Model a High Poly Airframe Missile Launcher in 3ds Max – Day 1
In this six hour long, intermediate/ advanced level tutorial you will learn to model a high poly RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile Launcher step by step. You will learn to use many of 3ds Max’s poly and spline modeling tools, while keeping the model as light weight and simplified as possible, and only using subdivision in the areas that require it.
This tutorial is Day 1 in a series – Go to Day 2, or Day 3.
Final Effect Preview
You can find the reference images and schematic blueprints here: http://www.bentateonline.com/CGTuts/Airframe_Launcher_Reference.zip
Video 1
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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.
Video 2
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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.
Video 3
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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.
Video 4
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Note: click the ‘Monitor’ icon to view tutorial in full-screen HD.
This tutorial is Day 1 in a series – Go to Day 2, or Day 3.
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By Ben Tate
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Nice one. I look forward to the next parts of this one.
Another great one… Thanks.
I love the Tate-brothers! This tutorial looks great!
Thanks man
Hope you like it!
How did you rotate view in perspective?
Hey, Sorry about that! I always intend to mention the Nav controls at the beginning of my tuts, but somehow always manage to forget when I’m recording! Here’s the basic Nav controls for a 3 button mouse.
Rotate: Alt + Middle Mouse Button (Hold Both Down)
Pan: Middle mouse button (Hold Down)
Zoom: Middle mouse wheel
Zoom Extents: Hit ‘Z’ (Zoom on selected piece or sub-object selection)
Cheers my friend.
Just wow and the best is for non Tuts+ Users too
Thanks
This looks like a awesome one. I look forward to get home from work and check this one out.
I know this is Day 1 of this project, but are you planing a texturing part? That would be the cream on this nice pie.
)
Thanks and yes, there will be additional tuts to follow! but not by me. The first 3 days will be me modeling the high-res. Then I’m handing the model off to Kaleb Aylsworth and he’s going to show everyone how to make a bad-ass game version! I believe he’s showing the full pipeline. Creating the low poly, doing the UV’s, baking the maps out and texturing… It’s going to be epic! and far, far better then if I had just textured the high poly version. Trust me!
Looks awesome! Very detailed model
Thanks for the tutorial Ben!
Great tutorial..Tate brothers are details crazy
and where I can find those ref pictures?
Thanks man! You can download the reference pictures from the link on this page. It’s under the final effect preview above
I got so excited I dint notice the link
thanks
Nice one man, like your take on how to do some things
bens answer to chris’s rpg most talented brothers ever!!!!!!!!!!
LOL that’s awesome, thanks Kyle
eey man, I just checked your new site and its has very cool models on it (especially the iron man) keep up the good work!! greetz from Holland
Hey, Thanks man!! yeah I just got the new version online yesterday! (Hopefully everything was working for you, I still need to make some tweaks
But thanks for checking it out!…One of these days I’m hoping to find the time to finish that Ironman model off 
thanks for the tutorial !
Outstanding work!!!
Awesome…Just awesome!
How well does something like this translate into Maya? I used 3dmax quite a while ago, but switched to Maya while in school. With all these tutorials the question always seems to come back to which is better, Maya or Max.
Or is that a question of the industry you want to work in. Maybe you can add some insight here or in a post in general as to how to choose which program to become proficient in.
Thx!
Hey Tobias, That’s the million dollar question and it’s been debated for years. Max users say Max is better, Maya users say Maya is better. In the end I guess it comes down to what kind of work you want to do as well as where you’re working. I’d say Maya’s definitely the preferred choice for film production, from what I understand most of the big production companies still use it as their primary package, like ILM, Pixar, Dreamworks, Weta, etc.. Although I’d assume they also use a combination of most other packages depending on what they’re doing and what part of the pipeline their in. As well as their own in-house tools and custom software.
On the game industry side of things. As far as I know Max is the dominant choice for most game developers. That’s not to say that all games are made with Max. Some are made with Maya (Killzone 2 / God Of War 3 / COD4) or Softimage XSI (Metal Gear Solid 4) as well as others, but if you’re looking to get into the game industry I’d have to say go with 3dsMax.
3dsMax also has the edge in plugins and third party support, especially if you want to do the cool stuff, like effects. Max has an enormous amount of third party plungins that aren’t available for other packages like, FumeFX, Afterburn, Krakatoa, Rayfire, Thinking Particles, etc…..If you’ve ever seen any of the badass cinematics done by Blur Studios, then you’ll know what I mean. They’re all done with 3dsMax and MentalRay.(Although I’m pretty sure they switched the animation side of the pipeline to XSI, but everything else is done in Max).
