Mastering Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 phần 3 pdf

Click the Select Object tool and click the first wall you created, as shown in Figure 4.8.. Click the Select Object button to exit the ProBoolean tool and then click the second wall, as

Spline Name

and Function Creation Method

Creation Options* parameters*

Ellipse—Draws

ellipses

Click first tangent edge and drag for other edge [Edge] Or click center and drag for edge [Center]

Edge/Center Length, Width

circum-Or click center and drag for first radius; click for second radius [Center]

Edge/Center Radius 1, Radius 2

Star—Draws star

shape

Click center and drag for first radius; click again for second radius

Radius 1, Radius 2, [number of] Points [of star], Distortion [twist], Fillet Radius 1, Fillet Radius 2 Helix—Draws a 3D

helix (spiral)

Click first circumference point, drag second circum-ference point, click height, click second radius [Edge]

Or click center, drag first radius, click height, and click second radius [Center]

Edge/Center Radius 1, Radius 2,

Height, Turns, Bias,

CW [clockwise]/CCW [counterclockwise]

*Items separated by a slash (/) denote radio button options Italics denote button group names.

You may want to experiment by creating some different splines in a separate file Remember that you can extrude most of them into the third dimension by using the Extrude or Bevel modi-fiers and the Loft compound object, which extrudes a shape along a spline path (you’ll learn about lofting in Chapter 7, “Organizing and Editing Objects”)

Common parameters among all of the shape primitives are found in the Rendering and

Interpolation rollouts In the Rendering rollout, you can force 3ds Max to render a sional spline as if it were a three-dimensional object complete with surfaces The Interpolation rollout contains controls for adjusting the number of steps, or straight segments, between each vertex The more steps a shape has, the smoother the curves are, but this results in a more com-plex object when the shape is lofted or extruded

two-dimen-In addition to the Splines group of objects that are created from the Shapes tool, there are also NURBS curves and a small library of newer shapes called Extended Splines consisting

of common structural steel cross sections The NURBS Curves and Extended Splines options are accessed from the drop-down list above the Object Type rollout when the Shapes button is active Table 3.3 discusses the Extended Spline types and options

table 3.2: Creation Methods for Splines (cOnTInUED)

table 3.3: Creation Methods for Extended Splines

Spline Name and Function Creation Method

Creation Options* parameters*

WRectangle—Draws offset rectangular splines with or with-out corner radii

Click first corner and drag for other corner; then click for inner offset [Edge] Or click center and drag for corner, and then click for inner offset [Center]

Edge/Center Length, Width, Thickness,

Sync Corner Fillets, Corner Radius 1, Corner Radius 2

Angle—Draws an “L”

shape

Click first corner and drag for other corner; then click for inner offset [Edge] Or click center and drag for corner, and then click for inner offset [Center]

Edge/Center Length, Width, Thickness,

Sync Corner Fillets, Corner Radius 1, Corner Radius 2, Edge Radii

Wide Flange—Draws

an “I” shape

Click first corner and drag for other corner; then click for inner offset [Edge] Or click center and drag for corner;

then click for inner offset [Center]

Edge/Center Length, Width, Thickness,

Edge/Center Length, Width, Thickness,

Sync Corner Fillets, Corner Radius 1, Corner Radius 2

Tee—Draws a “T”

shape

Click first corner and drag for other corner; then click for inner offset [Edge] Or click center and drag for corner;

then click for inner offset [Center]

Edge/Center Length, Width, Thickness,

The exception to this is the Line spline, which will display its sub-object level options as soon

as you select the Modify tab

Once you’ve selected Edit Spline, you can make changes to the vertices, segments, or splines

by entering the corresponding sub-object level of the Edit Spline modifier You can even attach

or detach components of a spline to create new forms, as you’ll see in the next chapter

Another way to access a spline’s sub-object level is to convert it into an editable spline This is accomplished by right-clicking the object name in the modifier stack and selecting Convert To: Editable Spline from the context menu

You can also right-click the object in the viewport and choose Convert to  Convert to

Editable Spline from the quad menu

This exposes the sub-object level of the selected spline in a way similar to the Edit Spline modifier, but it does so by permanently converting the spline to an editable spline The spline then loses its parametric functions

After modifying a spline’s sub-objects using the Edit Spline modifier, especially if vertices are added or removed, editing the spline at its top level may yield unpredictable results For this reason, converting a parametric shape into an editable spline is often preferred over using the Edit Spline modifier If you want to experiment with the spline’s sub-objects but are not sure if the end result will be adequate, use the Edit Spline modifier first If the desired shape is created, convert the object into an editable spline If not, simply delete the modifier to return the shape to its unaltered configuration

In this chapter, you have learned how to draw splines with the traditional tools in 3ds Max Design 2011 The Graphite Modeling Tools provide some alternate ways to sketch splines that can be used for many purposes For example, you can use the Polydraw panel to sketch splines

on grids or on the topology of other Edit Poly objects that can automatically create polygons when you create quadrilaterals with the splines you draw

Collapsing to an editable Spline reduces Memory Usage

Collapsing a spline with modifiers to an editable spline helps reduce the memory usage for your scene 3ds Max must use additional memory from your system in order to maintain the parameters

of objects as well as the modifiers in the stack If you convert a spline to an editable spline, 3ds Max

no longer needs to draw on that additional memory for the spline As your scene becomes larger, these memory issues become more important On the other hand, using the Edit Spline modifier consumes more memory than converting a primitive spline shape to an editable spline, but you have the best of both worlds—parametric and explicit control

Placing and Beveling Text

3ds Max treats text as a parametric spline with parameters that control many features found in word processing software Text can be justified, bold, and italicized; the space between letters can be adjusted (kerned); the space between lines can be adjusted (leaded); and the 3ds Max text object can use any Windows fonts 3ds Max is far from a robust text editor, but you will find most of the tools necessary to add text-based geometry to your scenes, including cutting and pasting text from TXT files into the Text tool’s Text field

You’ve noticed that, when you create objects, they are created on and oriented to either the home grid or a user grid 3ds Max also has the ability to create grids on the fly using the surfaces of scene geometry as the basis for the grid’s location and orientation This feature is accessed by checking the AutoGrid check box in the Object Type rollout AutoGrid is available whenever you create any type of geometry or shape primitive and remains active until the box

is unchecked

The following exercises explain the use of Text, AutoGrid, and the Bevel modifier:

1. Choose File  Open and open the Signage.max file from the book’s companion web page The file consists of a rectangular sign with a curved border, as shown in Figure 3.85 The sign has been rotated off the home grid

