Model an Intricate Weaved Pattern in 3ds Max
Tutorial Details
- Software: 3ds Max
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Completion Time: 30 min - 1 hour
- Additional Files/ Plugins: None
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
Ever wondered how all these wooden materials weave into each other on a chair? Complex? Maybe, and maybe not… This tutorial will guide you step by step to come up with your own complex weaved patterns, in any kind of form. The tutorial will focus on the modeling part, and leave you to sail on with your imagination from there.
Step 1
Start by creating a new plane (Length = 55, Width = 96).
Step 2
Set the length segments to 24, and the width segments to 6. The horizontal segments are based on how many rows of the pattern will be in your object. The vertical segments refer to how wide each curve in each line will be, just make sure you go with an even number to avoid problems later on.
Step 3
Convert your plane to an ‘Editable Poly’ (Right click on object > Convert to > Editable Poly).
Step 4
Select all of the vertices making up your vertical segments starting from the second column, selecting 1 column and skipping another. To make multiple selections, simply hold ctrl.
Step 5
Now change your view and drag these vertices to the front. The degree to which you pull the vertices will depend on how much curve you want to give your shape.
Step 6
Change back to your original view. Select any one of the horizontal edges, and press ‘Loop’ from the selection menu on the right.
Step 7
From the same menu, press ‘Ring’.
Step 8
Choose “create shape from outline” from the right side menu. Make sure you choose ‘smooth’, this will allow the sharp corners created earlier to smooth out. Feel free to adjust the vertices that you moved forward earlier, since you now have a better view of how it will look when it’s been smoothed out.
Step 9
Go ahead and hide your original poly since you won’t be needing it anymore (Right Click > Hide Selection). Note: You must be in object mode, not edge mode.
Step 10
Now you should have a new spline created in the shape of your final pattern. Go ahead and select it.
Step 11
On the side menu, under the ‘Rendering’ tab, place a tick next to “Enable in Viewport”, and choose the rectangular option. Depending on your units and scene size, choose a size that’s reasonable, and make sure that the gap that it creates between one line and another can fit the same line. This will be important for the next step. My settings were Length = 2, and Width = 1.
Step 12
Once you are satisfied with the width and height of your lines, select the object / spline as a whole, then hold Shift + drag upwards to duplicate the same set of lines in the gaps that you created. Make sure that the splines don’t overlap one another and fit nicely.
Step 13
Now change your viewport and drag these set of lines to the left or right, so that the curve would be facing the opposite way of the other set of curves. *I felt like the oval gap it created between my lines was a bit too much, so I selected both, and used the Scale tool to adjust it a bit.
Step 14
Remove the extra vertices that are created on the sides, making them both almost start and end at the same points.
Step 15
Now we have created the basic pattern shape, so lets move on to some other details. Create two Cylinders (Radius = 1; Height = 55) and place them side by side.
Step 16
Scale the two cylinders so that they look more like an oval shape rather than round.
Step 17
Group the two cylinders and call them “2 cylinders”.
Step 18
Move the group “2 cylinders”, and place them in the middle of the first gap in the splines you created earlier. Feel free to scale the size of them, or edit the gap size of the overlapping lines to allow your “2 cylinders” to fit nicely.
Step 19
Once you are satisfied with that, duplicate these “2 cylinders” across to fill all of the gaps by holding down shift + drag.
Step 20
Group your pattern along with the “2 Cylinders” group, and call it it “Pattern.”
Step 21
Now to create a frame for the ‘Weaved Pattern’ and its details. Create a new Cylinder (Radius = 2.8; Height = 95).
Step 22
Hold down Shift, and rotate the Cylinder 90 degrees.
Step 23
Repeat this step by selecting both Cylinders, and rotating 180 degrees, and then adjusting the cloned cylinders to make a square.
Step 24
Adjust the upper and lower cylinders to fit properly by lowering their radius and positioning them correctly.
Step 25
Select all 4 cylinders, and convert to Editable Poly.
Step 26
Take the cylinder at the bottom, and move it upwards. This will create the base for your table stand.
Step 27
Select the top border of your two side legs.
Step 28
Using the “Chamfer” tool, give it a “Chamfer Amount” of 3, and “Segments” of 3.
Step 29
In the Modifier List, apply the “Smooth” modifier, and check “Auto Smooth” in the option panel.
