Software Trials - Photoshop

Texturing a Model

As Photoshop is one of the most powerful image editing software programmes available and due to its popularity in the creative industries, for me it made sense for me to use this to texture my models.

To make the process easier for me to learn I took some time to get familiar with some shortcut keys:

CONTROL + A = Select All (only on the selected Layer)
CONTROL + C = Copy
CONTROL + D = Deselect
CONTROL + E = Collapse Layers
CONTROL + J = Duplicate Layer
CONTROL + T = Transform
CONTROL + V = Paste
CONTROL + ALT + S = Screenshot Layer onto Layer
CONTROL + SHIFT + I = Invert Selection
SHIFT and drag the corner of the image to maintain the aspect ratio
SHIFT + T = Text (this shortcut I learnt by mistake when I wanted the shortcut key for Transform)

Step 1:
After the Photoshop programme has opened I go to File > Open and then select the UV Template file I wish to use.

Step 2:
When the first layer is created in Photoshop this layer is called Background by the default settings. I duplicated this Layer and set the name to Template and then I LOCKED and HID the original background layer.

Step 3:
On the Template layer I selected the Magic Wand Tool and clicked in a negative space of this layer.

Step 4:
I then ensured the Template layer was at the top of the stack and reduced the opacity to (approx.) 25% and the LOCKED it.

Step 5:
I created a new layer between the background and Template layers and set the name to Base.

Step 6:

I went back to the Template layer.

Step 7:
I selected Modify > Contract and set to 5 pixels before pressing enter. By selecting this to 5 pixels means that it will prevent gaps that may appear on the joins of the Mapping when projected onto the model.

Step 8:
I then returned to the Base layer and pressed CONTROL + SHIFT + I to invert the selection. I then turned off the visibility on the Template layer.

Step 9:
By selecting my base colour I painted in the selection

Step 10:
I imported some more textures such as metal textures.

Step 11:
I then experimented with blending and opacity options until I got a look I was satisfied with.

Here are the Textures of the models I made:

SHOVEL TEXTURE:

BOLLARD TEXTURE:

LAMP POST TEXTURE:

METAL STAIRS TEXTURE:

PANZER TANK TEXTURE:

BRITISH JEEP TEXTURE:

 

Software Trials - 3DS Max

Unwrapping a Model

As I followed the same procedure to unwrap all of the objects in the models I found it more useful to have it compiled in one blog as opposed to the repetition if I was to break it down in all the blogs for the models I have made.

A simplistic way of describing Unwrapping is if I had a cereal packet and open it up cutting along the edges so I had six individual sides to the box. I then have to stitch together those edges so that it forms a net, but I have to be aware that only some of the edges can be stitched as it has to ‘wrap’ around the object. 

Step 1:
First select one of the objects which make up part of the model.

Step 2:
Go to the Modify tab and from the drop down menu select Unwrap UVW.



Step 3:
In the Edit UVs folder I select Open UV Editor.

Step 4:
This opens the Edit UVWs box. From here I click on Mapping and then select Flatten Mapping.

Step 5:
I then arrange all the Flattened Maps so they are not on top of one another.

Step 6:
I then have to stitch together the Mapping co-ordinates as best as I can. I do this by selecting an edge which will highlight blue and look for another edge which is highlighted in red. I place these two edges as close to one another as I can and then use the Stitch tool. I have to be aware that although some edges show that they join together this may not be practical and are best left unstitched.

Step 7:
After stitching I then have to ensure that the horizontal and vertical vertices are aligned. To do this I select the vertices to be adjusted and on the right hand side of the Edit UWVs window there are the Quick Transform options. The icons with the line and two arrows either side is what I used to align the vertices horizontally and vertically. After I have aligned the ‘net’ then ensure that it fits onto the checkerboard grid. I can if needed scale the net down so that it does fit.

Step 8:
In the top right of the Edit UVWs window there is a drop down menu. The pre-selected option is CheckerPattern (Checker)  but I need to go into the drop down menu and click on this option again to assign the mapping to the selected object. The checker grid should be evenly spaced across the object. This is so that when the texture is projected onto the object it appears as clear as possible. Stretching of the checker pattern will result in stretching of the texture and not giving the final product a very good finish.

Step 9:
Once I was satisfied the checker pattern was okay I saved this mapping as a template, by going to File > Save as and naming it, for example, Bollard UV Map Template and ensuring it saved as a JPEG so that it I could use it in Photoshop for texturing.

