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Author
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Topic: Fuselage tutorial for Max users (warning: big images)
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JT
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 07:37 PM
   
Here is a little fuselage building tutorial I whipped up for 3ds Max users. The method described is the method I use, but is not necessarily the only or even the best way. This technique is also applicable to canopy shapes and, in some cases, wing shapes. I tend to prefer a more manual method to build wings, however. Here we go... 
[This message has been edited by JT (edited 12-10-1999).] IP: Logged |
nuum
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 07:45 PM
Hey JT,Thanks for the tutorial.
Fuse is a hard wall. We need that.
I will read this night. (It's 23:52 here)
Across the night....  Thanks master. nuum
WWI aircraft IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 08:05 PM
Master? I wish... I'm still muddling through books and manuals about this stuff :-( I have a feeling it never ends. Anyway, most of the above tutorial is a reworking of the Fit Deformations tutorial in the Max Tutorials book... certainly not anything I invented :-)[This message has been edited by JT (edited 12-10-1999).] IP: Logged |
nuum
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 08:12 PM
JT,I have followed the tutorial.
Outstanding ! Can I zip this and put it on my page ? Sv,
I know that you use AC3d, but, please, put this in your page. The guys using 3DMAX will be very grateful. Thanks JT. nuum
WWI aircraft IP: Logged |
nuum
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 08:24 PM
JT,I have only the 3DMAX manual and finding any helpful information in this manual is a painful experience (at least when one is full of ideas and need just a tool to change a shape ) I will buy a tutorial book, a more "straight to the answer" one. I am using AC3d before... Keep up the good work. Thanks MASTER nuum
WWI aircraft IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 08:38 PM
Yeah, the tutorials book is straight-to-the-point and enormously useful. I have the official Kinetix tutorials book that came with the 3ds Max package, but you might be able to find better.
Also, check out the 3ds Max website. The forums are very helpful. They even have a tutorials section.Go here for that....
http://www.ktx.com/support/ or here....
http://support.ktx.com/ IP: Logged |
Pete Hawk
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 10:24 PM
JT,I was just working on a new fuselage and was getting very frustrated. This couldn't have come at a better time! Thanks! IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 10:42 PM
I forgot to mention... You can add differently shaped cross-sections anywhere along the path of the loft object. This is handy if your shape has any features that aren't described by the top view and side view splines.
In fact you, could pretty much model a whole fuselage by just scaling different or similar cross-sections along the length of a loft. Like I said before... any shape you can imagine can be described by it's cross-sections. The problem is that it's almost impossible to find reference materials-- such as blue prints-- that would contain enough cross-sections for you to work from. It's much easier to find side views and top views of planes... thus the fit deformations.[This message has been edited by JT (edited 12-10-1999).] IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
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posted 12-10- 10:52 PM
Hey, Pete... glad to see you're working again. I can't wait to see what you have cookin'.
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Spanky the Mad Dog
Pilot
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posted 12-11- 06:12 AM
Spanky here Man that is great i have been hearing people tell me to use loft for making parts but it never makes sence in any of the tuts and books i read i use ac3d but i will give this a try if i can ever fix max
I second the suggestion that SV add this too his site. One good Openplane site is a good thing, instead of spreading all this good info around the net.
That tip about lining up the vertices with the grid is a really good tip, I noticed how usefull it was when i did my first Fuse. One side of the plane was nice and smooth and the other was all kinds of polys.
Thanks again JT
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-Seperated and independant halves of a genius super-organism who believe that no game will ever satisfy them completely.
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roadtoad
Pilot
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posted 12-11- 08:42 AM
Nice job Woody!I too get dyselexic with the manual, and went to amazon.com and bought the top-rated by the readers choice. Every project gets easier. IP: Logged |
JG5Jerry
Pilot
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posted 12-16- 08:57 AM
Um, I was just wondering - wouldn't making this shape from a basic cylinder work just as well, and have less polys?IP: Logged |
kopper
JAG
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posted 12-16- 09:03 AM
How would one do the same thing in AC3D?------------------
Kopper
Fortunae Nihil
(Nothing to Chance)
OPPs Making SDOE a Dangerous place.
One plane at a time. IP: Logged |
Sv
Pilot
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posted 12-16- 09:12 AM
Kopper,AC3D is no 3DSmax, but we do have the "create surface/object" function. This will "shrink wrap" any number of polys/shapes into a new object. I create fuse formers, then shrink wrap them up. Here is the downside: 1. You can not have any concave areas
2. To make holes for the cockpit, etc. you need to manualy remove polygons and backfill if you take too much away. Any AC3D users have any 3D modeling tips? I would like to know how you take thing A and merge it onto thing B - I do this by estimating where they meet - is there a way to "snap" objects together? -Sv IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
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posted 12-16- 01:45 PM
>Um, I was just wondering - wouldn't making this shape from a basic cylinder work just as well, and have less polys?The technique described above is a very good way to work quickly and accurately from plan views or blue prints. There is no eyeballing of proportions, curves, or form involved. You're basically just plugging shapes into an equation. If you find it easier to start with primitives, then by all means go for it. That's why I say, at the beginning of the tutorial, that this is not necessarily the only way or even the best way to go. It's just the way I choose to do it. Personally speaking, though, I find it difficult to manipulate a 3d shape (such as a cylinder or any other primitive) through a 2d medium like a computer monitor. I find it even more difficult to make that shape match whatever it is I'm trying to model. Airplanes are made up of very subtle and nuanced shapes and curves. For me, working from splines is the most objective and analytical approach I've been able to find to do this kind of stuff. As far as polygon count goes, the method above does not necessarily produce a higher polygon count than working from primitives. The mesh you see above is sub-divided into triangles, but a lot of those triangles can be joined to form quads. All I have to do is hide whatever diagonals are bewteen coplanar triangles, and then export to .obj (which allows quads). [This message has been edited by JT (edited 12-16-1999).] IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
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posted 12-16- 01:50 PM
Kopper, eventhough a lot of the tools and features used above are unique to Max, the premise could translate to any modeling program. All you need to do is create a top view spline, a side view spline, and a series of cross-sections (enough cross-sections for each set of verts in the top view and side view splines) You simply scale and place the cross-sections to fit the top view and side view splines. Once that is done, you'll have a framework of verts to build a skin over. I'm pretty sure AC3D allows that.[This message has been edited by JT (edited 12-16-1999).] IP: Logged |
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