Using Splines to Quickly Create Highly Complex Geometry in 3ds Max

In this video tutorial by professional 3ds Max artist Laurens Corijn, you will learn the ins and outs of using splines to easily create extremely complex geometry in 3ds Max. Over 5 different methods are explored, with examples on how you can apply these techniques to your own projects too. Even if you’re an experienced user, you won’t want to miss out on this, as some of these methods are not very well known!

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Video 1

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Video 2

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Discussion 42 Comments

  1. Nysuatro says:

    You never stop to impress héhé. When I have the time I will look the whole tutorial. But you know, school comes first :D

  2. nour el-islam says:

    very important modeling tut , thank you very much i give you 9/10. you are cool man !!!

  3. Stefan Frank says:

    That was a good beginner tutorial. Very well explained. Hope to see some advanced Nurbs Modelling from you. Keep on the good stuff!

  4. Adam Whitcroft says:

    thanks for the rad tutorial – never knew about the sweep feature, man thats awesome!

    *psst* and for future reference you pronounce lathe as if it were spelled like “laythe” ;)

    cheerios

    • Laurens says:
      Author

      Finally I know how to pronounce it! Very difficult word, none of my coworkersknew how to say it as well, result is all our students don’t know either :p Thanks dude, and thanks to the rest for the nice comments!

      • sig says:

        In case you’re interested (and didn’t know already), it’s called ‘lathe’ after a a similar tool used in workshops whereby a stock material is rotated and cut while rotating. It’s used to make chair legs and banister rails among other things.

  5. Aaron says:

    Thanks v much, awesome tutorial, well explained as always, look forward to more

  6. samBrown says:

    excellent tutorial, very helpful; keep it up

  7. Jleon says:

    What an amazing tut, is quite useful the bevel along path thing, thank u

  8. Omid says:

    believe me, you are awesome!

  9. Tazm says:

    Thanks for that. Impressed at the bevel profile stuff.. always good watching these for inspiration for a modeller just starting out and trying to learn skills

  10. gt says:

    Does the mesh always have to be that dense?

    • Laurens says:
      Author

      No, for everything splines allow you a lot of control over the density. You can use one Spline object to generate both a high and lowpoly version even.
      As for the frag grenade at the end: it’s not really an example of the cleanest or best mesh, but is intended to serve more as an illustration of the power of splines.. It’s probably the fastest way to create it, but not the cleanest and it needs a lot of polygons to look good.

  11. Opus says:

    I extremely love your tutorial!! Thank You Laurens!! very helpful.

  12. MY says:

    LINE POWER!!!

  13. Joao - From Rio de Janeiro says:

    tks for this great tutorial !

  14. Dean says:

    Great work,Thanks

  15. LosPescados says:

    I never knew the power of splines!
    When you showed it in class I was amased,
    but after seeing this video I’m simply stunned!

    Another great video again! Loved watching it!

  16. Christian Mendoza says:

    Dude you are amazing, an the tutorials to.

    Thanks for share

  17. Boblenain says:

    Really interesting. It’s kinda back to basics ;)
    Reminds me of an old tutorial when I modeled my first shapes. I should have kept it in mind!

  18. Hristo Velev says:

    Nice tut, I’m no noob but I still learned a few things. Another way to use splines is with surfaces, that’s cool too.

  19. CIDAE says:

    VERY COOL, IT HELPED ME A LOT. THANX LAURENS

  20. zuza says:

    Realy nice tutorial on splines ;)

  21. Cristi says:

    Very nice that thing with multiple shapes on a loft.

  22. Jeremy says:

    Thanks man, this was very interesting. I’m currently working on a scene featuring a roller coaster and I was having issues with the rotation on my lofts, so the bit on the tail end of your tutorial about that was especially helpful.

  23. Vincent Vakaet says:

    Thanks a lot Laurens!
    I learned definitely some new thing here ;)

  24. Sarah Quek says:

    Thank you for explaining splines, which were very helpful and cleared a few of my doubts about using splines. Excellent tutorial!

  25. D4rk says:

    Hi, nice tut buddy, i was using some of techniques you showed but some others I havent seen before are really impressive. Thanks for it.

  26. Cube01 says:

    Really good stuff some impressive ideas

  27. phill says:

    hi just watched the tut impressive.. i used splines in other programs but never thougth of how to use thm in 3ds.. anyway quick question.. how woudl u use splines to create somthign like a bike fule tank?

  28. Mohammed sariful islam says:

    it is very nice wed site to learn about 3d max and Maya.

  29. hicham says:

    hi Laurens i am used to work with 3ds max , im not a beginner but i never thaught we could do all those things with loft tool , i learned from u many things in loft tool , and i blame my self for having underestimted it hhhh ;)
    i am recently turned into rhino i think its a powerful shape modeling soft , i wonder if nurbs modeling in 3ds is as much powerful as rhino , waiting for ur answer and thnx in addvance

  30. ALI WAQAS says:

    Superb tutorial…Can u plzz do one on NURBS modelling…

  31. Drag says:

    Hi Laurens, I’ve been looking for a easy way to engrave text in high poly models. (without using boolean)
    How did you do it in your VZ61?? I went thru Ben Bolton’s tutorial like you said but i’m looking for a cleaner way so I can have everything in the same object… I was wondering if you did it differently in your model.

    btw, thanks for the Excellent tutorial!

    • Biker says:

      I pretty sure he made Normal Maps for the text on his model. Pretty easy to do …..Just unwrap the first mesh…..copy it…..attach floating engraving to the copy……use the copy when burning the engraving into a normal map for the original…tell max to add the normal map to the Bump slot….render. Also a good way to add checkering, Tooled leather to a holster, and little details that would be hard to model as one piece.Lots of good tuts on how to do it right here.

    • Laurens Corijn says:
      Author

      Super late reply, but that text was just done afterwards in photoshop. It’s always cleaner and sharper that way IMO.

  32. VitalOverdose says:

    Thanks for a very useful tutorial Laurens , im sure ill be using these techniques often.

  33. Mooey says:

    Excellent tutorials, a real big help. Thank you :)

  34. 3D Teacher says:

    Well Done!

  35. Flapjack says:

    This is simply the best tutorial on splines ever made ! I’ve seen many of them and none is half as good as this one. Despite of knowing most of the stuff you explain here, I enjoyed viewing it again since you show a lot of useful tricks and techniques nobody else cover in one place. Also your voice is a charm.

  36. Hoshi Bandit says:

    Wow, i am very impressed about your tutorial(s). Great and well done. I like your clear voice and the right speed to follow the tutorial. Hope to see more

  37. Roland Feletic says:

    Thank you for that great tutorial.

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