‘The Civil War Cannon’ – Modeling Day 1 – CG Premium Content
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‘The Civil War Cannon’ – Modeling Day 1 – CG Premium Content

on Jan 7th 2011 with 23 comments
Tutorial Details

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

This entry is part 10 of 12 in the Best of 3D Studio Max – Part 2 Session
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This entry is part 1 of 9 in the series 'The Civil War Cannon'

This week Cgtuts+ brings you the first in a brand new, multi-part series from regular author Chris Tate, available exclusively to our Premium subscribers. The tutorial follows Chris as he walks us through modeling, UVing, texturing and rendering of this amazingly detailed, and strikingly accurate Civil War Cannon. Today we begin the modelling process, and we know you’re going to love it!

In this tutorial we will be going through the entire process of creating a detailed, high resolution Civil War Cannon using 3D Studio Max, xNormal and Photoshop. The entire pipeline is covered in detail, starting with the creation of the model and then moving onto Uvmapping and texturing.

Throughout the project, we’ll utilize a wide range of tools and techniques, including basic poly modeling and spline work, to more advanced subdivision modeling. We’ll also make use of many of 3ds Max’s modifiers and uvmapping tools. We’ll then move over to xNormal to bake out an Ambient Occlusion Map and then into Photoshop to create our Diffuse, Bump and Specular maps. Lighting the scene, shader creation and completing a final render are also covered in detail.

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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

A long time Cgtuts+ author, Chris has recently moved into the role of co-editor at Cgtuts+. Chris has nearly a decade of experience working with 3D studio Max and has authored many in depth tutorials for Cgtuts+ as well as other websites. A generalist by definition, Chris spends most of his time modeling, but has many years of experience in the area's of UVMapping, Texturing, Lighting and Rendering. On rare occasions when he's not wasting away in front of his computer, Chris enjoys playing hockey, skateboarding, watching movies and playing games. You can find more of his work over at christateonline.com.  

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Discussion 23 Comments

  1. Zachary O'Connor says:
    January 7, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    Just yesterday I was wondering when we would see another tutorial from one of the Tate brothers and here it is! Very excited to have a look at this.

    Reply
  2. Michael says:
    January 9, 2011 at 10:10 am

    I’ve been waiting for something new from you and there it is. You ROCK!

    Reply
  3. MBS says:
    January 9, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    It’s looking great but what is the difference between this tutorial and water tower tutorial ?

    Reply
    • Aleksey says:
      January 11, 2011 at 3:21 am

      clearly, this is a canon and that was a water tower. canons are generally used for launching heavy objects and unfriendly people/objects at really high speeds. Water towers are used to store water and then pump it to surround residential/commercial properties =))

      sorry couldnt help myself.

      Reply
      • YourMom says:
        January 11, 2011 at 4:53 am

        He didnt ask for the difference between a canon and a water tower. He asked for the difference between the tutorials. Pls read before making fun out of people.

      • MBS says:
        January 11, 2011 at 12:35 pm

        ALEKSEY,
        I didn’t mean that.will it be a different way of creating something or it’s just the same ??????

    • Michael says:
      January 11, 2011 at 7:19 am

      Hope Christ won’t skip uvmapping in this tutorial.

      Reply
  4. Vitaloverdose says:
    January 11, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    I love all the Tate brothers tutorials they are always first rate.

    If i pay the money for a premium account so i can watch the tutorial will i be able to download the video?

    Reply
    • Chris Tate says:
      January 11, 2011 at 6:37 pm
      Author

      Hey Vital,

      Thanks man! And yes, all premium content is download only. So you can not only download the videos, but my completed textured model as well :)

      Cheers

      Reply
  5. Umar Abid says:
    January 14, 2011 at 6:00 pm

    Can I ask is how many videos are thier in
    The Civil War Cannon – Modeling Day 1 – CG Premium Content and also are you planning to do day 2 and day 3?
    Love your work

    Reply
    • Chris Tate says:
      January 15, 2011 at 1:56 am
      Author

      Hey Umar,

      Thanks!

      Modeling Day 1 consists of the first three videos (about an hour and 45 minutes in length). Modeling Day 2 was just published and consists of the next three videos (also about an hour and 45 minutes).

      Overall the tutorial is massive and spans 35 videos (17 hours in total). The tutorial is already completely finished, and covers the entire creation process. (from scratch to the finished textured model you see in the image above). So you will see everything, all modeling, all uvmapping and all texturing in real time. Nothing has been skipped over or edited out.

      Cheers!

      Reply
  6. Midge says:
    January 18, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    Love the Tate Brothers tutorials but once again I find the Premium download system totally confusing, can someone help an old man out here and explain how the damn download system works on premium please?

    Midge

    Reply
  7. Chris Tate says:
    January 19, 2011 at 9:01 am
    Author

    Hey Midge,

    Sorry!, I just noticed your comment :)

    First login to your premium account, then click on “cgtuts” (listed on the right side of the screen). After that, make sure you click on “bonus tutorials” at the top of the page. You should now see all of the “premium” tutorials listed.

    There was a change to the structure of the premium section a few months back, so now the videos are included in one zip file. You can download each day’s videos by clicking on the title of each post (the orange text). You can ignore the “read tutorial” link, as it just links back to the original post on the main site :)

    Hope this solves the problem for you! But if you run into any other issues just let me know :)

    Chris

    Reply
  8. hallowedking says:
    January 20, 2011 at 11:16 am

    nice tutorial,I am having a bit a difficulty though,when I add a shell modifier to my spline the spline completely disappears.I think I am somewhere in the second part when making making the spline near the oil tank,I’m new with max so am I doing something wrong?

    Reply
  9. Midge says:
    January 20, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Chris
    Thanks for the heads up mate, I finally sussed it out but only by trial and error. Fantastic tutorial though and I’ll definitely be making a start on it after the weekend when I have some days off. Tate Brothers release the best tutorials on the internet in my opinion Ive learned so much watching your stuff so Many Thanks.

    Midge

    Reply
  10. jing hoo says:
    February 5, 2011 at 10:30 am

    Some one can tell me please the difference between Ben Tate and Chris Tate?

    Reply
  11. Fede says:
    August 22, 2011 at 9:43 am

    Hi Chris, excelent tutorial dude!…
    i was hoping if you can upload of send an email or something with the ref pics that you used so i can have them in my assets window, it would be really great!
    thanks by advance

    Fede

    Reply
  12. Bill Apa says:
    January 31, 2012 at 4:42 am

    I genuinely enjoy studying on this internet site, it holds excellent articles. “Don’t put too fine a point to your wit for fear it should get blunted.” by Miguel de Cervantes.

    Reply

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