Here is the UV Mapping of the models I made:

SHOVEL MAP:

 

BOLLARD MAP:

 

LAMP POST MAP:

 

METAL STAIRS MAP:

 

 

PANZER TANK MAP:

BRITISH JEEP MAP:

 

 

 

After I had Unwrapped the models I then had to texture them.  See the blog Texturing on how I achieved this.

Software Trials - 3DS Max

Building a British Jeep

Using the skills I have developed in making modelling the shovel, bollard, lamp post, metal stairs and the Panzer tank I am going to model a British Jeep. An additional tool that I shall be using is the ProCutter tool which will enable me to cut out portions of objects to give more ‘realism’ to the model.

Step 1:

Open the 3DS Max programme.

Step 2:

Select Open a File, then file I wish to open.

Step 3:

The file opened, which was an empty scene.

Step 4:

Under the Create tab, select Plane and create the shape in the View Port.

Step 5:

Reduce the number of Length and Width Segments from the Parameters window.

Step 6:

Open the Slate Material Editor by pressing the shortcut key, M.

Step 7:

In Material click on Standard and drag the Node onto the view port and name it.

Step 8:

Under Maps, click on Bitmap. This will open the Select Bitmap Image file dialogue box from where I can select my reference image.

Step 9:

Once the Bitmap Node appears name it and then wire it to the Standard Node by clicking on the Bitmap Node Output socket and dragging it to the Standard Node Input socket labelled Diffuse Colour.

Step 10:

Ensure the object, in this instance the Plane, is selected by clicking on it then press the Assign Material to Selection by clicking on the icon at the top of the Slate Material Editor and then further across to the right I click on the Show Material in View Port.

Step 11:

To ensure the correct part of the image was visible for me to reference to I clicked on the Modify tab and then from the drop down menu selected UVW Map.

Step 12:

I then went to Edit Poly and selected Preserve UVs.

Step 13:

Again under Modify, select Vertex, I then selected the Vertices I wanted to move down. I then selected and moved the vertices I wanted to move across so the reference image was how I wanted it to work from.

Step 14:

I then repeated Steps 4-13 so that I had a reference picture to work from at all angles.

Step 15:

After I had created a box using the reference images I went to the Display tab and under the Display Properties menu I selected Backface Cull. This meant that I could see through the reference image so that I didn’t interfere with building the model. However, when I rotate around the object the front of the reference image is still visible.

Step 16:

I then selected all the reference images by clicking and dragging over them and then right-clicked and selected the Freeze Selection option. This prevents the reference images being accidently clicked and moved when building the model.

Step 17:

In the top right of the View Port I have the option to change my view from Orthographic, Realistic, Top, Bottom, Left or Right. In this instance I have selected Orthographic.

Step 18:

From the create tab I selected Box. I then created a rectangular box before going to Modify > Edit Poly > Vertex to get the box to the size I desired.

Step 19:

As I needed to modify the middle of the box to create the space for the driver and passenger seats I used the Slice Tool to slice the box several times. Under the Modify tab I select Edit Poly > Polygon and from the Edit Geometry list selected Slice Plane. The Slice Tool appears in the view port horizontally but as I wanted to create vertical slices I used the Rotation Tool, by pressing E, to turn it.

Step 20:

I then created numerous slices by pressing Slice in the Edit Geometry menu and moving the Slice Place over slightly. Once I had made the number of slices I required I clicked on the Slice Plane option again to uncheck it. IU used the Move Tool (W) to move the slices into position.

Step 21:

Under the Modify tab, and selecting Edit Poly > Vertex I was then able to pull the vertices down on one slice at a time to create the shape for the space for the driver and passenger seats.

Step 22:

I then created some edge loops. To do this, under the Modify tab I selected Edit Poly > Edge and in the Edit Edges menu selected Connect. These loops were placed length way near the top and bottom of the box and this was so that the vertices on the ends could be pulled in a little to create a smoother corner as opposed to sharp right-angles corners.

Step 23:

I created some more slices width ways across, which is to become the front and back of the vehicle, so that I could form the wheel arches. I used the same procedure as Step 20 to slice the polygons and then used the same procedure in Step 21 to create the wheel arches.

Step 24:

In between the front two wheel arches I needed to extrude some polygons from the underneath the body. This was so that I can attach a grill, bumper and headlights to the front of the vehicle. To extrude the polygons I wanted I first highlighted then went to Edit Poly > Polygon and in the Edit Polygons menu I clicked on the small box next to Extrude. This box brings up the Extrude Polygons settings to enable me to pull out and adjust the polygons.

 Step 24:

Using the Slice Tool in the manner previously described and then moving the position of the vertices I was able to create an octagon. Although this is not a perfect octagon it is the shape that I wanted for to create the headlights.

