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An Introduction to 3ds Max: Polygonal Modeling, Day 2

on Aug 25th 2009 with 51 comments
Tutorial Details

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series An Intro to 3ds Max Poly Modeling

In the first part of the series, professional video game artist, Kaleb Aylsworth, walked you through many of the key skills that you will need to get started modeling in 3ds Max. Now, in the second part, he will demonstrate how to apply the things that you have learned by using them to make a low-poly version of Guy van der Walt’s “Retro TV Set”. You can see some more examples of Guy’s work at his portfolio website, Plasticboy.

You can find the reference image here: Retro Tv Set.

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.

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Special thanks to Guy van der Walt for allowing us to use his image! Check out some more samples of his amazing CG art here: www.plasticboy.co.uk.

 
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By

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Kaleb Aylsworth is the old Cgtuts+ editor. He is also a video game Environment Artist with over 3 years of professional experience. He is currently employed at Digital Extremes in Canada, and working on an un-announced AAA title.  

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  • http://kaleb-3d.com Kaleb Aylsworth
    Author

    All video tuts will be available for download from now on!!

    First:P!

    • Sniper

      nice job dude nice job i m good with modeling i want to learn interior lighting i made house using walls when i unfreeze the celingi cant see the internal area,i mean the whole room +how shud i make it realistic.. can i send u that project and u ll fix it just apply texture and lighting and most imp thing i want to know abt camera thingy how would i show the whole room? i hope u ll guide me lil

  • Nysuatro

    It was already avaible to download with a plugin from firefox :D
    But this is easier. Thanks

  • Laurence

    Incredibly useful, I have learnt so much. Thank you very much!

  • afroskate

    This was badly needed, Thanks Kaleb for your tutorial! You helped me out a great deal

  • NACHO LEON

    HEYY TANKS FROM COLOMBIA VERY GOOD TUTORIAL

  • Sebastian

    Awesome, thanks a lot!

  • Rune

    Your tuts are very good Kaleb! Keep it up :)

  • Luiz Cláudio (BRASIL0

    Congratulations turorial, you explain with great patience and calm, showing all the details … of course I did not understand much because I do not speak the English language, but I noticed that you’re the man. Thank you for the tutorial!

  • John Doe

    This is a noob question,
    but so lets say if I have a cube that has been I converted to a polygon.
    If I want to select the top and and bottom sides I would select one, hold down shift and select the other right? Thats not working for me for some reason. I’m using 2010. I know that’s how that works in Maya and C4d.
    Do you know what I’m doing wrong? Maybe I have something checked or unchecked somewhere?

    • John Doe

      I figured it out. I have to use cntrl not shift.

      • Kaleb Aylsworth

        Yep! Also…all that stuff is explained in the first part of the series, and re-iterated a few times in the second. A good idea might be to go through the first part, and take notes of the hot keys that are mentioned…just until you get them memorized:)

      • John Doe

        I was watching these intro tuts in a few different sittings so thats prob why I missed that. I should start writing this stuff down if I really want to get serious.

  • http://www.monolithcreative.com jason

    now show us how to do it with c4d

    • John Doe

      Yea, The correct use of modeling tools in Cinema would be great. There are already tons of tuts that go over the interface. Someone made a realistic looking branch in Cinema a few weeks back but the modeling techniques that were presented were vague. There were def a lot of stuff he did that I have never seen before.

  • franklin roosy

    are you speaking through a toilet paper tube or is your audio bitrate set to 56k? i can barely understand what you’re saying.

    also, if you’re going to use plasticboy’s tv image as a reference you should at least give him proper credit (unless you’d like to receive a c&d).

    • http://kaleb-3d.com Kaleb Aylsworth
      Author

      I just googled “Retro TV” and that’s what popped up. I didn’t even realize that it was CG until you mentioned it…so kudos to Plasticboy! Thanks for the heads up, and I will definitely credit him in the forward. Also, see above reply for audio issues…

      • franklin roosy

        his real name is Guy van der Walt…google him.