2. Click Create  Shapes  Splines in the Command panel

Figure 3.85

The rectangular

sign from the

Signage.max file

3. Click the Text button in the Object Type rollout and then select the AutoGrid check box.

4. Drag your cursor over the sign in the viewport and notice that the axis tripod orients its axes to whichever face the cursor is over at any given time, as shown in Figure 3.86

5. With the cursor over the central part of the sign, click the mouse to place the default

“MAX Text” text in the scene and on top of the sign The text is created, but it is too large for the sign (see Figure 3.87) Uncheck AutoGrid

the Start New Shape Option

You may have noticed the Start New Shape option near the top of the Splines Object Type rollout When this option is unchecked, each shape created becomes a spline sub-object of a greater spline object, rather than individual, parametric spline objects This option is checked by default

6. In the Parameters rollout, select a font from the drop-down list and then adjust the Size value to change the text to a more appropriate size Select the text in the Text field and replace it with the words that you want to appear on your sign

Figure 3.86

With the AutoGrid

feature active, the

axis tripod orients

itself to the face

over which the

cursor is placed

Figure 3.87

Placing new text

on the board with

AutoGrid turned on

Different fonts can yield different results when modifiers are applied to them This is usually the result of using a font with tight corners or thin areas, and then beveling the text in such a manner that it is forced to cross over itself In other cases the fonts are designed poorly and don’t work well when extruded or beveled This exercise uses the Book Antiqua Bold font with a Size parameter set to 2´3˝.

Cycling through the Font Options

With the font highlighted in the Parameters rollout, use the up and down arrow keys to cycle through the fonts and observe how each looks in the viewports If you use the arrows in the numeric keypad, make sure Num Lock is not turned on

The text assumes the characteristics that you assigned, but its location on the sign is too low

To move it properly, you must use the Local Reference Coordinate System, which uses the X-, Y-, and Z-orientation of the selected object rather than using the World Coordinate System

1. Click the Select and Move button on the Main Toolbar

2. To the right of the transform tools, expand the Reference Coordinate System drop-down list and select Local as shown in Figure 3.88

3. Select the text and notice that the Move Transform gizmo is oriented to the text Place the cursor over the XY-plane handle and move the text into place, as shown in Figure 3.89

Most real-world objects that you will find outside of a machine shop do not have lar faces that join at sharp angles They usually have a curved (filleted) or straight (chamfered) transition between the surfaces Although it may not be obvious visually, this transition in your scene will appear more realistic to the viewers by creating a condition that they are used to seeing With proper lighting, the transition surfaces can generate a specular highlight, subtly

calling attention to the condition The Extrude modifier does not provide for a fillet or chamfer, but these features can be found in the Bevel modifier’s option, as explained in the following

steps Although this example uses text, the Bevel modifier can be used with any spline

The Bevel modifier’s Bevel Values group has controls for setting the height and outline

amount at three different locations perpendicular to the spline’s current location The Outline value is an offset size that the shape assumes, at the specified Height value, relative to its origi-nal size

Add the Bevel modifier to your text using the following steps:

1. Select the text, click the Modify tab, and then choose Bevel from the Modifier List

drop-down

2. In the Bevel Values rollout, set the Level 1 Height parameter to 3˝ and leave Outline set

to 0.0˝ This will generate an initial straight segment for the letters

3. Check the Level 2 check box Set the Level 2 Height to 0.25˝ and the Outline to -0.25˝

4. Zoom into the letters to see the chamfered effect of the Bevel modifier, as shown in

Figure 3.90

5. In the Parameters rollout, select Curved Sides in the Surface group, set Segments to 4, and select the Smooth Across Levels check box These settings will generally soften the transi-tion between levels and, when a small Outline value is present, can create a ridge around the perimeter of the splines, as shown in Figure 3.91

The Bottom Line

Draw shapes with splines Two-dimensional splines can be used as the building blocks for more complex, three-dimensional objects You can draw splines from scratch using the Line tool or start with a parametric shape and then collapse it to an editable spline

Master It Create a rainbow-shaped set of splines—in other words, a series of tric arcs

concen-Outline and extrude splines Outlining splines provides a way to create a new spline object that parallels the original This is faster and more accurate than creating the second spline manually and then attaching it to the original Extruding splines is the most common method for creating 3D objects from 2D splines

sub-Master It A column surround is a shell that covers a structural column to give it a more appealing appearance Create a 16´-tall, 2˝-thick, semicircular column surround with a 16´ outside radius

Modify closed splines with Boolean tools Nearly any shape can be formed using the standard Editable Spline two or more simple shapes and combine them for a more complex shape

Master It Using the spline Boolean tools, create the cross-sectional shape of a fluted column, similar to the shape shown here

Editing Meshes and Creating

Complex Objects

In the three previous chapters, you spent some time becoming familiar with 3ds Max In this chapter, you’ll continue exploring 3ds Max’s features while exercising your newfound skills You’ll start by learning how to add openings to the walls you created in Chapter 3, “Creating Shapes with Splines.” Then you’ll learn how you can import scanned images that you can use to trace In the process of tracing a floor plan, you’ll further explore methods for creating and edit-ing forms using splines You’ll also be introduced to ways you can edit the extruded shapes that you have created, as well as edit any other mesh object In this chapter, you’ll learn to:

Create openings with ProBoolean operations

Creating Openings in a Wall with Boolean Operations

In Chapter 3, you created a set of walls that completely enclosed a space Now you need to add

wall openings between the enclosed spaces of your model To do this, you’ll use Boolean

opera-tions to remove poropera-tions of a wall

a Brief history of Booleans

Boolean operations are named after George Boole, who developed a mathematical branch of bolic logic Boolean logic includes AND, OR, and NOT operators, which correspond to geometric union, intersection, and subtraction

sym-Boolean operations are methods you can use to join two objects, subtract the shape of one object from another, or obtain a shape that is the intersection of two objects Figure 4.1 illustrates the effect of Boolean operations on some sample shapes

3ds Max allows you to use two existing objects to form one new object using Boolean

opera-tions The original objects are referred to as the operands of the Boolean operations, and they are

not deleted when the operation is performed; they become sub-objects of the resultant Boolean object In the following exercise, you’ll use a simple box to define the opening in your walls The existing wall is one operand, and the box that forms the opening is the other operand