Step 25:

Under the Modify tab I went to Edit Poly > Polygon and used the move tool to push the polygon in to give the headlight a ‘socket’ for it to be placed in.

Step 26:

For the grill I created a new box, and changed the segment count to 5. Using the Edit Poly > Vertex option I pulled the top vertices out to create the shape for the grill.

Step 27:

To create the inserts of the grill I first selected the grill and pressed X to go to X-ray mode. This enabled me to see the reference image in the background. I then created a Cylinder and positioned and edited the vertices to get the right shape. As I needed more than one cylinder, I right-clicked and selected Clone. When the Clone Options dialogue box appeared I ensured Copy was selected and changed the Number of Copies to 8, then pressed OK.

Step 28:

I then went to Edit Poly and in the Edit Geometry I selected attach. After his I went to the Create tab, chose Compound Objects and in the Object Type menu selected ProCutter. In the Cutter Picking Parameters I selected Pick Stock Object.

Step 29:

To create the windscreen I used the Slice Tool to cut the area for the window.

Step 30:

To cut out the shape for the headlights in the grill I created a cylinder and reduced the number of segments to 8. I then placed the first into position and then duplicated this to the other side. I then went to Edit Poly under the Modify tab and then selected attach in the Edit Geometry menu.

Step 31:

I then followed Step 28 to cut out the headlight socket in the grill.

Step 32:

I created the bumper from a box. I went to Edit Poly > Vertex to put a slight angle on the ends of the bumper. I then used the Slice Tool to make four slices to enable me to extrude the polygons so the bumper could be attached to the vehicle.

Step 33:

The rail round the back of the vehicle was made using a cylinder.

Step 34:

The Axel's were made from Cylinders under the create tab and then edited as necessary to get the desired look.

Step 35:

The Wheels were made from Cylinders under the create tab and then edited as necessary to get the desired look.

Step 36:

Steering Wheel…

Step 37:

The Wheels were made from Cylinders under the create tab and then edited as necessary to get the desired look.

Step 38:

The seat was made from a Box shape and then vertices pulled down on the sides to give it a different shape.

Step 39:

The Medical Box on the back of the vehicle is simply a box.

Step 40:

As the British Jeep is now created I then unwrapped and textured it. See the blogs on Unwrapping and Texturing on how I achieved this.

Step 41:

After I had textured the objects I then linked them together by selecting all the different objects individually then linking them to the body and clicking on the chain link icon in the top left of the interface.

In the video below are the screenshots of how I created the British Jeep.

British Jeep Annotations

 

Software Trials - 3DS Max

Creating a Panzer Tank

To build a Panzer Tank I used some basic shapes such a Box and a Cylinder. However, I then used additional tools such as Symmetry, Slice and Inset in the creation of the asset.

Step 1:

First I need to create a Plane and then assign an image to it so that I can draw around the shape of the bollard in the image. I go to the Create tab on the right hand side of the interface and select plane. I draw my Plane to the size I think is required. I then reduced the amount of Polygons by lowering the number of segments.

Step 2:

With the Plane selected I then need to open up the Slate Material Editor and to do this I press the shortcut key which is M.

From the Map Material Browser Panel I select Standard and drag the Node appears to the View Port. Also from the Map Material Browser I select Bitmap and drag this Node onto the View Port. This opens a dialogue box to the image that I want to assign to the Plane, the press OK.

I then need to ‘wire’ the Bitmap (the JPEG of an image of a bollard) into the Standard Node. To do this I drag from the Bitmap’s node output socket and plug it into the Standard node Diffuse Colour input socket.

I then clicked on the Assign Material to Selection by clicking on the icon at the top of the Slate Material Editor and then further across to the right I click on the Show Material in View Port.

Step 3:

I want to have a view of the reference image on planes around the object but at the same time I don’t want them to impede my view whilst working on the model. To prevent my view from being obscured, from the Display Properties under the display tab I chose Backface Cull. What this option does is makes the view from the back of the Plane with my reference image on ‘invisible’ but as I rotate around it, when I am face on with it, ie in front, the reference image is visible.

Step 4:

Using a Box from the Create tab I created a rectangular box. Using the Edit Poly method I moved the vertices to get the length I required. I then rotated the object, using the Rotation Tool by pressing E, so that I could get a front view to enable me to get the correct width. Again I used the Edit Poly method to move the vertices to gain the required width, before rotating again to get back to the side view of the object.

