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Using Basic Polygon Editing to Create a Helmet When you model rounded objects, such as the helmet in this tutorial, we recommend that you avoid using a sphere as a starting point. The next illustration shows the polygons that make up a sphere. The top of the sphere is composed of triangular polygons whose vertices tend to pinch together at the pole. This can lead to problems later on. Top of sphere with vertices pinched together at its pole It is therefore best to model a rounded object, other than an actual sphere, using rectangular polygons only. You will use this technique in this lesson. Create the basic helmet shape: 1. Start 3ds Max. By default, a minimized version of the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon displays directly below the main toolbar. NoteThe ribbon on your workstation might display differently if you customized the ribbon in a previous 3ds Max work session. This tutorial assumes you are using the default configuration. 2. Click the expand/minimize icon a few times until the full ribbon displays.

Using basic polygon editing to create a helmet

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Page 1: Using basic polygon editing to create a helmet

Using Basic Polygon Editing to Create a Helmet When you model rounded objects, such as the helmet in this tutorial, we recommend that you avoid using a sphere as a starting point. The next illustration shows the polygons that make up a sphere. The top of the sphere is composed of triangular polygons whose vertices tend to pinch together at the pole. This can lead to problems later on.

Top of sphere with vertices pinched together at its poleIt is therefore best to model a rounded object, other than an actual sphere, using rectangular polygons only. You will use this technique in this lesson. Create the basic helmet shape:

1. Start 3ds Max. By default, a minimized version of the Graphite Modeling Tools ribbon displays directly below the main toolbar.

NoteThe ribbon on your workstation might display differently if you customized the ribbon in a previous 3ds Max work session. This tutorial assumes you are using the default configuration.

2. Click the expand/minimize icon a few times until the full ribbon displays.

The tools in the Polygon Modeling tab are inactive, since no polygon model exists in the scene.

3. From the Customize menu, choose Units Setup, and in the Units Setup dialog Display Unit Scale group, make sure Generic Units is chosen.

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4. Activate the Perspective viewport, and press Alt+W to maximize it.

5. On the Create panel, activate (Geometry), then on the Object Type rollout, click Box.

6. Drag to create a box of any size.

7. On the Modify panel Parameters rollout, set Length, Width, and Height to 50.0.

Currently, the pivot point is at the base of the object. You need to set this point to the center of the box so you can manipulate the object more easily.

8. In the Hierarchy panel Adjust Pivot rollout Move/Rotate/Scale group, click Affect Pivot Only to turn it on.

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9. In the Alignment group, click Center To Object, then click Affect Pivot Only again to turn it off.

10. On the main toolbar, click (Select And Rotate) and rotate the box. The box now rotates around the object’s center of mass.

11. Undo the rotation. You can also press Ctrl+Z to undo an action.

12. Right-click the box, and choose Transform Move. 13. On the status bar, below the viewports, there are X, Y, and Z spinners that let you enter

transform values. Right-click arrows at the right of the X, Y, and Z transform spinners to set each of these values to 0.0.

The center of the box is now at the center of the world coordinates (the origin).

14. Click (Select Object) to deactivate the Move tool. Turn the box into a sphere:

1. On the Modify panel Parameters rollout, set Length Segs, Width Segs, and Height Segs to 4.

2. Press F4 to turn on Edged Faces, so you can see the segment divisions in the viewport.

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After you press F4, the Shading viewport label should show “Realistic + Edged Faces.” 3. From the Modifier list, choose Spherify.

Box with Spherify modifier appliedThe object is deformed into a spherical shape, but retains its geometric composition of easily editable quadrilateral polygons.

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You only need a hemisphere to create the helmet, so next you will delete the lower half of the box and deform the remaining polygons into a conical shape.

Refine the shape: 1. In the viewport, right-click the sphere and from the Transform (lower-right) quadrant of

the quad menu, choose Convert To Convert To Editable Poly.

The ribbon updates to display a range of polygon-editing tools.

2. Click (Maximize Viewport Toggle) to display all four viewports. Right-click the

Front viewport to make it active, then click (Maximize Viewport Toggle) again.

3. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Vertex) to go to the Vertex sub-

object level.

Region-select all the vertices in the lower half of the object (but not the equator). To "region-select" geometry means to drag the cursor so objects within the drag area are selected. The default selection shap is a rectangle; there are other options you can choose.

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Dragging a rectangle to select the lower vertices

Lower vertices selectedPress Delete. You now have a hemispherical dome for the helmet.