3ds Max now has the ProBoolean and ProCutter compound objects The ProBoolean pound object has the classic three Boolean operations and adds Merge, Attach, and Insert You can also use the Imprint and Cookie Cutter options to further enhance your operations The ProBoolean tools keep the history of operations; you can modify the operators or change the ordering of operators anytime you want You can even change an operation’s type (for example, change a subtracted operand to a union operand) The ProBoolean operations create better geometry than the original Boolean tools in 3ds Max They provide you enormous flexibility in creating objects for your visualizations

com-Hiding Shapes That Get in the Way

Start by setting up your wall model and creating an object you’ll use to subtract from the walls

1. Open the My_Walls.max model you created in the previous chapter, or open MyWalls04 max that you downloaded from www.sybex.com/go/mastering3dsmaxdesign2011

2. If your 3ds Max window shows only a single viewport, click the Maximize Viewport Toggle to view the four viewports

You’ll need to hide the ceiling of your model in order to more easily work on the model Here’s a quick way to temporarily hide objects if they’re in your way

Box intersect star

Box union star

Outline of box and star shown for clarity

3. Right-click in the viewport, choose Select from the quad menu, and then click to select the ceiling.

4. Click in the Name input box in the Name and Color rollout in the Command panel and

change the name to Ceiling, as shown in Figure 4.2 This will help you find the ceiling later.

5. Right-click in the viewport and choose Hide Selection from the quad menu (see

Figure 4.3) The ceiling disappears

6. The ceiling hasn’t really gone anywhere—you’ve just hidden it Just so you know where

to look when you do need to turn it back on, right-click again and choose Unhide by Name from the quad menu, as shown in Figure 4.4

The Unhide Objects dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 4.5

7. You can see that Ceiling is listed in the dialog box To turn it back on, you would click the name in the list and then click Unhide You want to keep it off for now, so click Cancel.The display functions shown in this section are also available from the Display tab of the Command panel and by selecting Tools  Display Floater

Figure 4.2

Rename an object in

the Command panel

Figure 4.3

Using the quad

menu, hide the

Creating the Shape of the Opening

Now you’re ready to get to work on the walls Your first step is to create the shape of the ing You can think of this shape as the negative space of the opening or as the shape that is to be removed from the wall

open-1. Click in the Top viewport to make it active

2. Click the Zoom Extents tool so that you can see the entire plan in the viewport

3. Click the Geometry tool in the Create tab of the Command panel and make sure Standard Primitives is selected in the drop-down list

4. Click the Box button in the Object Type rollout Then, in the Top viewport, click and drag a rectangle that is roughly 3´ × 3´ square to the location shown in Figure 4.6 You don’t need to draw the box precisely, because you’ll enter the exact dimensions in the Parameters rollout

5. Make the height of the box roughly 7´

6. Go to the Parameters rollout of the Create tab and set the Length and Width values to 3´ and Height to 6´8˝

You now have a box that will be used to create an opening The next steps are to place the box in the locations for the openings

7. Click the Select and Move tool in the Main Toolbar and move the box to the location

on the left, as shown in Figure 4.7 Remember that you need to place the cursor on the selected object Then, when you see the Move cursor, click and drag the object into position

8. Shift+click and drag the box to make a copy of the box in the location to the right, as shown in Figure 4.7

9. In the Clone Options dialog box, click Copy and then click OK

Figure 4.6

Placing the box

in the plan

Subtracting the Opening from the Wall

Now that you have the object ready, you can use the ProBoolean tool to subtract it from the wall First, you’ll select the object from which you want to subtract the opening—this is referred to as

Operand 0 Afterward, you’ll select the object to subtract, called Operand 1.

1. Click the Select Object tool and click the first wall you created, as shown in Figure 4.8

2. Click the drop-down list under the row of tools near the top of the Command panel, and then select Compound Objects as shown in Figure 4.9

3. Click the ProBoolean button in the Object Type rollout The ProBoolean options appear in the Command panel

Selecting the wall

for the Boolean

operation

Operand 1; select this object second

Operand 0; select this object first

Figure 4.9

Starting the

cre-ation process for

compound objects

4. Scroll down the Command panel to the Parameters rollout and make sure that the Subtraction radio button is selected (Figure 4.10).

5. Click the Start Picking button in the Pick Boolean rollout

6. Click the box that intersects the wall, as shown in Figure 4.8

If you look in the Perspective viewport, you’ll see that an opening appears in the wall where you located the box, as shown in Figure 4.11

proBooleans are More powerful than Booleans

You may have noticed the Boolean option under the Object Type rollout This is the older Boolean tool developed with 3ds Max This tool is at least 15 years old; it was part of the first release of 3ds Max in 1995 ProBoolean was a more powerful plug-in available for 3ds Max that has been incor-porated into the program

Now repeat the operation for the other wall:

1. Click the Select Object button to exit the ProBoolean tool and then click the second wall,

as shown in Figure 4.12

This becomes the first operand for the next Boolean operation

2. Click the ProBoolean button in the Object Type rollout of the Command panel

3. Click the Start Picking button, and then select the box, as shown in Figure 4.12 The ond opening appears, as shown in Figure 4.13 You may need to Orbit your viewport a little to get a better view of the new opening

In this example, you created a simple rectangular opening in the wall The shape of the ing can be anything you want it to be You just need to create the geometry, using primitives or extruded splines In addition, the object that you’re subtracting from doesn’t need to be thin like the wall in this example It can be any geometry you want, and the subtracted shape will leave its impression Figure 4.14 shows some examples of other Boolean subtractions to give you an idea of other possibilities.

open-Figure 4.12

Selecting the wall

and box for the

second opening

Select the box second

Select the wall object first

Creating Multiple Openings in a Single Wall

You can perform multiple ProBoolean operations on any 3D object, such as creating several openings in one wall To do this, you only need to continue selecting objects while the Start Picking button is selected All of the objects selected become operands of the Boolean operation

If you’ve deselected a ProBoolean object, simply reselect it, click the Modify tab, click the Start Picking button, and then continue picking operands If you have a number of objects to subtract from another, after you have clicked the Start Picking button, you can press the H key

on the keyboard to bring up the Select from Scene dialog box and select all of the objects for your operation All of the objects will appear in the Operands display; they can still be reor-dered and modified as if you had selected them individually

If you collapse a ProBoolean object to an Editable Mesh or Editable Poly you lose the ands history This means you cannot edit the openings by going back and changing the size of the boxes You can, however, edit openings in the object at sub-object levels

oper-Making Changes to the Opening

Suppose that you decide to increase the size of one of the openings You can go back and modify the box used as the Boolean operand so that it’s wider This, in turn, will increase the opening size

1. Click the Select Object tool in the Main Toolbar and click the first wall, as shown in Figure 4.15

2. Click the Modify tab in the Command panel Scroll down to the Display section of the Parameters rollout and click the Operands radio button The box reappears in the viewports

3. Scroll down to the bottom of the Parameters rollout, and then click the 1: Subtr – Box001 item in the selection field See Figure 4.16

Figure 4.15

Moving the

oper-and to change the

location of the wall

opening

Resize operand and move to this location

Select this wall

Figure 4.16

Selecting the

sub-traction operation

4. Notice that Box is now listed in the modifier stack at the top of the Command panel Click the Box item See Figure 4.17.

