Creating a Virtual Studio

Before you begin, note the resolution (in pixels) of the reference image you've created. If you are using the files that have been provided for this tutorial, their resolutions are as follows:

Front reference image: 234 (width) x 274 (height).

Side reference image: 264 (w) x 274 (h).

Create the front reference plane:

1. Start 3ds Max.
2. From the Create menu, choose Standard Primitives > Plane.
3. In the Front viewport, click and drag an area of any size.
4. Go to the Modify panel. On the Parameters rollout, set Length to 274 and Width to 234.
5. Set both Length Segs and Width Segs to 1.

   

6. On the main toolbar, click Select And Move.
7. On the status bar, set the position values in X, Y, and Z to 0.0.

   This places the plane’s pivot point at the world origin.

   TipOne easy way to set a numeric field to 0.0 or its lowest possible value is to right-click its spinner.

Map a reference image:

1. Press M to open the Material Editor.
2. On the Blinn Basic Parameters rollout, set the Self-Illumination value to 100.

   

   This lets you see the map without any help from scene lights.

3. Click the map button next to the Diffuse color swatch.
4. On the Material/Map Browser that appears, double-click Bitmap to choose this type of map.

   This opens the Select Bitmap Image File dialog.

5. Browse to the \Tutorials\low_polygon_modeling folder and choose Head_Front.jpg. Click Open to dismiss the dialog.
6. Click the Show Map In Viewport button to toggle it on.
7. With the plane object still selected, click the Assign Material To Selection icon to apply the newly created material to the plane.

   You can now see the material on the plane in the Perspective viewport.

   

Create the side reference plane:

Now that you have created the front-view plane, you'll repeat the procedure to create an additional plane based on the side view.

1. On the Main toolbar, click Angle Snap Toggle.

   This lets you rotate your objects with precision using static increments.

2. Click Select And Rotate, then hold Shift and in the Perspective viewport rotate the plane 90 degrees about the Z axis (the horizontal ring of the rotate gizmo). The Clone Options dialog appears on release. Click OK.
3. Go to the Modify panel. On the Parameters rollout, change the Width to 264.
4. Repeat the previous procedure to map Head_Side.jpg to the new plane. Remember to use a new sample slot in the Material Editor. When you are done, the Perspective viewport should look like this:

   

Adjust the virtual studio:

Before you can start modeling the character, you need to adjust the positions of the reference planes.

1. Activate each viewport in succession and press G to toggle off the grid.

   Currently, only the Perspective viewport is shaded.

2. Make sure every viewport is shaded by first activating it and then pressing the F3 keyboard shortcut.
3. Select the side reference plane and move it on the X axis (red axis) to the left edge of the virtual studio.

   

4. Select the front reference plane and move it on the Y axis to the back edge of the virtual studio.

   

5. Finally, right-click the Left viewport label and choose Views > Right from the contextual menu.

   This swaps viewports for a better profile view of the face.

Freeze the reference planes:

Now that the reference planes are in place, you'll freeze them to prevent accidentally moving them.

1. Select the two reference planes and go to the Display panel.
2. On the Display Properties rollout, turn off Show Frozen in Gray.

   

   NoteLeaving this option on would turn the planes dark gray after freezing them, preventing you from seeing the reference images. In the case of a virtual studio, you want to disable this option.
3. Expand the Freeze rollout and click Freeze Selected.
4. Save your file, naming it My_Virtual_Studio_Head.max.

Next

Creating the Basic Head Divisions