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Lower vertices deletedNext, you will give the object a slightly conical shape.

4. Click (Maximize Viewport Toggle) to display all four viewports. Right-click the

Perspective viewport to make it active, then click (Maximize Viewport Toggle) again.

5. Select the vertex at the top of the helmet and move it upward along the Z axis.

Top vertex after transformation in ZNotice that only the polygons that share the vertex are deformed. You need to use Soft Selection to involve the adjacent vertices and polygons as well.

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6. Undo the vertex move. Use Soft Selection to shape the helmet:

1. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Soft Selection) to turn it on.

At the end of the ribbon, on the right, 3ds Max displays a Soft Selection panel, which provides options that control how the soft selection is carried out.

2. On the Soft Selection panel, set Falloff to 30.0.

3. Move the top vertex of the helmet upward along the Z axis again, until the object appears similar to that in the next illustration.

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4. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Soft Selection) again to turn it off. Next, you will use the MeshSmooth tools to smooth out the helmet surface.

5. In the viewport, drag to select all the object vertices (or press Ctrl+A), and then on the ribbon Subdivision panel, click MSmooth.

This option takes each polygon and divides it into four, making a smoother, more detailed geometry.

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6. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Vertex) to exit this sub-object level. Save your work:

Save your scene as my_helmet_01.max.

Working in Symmetry Mode to Add Detail to the HelmetIn this lesson, you will work in symmetry mode on half the helmet. This way, any changes you make will be perfectly mirrored for the other half. Set up the lesson:

1. Continue from the previous lesson, or open helmet_01.max. This scene is in the folder \scenes\modeling\helmet\. NoteIf a dialog asks whether you want to use the scene’s Gamma And LUT settings, accept the scene Gamma settings, and click OK. If a dialog asks whether to use the scene’s units, accept the scene units, and click OK.

2. If you open the new file, then select the helmet object, and on the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click Modify Mode.

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When active, Modify Mode makes the entire array of Graphite Modeling Tools available. Add the Symmetry modifier:

1. On the Polygon Modeling panel, activate (Polygon) to go to the Polygon sub-object level.

2. Click the ribbon’s Selection tab.

3. On the By Half panel, click (Y), then click (Select).

This selects half the object based on its Y-axis orientation. 4. On the By Half panel, click Invert Axis.

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The polygon selection is inverted. The new selection contains the polygons we want to remove.

5. Press Delete. You will now add a Symmetry modifier to these polygons so that their geometry can be mirrored.

6. On the ribbon, click the Graphite Modeling Tools tab. With the helmet object still

selected, go to the Modify panel and from the Modifier List choose Symmetry. 7. On the Parameters rollout Mirror Axis group, choose the Y option and turn on Flip.

This properly orients the mirrored half of the helmet. Notice how the ribbon displays a limited set of modeling tools. This is because the Symmetry modifier is active.

8. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Previous Modifier).

Now the Editable Poly object is active again, and the ribbon displays an expanded set of tools for polygon editing. The mirrored half of the helmet is hidden in the viewport because with the polygon editing controls displayed, you are editing the source polygons only.

9. On the Polygon Modeling panel, click (Show End Result) to see the mirrored side of the helmet controlled by the Symmetry modifier.

10. Click (Show End Result) again to turn it off. Preview mesh smoothing:

1. On the Edit panel, click (Use NURMS). (NURMS is short for Non-Uniform Rational MeshSmooth.)

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The Use NURMS panel displays as a small floating dialog. 2. On the Use NURMS panel, set Iterations to 2.

This smooths out the object by adding more polygons to the geometry. It is best to specify an Iterations value of no more than 3, because each time you increase iterations by one, the number of vertices and polygon faces can increase by a factor of four. This can result in a lengthy calculation time.

3. If the Show Cage button is already on, turn it off to better see the geometry added by the NURMS iterations.

4. On the ribbon Edit panel click (Use NURMS) to turn it off. Next, you will add two extrusions that will form the rim of the helmet and its vertical ridge.

Select the seam and rim faces to extrude:

1. On the Polygon Modeling panel, activate (Edge) to go to the Edge sub-object level.

2. In the viewport, select a polygon edge as shown in the next illustration, then on the Modify Selection panel, click (Ring).

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3ds Max selects all edges parallel to the first one, in a ring around the object.