The Command panel options change to show the parameters for the box

5. In the Parameters rollout, change the Width value to 6´ Notice how the box changes in the viewports as you edit the Width parameter

6. Go back to the top of the modifier stack and select ProBoolean

7. Scroll down to the Parameters rollout and click the Result radio button, shown in

1. Click the Operands radio button in the Parameters rollout again to view the box

2. Scroll up the Command panel to the modifier stack and click the plus (+) sign next to the ProBoolean option, and then click the Operands entry It highlights to indicate that it is selected See Figure 4.19

3. Click the Select and Move tool in the Main Toolbar Then click and drag the box to the left, in the -X direction, so that it passes through the corner of the wall, as shown earlier

5. Scroll down the Parameters rollout and click the Result radio button The new wall ing configuration appears in the Perspective viewport, as shown in Figure 4.20.

open-6. Save the Mywalls04.max file incrementally by choosing File  Save As and clicking the plus (+) button in the Save File As dialog box The file will be named My_Walls01.max if you continued from the previous chapter or Mywalls05.max if you used the file provided

The tricky part of moving the opening in this exercise is making sure that the sub-object level is active and that the proper operand is selected at the bottom of the Parameters rollout.These exercises demonstrate that you can alter the shape of the opening by modifying the parameters of the object you used to create the opening The trick here is to know how to get to the box operand in order to edit its parameters It’s a good idea to first make the subtracted oper-and visible It’s not absolutely necessary, but it helps to see the operand as you make changes Use the modifier stack to gain access to the operand Once there, you can access the operand’s parameters and make changes to its geometry or change its location To change the location of either of the operands within a compound object, go to the Operands sub-object level and select the operand The operands are considered sub-objects of the ProBoolean compound object Like almost everything else in 3ds Max, this can be animated You can use ProBoolean animations to make quick animations of objects appearing or disappearing

Tracing a Sketch

You cannot always predict when or where you’ll have a brilliant design idea Frequently, ideas arise when you’re sitting at a table during a brainstorming session or perhaps even while you are out eating lunch The basic tools of pencil and paper offer the spontaneity needed to express your ideas freely

Once you’ve created an inspired sketch, 3ds Max offers a way to quickly transfer your ration into a 3D model Among its view options, 3ds Max supplies a tool that displays a bitmap image in the viewports for a variety of purposes, including the tracing of scanned design sketches

inspi-In this section, you’ll continue your exploration of splines by importing a sketch and tracing

it You’ll use a sketch that roughly approximates the floor plan of Notre Dame du Haut, more commonly known as the Chapel at Ronchamp, which was designed by Le Corbusier in 1950

Figure 4.20

The result of moving

the box operand

Figure 4.21 shows a photograph of one view of the famous building If you use Google to search for images of the Ronchamp Chapel you’ll find hundreds of photos that give views of all sides of this masterpiece of modern architecture.

By modeling this building, you will have the opportunity to examine how you might use splines to create shapes other than simple straight walls like those you created in the previous chapter You’ll also be introduced to other methods for modeling forms by combining splines and primitives

ensuring Your Bitmaps appear Correctly

Depending on your installation, bitmaps used as template images may appear pixelated and be unusable To ensure they look their best, before you start the next exercise, save your file and then choose Customize  Preferences  Viewports  Configure Driver In the Appearance Preferences Group, under Download Texture Size, select the highest resolution size listed and check the Match Bitmap Size as Closely as Possible option Next, click OK, exit and restart 3ds Max, and then con-tinue with the next exercise

Using a Bitmap Image

Using a bitmap image as a modeling template is fairly simple, but you need to watch out for a few settings In the following exercise, you’ll import an image that is a sketch of the Ronchamp Chapel floor plan The sketch shows a grid that is spaced at approximately 4.5 meters, as shown

in Figure 4.22

Figure 4.21

Notre Dame du

Haut in Ronchamp

You will apply this image onto a plane object, so first set up 3ds Max so that you can see only the maximized Top viewport.

accessing the Background Image

To access the background image, you’ll need a file from this book’s website (www.sybex.com/go/mastering3dsmaxdesign2011), so make sure you’ve installed the sample files before you start

1. Choose File  Reset, and click Yes at the reset query message

2. Click the Create tab of the Command panel, and click the Plane button

3. Press Alt+W to display four viewports, and then activate the Top viewport Press Alt+W again to display the Top viewport as a single view Now draw a plane that is about 20´ × 20´, and deselect the Real-World Map Size check box at the bottom of the rollout, as shown in Figure 4.23

Figure 4.22

The bitmap image

of the Notre Dame

du Haut floor plan

Figure 4.23

Creating the

image plane

4. With the Plane001 object selected, right-click the Select and Move icon on the Main

Toolbar to open the Move Transform Type-In box

5. Enter 0 for both the X and Y locations, and press Enter to center the plane on the world

origin, as shown in Figure 4.24

Now you’re ready to set up your scanned floor plan

6. Click the Material Editor icon on the Main Toolbar to open the Material Editor, shown

in Figure 4.25 Note there are now two different Material Editors in 3ds Max; here we’re using the Compact Material Editor The icon on the Main Toolbar is a flyout now, so make sure you’ve chosen the correct one The icon should look like the one in the margin here.The Material Editor uses the renderer to display the sample spheres If the sample spheres display as black holes, you’ll need to change the renderer to the mental ray renderer

Choose Rendering  Render Setup, close the Common Parameters rollout, and open the Assign Renderer rollout Locate the Production Renderer field, and click the Choose Renderer button, marked with three dots Choose the mental ray renderer and click OK The Material Editor should now display the sample spheres correctly

You will be using the Material Editor here to set up your sketch to use as a modeling template The Material Editor will be covered in more detail in Chapter 9, “Enhancing Models with Materials.”

