" title="The Surreal Structures Blog"> The Surreal Structures Blog

Table Setting

In a subject related to my tutorials on cloth simulation, I was asked how to make fold lines in a tablecloth. I thought I would go ahead and do a tutorial on detailing a cloth simulation to make it more realistic looking. Read the rest of this entry »

Fig. 1: Spoon reference

This is the third and final part of my tutorial series on modeling flatware in 3ds Max using Loft objects. You can download the working 3ds Max 2009 scene here.  To complete the set, we will be creating a spoon. We will be using the curves we created for the fork, which are included in the working scene. Read the rest of this entry »

Demo render of Flatware Tutorial

Here is a render to demonstrate what I created with Parts I and II of the Flatware Tutorial series.

Fig. 1 Fork Loft shapes and path

This is Part II of my series on modeling flatware in 3ds Max. We are going to create a fork this time and using a Loft objects we did with the knife. You can download the 3ds Max 2009 scene here. Read the rest of this entry »

Fig. 1: Reference images

This is Part I of a 3-part tutorial on making flatware. In this edition, we will be using the Loft object to create a table knife that can be modified for a fork and spoon as well. I happened across a patent document for a flatware design that has diagrams that are ideal for our reference images. (Fig. 1). You can download the 3ds Max 2009 scene here.

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Mugs

I modeled a mug from our dinner set and have envisioned how it would look in red. The method for modeling is similar to the one in my recent tutorial, but I started with a cylinder primitive instead of a Lathed curve. I used the same method for creating and joining the handle. I didn’t use a reference photo, I just measured the actual cup.

You can download the mug in 3ds Max 2009 format, unsmoothed OBJ (y-up), and smoothed OBJ (z-up for Rhino), here.

The rendered mug

This tutorial continues from the last one, where we set up the Front viewport to display a reference image to the correct scale of an object.

Using the mug image as a reference, I constructed profile curves for the body of the mug and the handle, then converted them to editable splines (see Fig. 1). In the Interpolation rollout for each spline, I set Steps to 0 and left Optimized enabled. For the body of the mug, I added a Lathe modifier with settings per Fig. 2. Click Z for Direction and Min for Align.

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Fig. 1: Reference image of a mug

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2010 finds you well. Today I’m going to show you how to use reference images in the 3ds Max viewport for creating accurate objects to scale. I had to hunt around for the information on how to scale my reference image to match that of the object I wanted to create, so I thought others might find this mini-tutorial useful.

The object I want to model is a simple mug. You can see in Fig. 1 that I’ve cropped the image close to the overall size of the mug.  In the Perspective viewport, I created a Box primative measuring 3.5″L x 3.5″W x 4″H. I want to work in the Front viewport, so in that viewport, I zoomed extents and maybe zoom in a bit more so that the box fills the viewport.  Go into the Viewport Background dialog (Alt-B) and click on the Files… button

in the Background Source area to pick your reference image. Under set Aspect Ratio to Match Bitmap.  Enable Display Background and Lock Zoom/Pan. I have set it to display in the active viewport only and

Fig. 2: Settings

set Viewport to Front. Click OK.

You may notice that the image isn’t displayed. What you must do in that case is go to Views>Viewport Background>Reset Background Transform. Now you should see your image and it should be close to the size of your box object. Notice that when you zoom in and out, the reference image follows along.

In the interest of reducing clutter in my sidebar, I’ve decided to do the Image of the Month in a regular blog post. I figured I would post November’s posthumously.

I’m testing the Yahoo Ping Box for chat. I have only installed Yahoo Messenger this morning and don’t know how it works yet. So bear with me. I can send messages from the chat box, but I’m not sure where they are going!

[Update] It looks like I have it figured out now.  I wasn’t very happy with the Google ChatBack workflow. I’m hoping this will improve communication. When you type in the chat box, nobody will see your message but me.