Step 30
Make sure you can fit the “Pattern” you created earlier nicely inside the 4 borders you just created. If not, then make the adjustments by raising the bottom cylinder.
Step 31
Group the 4 cylinders, along with your “Pattern”and call the whole thing “Side”.
Step 32
Select your group “Side”, and using the rotate tool, hold Shift and rotate by 90 degrees. Repeat this step 3 more times to create a square shape. This will be the four sides of your table.
Step 33
Now that you have cloned your four sides, you will have four extra legs. Just delete them, leaving you with a four sided table.
Step 34
Create a thin Box (Length = 94; Width = 94; Height = 3) at the top, this will be the glass. And you’re done!
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By Hussain Almossawi
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My god man, You are just amazing! Great tut!
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. And yeah it goes without saying that outcome is perfect. Thanks for the great tut.
thanks a lot, glad you like it :)
I didn’t “like” it… I LOVED it. BTW would you be willing to post another tut or maybe an addendum about how to do the same in C4D?
I am not so familiar with C4D. But am willing to learn more and more about it.
awesome tut!!!
thanks for sharing
glad you think so, thanks :)
Great tutorial for furniture design ! I will sure try this tutorial … hmm maybe i will try to make another patterns :)
haha sounds cool!
share what you have when ur done ;)
Great tutorial! Thanks! :)
thanks, glad u like it :)
Usually I prefer Video tuts but this one was short and easy to follow by just skipping thru it fast.
Thanks for this. I’ve actually been wondering how they did that so now I know.
glad to hear that, thanks for checking it out :)
Simple but good and clean tutorial.
In the second rendering (with both chairs and the table) is a moire effect that should be reduced but other than that..great!
thanks for sharing that info,
as for reduced can u explain what u mean?
thanks
The moire effect comes from two overlapping patterns and get worser when high resolution textures are used. To reduce it – fire the anti-alising settings up.
Thanks for sharing Stefan,
as for the example above with the chairs and tables,i dont think its needed though, thats pretty much what i was after i guess as a wooden/bamboo type material
but its cool what u mentioned, thanks
Oh you`re welcome :)
thanks for the tutorial
I had to do something like this. Only it was a woven wire jacket for a wire cross section. I had a bunch of cylinders for each thread and figured out all the math to get them to weave on a cylinder. Took me like 2 weeks, but looks great. You can look at the wire here http://www.suntouch.com/warmwire/
very interesting!
lets see a tutorial soon ya
nice work
I’ll have to get my equations together. I was thinking of writing a script to generate the weave, but haven’t had the time yet.
cool, looking forward to it,
well hit me up wen u do ;)
Hi,
Very nice tut ! But can you make an other (like day 2) for the textures?
Thenks,
benjiwolff
Nice suggestion, I second it
ya sounds good, was thinking of doing it but thought theirs many tutorials that do that anyways…
but if you guys think so then i dont see why not
Awesome Bro
thanks bro ;)
thanks
Really great!!!
Thanks a lot!
Crazy one! Bravo
Nice TUT very helpful!
The image labeled ‘Final Product What You’ll Be Creating’ shows the pattern on an irregular shaped side of a a chair. How do we do that?
Sorry for the late response,
The exact same technique was used, after the frame of the side of the chair was created, I knew the limits of my patter, so based on that side i started deleting verticies to fit in.
So think of it like it started as a square sheet of patter, then you start cutting out of it
thanks a lot for such a great and easy to learn tutorial.
Either this is a copy, or (much more likely) this one is http://www.free3dtutorials.com/modeling/3d-max/making-a-weaved-pattern.php .
Weren’t the tutorials on cgtutsplus exclusive ?
thanks for sharing the link,
actually they are, and it seems like once it was posted here on CG Tuts it was copied to that link by the owner of that site.
Take care.
Hiya
Very nice tut you have here – I might even do my first ever bit of modelling but using Blender 2.5, using this as a guide!
One thing to note – in the image called “Preview3_L”, the table leg on the carpet, nearest the camera, the part of the leg on the carpt does not have a shadow, despite the legs apparent thickness.
Once again, nice technique.
hey glad you like the tutorial :)
about the table leg, its a displacement problem interacting with the rug.
Hey nice tut, can you please demonstrate how to get a render like that ? :)
theres a Vray interior tutorial just posted yesterday on CG Tuts, should be helpful :)
Nice tip, thanks for sharing this technique.
Good job………brother………………..
What a great resource!