In this exercise, you will create a model of a flat screen monitor from an ordinary Box object. Its low polygon count will make it suitable for use in a real-time 3D video game.
This tutorial assumes that the reader has a grasp of rudimentary procedures in 3ds max. You should know basic things such as how to move and rotate using the Transform Gizmos, and how to select Sub-object types in the Modify panel.
NOTE: The screen captures in this exercise are in black and white because they are directly from the book. This makes it easier to see the images when they are printed. For best results, make a printout of this tutorial.
The Monitor Stand
1. Reset 3ds max.
2. Press the <S> key to activate 3D Snap. This causes the cursor to snap to Grid Points.
3. In the Top viewport, create a Box at the origin. Use 3D Snap to place the corners of the Box directly on Grid Points. Make the Box 80 units long, 80 units wide, and 5 units tall. The Box should have just one Segment in all axes.
Figure 3-166: Flat Box
4. Right-click the Box and choose Convert to Editable Poly from the Quad Menu.
5. Press the <A> key to activate Angle Snap.
6. Now you will slice the top polygon of the box so you can extrude it later. Enter Polygon sub-object mode. In the Perspective view, select the polygon on the top of the box.
7. In the Edit Geometry rollout, activate the Slice Plane. In the Left view, rotate the Slice Plane 90 degrees, so it is at right angles to the selected polygon.
8. The Transform Gizmo can interfere with Snaps, so we'll turn it off for now. Press the <X> key to disable the Transform Gizmo.
9. Press the <F5> key to activate the X axis. Move the Slice Plane -30 units in the X axis, so it is on the left side of the Left viewport. Your screen should look like the following illustration.
Figure 3-167: Rotate and position the Slice Plane
10. Click Slice to perform the operation. Then click the Slice Plane button again to exit the tool. Click anywhere outside the object to deselect all polygons.
11. Press the <S> key to exit Snaps. Press the <A> key to exit Angle Snaps. Then press the <X> key to enable the Transform Gizmo.
12. Click the Extrude button in the Edit Polygons rollout. In the Perspective view, select the new polygon that you have just created, and drag upward. Release the mouse when the extrusion is about the same height as the width of the box.
Figure 3-168: Extrude the new polygon
13. With the extruded polygon still selected, right-click in the Left viewport. Press the <W> key to activate the Move tool. Move the polygon in the viewport's XY plane, to angle the extrusion so it looks like the following illustration.
Figure 3-169: Move the selected polygon
The Screen Mounting Hardware
1. With the polygon at the top of the object still selected, click the Extrude Options button 
. In the pop-up dialog, enter a value of 5 units for the Extrusion Height. Click the Apply button three times, then click OK. You have now made four identical extrusions on the top of the object.
Figure 3-170: Four identical extrusions
2. On the Main Toolbar, click the Window/Crossing Selection button 
to switch it to the Window 
state. Now, when you make a Region Selection, only objects or sub-objects completely within the Region will be selected.
3. Now you will create some simple curvature. In the Left view, zoom in on the top of the object. Click and drag to create a window around the two extruded segments near the top of the object as shown in the following illustration.
Figure 3-171: Select extruded polygons
4. In the Left view, move the selected polygons slightly to the right.
Figure 3-172: Move selected polygons
5. Switch to Vertex sub-object mode. In the Left view, draw a selection region around the vertices shown in the following illustration. Move the two vertices slightly to the right, to create a smooth curve.
Figure 3-173: Move two vertices to create curvature
6. On the Main Toolbar, switch back to Crossing Selection mode . Enter Edge sub-object mode. In the Left view, select all of the horizontal edges on the interior of the object. The edges on the side facing toward you and the edges facing away from you are selected. If necessary, use the <CTRL> key to add to the selection until all the edges shown in the following illustration are selected. Remember to select the edges near the bottom of the object also.
Figure 3-174: Select interior edges
7. Press the <BACKSPACE> key on the keyboard. This is the same as the Remove tool on the Edit Edges rollout. The extra edges are removed. Now each side of the object is a single polygon instead of six.
Figure 3-175: Remove the selected edges with the <BACKSPACE> key
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WARNING: Do not press the <DELETE> key! If you delete edges, you also delete the polygons that share those edges. The <BACKSPACE> key, however, will Remove edges and keep the polygons. |
8. Select the edge on the front of the object, in the center of the curved area, as shown in the following illustration. Press the <BACKSPACE> key to Remove it.
