button and the other one is by pressing the SHIFT key and simply move the object. You can also align objects with the Align button.

MATERIAL EDITOR


Figure 1-7. Material Editor button.

Placing colors or textures to your 3D objects will be done using the Material Editor. At first, your 3D objects will look barely in one color, just like the famous ghost cartoon Slimer. But when you start working with the Material Editor things can be really fun!

QUICK RENDER


Figure 1-8. The Quick Render button.

I guess you have heard the term render before. As what the word says, the Quick Render button allows you to render your work without having to configure anything. You will learn more about rendering at the last part of this book. For now, why don’t you try out the activity I prepared for you?

Try This!

In this activity, I will orient you with the common buttons that you will be using more frequently than the other buttons found in Max.

1. You may save your work as ‘Teapot-test.max’.
2. Locate the button ‘Teapot’ at the right side of Max. Then click on it.



3. Place the Teapot on the ‘Front’ viewport. Just drag the object at the center of the viewport.



4. This time click on the Select and Move button on the Main toolbar. Notice that you will see two arrows in the Front viewport. The green arrow represents the Y axis while the red arrow represents the X axis. These arrows are called gizmos.

Now, I want you to move the teapot to the center of the Front viewport by placing your mouse pointer on the head of the green arrow. Just drag it upwards and downwards. Do the same for the red arrow, but this time drag it sideways.



5. There’s another way of doing that. Notice the two lines forming at the corner of the two arrows? Yes, place the mouse pointer on either of the lines, the green, the red, you choose. When the corner is highlighted, you can drag it anytime.



6. That’s about moving the object. Let’s turn the Teapot upwards so that it does not look like someone has just spilled tea on the floor. Click on the Select and Rotate on the Main toolbar this time.

7. Place the mouse pointer on the red line. Then, slowly drag it upwards.



8. Adjust its position move the Teapot exactly at the center of the Front viewport.

9. We’ll stretch our Teapot to make it look cartoony. Click on the Select and Uniform Scale button on the Main toolbar.

10. Place the mouse pointer on the green line (vertical). Then, drag it upwards. Stretch it!



11. Let’s make a copy of our tall Teapot. Make sure the Teapot is still activated. You can say this if the object is highlighted in the viewports (line color is white). Click on the Mirror button on the Main Toolbar.

12. The ‘Mirror: Screen Coordinates’ dialog box will appear. Under the ‘Clone Section’, tick on copy. You may now click on the ‘OK’ button.



13. Using the Select and Move button, place the new Teapot beside the first one. Just like the figure below.



14. After this, you can take a quick look of your work by clicking on the ‘Quick Render’ button found still on the Main toolbar. Max will render the viewport that is active (highlighted in yellow line).

Well, I hope you liked what you’ve learned so far. I’ll continue introducing you to the other parts of Max interface.

Learn 3D Animation Using 3DS Max

Animation is one of the most popular forms of entertainment. It gives us the idea that the images we see are alive and moving. In real sense, animation is just a series of images brought together to show actions or illusions. In addition, animation has many forms. There is the traditional cel animation. This type of animation uses cel technology where artists draw images on cels. Puts these cels together and takes picture on these cels. Later the images are sequenced to form an animation film. One of the most popular forms of animations today is computer animation. Specifically, 3D animation is the most sought after production in the entertainment industry today. As we can remember in 1995 the first ever full length 3D animated film Toy Story came to life. After that year we have witnessed series of 3D animated films from various studios such as Pixar, Dreamworks and Blue Sky Studio.

Many aspiring animators would like to enter the 3D animation world and join companies like the ones I mentioned above. Here, in the Philippines, there are many schools which offer courses in 3D animation. Currently, I am teaching 3D animation at Universal College of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. But what are the prospects for aspiring 3D animators and how will they join the animation industry? Animation has a wide area of application. It is centered in the entertainment industry from films, television to computer games. There are a lot of jobs for a single animator to apply for. This is because in animation more people are needed to create quality productions. Most of the animation companies would prefer applicants with 2 years or more experience in animation. However, it is not a requirement. You also have to be creative and imaginative. In producing animation, it is a must that animators are able to put into drawings their ideas and concepts for the project that they are working on.

I decided to write this blog because I want you to appreciate the wonderful things 3D animation can bring. Specifically, I aim to invite both the artistically inclined individuals and the not so artistically motivated people to learn the basics of computer animation. Through this blog people will learn how those great 3D animations are created such as Toy Story, The Incredibles and many other animated movies. The objective of this book is for you to learn the fundamentals of computer animation in a small amount of time possible. This is because I considered how busy we are in our daily lives. We might not have the luxury of attending trainings and even going to school to learn about the subject. I made sure you will easily understand the concepts by modularizing the subject and I have prepared activities for you to practice once you grasp the whole picture.

Part 1 is familiarizing the 3DS Max user interface. Part 2 is all about modeling your 3D objects and environment. Then, you'll learn the different texturing techniques in Part 3. After that, I'll teach how to use Max's built-in lights and cameras for you to set-up in your animation. Part 5 is rigging and animation. This is where you will move your 3D objects and actually do some animations! Of course, the last part is rendering your animations to image and video files.

I'll start posting tomorrow. So check my blog regularly.

Files From Training

Image 3. My last 3D model after my training in Quezon city. I created this model from a tutorial (reference book which was given to me by my instructor). Thank you sir Nonoy!

Image 2. This second image was modeled from the actual chair that I sat during my training in Quezon city. It was my first time to leave Zamboanga after 18 years. Also, it was my first time to fly.

Image 1 - Electric Fan. This is my first model using 3D Max. My instructor asked me to model the fan using all the modeling techniques that I have learned so far. It was the fan that was used in the place where I stayed.