3DS-MAX v6 - T3 - Creating Spaces #2

Learning MAX & VIZ	Stephen Peter, S.Peter@unsw.edu.au
Introduction	Image from model by Sook Hwai LEE.

	This tutorial is optional! You will complete the modelling of the interior that you started in the previous tutorial; giving you more experience at "editing". You will create a balcony, a glass wall between the Living Room and the Balcony and then you'll create the ceilings.
	Start by loading the model from the previous tutorial; alternatively, you can download it.
Grouping
	At the end of the previous tutorial, I suggested that you create doors for the various kitchen cupboards. So, before we continue, lets clean that up a bit!
If you think that some of these boxes are not in the kitchen, click on the Display Tab in the Command Panel and then pick "Hide Unselected", and then alter your selection...	Click on "Select by Name", which is to the left of the "Select and Move" icon. A dialog box listing all the visible objects in the scene will be displayed. Assuming you followed the previous tutorial's instructions(!) there should be a collection of boxes (Box06..Box18 in my model), select them. If the benches and cupboards are not included in the selection, include them! Use Ctrl-click to add an object to the selection set.
Choose the Group command, from the Group menu!!	When all the objects that make the kitchen have been selected, choose Group - Group, and call the group "Kitchen"!
Create a Balcony
	Create a balcony floor (box) 2000 wide to the East (right) of Living Room. The balcony should go all along the edge of the space (10,000). Once you've created it, rename the box "Balcony".
Editing Shapes
	Having added the Balcony, we now want to extend the walls out 1000 to provide some wind protection for the Balcony.
If you are using a one viewport view (for example the Top View), you can switch to the Front View by hitting "F".	Select either the South or North Wall, then (using the Front View) click on the Modify Tab of the Command Panel and choose "Editable Spline" from the object's Modifier Stack. When you do that the walls should change to "wire-frame" - by this I mean that you will see the 2D outline rather than the 3D extruded object.
	Select "Segment" editing and "Select and Move", then pick the right-hand vertical edge and move it 2000 (to the right). Remember that you can do this "by eye", for this exercise it doesn't matter it the wall is a few centimetres too long or short!
Change to either a 4 viewport view or to the perspective view (hit "p")...	When you are satisfied, simply click on "Extrude" in the Modifier Stack (above "Editable Spline"). Notice that both the "south" and "north" walls will have been extended! When the original wall was copied, the "instance" option was chosen - this means that if one is edited, then the other instance(s) will also be changed.
Balcony Railing
To hide all objects except the Balcony Floor, select the floor, then pick "Hide Unselected" from the Display tab in the Command Panel.	In this section we will create a "railing object" and then use Array to copy it along the Balcony edge. The object will only contain a "post", top "rail", bottom "rail" and a sheet of glass. Hiding all the objects, except the Balcony floor will make the task easier...
Create the Post	Start by zooming the Top View in on the bottom ("southern" end) of the Balcony, make sure you can see the bottom 2000 of the Balcony. Then (using the Top View) create a box 100(L) x 100(W) x 1000(H) just in from the bottom-right of the Balcony (I placed mine at 6900,0).
Right-click on "Top" and select Views - Right. Create the Rails	Switch to the Right View and if necessary zoom in. Then create a box starting from just below the centre-top of the post and ending a bit above the top of the post and 2000 to the right, make the third dimension ("height") 100.
	You may notice (in the Front View) that the railing is created at (world) X = 0. Use the Front View to move the railing to the post.
Go back to the Right view...	Choose "Select and Move", hold down the shift key and drag the top rail down to about 200 above the floor, doing a "shift-drag" will create a "clone" of the original railing! Choose "Instance" from the Dialog Box.
Right View of the Balcony post and rails
Remember to go to the Front view and move the (glass) box from 0 out to the balcony...	Finally, create the (box that in the next tutorial will become) Glass. "Bury" the top and bottom of the box in the railings and make the glass about 20 thick (width). The box I created (in the Right view) was 800(L) x 1600(W) x 20(H).
Array . . .	Now we are ready to array the objects to create the balcony railing! Firstly, group the objects (call them "BalconyUnit") - make sure that you don't include the Balcony floor in the group.
	In the Right View, Zoom out so you can see the whole Balcony floor then, choose Tools - Array. We want to have 5 balcony units each 2000 apart, so specify 2000 in the X Move editbox, set the "1D" count to 5, finally, set the "Type of Object" to Instance and hit "OK". There should now be 5 of the "balcony units"!
Claen up the end of the Balcony.	Now we need to work out how the end units connect to the wall. Click on the Display Tab of the Command Panel and click the "Unhide by Name" button, choose the "North Wall" and "South Wall" then select "OK".
	Hopefully when you study the balcony and the walls everything will look ok - except for the "extra" post on the left (southern) end. Select that BalconyUnit then select Group - Ungroup to break up the group, then simply select the post and hit the delete key to delete it. You can reform the Group if you want.
"East" Wall
	While we are on the Balcony, let's create the final wall of our space - the glass wall leading onto the balcony. This wall will be somewhat similar to the balcony railing; it will be made up a number of columns/mullions with glass in between. There will be a pair of glass doors in the middle segment.
	In the Top View, zoom-in on the southern end of the balcony. Create the first mullion so that it is centred on the inside edge of the wall. The mullion I created was 160x160x2800 centred at 5000,0.
You should probably hide the Balcony railing objects before continuing . . .	Next create a transom (horizontal element) at about 2100 above the floor. Mine (in the Right View) was 100(L) 2000(W) 150(H) at 4925,1000,2150 . Then, instance copy the transom to the floor so that it becomes the bottom mullion.
	If you want to, create a thin box to be the glass. I generally don't bother creating glass unless there will be a view not through the glass. If you decide to model the glass doors in an open position, then it would be possible to see the difference between having and not having glass.
Remember to ungroup the last group so you can copy the mullion. After you've copied it, reform the group.	Group the boxes, then Array them five times - as with the railing (in the Right view) set X=2000, "1D"=5 and "Type of Object"=Instance. Create the end mullion by instance copying the last vertical 2000 across.
	The final step in the East Wall are the pair of glass Doors in the middle panel of the glass wall. I will leave it up to you to create them! I would suggest including a frame around the doors (though some glass doors don't have frames). You can model the hinges as two boxes (or cylinders). Once you've done that, Group all objects in the glass wall and group them.
Put a Lid on it!
	The final piece needed to enclose of spaces is the ceiling! Using the Front View, draw the outline of the ceiling (you may wish to refer to the diagram below), and then extrude it -10000.
Note that the ceiling object on the right extends past the "east" wall to the end of the "south" wall.
Conclusion
You may note that we haven't created the window frames for the windows between the roof objects . . .	That's the end of this tutorial. We have finished making (the shell) of our space, and in so doing have used many of the common techniques that are needed to create models of buildings and/or interiors.
	Depending on the time remaining in the tutorial, do one or more of the following: create some furniture (coffee table, dining table, chairs, bookcase) merge some furniture created by someone else create light fittings create window frames for the side walls create a window frame for the windows between the roof... save, log-off and leave! J

Last Update : Major Revision : 9 April 2002 SEARCH . FBE SITEMAP		Disclaimer . Webmasters Page Contact : Stephen Peter Email : S.Peter@unsw.edu.au