Learning the Max Interface

Learning the Max Interface
 Part I ✦ Learning the Max Interface

This Quick Start walks you through creating a Gaaboot alien and his simple world landscape, attaching it to a biped, and animating it using Character Studio. That’s quite a tall order depending on the complexity involved, but we’ll keep everything pretty simple. Before diving in, the proper method is to start with a plan including a simple sketch of the Gaaboot character. The only thing we know about the Gaaboot race is that they have three fingers, which probably means they have three toes also. After completing a rough sketch, I can see that the Gaaboot character is dumpy with large jowls and a pleasant disposition. I also realize that the character has a nice symmetry that I can use to model only half of the character and mirror to get the other half. The folds of the skin are smooth, which makes me think I can rough out the character as an Editable Poly object and apply a TurboSmooth modifier to smooth all the edges. For the landscape, I imagine something that’s rather bare like the moon, so a plane object with a single crater or two should do it. A space background would be a nice touch. For materials, the Gaaboot character is green of course, and the planet surface a kind of grayish, dusty, rocky type of texture. The Gaaboot is completely naked, so applying extra materials to cover the character isn’t necessary, but without shoes, you need to model extra details like toes. To animate the character, we use a biped skeleton, which makes the task of animating a snap, but the trick is resizing the biped and making sure that the envelopes cover the entire character. For the animation, we simply have the Gaaboot walk forward and wave to the visitors. With a definite plan, we’re ready to begin. This Quick Start is divided into separate tutorials, with each tutorial containing a series of easy-to-follow steps. These steps are intended to show you the results of performing certain Max operations, but feel free to deviate from these steps to create your own results. Being creative and exploring the software is the best way to learn.
After each of the following tutorials, I saved the scene file. You can find these files in the Quick Start directory on the book’s CD.
Modeling the Main Character The first step in the production is to model the main character—our friendly neighborhood Gaaboot. The modeling process is divided into four simple tutorials. In the first one, you create the head and body objects by modifying primitive objects. The second tutorial focuses on creating the hands and feet by adjusting subobjects and using a modifier. The third tutorial focuses on the details of the face and the final tutorial creates arms and legs using borders and the Bridge feature. The following tutorials show one character modeling technique, but many others exist. As you explore the various modeling techniques, find and develop methods that work well for you.
✦ Quick Start: Creating and Animating a Three-Fingered Gaaboot
Tutorial: Modeling the Gaaboot’s body and head Our first step begins the task of modeling the main character. We start with the two major elements of the character: the head and the body. The details and smoothing come later; for now, we only want to get the basic shape. To create the Gaaboot’s body and head, follow these steps: 1. Select Create➪Standard Primitives➪GeoSphere, and drag in the Top viewport to create a GeoSphere object with a Radius of about 120. In the Name and Color rollout of the command panel, name this object body.
This chapter uses Generic Units. You can change the units using the Units Setup dialog box opened using the Customize➪Units Setup menu command.
2. Right-click the GeoSphere object, and select the Convert To➪Convert to Editable Poly menu command from the pop-up quadmenu. 3. In the Modifier Stack, select the Vertex subobject mode and drag over the centermost vertices in the Top viewport. This selects vertices on both sides of the sphere. Open the Soft Selection rollout, enable the Use Soft Selection option, and set the Falloff value to 150 and the Pinch value to 1.0. Then drag the selected vertices upward in the Left viewport with the Move tool to create a raindrop-like object. Click the Vertex subobject in the Modifier Stack to exit Vertex subobject mode. 4. Select the Scale tool, and drag the Y-axis handle upward in the Left viewport to scale the body object’s height. Then drag the Y-axis downward in the Top viewport to scale the depth of the character. 5. Select the Create➪Shapes➪Line menu command, and in the Front viewport, click to place the points to create an outline of the head. Right-click after the final point to exit point placement mode. 6. With the Line object selected, open the Modify panel and enable Vertex subobject mode. Use the Move tool to straighten any misplaced vertices. Then select the Modifiers➪ Patch/Spline Editing➪Lathe menu command to revolve the line to create a 3D object. In the Parameters rollout, select the Y Direction and the Min Align buttons. You may also need to enable the Flip Normals option to correctly see the head object. 7. With the lathed object selected, enter head in the Name field. Then move and scale the head object until it fits just above without touching the top of the body object. 8. With the body object selected, click the Attach button in the Edit Geometry rollout and then select the head object. This attaches the head as an element to the body object and converts it into an Editable Poly. The result of this tutorial, shown in Figure QS-1, doesn’t look like a valid character, but it provides a good starting point that you can enhance with details like a face, arms, and legs.  This tutorial is saved on the CD as Gaaboot body and head.max.