Step 5:

As the front of the tank has a slight slope to it I need to mimic this in my construction of the model. To be able to do this I have to add more polygons and vertices into the object I have and to do this I used the Slice Tool.  The Slice Tool is found in the Edit Geometry section. Once I have moved the slice tool to where I want to ‘cut’ through the object I press the Slice button and the slice has been made. I sliced once near the top of the object and twice approximately in the centre of the object. The slices were made length ways through the object achieving the desired result.

Step 6:

By selecting the new vertices the slice had created I moved the vertices out to create the slope effect at the front of the tank. At the back of the tank I also moved the vertices to create a slight change of shape.

Step 7:

For the turret I followed the same steps in 4, 5 and 6, but the one difference in which I did was that I created only half of the turret. From the drop down box in the Modify tab I selected Symmetry and what this did was ‘mirror’ the shape I hade created. Then, using the Move Tool, I pulled the duplicated but mirrored object out to the required distance to match the edges so that it appeared as one object. After this I welded the vertices together so that the two objects now made up one object.

Step 8:

For the canon I created a cylinder shape and then changed the properties to get the right length and width. As the end of the canon needed to be wider I selected the polygons and using the Move Tool pulled them out to create a wider section at the end of the canon.

Step 9:

At the end of the canon I needed to give it the appearance that it is hollow and to achieve this I have to push in the polygon at the end of the canon. I select the polygon and under the Modify tab I go to Extrude and from here I am able to, with the Move Tool, push the polygon inwards.

Step 10:

To attach the canon to the turret I had to make a hole in the front of the turret. To do this I followed the procedure in Step 9, prior to inserting the canon into the turret.

Step 11:

To create the wheels, I used a Cylinder under the Create tab. I then adjusted the size of height and width under the Modify tab and the Edit Poly function. I then duplicated the number of wheels I wanted for one side of the tank by holding down the SHIFT key and left-clicking and dragging across.

Step 12:

I used the Line Tool to draw around the outside of the wheels to create a track. I then went to Modify and selected the Sweep option and from the drop down menu I selected Bar. I then made some minor adjustments, using Edit Poly, to the width and the moved it into place around the wheels.

Step 13:

I then highlighted the wheels and track that I had created, by clicking and dragging over them, and using the SHIFT and left-click drag method to duplicate them to the other side of the tank.

As the Panzer Tank is now created I then unwrapped and textured them. See the blogs on Unwrapping and Texturing on how I achieved this.

After I had textured the objects I then linked them together by selecting the wheels, tracks, turret, turret opening, canon individually then linking them to the body and clicking on the chain link icon in the top left of the interface.

In the video below are the screenshots of how I created the Panzer Tank.

 

 

Panzer Tank Annotations:

 

Software Trials - 3DS Max

Creating Metal Stairs

To create the stairs I used two basic shapes. I used a Box to create the steps, platform and the kicker at the sides of the steps and for the hand rail and the supporting legs I used a Cylinder.

Step 1:

I started by creating a simple 3D rectangle and once the sizes were in the proportions I wanted I cloned this object by right-clicking selecting clone. As I wanted to clone the step numerous times I used X, Y, Z buttons in the Parameters window. This duplicated the steps by the number I required and already aligned in position.

Step 2:

Next I created the kicker boards either side of the steps. Again I created a simple but longer 3D rectangle. Using the Move and Rotate Tools, by pressing W and E respectively, I positioned the kicker board against the steps on an angle so which matched the steepness of the steps. By using the Edit Poly function in the Modify tab I selected the vertices at one end of the shape I had created. I used the Rotation Tool, by pressing E, and turned the vertices at a slight angle so they would be flat against the ground. I also did the same at the other end of the kicker board so that it was level with the platform, which was my next step. However, before I moved onto the next step I had to have another kicker board on the other side of the steps and to do this I held down shift and using the Move Tool dragged it across.

Step 3:

I then created a platform by making a very thin and flat square shape by going to Create and selecting Box prior to moving into position at the top of the steps and the in between the kicker boards.

Step 4:

From the Create tab and choosing Cylinder I created a support from the platform to the ground. As I am making low polygon models I had to reduce the amount of polygons by going into the Modify tab and reducing the amount of segments in the Parameters menu.

Step 5:

I made the hand-rail by using the same principle as I made the supports in Step 4, but this time ensuring that they were much thinner.

As the Metal Stairs is now created I then unwrapped and textured them. See the blogs on Unwrapping and Texturing on how I achieved this.

After I had textured the objects I then linked them together by selecting the handrails, kicker boards, the platform and supports objects individually then linking them to the steps and clicking on the chain link icon in the top left of the interface.

 

 Metal Stairs Annotations