Completed tie fighter

Tie Fighter

Techniques used and why

When creating this 3D model I used multiple techniques I have learnt over the period of the 3 weeks previous to completing this model. As you can see I used the virtual editing studio technique to get the correct size of the model, this help me get the correct shapes and sizes of the body and wings so that they are proportionate to each other. I have also used bevel multiple times to create the window and the engine cover, this allowed me to create cone shaped object with out having to use a cone then delete polygons. When creating this model  I also used extrude a lot to create precise shapes that can only be replicated by spending time precisely lining up a separate shape the the original. Another tool i used in creating this model was the spline tool that allowed me to draw shapes that I could not create with normal standard shapes, I used this a is was the fastest method to create the complex shapes I required.

The model may seem simple and does not have a huge amount of detail on them but this will change when it comes to adding this in to the animation as I will be creating textures using the unwrap uvw and photo shop, this should add more detail. Also I decided not to add detail because I plan on not using slow close up camera angles where the detail would be required.   

Storyboard

Scene 1

x-wings leave home planet

scene 2

x-wings head towards death star

scene 3

x-wings dive in to death star trench

scene 4

x-wings in tench from different angle/angles

scene 5

tie fighters enter trench behind  x-wings

scene 6

tie fighters pursuing x-wings

scene 7

tie fighters shoot 1 x-wing down

scene 8

tie fighters shoot another x-wing down

scene 9

millennium falcon saves last x-wing

scene 10 

 darth vader spins out of control

Using boolean to cut out shapes

This is me learning the tools on how to create and cut out shapes from each other using the boolean tool on 3ds max. To find this functionality on 3ds max, I fount rather confusing as its in a menu that I have never used prior to this.

I fount that this function is only really needed to either create a shape within a shape or create a complex shape with 2 shapes rather then with multiple shapes that could cause there to be more polygons.

Overall I feel that this is an easy technique to use within 3ds max its just remembering where the function can be accessed which is my problem.  

Another tool that I have recently learnt about is the align tool, this allows you to perfectly align shapes without spending too much time doing it by hand. 

This is the final product of aligning 4 different shapes on top of each other. I fount this technique rather easy to use as the tool selection is clear and easy to remember. Also the techniques used to create this effect are easy so long as I was to only do each axis movement by its self otherwise I was making mistakes. 

The final technique is creating 3d shapes from 2d drawings, this will help create complex shapes that possible cant be made with 3d shapes or can be used to create floor plans for buildings. 

This is the final product of this technique, as you can see this shape could not be created be the simple shapes that are given to you in 3ds max. I fount this technique extremely simple to use and it will allow me to create complex shapes that may be required when creating models in the future. 

On a final note I would like to learn how to concave shapes in order to create a radar dish for the millenium falcon model I will be creating.  

As stated before in this blog I have learnt though self teaching myself and doing research on how to group shapes together and how to use the inset tool to create windows in my castle model.

Week 1 - Thoughts on first techniques learnt

Being a complete novice with 3ds Max  I fought the selecting, moving, rotating and scaling to be very simple as it is very similar to that of Unity. This aloud me to quickly come accustomed to making the first model of a ship steering wheel. Also with the steering wheel being the same all around its circumference the cloning abilities that 3ds Max has to offer help save time on recreating the same shapes that I had already created.

When creating the house I fount the instructions rather difficult to follow, but this could be because of the new techniques that where being used to create the house. To get more familiar with these new techniques I will attempt to implement them within the castle build if its viable to do so, if not I will practice them on a random model.    

Castle Model

This is how I started the castle model I decided to use simple shapes such as rectangles for the walls, cylinders for the towers and cones for the tower roofs. As you can see from the picture I used the connecting and extruding techniques to create the battlements on the surrounding walls. I chose to use these techniques because it gives the best representation of the sort of battlements I wanted, and allows me to either have rectangular battlements or angled battlements if I remove 2 vertex's.

     This is the part of the wall finished with its battlements. I decided that the wall was not long enough so i cloned it and made it larger.

This is a finished out wall without a entrance, to get to this stage I learnt new techniques that helped create effects on the model. One technique is the inset technique this allowed for realistic arrow loops in the towers.

Also to complete the wall I also taught myself how to group objects together, this meant I could group 1 side of the castle wall and clone it to complete all the other sides.

Project research board

Darth Vaders tie fighter 

Tie Fighter 

millenium falcon

X wing 

Y wing

GR-75 Medium transporter