7. Pick the second sphere in the upper-left corner of the material samples The thick, white border around the sample will indicate that it is selected

8. Click in the Material Name box and rename 02 – Default to RonchampPlan so that you

will know where you will use the material Click the button to the right of the material name currently labeled Arch & Design to change the material type In the Material/Map Browser’s Materials rollout, click Architectural in the Standard materials and then click

OK This should change the material type to Architectural for the new material you are making Note that changing the material type changes the available parameters and roll-outs for the new material

9. In the Physical Qualities rollout, click the button currently labeled None to the right of the Diffuse Map item This will again bring up the Material/Map Browser

10. To open the Select Bitmap Image File dialog, open Standard in the Maps rollout, and double-click the Bitmap entry at the top of the listing of available maps

11. Navigate to where you downloaded the ronchampscan.gif file, select the file, and click the Open button

12. In the Coordinates rollout, which is now visible in the Material Editor, deselect the Use Real-World Scale option This causes the Width and Height fields to change to U and V

13. Change the Tiling value for both U and V mapping coordinates to 1, and deselect the Tiling option for both Click the Go To Parent button to go to the top level of the material you just created Leave the Material Editor open

14. Select the Plane001 object you created at the beginning of these exercises, and in the

Name and Color field, rename the Plane to RonchampPlanTemplate so that you will be

able to identify the object in the scene in the future

15. With the RonchampPlanTemplate object selected, click the Assign Material to Selection button

16. Click the Show Standard Map in Viewport button The scanned image appears on the plane object in the Perspective viewport, as shown in Figure 4.26

how resetting 3ds Max Differs from Starting a New File

The difference between choosing File  Reset and choosing File  New is subtle, but there is an important distinction When you reset the scene, you are starting completely over and everything defaults to the way it was when you first launched 3ds Max When you create a new scene, it merely erases all the objects, leaving your scene seemingly empty; however, the new scene still has all the materials, units, and other settings as they were set before you chose File  New

Scaling the Image Plane to the Model’s Size

The image appears stretched across the 20´ × 20´ plane that you created at the beginning of the exercise You’ll want to size the image plane so that it’s to scale—that is, so that the distances represented by the image are the same as those in the 3ds Max model You can approximate the correct scale, although you won’t be able to get it exactly the same Here’s how it’s done:

Start by setting up the units with which you’ll be working

1. Choose Customize  Units Setup The Units Setup dialog box displays (see Figure 4.27)

2. Click the Metric radio button and make sure Meters is displayed in the Metric

drop-down list Then click OK

You’ll use meters in this example because this is a European building project Now let’s scale the image plane to the proper size

3. Type G to toggle off the grid display.

If you look at the scanned image carefully, you’ll see a grid whose spacing is about 4.5 meters

You see 10 reference grid spaces in the horizontal direction By inspecting the image in an application such as Photoshop, you can determine that the grid lines are about 63 pixels apart and that the image is 640 × 470 pixels You can use these numbers and the grid spacing interval estimate of 4.5 meters to determine that the entire image is 45.85 meters × 33.57 meters

Figure 4.27

The Units Setup

dialog box

Now you will adjust the size of the image plane to accommodate the measurements of the sketch.

1. Select the RonchampPlanTemplate object and then click the Modify tab of the Command panel (see Figure 4.28)

The Length and Width values are now shown in meters

2. Set the Length value to 33.57 and the Width value to 45.85, based on the image scaling calculations Change the image plane’s Length and Width Segments to 4, as shown in Figure 4.29

3. Press the G key to turn on the grid.

4. Click the Zoom Extents All button

5. Press Alt+W to display four viewports if you’re still in a single viewport

6. Save your scene as MyRonchamp01.max

You will see your modeling template displayed in the Top and Perspective viewports, as shown in Figure 4.30

The RonchampPlanTemplate image plane that you have created may not be exactly the same size as the real chapel, but based on the estimate of the grid size of the hand-drawn sketch, it is probably as close as you can make it If you had accurate dimensions from the actual structure that related to parts of the sketch, and if you knew the sketch was very accurate, you could get a much closer approximation of the size of the structure.

When creating 3D objects for visualization, it is crucial that you build all your objects at their real-world size Doing so will help you significantly as you build a collection of objects and

buildings that you can merge together to create more visually interesting scenes If your objects are not built to real-world size, the objects will not relate to each other, and you will have to

manually scale and guess at the sizes of objects to make them fit together correctly

There are other reasons for building your objects at their real-world size The mental ray

materials that you will learn about in Chapter 9 are designed to work in real-world units If you use those materials on objects that are not real-world size, the results can be unpredictable The photometric lights are also intended to be used in models that are real-world size, and you will get the best results if your models are built to the correct real-world size

avoid Distortion by Using BitMap Fit

There is another way to make sure that the image you apply the plane doesn’t get distorted Applying

a UVW Map modifier to the plane and choosing Bitmap Fit will lock the proportions of the UVW coordinates to the original bitmap, avoiding distortion

Now that you have set the image plane to a size that makes some sense scale-wise, you are ready to get on with the real work of building the model

Tracing the Image

To trace the bitmap, you’ll use the Line tool that you were introduced to in the previous chapter You won’t trace all of the walls at first

Start by tracing the small, U-shaped wall on the exterior of the chapel:

1. Continue with the previous exercise or open Ronchamp01.max If you use the provided file, you may need to retarget the ronchampscan.gif image in the Material Editor

2. In the Top viewport, use the Zoom Region tool to zoom into the U-shaped wall area so that your view looks similar to Figure 4.31 Don’t select too small an area

Figure 4.31

Tracing the wall

Continue creating points in

a counterclockwise fashion

3. Click the Create tab of the Command panel, and then click Shapes.

4. Click the Line button in the Object Type rollout of the Command panel

5. Open the Creation rollout and set the Initial type to Corner, and Drag type to Bezier, if these are not already checked

6. Trace the outside of the wall, using single clicks in a counterclockwise fashion to select the points shown in Figure 4.31

Use the ColorCorrection Map to Change Brightness

You may have trouble seeing the line against the texture map You can change the brightness of the sketch easily by going to the Material Editor and navigating to the Coordinates rollout Click the button marked Bitmap just above the Coordinates rollout to launch the Material/Map Browser

In the Maps > Standard rollout, choose ColorCorrection and click OK In the Replace Map dialog, choose Keep Old Map as Sub-Map The map will disappear in the viewport To see the map again, click the Show Standard Map in Viewport button Scroll down till you see the Lightness rollout, where you can adjust the brightness of the sketch