3. On the Loops panel, Shift+click (Connect).

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3ds Max draws a single loop of edges around the selected edges. It also displays the “caddy” controls for the Connect tool. (When you Shift+click a tool on the ribbon, 3ds Max displays the caddy controls for that tool.)

By default, the loop is placed in the center of the selected edges, but the negative Slide value you will specify in the next step will position it to the left of center.

4. On the third control of the caddy, Slide, drag to the left until the value equals –50, and

then click (OK).

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Edge slides to the left

5. In the viewport, click to select a vertical edge on any polygon at the bottom row of the helmet, then on the ribbon Modify Selection panel, click (Ring). The Ring tool automatically selects all the vertical edges.

6. On the Loops panel, Shift+click (Connect). Once again, 3ds Max displays the caddy controls for the Connect tool.

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7. Change the value of the Slide control to –25, then click (OK).

8. On the Polygon Modeling panel, turn on (Show End Result) to see how the Symmetry modifier has added a mirrored portion to the helmet.

9. Right-click the helmet and from the Transform (lower-right) quadrant choose Convert To Convert To Editable Poly.

The Symmetry modifier is removed and all the mirrored polygons are integrated into the model.

Select the helmet seam and rim:

1. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, activate (Edge). 2. On the Modify Selection panel, click Loop Mode to turn it on.

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3. Click to select one of the edges along the center edge of the helmet.

Because Loop Mode is on, 3ds Max selects the entire loop of edges along the helmet ridge.

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4. With Loop Mode still active, hold down the Ctrl key, then click an edge along the rim of the helmet. 3ds Max selects the rim edges as well as the ridgeline.

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5. Hold down the Ctrl key again, and on the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, activate

Polygon. 3ds Max selects all the polygons adjacent to the edge selection.

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Extrude the helmet seam and rim:

1. On the Polygons panel, Shift+click (Extrude).

3ds Max displays the caddy controls for the Extrude tool.

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2. On the first control, Group, choose Local Normal from the drop-down list.

3. On the second control, Height, change the value to 1.0 , then click (OK).

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4. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Polygon) selection to exit the sub-object level.

5. On the Edit panel, click (Use NURMS) and on the Use NURMS panel, click (Show Cage) to hide the cage, then press F4 so you can see the end result without edged faces.

6. On the Use NURMS panel, set iterations to 2 to further smooth out the helmet.

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Helmet with middle seam and rim extrusionsIn the next procedure, you will add more edges to create a less rounded extrusion to the rim and ridge.

7. On the ribbon Edit panel, click (Use NURMS) to turn off NURMS mode. 8. Save your scene as my_helmet_02.max.

Set up the scene:

1. Continue working on your scene, or open the scene helmet_02.max

2. If you opened the new file, select the helmet, and make sure the Modify panel is active.

Refine the extrusions: 1. In the viewport, switch to a Left view. If the viewport is shaded, press F3 to turn off

shading and see the helmet in Wireframe view. Notice the slight wave to the extruded rim of the helmet.

2. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, activate (Vertex), then region-select the row of vertices that is second from the bottom.

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3. On the ribbon Align panel, click (Align Z) to align all the vertices along their average orientation on the Z axis.

4. Switch to a Top view and region-select the vertices on one side of the ridge extrusion.

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5. On the ribbon Align panel, click (Align Y) to align all the vertices along their average orientation on the Y axis.

6. Region-select the vertices on the opposite side of the ridge extrusion, and click (Align Y) again. Now the edges of the extruded ridge are also straight.

7. Change the viewport to a Perspective view once again.

8. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, activate (Edge).

9. On the Modify Selection panel, click to turn on (Ring Mode).

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10. Click to select one of the horizontal edges just on the near side of the ridge of the helmet.

Ring Mode selects all edges parallel to the one you clicked.

11. On the Loops panel, Shift+click (Connect). 3ds Max displays the caddy controls for the Connect tool.

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12. Set the value of the third control, Slide, to 83, so the new edge loop is very close to the

base of the ridge, and then click (OK).

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Loop slides to the left

13. Orbit the viewport so you can see the other side of the ridge of the helmet.

14. On the Edit panel, turn on (Swift Loop).

15. Drag the mouse over the surface of the helmet. A green virtual loop appears as you drag the mouse. It lets you visualize where to place the loop. Click to place a new, vertical edge loop on the near side of the helmet. Like the loop you placed on the opposite side, it should be close to the base of the extruded ridge.

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SwiftLoop provides a fast way to create and position a loop on a model.