      • http://kaleb-3d.com Kaleb Aylsworth
        Author

        yeah, after your first comment I looked plasticboy up. Excellent work…a seasoned pro actually. Which explains why I thought the first image was a photo lol…..I guess I’ll need to do some deeper background probing on my reference photos next time:P

  • Thiago Consolaro

    Nice job Kaleb, another good tutorial.
    I just wanted to ask you something. That was a low-poly model and the result was pretty good, what I wanna know is why you triangulted some polygons ? I mean, would those triangles look weird if I add the turbosmooth modifier just to get a better result ? Or only the smoothing groups would do the job ?
    Thanks again and congratulations.

    • http://kaleb-3d.com Kaleb Aylsworth
      Author

      manually triangulating your mesh is a way to optimize it for realtime (in-game) rendering, by eliminating any excess triangles that would be created by letting the exporter triangulate it. You should never use turbosmooth on a low-poly model, as it is a tool used for creating subdivision (high-poly) meshes, and adds way too many polys for a realtime model.

  • Adriaan

    Earlier this year I sat in a preview given by Guy in Cape Town and I remember him actually showing this TV set with various treatments. Nice to see a detailed modeling tutorial on this.

  • John Doe

    I’m stuck. I’m trying to see how far I can get modeling another TV on my own after watching these tutorials. I have an editable object that looks like a box. All the sides are black. Does that mean I have to Flip Normals? I’m kind of new to this… Why is it black? I can’t seem to figure out how to do this. I’ve googled and have not come up with a solution. any help would be appreciated.

    • http://kaleb-3d.com Kaleb Aylsworth
      Author

      Sorry for the reeeeally late reply. I haven’t checked this thread for comments in a while (as you can tell).

      Regarding your question, there are 2 things I can think of that might be causing this problem:

      1.) The object color: If the object color is black, and it has no material applied to it, then nothing you can do to the mesh will make it look anything other than black. To fix this…simply apply a default grey material to the object, or change the color to something else under the modify tab.

      2.) The face normals: The face normals could be flipped. To check if they are, simply right click on the object, go to “object properties” and turn on ‘Backface Cull’. If the object appears to be inside out, then the face normals are inverted. To fix this, simply apply a ‘Normal’ modifier to it, make sure ‘flip normals’ is checked on, and then collapse the modifier stack. Alternatively, you could go to the modify tab, enter into face selection mode, select all of the faces in the object, and then hit the ‘flip’ button.

      Hope that helps!

  • sachin

    thanks you so much yaar …………………………………….

  • Juand.

    Just finished the tutorial, was great :) any basic/new user can learn a lot from this.

    thx!

    • http://kaleb-3d.com Kaleb Aylsworth
      Author

      Glad you enjoyed it!

  • Cube01

    Thats a fine tutorial, i really enjoyed it :]
    Nice tricks with collapse and symmetry…
    Thank you.

  • Cube01

    You might wanna go over normal maps as it’s the second tut you’ve mentioned em.
    While watching you’r tutorials some questions comes up
    Like:

    So what’s the idea behind normal maps ?
    normal maps are they really worth it ?
    what to model and what to normal map ?

    • http://kaleb-3d.com Kaleb Aylsworth
      Author

      1.) Normal maps are a way of making a low poly model (roughly 100 – 10,000 triangles) look like much higher poly model (100,000 – millions or triangles) for use in realtime rendering (video games). The way it does this is by “baking” or projecting the surface “normal” information (polygon direction) from the high-poly model into a 2d texture to be applied to the low poly model.

      2.) Yes, they are without a doubt worth it….and the industry standard for all current-gen video games.

      3.) What to put in the normal map and what to put in the actual low poly model is a matter of experience, and personal discretion. As a rule of thumb, however, if it is a fine detail that is too small to affect the silhouette or animation of the model (such as ornate gilding, grooves or holes, bolts or seams..etc, or a surface detail like cracks in concrete, or tree bark) then put it in the normal map. If it is a large detail, or something that defines the form, silhouette, function, or animation of the model…then put it in the low poly model.