Another alternative is to change the color of the line you are drawing by using the color swatch in the Name and Color rollout

7. For the last point, click the beginning of the spline In the Spline dialog box, click Yes to close the spline

If the line disappears and is not visible when you finish drawing it, try selecting and moving the plane slightly in the Z dimension to assure that it is just below the home grid You can do this by right-clicking the plane and then choosing the Move settings but-ton on the right side of the quad menu Use the Transform Type-In spinners to move the plane down in the negative Z direction

The line needs to be curved, so use the Bezier Vertex option to adjust the curvature of the wall:

1. Click the Modify tab of the Command panel and then right-click in the viewport to open the quad menu

2. Click the Vertex option in the tools 1 quad menu (see Figure 4.32) to access the Vertex sub-object level for the spline You can also click the plus (+) sign next to Line in the mod-ifier and then click Vertex in the expanded list or click the Vertex button in the Selection rollout of the Modify tab

3. With the Select Object tool, click the middle vertex of the wall, as shown in Figure 4.33

Figure 4.32

Accessing the

Ver-tex sub-object level

4. Right-click to open the quad menu and select Bezier from the list of Vertex options.

5. Click the Select and Move tool in the Main Toolbar, and the Transform gizmo appears Drag the XY gizmo (the yellow box) and then drag the tangent handles to a position similar to the one shown in Figure 4.33 Note that the tangent handles honor the last used Transform gizmo setting, so if you have it set to X only, you’ll be able to move only the handles in X This is not obvious, but once you understand this, you’ll be a happy spline camper

You’ll want to smooth the bottom curve to match the bitmap image

6. Right-click the vertex to the left of the one you just edited and select Bezier from the shortcut menu Adjust the tangent handles until the curve of the line matches the sketch,

as shown in Figure 4.34

7. Right-click the vertex to the right of the first vertex that you edited, select Bezier from the shortcut menu, and adjust the Bezier handles so that the wall looks symmetrical, as shown in Figure 4.35

Figure 4.33

Editing the

middle vertex

Figure 4.34

Editing the

sec-ond vertex, to the

left of the middle

vertex

Figure 4.35

Editing the third

vertex, to the right

of the middle vertex

Setting the axis Locks

If the handles still will not move in the direction that you want, the axis locks may be active Use the F5 through F8 keys to set the proper lock axis These cycle through the Axis Constraints F5 locks the

X axis, F6 locks the Y axis, an d F7 locks the Z axis F8 cycles through the XY, XZ, and YZ planes

Now you have the basic outline of the wall You could extrude the spline now to get the eral shape of the wall, but the design calls for a bit more elaboration

gen-Building Objects from Traced Lines

The shape of the wall starts at its base as a solid form, and as you move up the height of the wall,

it becomes partially open In the transition area, you have a sloped roof that covers the enclosed portion of this piece of the chapel, as you can see in Figure 4.36

To obtain this shape, you’ll make a copy of the wall outline you’ve just drawn and then form

it to create an object matching the void of the upper part of the piece Once you have the void object, you can subtract it from the main outer part of the wall using the Boolean operation you learned about earlier in this chapter

creatinG the Void outline

While you’re creating the void object, you’ll get a chance to explore some spline-editing tools First, you’ll make a copy of the existing wall outline, and then you’ll edit the copy to get the out-line of the void object

1. Click Line in the modifier stack to deactivate the Vertex sub-object level

2. With the Select and Move tool selected, Shift+click and drag the wall you just created to the right so that you have a copy, as shown in Figure 4.37

3. In the Clone Options dialog box, click Copy and then click OK You don’t need an instance

or reference copy for this part because the new object is destined to be different from the original

Next, you’ll work on the copy to form the void outline:

1. With the copy of the line selected, right-click in the viewport and choose Spline from

the quad menu (You can also click the Spline tool in the Selection rollout or the modifier stack.)

2. Click the Spline to select the shape at the Spline level, scroll down the Command panel to

the Outline input box in the Geometry rollout, double-click the input box, and enter 0.4↵

This creates an outline that is 0.4 meter thick

3. Right-click and choose Segment in the quad menu to access the Segment sub-object level

of the spline (see Figure 4.38)

4. Click the straight-line segment at the top of the interior wall outline, as shown in

Figure 4.39, and then press the Delete key to delete the segment

With the straight-line segment deleted, you can extend the remaining portion of the line to the outside edge of the wall.

1. Enter the Spline sub-object level again, and then click the remaining portion of the rior wall outline so that it turns red

inte-2. Scroll down the Command panel and click the Extend button in the Geometry rollout

3. Place the cursor on the left endpoint of the inside wall so that the Extend cursor displays,

as shown in Figure 4.40, and click the line It extends to the outside line

4. Click the other end of the inside wall so that it too extends to the straight-line segment

of the outside line, and then click the Extend button in the Command panel to deactivate the tool

5. Click the inner spline to select it and then click the Close button in the Command panel This generates a new straight-line segment across the top

6. Click the Select Object tool, click the outside spline, as shown in Figure 4.41, and then press the Delete key to delete it

7. Right-click and choose Top-Level from the quad menu to exit the sub-object level

Select the outside

wall and then press

the Delete key

You have the outline of the shape you want to subtract from the wall Now move it into

position

1. Right-click the Snaps toggle in the Main Toolbar

2. In the Grid and Snap Settings dialog box, click the Clear All button and then click

Midpoint Close the Grid and Snap Settings dialog box

3. If it isn’t already active, click the Snaps toggle to make it active

4. With the Select and Move tool selected, place the cursor on the midpoint of the line segment of the wall copy

straight-5. When you see the Midpoint cursor appear on the line, click and drag the wall outline to the straight segment of the original wall, as shown in Figure 4.42

6. Save the file as MyRonchamp02.max.

ForminG the wall Void

Now you’re ready to extrude both the wall and the wall void First, move the void object to the elevation where the void begins

1. Click the Maximize Viewport Toggle to see all four viewports, if necessary

2. Right-click the Perspective viewport and then click the Zoom Extents tool

3. With the inside wall line selected, right-click to open the quad menu and click the Move Settings button, the small square symbol next to Move (see Figure 4.43), to open the Move Transform Type-In dialog box

Figure 4.42

Selecting and

moving the wall

copy using the

Midpoint snap

Figure 4.43

Click the Settings

button next to the

Move option in the

quad menu

Using the transform type-In Fields in the UI

You can also use the transform type-ins that are integrated into the bottom of the user interface Opening the Transform Type-In dialog box from the quad menu is just a way of focusing your atten-tion on entering coordinate values The dialog box has the advantage that you can see both absolute and offset (relative) values simultaneously

4. Double-click the Z input box of the Absolute: World group to highlight the current value,

and then enter 3.0↵, for 3 meters Close the Move Transform Type-In dialog box.