Figure 3-176: Before and after removal of edge
9. Enter Polygon sub-object mode. Select the large polygon in the center of the curved area on the front of the object. Extrude the polygon by about 5 units.
Figure 3-177: Extrude the center polygon
10. Notice that there is an extra, unexpected edge on each side of the extrusion. This is because when you Remove edges, the vertices are not necessarily removed. There was an extra vertex left over on each side, and when you extruded the center polygon, new edges sprouted from those leftover vertices.
Go back into Edge sub-object mode and select the interior edges again. Press the <BACKSPACE> key to Remove them.
Figure 3-178: Before and after removing extra edges
11. Enter Vertex sub-object mode and check to make sure the leftover vertices have been removed. In this case they have been, because you Removed the edges all around the leftover vertices.
Figure 3-179: Some vertices removed automatically
12. There are still two vertices left over after deleting the edges. Enter Vertex sub-object mode, draw a selection region around the extra vertices.
Figure 3-180: Select the remaining extra vertices
13. Press the <BACKSPACE> key to remove the extra vertices. The model is now clean, with no extra edges or vertices.
Figure 3-181: Extra vertices removed
The Screen
1. Switch to the Perspective view. Activate Polygon sub-object mode. Press the Bevel button in the Edit Polygons rollout. Click and drag the center polygon at the cap of the most recent extrusion. This creates a new extrusion. Release the mouse, drag to create the bevel, and click again to finish the operation. This creates a large, shallow Bevel as shown in the following image.
Figure 3-182: Create a large, shallow Bevel
2. At this stage, the model should look something like the following illustration.
Figure 3-183: Monitor screen created by Bevel
Look in the Front viewport; does the monitor screen have the correct proportions? The height of the screen should be about three-fourths of its width. The aspect ratio (proportion of screen width to screen height) of a computer monitor is 4 to 3.
3. If the polygon at the end of the Bevel isn't still selected, select it. Activate the Front view. Select the Scale tool from the Main toolbar. Scale the polygon non-uniformly in the X or Y axes of the viewport to achieve the approximate proportions of a computer monitor.
Figure 3-184: Non-uniform Scale in the viewport X axis
4. With the big polygon still selected, extrude it by about 10 units to create some thickness for the screen.
5. Activate the Inset tool. Click and drag on the big polygon to create an inset. Make the inset about 10 units. Your model should look something like the illustration that follows.
Figure 3-185: Inset
6. With the inset polygon selected, click the Options button for the Bevel tool. Enter a value of -5 for both the Extrusion Height and the Outline Amount. This creates a Bevel with sides at exactly 45 degrees.
Figure 3-186: Precision Bevel operation
Finishing Touches
The model is nearly complete. Now you will add a few details to make it more realistic.
1. The screen should be slightly tilted to make it look like it's being used. Using Window Selection mode , select the polygons of the screen in the Left viewport. Make sure you don't select any of the polygons that connect the monitor stand to the screen.
Figure 3-187: Select the polygons of the screen
2. Once the screen polygons have been selected, rotate them very slightly around the Z axis in the Left viewport.
Figure 3-188: Rotate the monitor screen
3. Zoom in on the polygons that connect the base to the monitor screen. Notice that they have become skewed. With the polygons of the monitor screen still selected, move them up slightly in the Left viewport, so the connecting polygons are once again parallel to the viewport's X axis.
Figure 3-189: Before and after moving the monitor screen
4. Enter Edge sub-object mode. Activate the Perspective view. In the Edit Edges rollout, press the Chamfer button. Click and drag on the edge at the inner joint of the monitor base. The edge is chamfered to create a new polygon.
Figure 3-190: Before and after using the Chamfer tool
5. Perform another Chamfer operation on the edge at the top rear of the monitor stand.
Figure 3-191: Before and after the second Chamfer operation
6. The model is finished. Maximize the Perspective view and Arc Rotate around the scene to admire your work. Press the <7> key on the keyboard to see a polygon count for the selected object in the top left of the active viewport.
The polygon counter reads only 36 Faces. The term "faces" used here is inconsistent; what it really means is there are 36 polygons. If we counted the number of triangles, there would be 100.
Figure 3-192: Completed model
7. Save the file as LowPolyMonitor.max in your folder.