      For more detailed information on this, just search the various 3d forums on the internet….they are pretty important, and have been around for a while now, so the internet is pretty much saturated with information on them. You can also check out the various CGTuts tutorials on the subject:
      http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/3d-art/how-to-bake-a-flawless-normal-map-in-3ds-max/
      http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/3d-art/next-gen-weapon-creation-day-1-the-high-poly-model/
      http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3ds-max/how-to-create-a-video-game-dumpster-the-complete-current-gen-workflow/

      • Cube01

        Good thorough answer, thanks alot
        [Checking links]

  • http://cza Emmanuel Amoah

    it is very good tutorial for me and it has helped me well thanks men
    God will give you more

  • http://vladimirpospelov.ru/ vladimir
    • nnn

      Vladimir, klevii telik :) Very nice work!

  • Jannes

    Great tutorial, I look forward to seeing more ;)

  • mohammed sariful islam

    something is batter than nothing. but it’s very effective tutorials.

  • sasa

    Very good tut. Thanks, thanks, thanks. Regards from Montenegro.

  • TS

    Kaleb, I’ve just seen your site and its just incredible work! Not only that but your taking the time to teach us with the knowlage you have gained is just amazing. Thank you for your time.

    • http://kaleb-3d.com Kaleb Aylsworth
      Author

      Thanks! I’m glad you are benefiting from them:)

  • TS

    ok i got those mixed up! But Kaleb these are awesom tutorials

  • Steve

    How would i got about making this a high poly model? Would i add a subdivision modifier?

  • http://none Candy

    Hi

    Thanks a bunch for such an informative tutorial. It has really helped me a lot to learn the basics of this vast software. But there are only two parts available of this video, and the retro-tv isn’t modeled in any one of them. In your second video you tell to stay tuned for the actual modeling of the tv, but where is the third video?

  • Fabian Wentz

    Hey Dude, nice tutorial. I didn’t finish it yet, but I have a few questions:

    I started with Blender and there it was said, that one should only use quads as polygongs. How is that about in 3ds Max?
    Then, I do not find any good shortcutreference on the internet… for example I don’t know the shortcut for the box selection tool, but there has to be one because you use it.
    And finally: Can you hide the gizmo and move(, rotate) and scale with your mouse while you press something, that you only can move/scale on the x,y or z axis?

    Best regards

  • Tristan Longstride

    You responded to most of the questions here, and that is what I like best about this tutorial :D, authors don’t usually have time, or even try to answer them accordingly.
    Thanks for the tut Kaleb, I really appreciate that

  • nasratwahedi

    Nice job Kaleb, another good tutorial

  • ed

    Thank you so mcuh for your hard work, and time, to put this tutorial together. Some people might complain about adio, or whatever it is they choose to complain about, but I feel that if THEY have better tutorials to put out, then put them out and stop complaining. This place is not meant for criticism; it is a place for learning. If you don’t like the way it sounds and/or looks; do your own, better tutorial. If not SHUT UP!!! This place is for people to help people. I can remember the time when tutorials such as this was what sites referred to as “Premium Content”, and you had to pay for such a tutorial. Thank you so much (All instructors) for your time, and effort on giving us such great tutorials. :)

  • http://www.dirtyface.co.uk Alan

    Is there a material tut to this?

  • Novica

    Amazing,clear and there is no single point in this video that made me need to rewind it back to get what you’re doing.Audio is not that good though,but hey ! It is acceptable.Thank you

  • Pete J

    thanks, I found the tutorial very clear and informative. hurray for my first 3ds max model ! now i’m just trying to figure out materials for it :S

  • David F

    Just want to say thanks for a very helpful tutorial.

  • http://www.facebook.com/sheridan.morgan Sheridan Palmer

    Fantastic tutorial, everything is explained clearly and in depth. Thank you!