5. Click Zoom Extents again to see both wall outlines The inside wall outline now appears above the outside wall outline

Now it’s time to extrude the two outlines This piece of the chapel is about 7.5 meters high, so you can extrude both pieces to this height The height of the void is somewhat arbitrary, because it’s to be subtracted from the main, outside form of the wall

1. Click the Snaps toggle or press S on the keyboard to turn it off It may be a distraction during the next few operations

2. Click the inside wall line to select it

3. In the Modify tab, select Extrude from the Modifier List drop-down

4. In the Parameters rollout, click the Amount input box and enter 7.5↵, for 7.5 meters The

inside wall appears at its full height

Now extrude the exterior shape

5. In the Top viewport, click the outer wall line, as shown in Figure 4.44

6. Select Extrude from the Modifier List drop-down again The object extrudes to the same height as the other wall 3ds Max applies to the current extrusion the last value you entered for the first extrusion

7. Right-click in the Perspective viewport, and then click the Zoom Extents tool to get a ter look at the two extrusions Because one extrusion is inside the other, you won’t really see both extrusions completely

bet-Figure 4.44

Select the form of the

exterior wall line

Select the larger outer line

addinG a SKew to the Void object

You’re almost ready to subtract the interior void object from the outer wall object You need to apply the Skew modifier to the void object to get the sloping roof (shown earlier in Figure 4.36)

1. With the Perspective viewport selected, click the Maximize Viewport Toggle to enlarge the view

2. Click the Orbit Selected tool, the middle tool in the Orbit flyout menu, in the viewport navigation controls The yellow Orbit circle appears in the viewport

3. Click and drag the left square on the circle’s perimeter to the right so that you get a view similar to Figure 4.45

4. With the interior void object selected, right-click and select Isolate Selection from the played quad menu The viewport changes to show only the interior wall object, and the Isolated Selection dialog box displays

dis-By using the Isolate Selection tool, you can more easily view and edit an object that may be partially obscured by other objects in your scene Now you can apply the Taper modifier to the selected object and see its effects more clearly

1. Select Skew from the Modifier List drop-down

2. In the Parameters rollout, click the Y radio button in the Skew Axis group This causes the taper to occur in the Y-axis

3. In the Parameters rollout, set the Amount input box to -0.76m to specify the amount of

the skew, and change the Direction to 90.0 The top of the extrusion now slopes down toward the flat surface, as shown in Figure 4.46

The result of using

the Skew modifier

4. Click the Exit Isolation Mode button in the Warning: Isolated Selection dialog box to restore the view of the other wall object.

You’re just about ready to subtract the inside wall shape from the outside shape, but there are

a couple of little details you’ll want to handle You now need to align the skew to the extrusion

aliGninG the SKew modiFier to the object

The Skew modifier acts on the shape in a direction that is aligned with the World Coordinate System You really want the Skew modifier to be aligned with the void object, which is slightly rotated in relation to the World Coordinate System You may recall from earlier chapters that you can adjust the orientation of a modifier by adjusting its gizmo In the next exercise, you’ll rotate the Skew gizmo to align it with the inside wall shape

1. With the Skew modifier still active, click the plus (+) sign next to Taper in the modifier stack You should see Gizmo and Center in the expanded list

2. Click Gizmo, and then click the Select and Rotate tool in the Main Toolbar

3. Carefully click and drag the blue Z-axis ring of the Transform gizmo down until the angular Skew gizmo is aligned with the top edge of the wall, as shown in Figure 4.47

rect-4. Click the Skew level in the stack again to return to modifier-level editing

The skew is now aligned with the extrusion

First Select the Operand to remain

The rule of thumb with Boolean subtractions is to always select the object that is to remain before you select any other objects

Figure 4.47

Click and drag the

Z-axis to rotate the

You’re now ready to subtract the void object from the outer wall object.

1. Click the Select Object tool in the Main Toolbar In the Top viewport, select the outer wall object, as shown in Figure 4.48

2. Click the Create tab in the Command panel, and then click the Geometry icon

3. Click the drop-down list just below the Create buttons and select Compound Objects

4. Click the ProBoolean button, and then click the Start Picking button in the Pick Boolean rollout Make sure Subtraction is still selected in the Operation group in the Param-eters rollout

5. Click the void shape It is subtracted from the outer wall object to form the final shape of the wall You can see the result in the Perspective viewport, as shown in Figure 4.49

You’ve just created part of the Chapel at Ronchamp building The method shown here is just one of a number of ways you could have created the wall By using this method, you were able

to try some spline-editing tools, and you also got a chance to practice using some other ing methods you learned in previous chapters

model-Figure 4.48

Selecting the

out-side wall shape

Select the larger outer object

Figure 4.49

The newly

created void

locKinG object tranSFormS

When you are modeling using an image applied to a plane, it can be troublesome if you dentally click the plane object and move it, misaligning it with from the rest of your objects To prevent this, you can turn off the ability to move, rotate, or scale the plane

acci-1. Save your work from the previous section as MyRonchamp03.max.

2. Select the RonchampPlanTemplate object

3. Click the Hierarchy tab of the Command panel and click the Link Info button

4. In the Locks rollout, click in all nine check boxes to prevent accidentally changing one of the transforms

Now even if you accidentally select the RonchampPlanTemplate, you will not be able to move, rotate, or scale it

A good trick to accomplish the same thing is to freeze the selection, which can be done through the Object Properties dialog box, which you can access from the quad menu If you deselect Show Frozen in Gray in the Object Properties dialog box, you can freeze objects and still see their textures in the viewport

uSinG See-throuGh mode

Another technique that can help you when you are modeling with image planes is to set your objects to See-Through mode

1. Select the object you just created in the previous exercise

2. Right-click to bring up the quad menu and select Object Properties

3. On the General Tab of the Object Properties dialog box, go to the Display Properties group and click the ByLayer button This changes the mode for this object to ByObject

4. Now click the See-Through check box

Now you can see through the object to the sketch applied to the image plane This technique can help you when you are building objects such as buildings, cars, or packaging designs from sketches

Now let’s move on to another part of the building to examine another way of editing objects