16. Use Swiftloop again to place a horizontal edge loop, this one just above the helmet’s extruded rim.

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Click to create the loop.

Adding these parallel edge loops reinforces the existing edges, so they won’t be smoothed as much as you saw in the previous lesson.

17. Click (Swift Loop) to turn it off.

18. Click (Edge) to exit the Edge sub-object level. View the helmet with smoothing:

1. On the ribbon Edit panel, click (Use NURMS) to turn it on, then press F4 to turn off edged faces and see how the added edge loops give the base of the extrusions a sharper angle.

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2. Press F4 to display Edged Faces again, and click (Use NURMS) to turn it off and redisplay the underlying model.

Save your work: Save your scene file as my_helmet_03.

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7.By extruding the horns along a path, you saved yourself a great deal of back-and-forth between the transform and polygon modeling tools.

8. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Polygon) again to turn it off. Make the helmet a single object once again:

1. On the Edit panel, make sure (Use NURMS) is off. NURMS smoothing needs to be off before you transform the helmet into an Editable Poly: Otherwise, you wind up with a model that has far too many faces.

2. In a viewport, right-click the helmet, and from the Transform (lower-right) quadrant, choose Convert To Convert To Editable Poly, then press F4 to turn off edged faces.

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The Symmetry modifier is removed and all the mirrored polygons are integrated into the model.

3. Press F4 again to turn edged faces back on. Save your work:

Save your scene as my_helmet_04.

Using Freeform Tools to Add Spikes to the Helmet In this lesson, you will use a variety of freeform tools to create a ridge of irregular spikes for the Viking helmet. Set up the lesson:

1. Continue working from the previous lesson, or open helmet_04.max.

2. If you opened the new file, select the helmet, and make sure the Modify panel is active.

Remove the middle seam from the helmet ridge:

1. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, activate (Edge).

2. On the Modify Selection panel, click (Loop Mode) to turn it on. You will use this tool to remove the edge loop in the middle of the helmet ridge.

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3. Click a vertical edge along the middle seam of the helmet ridge.

Loop mode selects the entire edge loop that forms the middle seam.

4. On the Edges panel, click (Remove).

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5. Activate the (Vertex) sub-object level. Notice that while the loop edges have been deleted, their vertices remain. You want to remove the vertices as well.

Unwanted vertices left over from edge removal

6. Undo the Remove operation so that the loop redisplays.

7. Activate (Edge) again, then on the Edges panel, Ctrl+click (Remove). Ctrl+Remove removes the vertices as well as the edges.

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Both edges and vertices removedSubdivide the ridge into rectangular faces:

1. Click and Ctrl+click to select two of the longer vertical edges on either side of the helmet ridge, as shown in the next illustration.

2. On the Loops panel, Shift+click (Connect). 3. On the caddy controls for Connect, make sure Segments is set to 1 and Pinch and Slide

are set to 0, then click (OK).

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These values ensure you are connecting the edges just once, with no offset.

4. Select the next pair of edges above the ones you just connected, and click (Connect) to add horizontal edge to the ridge.

5. Repeat the previous step for each pair of edges along the ridge, except for the shorter edges just above the rim of the helmet. Stop when you have connected edges on the rear side of the helmet as well as along the front.

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Create irregular spikes using the Freeform tools:

1. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, activate (Polygon).

2. Select the polygon at the base of the ridge.

3. Adjust the Perspective view to make sure you are looking at the helmet from an oblique angle. NoteIf you start extruding the polygon while looking at the model head on, the extrusion will take on a 2D appearance.

4. On the ribbon, click the Freeform tab, and on the PolyDraw panel, click (Branches).

5. Shift+drag the selected polygon outward, away from the helmet, then release the mouse.

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Helmet after first Branch extrusion6. Ctrl+click to select the polygon two above the one you just branched, then Shift+drag it

to create another branch. 7. Continue extruding every second polygon until the entire ridge is complete.

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As you progress along the helmet, make sure you maintain an oblique view of the polygons. If you don’t like the shape of an extrusion, or you extrude the wrong polygon, press Ctrl+Z to undo the operation.

8. Click the ribbon Graphic Modeling Tools tab again.

9. On the ribbon Polygon Modeling panel, click (Polygon) again to turn it off, then press F4 to turn off edged faces.

10. On the Edit panel, click (Use NURMS) to turn it on.

The helmet geometry is smoothed out and ready to accept materials.