Keep in mind I’ve never worked in a production environment, all of this is purely based on things I’ve read and watched. Maybe if someone’s reading this that is more experienced with production, they could maybe better idea of which way to go
Cheers!
PS: As for translating this tutorial in Maya. I don’t see why it shouldn’t work. As long as you can re-create the commands in Maya. you shouldn’t have any problems.
Ben, thanks a ton for the reply – very good points. I’ll have to check to see if the school I went to has diversified their program selection since I’ve left because they now have a game development track.
I’ve had my eye on a number of 3D showcase galleries and it does seem like Max comes up more often as the primary tool being used (may also be a question of price .. Maya sure isn’t cheap).
I might just have to take another look at Max, last time I used it they just introduced NURBS
Oh, here’s another quick question – is there good money in 3D? It was my original career choice but I somehow ended up doing web development – would like to consider the options of a career change.
Hi Tobias, I am only a hobbiest but I do know that “Turbosmooth” in Max is the same as “Sub-D” modelling in Maya. So if you know how the polygon tools work then you should be able to folllow along in Maya just fine.
I do not know if that helps you or not but it might give you somewhere to start.
Every bit of info helps!
A MISSLE LAUNCHER! wow thats sweet thanks
Missle should be Missile LOL
Awesome Job! looks very realistic
Hey guys, Thanks for taking the time to leave all these awesome comments!! I really appreciate it
I hope everyone enjoys day 1 of the tutorial and hopefully learns a few things as well 
Cheers
Hail to the Tate brothers! I like it when they are trying to outdo eachother
This tut is just insane! Thanks allot! The future is looking bright!
LOL Thanks Rune! I hope you enjoy it
Wow Great work, you are so Generous with your Knowlage and talent
thank you so much
Excellent tut as always from the Tate bros. I have been learning a lot from you guys more than those $600 / 40 hour classes I took a while back. Could have build myself a kickass rig with all that cash!
Had a question for you: Any plans for a tutorial on baking / normal map procedures of high polys onto low polys for games?
Keep up the good work guys, you rock!!
Well…I hate to spoil the surprise, but I am actually planning to do a second half to this tutorial series that involves adapting this High Poly mesh of the Airframe Missile Launcher for use in video games.
It will cover the entire video game art process (minus the high poly…which is already done), and involves creating the low poly mesh, UV unwrapping, texture baking (normal and occlusion maps), and texture painting.
My company is really busy on our new project right now, so I don’t have an exact date scheduled yet….but that’s the plan anyways:)
looking forward to the tut, should be very informative.. thanks again guys @ cgtuts! you guys r awesome..
Thanks for the info Kaleb. Yeah that would be a great great tut. I am always on the hunt for a complete video game art production process from A to Z. I will keep an eye for your project.
Another great tutorial by Ben Tate
Nice work
Nice work Ben! Wow I have not used 3ds max for 5 years. I am a self taught 3D/CG guy myself tho I use Rhino 3D for my job these days…I play alot an C4D to do mag ads and such. I may have to find my max CD and play around a bit!
BTW Loved your site man…LOL the loose talk gave me more then a few laughs.
You people who aspire..check his site out it has a wicked link/recommendations section!!! No to mention lots of cool projects he’s done =)
wow. great tutorial. I ran out of words
Great tutorial!!! can’t wait for the next part
first off.. I’d like to say BIG THANKS! for the hard work put into making intricate hard surface tutorials.. I’ve learned a lot from this site, specially from you and racer44..
question: are you going to go over how you rendered the final piece? shadows are defined well, I really like it.
I’d like to clean up my portfolio and re-render my hardsurface models in that manner, for better presentation.
my site: http://www.pogimonz.weebly.com
Thanks man! First off I’ve got to say you have some really awesome models in your portfolio, really great work!!
As for your question, I’m sorry to say I don’t cover setting up the final render in this tutorial. There were two reasons for this. One: I was already over my allotted time limit for this tutorial and the render setup would have taken quite a bit longer to do. Two: I used VRay with a three light studio setup as well as HDRI based Global illumination with pretty high multi-pass render settings. That kind of setup takes many test renders and small tweaks to the lights and overall settings to achieve a good final render… it would have just been too much of a deviation from the original tutorial into another subject altogether for me to include it
I’ve received many emails from people asking how to do these types of renders and I think it would make a good subject for a lighting/rendering tutorial. I’m currently trying to put together a modeling/ mapping/ texturing tutorial, but after that’s finished. I’ll see if I can come up with something covering different types of setups for doing clay renders in 3dsmax with VRay and maybe Mentalray as well
Cheers!
