Creating the Helmet

Modeling a Low-Poly Head

Making the Final Adjustments

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials >  Modeling Tutorials > Modeling a Low-Poly Character > Modeling a Low-Poly Head > 

Creating the Visor

In this lesson, you create a visor using the front side of the helmet as a starting mold. This visor is modeled as a separate object and reattached to the helmet at the end.

Create the visor:

1. Continue working on your file from the previous exercise, or load the file Low_Poly_Head08.max found under \tutorials\low_polygon_modeling.
2. From the Create panel, choose Shapes.
3. On the Object Type rollout, click the Line button.
4. In the Right viewport, draw a four vertices line in front of Low-Poly-Head. Right-Click the active viewport to end the line, then right-click again to exit the Line tool.

   This new line serves as path for the visor.

   

5. Select Low-Poly-Head, then go into Polygon sub-object level and select the helmet polygons closest to the forehead.

   

6. On the Edit Geometry rollout, click Detach.
7. In the Detach dialog, rename your object Low-Poly-Visor and turn on Detach As Clone. Click OK.

   This duplicates your selection as a separate object.

8. Exit sub-object level.
9. Click Select By Name (or press H on the keyboard). In the Select Objects dialog, pick Low-Poly-Visor. Click Select.
   NoteThe object is comprised of only one half of the helmet-rim polygons. When you detach sub-objects into separate objects, they do not inherit their former object's modifiers (in this case, the Symmetry modifier).
10. Go to Polygon sub-object level. If the rim polys are not automatically selected, select them.

    

11. On the Edit Polygons rollout, click the Extrude Along Spline option button. On the Extrude Polygons Along Spline dialog, click Pick Spline and select your newly drawn line. Turn off Align To Face Normal, set Segments to 3, and reset all remaining options. Click OK.

    

Define the visor:

1. Select Low-Poly-Head and toggle See-Through mode (Alt+X). Then, right-click the active viewport and choose Freeze Selection from the quad-menu.

   You can now edit the visor without accidently selecting the character's head or helmet.

   

2. Select Low-Poly-Visor and go into Polygon sub-object level. Then, select the inner side of the visor, as well as any border polygons.

   

3. On the Edit Polygons rollout, click Delete to remove these unnecessary faces.
4. Go into Vertex sub-object level and adjust the visor's vertices to curve the lower part.

   

5. Exit sub-object level, then right-click the active viewport and choose Unfreeze All.
6. Select Low-Poly-Head and toggle See-Through mode (Alt+X).
7. Go into Element sub-object level and, on the Edit Geometry rollout, click Attach.
8. Select Low-Poly-Visor.

   The helmet integrates the visor's geometry as a distinct element. Note that he Symmetry modifier automatically mirrored the visor half.

9. Save your file as My_Low_Poly_Head_Visor.max