Editing Meshes

You’ve been introduced to 3ds Max objects in the form of the standard primitives, splines, and compound objects It also helps to think about 3ds Max objects in terms of parametric and non-parametric objects This can be a bit confusing, because virtually all objects in 3ds Max start out as parametric objects But, as you’ll see, a lot of your work with objects will depart from the parametric level of editing as soon as you begin editing objects in earnest In fact, you’ve already seen this with the spline examples in this and the previous chapter

The term mesh is somewhat generic and refers to a nonparametric geometry object composed

of vertices, edges, and surfaces 3ds Max can convert geometry into two types of meshes: Editable Mesh and Editable Poly Both object types consist of comprehensive toolsets, located

in the rollouts under the Modify tab, for editing geometry The Editable Poly is newer and has

a more robust toolset, including the new Graphite Modeling toolbar Many of the Graphite

Modeling tools have both dialog and visual input methods, and will be the tools used in these exercises The tools available for the Editable Mesh and Editable Poly objects are also available with the Edit Mesh and Edit Poly modifiers

In your introduction to 3ds Max objects, you created simple forms and adjusted them using the object’s parameters Parameters are great for establishing the initial dimensions and char-acteristics of an object They can also serve as a convenient way to make adjustments to objects

as you progress through the design process But eventually, you’ll begin to make changes on a deeper level, bypassing the parameters altogether At this point, you’ll be editing 3D objects as

editable polys Editing 3D objects as editable polys is similar to the sub-object level editing you’ve already performed on splines The main difference is that you have some additional sub-object levels to work with, in the form of edges, borders, and polygons

In this section, you’ll begin to explore editable polys by creating the south wall of the chapel You’ll learn how you can convert an extruded spline into an editable poly, and then you’ll pro-ceed to modify the mesh on a sub-object level

Creating a Tapered Wall

The part of the chapel you just created was unusual because it was a curved wall Ronchamp contains many curved walls, but they shouldn’t pose a problem to you because you’ve had some experience drawing such shapes and extruding them One wall of the chapel is quite unusual, however The south wall tapers in two directions, plus it has a curve in it In the following set

of exercises, you’ll look at a way to create such a wall in 3ds Max—and in the process, you’ll be introduced to some additional methods for editing sub-objects

You’ll start, as usual, by outlining the plan of the wall Once again, you’ll trace the imported bitmap sketch using a line First, set up your view to prepare for tracing:

1. Click the Top viewport to make it active, and then click the Maximize Viewport Toggle to enlarge the view

2. Click the Pan tool and pan the view so the south wall is centered in the view Then use the Zoom Region tool to enlarge the south wall to fill as much of the viewport as possible, similar to Figure 4.50

Figure 4.50

Zoom to the

out-side wall shape

Now you’re ready to trace the wall:

1. If it isn’t already selected, click the Create tab of the Command panel and click the Shapes tool

2. Click Line, and draw the line, as shown in Figure 4.51 Pay special attention to the vertices

at the curved portion of the wall You’ll want to place three vertices around the curve so that you can change them into Bezier vertices later

3. At the last point, click the beginning of the line and close the spline

4. Click the Modify tab of the Command panel, and then enter the Vertex sub-object level of the spline

5. Click the Select and Move tool in the Main Toolbar, right-click the vertex shown in Figure 4.52, and select Bezier from the quad menu

Figure 4.51

Trace the south

wall as shown here

The vertices are

shown for clarity

Trace the line starting here Then select points in a clockwise direction

Figure 4.52

Selecting and

edit-ing the vertex on

the top of the wall

Right-click this vertex and select Bezier

Then adjust the handles to achieve the curve shown here

6. Using the tangent handles, adjust the curve of the wall so that it looks similar to

Figure 4.52 You’ll want the curve of the wall to join the straight portions of the wall in a tangent

7. Right-click the vertex across the wall from the one you just edited and select Bezier

8. Adjust the curve of this vertex so it looks similar to Figure 4.53 Exit the Vertex sub-object mode when you’re finished

Now it’s time to extrude the wall The wall forms a peak at its easternmost end, and that peak

is approximately 14 meters high You’ll want the wall to be at least 14 meters high so that you have enough material with which to work

1. You’re already in the Modify tab of the Command panel, so open the Modifier List down and select Extrude If you’re continuing from the previous section, the wall will extrude to the last height you entered

drop-2. In the Parameter rollout, change the value in the Amount input box to 14 Also, make sure

that the Segments value is set to 1

3. Click the Maximize Viewport Toggle, right-click the Perspective viewport, and then click the Zoom Extents Selected tool on the Zoom Extents flyout to get a better look at the south wall so far

4. Click the Orbit Selected tool, and then click and drag the rightmost square of the tion circle to the left until your view looks similar to Figure 4.54 Alternatively, you can drag the ViewCube ring to the left to achieve the same result

naviga-5. Click the Maximize Viewport Toggle to enlarge the Perspective viewport

You now have the basic form of the wall, but the actual wall tapers vertically Not only that, but the taper is not uniform across the entire wall It tapers more at its west end, and it doesn’t taper at all at its east end You won’t be able to use the Taper modifier to accomplish this nonuni-form taper Instead, you’ll edit the mesh directly by rotating some of the edges

Figure 4.53

Selecting and

edit-ing the vertex

on the bottom

of the wall

Right-click this vertex and select Bezier

Then adjust the curve to match the one shown here

Converting the Spline to a Mesh

To edit the south wall, you need to convert the extruded spline to an editable poly to take advantage of the special features of the editable poly tools You can then make the appropriate changes at the sub-object level of the mesh to get the volume you want Start by setting up the view to aid in your editing:

1. Right-click the Perspective label in the upper-left corner of the Perspective viewport and select Wireframe

2. Use the Orbit Selected tool or ViewCube to adjust your view until it looks similar to Figure 4.55 You want to get a good view of the top of the wall

3. Click the Zoom tool, and then click and drag up in the viewport to enlarge the view of the wall

editinG the edGe oF a meSh

Now you’re ready to start editing the wall You’ll convert the object to an editable poly to access the sub-object tools, and then you’ll learn how to use the Lasso Selection Region tool to select an edge of the wall for editing

1. Make sure that the south wall is selected

2. Right-click in the viewport and choose Convert To  Convert to Editable Poly from the quad menu, as shown in Figure 4.56

Figure 4.54

The Perspective

viewport after

rotating with the

Orbit Selected tool

or the ViewCube

Figure 4.55

Rotate the view to see

the top of the wall