Hi Ben Tate, I just wanted to thank you for starting another great tutorial and I look forwards to seeing then next part of it
. I have not had much experience with Turbosmooth and I am learning a greaet deal following your tutorials so thank you so much for taking the time to create them.
Hi Kaleb Aylsworth, It brought a smile to my face when you mentioned that you will be using this model to create a game engine version. I have always wondered how that side of things was done and I look forwards to see those videos with baited breath.
Wicked tutorial.
I like your work very much, and your tutorials are simply wonderful.
Keep up the good stuff!
The fact that there is also a low-poly version planned for the future… AWESOME!
Dude, you and your brother are insane. Insane as in good, great, fantastic, etc..
By the way, don’t be sorry for making mistakes. Showing us how to fix stuff if we run into trouble is a major part of the learning experience.
It’s incredible how much I’ve learned just by watching yours and your brother’s tutorials.
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Thanks a lot man
I’m super glad to hear that you’ve found both mine and Chris’s tuts helpful!! and I totally agree, making mistakes definitely helps in the learning process. I always debate whether I should leave them in a tutorial or take them out…It’s virtually impossible to complete a model without making a few mistakes somewhere, and I do make a lot of them during the course of recording a tutorial. Although you rarely see them 
If I really screw up bad, I usually restart from a previous save and redo the entire piece over again, or occasionally I’ll be in the middle of modeling something and suddenly think of a better way to do it. In this case I’ll also restart from the beginning of that part….So although it might seem like I don’t make a lot of mistakes, that’s really not the case at all 
In an effort to avoid mistakes and make following the tut easier, I do a test run and build the entire model before ever recording any video. The tutorial version is always my second attempt, so it’s more streamlined and worked out then my first
This helps me have an idea of which way I’m going to model pieces and cuts out a lot of trial and error on my part.
Most times I’ll decide to take mistakes out, just to keep the process as smooth and streamlined as possible. (you can tell where the cuts are by the change in the volume of my voice, or by watching the clock jumping around at the bottom of the video
So I always debate if I should intentionally leave a part in if I know people are going to follow me into making a mistake, then have to go through the process of fixing it later…. definitely one to think about
Thanks again, cheers!
cool !!!
Thank you
Excellent Tut! We can we expect the continuation videos of this project to be posted?
Ben, hello, I have been using Max for about 10 years and thought I had a pretty good handle on it. Every time I watch one of your videos, I learn something new. You have a natural talent for teaching. Great job! I am looking forward to the rest of the videos for this. Do you have an idea when these will be ready?
Part 2 coming this Tuesday, and Part 3 during the following week. My second half on adapting it for video games will most likely be mid February.
Thx for the info Kaleb.
Hey Tate you do great work. keep it up.
I’m lovin’ it! As the McD eaters usually say (I’m not, but that’s beside the point).
I’m really loving the final result of this, like every other stuff you Tate’s have uploaded. Very nice hard surface modeling.
muintobom adorei
muito bom huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu legal gostei fico da hr brother
u got it
Absolutely great tutorial
Well done
how did you get the lighting my objects are so dark at the left side
sick tut
Me and my mate are learning 3ds max together and he picked the staircase for are 2nd tutorial to work though great tutorial i would recommend these to anyone and i cant wait to see more keep up the good work!!!!!!!
Cheers for an epically detailed modelling tutorial, I picked up a lot of info from watching this. I had a few cringe moments when I considered how in 6 hours of video, I never saw you save once! If I did that, guaranteed I’d have at least one crash and have to start all over again. Can’t wait to get stuck into some of your Vray work
thQ for the tutorial ..very helpfull….
Great man!!! your tutorial is amazing!!! Before finding this web I didn’t know how to do nothing (nothing is totally nothing, nothing at all) with this wonderful program and now after your tutorial i know how to create everything and how to do it fast.. It was very easy and funny….i’ve created my own RAM launcher!!! People like you makes it worth…Thank you, man!!!
Well….like with most skilled trades, there is a gamut of possible earning potential….and your initiative, self advertising, and luck (being in the right place at the right time) has just about as much to do with it as your talent/ skill (well not quite as much).
I can’t speak for other industries (freelancing, advertising, film, arch viz, tv, etc….), but in the video game industry, the salary range on average is as follows:
Entry level – $40,000- $50,000 per year
Mid (senior) level – $55,000 – $65,000 per year
Lead artist – $70,000 – $100,000 + per year
Now, keep in mind that that is only on the Art creation side of things…and only for video games (which I think is on the lower end of earning potential in the world of CG)….
If anyone else has anything to add to this, please feel free:)