Setting Up the Scene

Before you begin creating a 3D model, whether a character or any other object, you first need to research the object you wish to create. In this tutorial, you will be modeling a helicopter pilot for a war game.

To research this subject, you can consult books and use Internet search engines. You might also take snapshots of a figurine from a toy store.

Even better, if you can draw, you can create custom illustrations for use as reference when building the character.

Creating a Virtual Studio

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

Top reference image: 385 (width) x 200 (height).

Front reference image: 385 (w) x 440 (h).

Side reference image: 200 (w) x 440 (h).

Create a reference plane:

Start 3ds Max. Activate the Top viewport by right-clicking it.
From the Create menu, choose Standard Primitives > Plane.
In the Top viewport, click and drag an area of any size.
Go to the Modify panel. On the Parameters rollout, set Length to 200 and Width to 385.
Set both Length Segs and Width Segs to 1.
On the main toolbar, click the Move button.
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:

Press M to open the Material Editor.
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.
Click the map button next to the Diffuse color swatch.
On the Material/Map Browser that appears, double-click Bitmap to choose this type of map.
This opens the Select Bitmap Image File dialog.
Browse to the \Tutorials\low_polygon_modeling folder and choose soldier-top.jpg. Click Open to close the dialog.
Click the Show Map In Viewport button to toggle it on.
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 additional reference planes:

Now that you have created the top-view plane, you'll repeat the procedure to create an additional plane based on the front view, and another one based on the left view. The sizes of these planes should reflect the sizes of the reference images to be assigned to them. Therefore, the plane you build in the Front viewport should be 440 units long by 385 units wide, and the plane you build in the Left viewport should be 440 units long by 200 units wide. Remember to center each plane and to use a new sample slot in the Material Editor for each new material. 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 three reference planes.

Activate each viewport in succession and press G to turn the grid off.
Currently, only the Perspective viewport is shaded.
Make sure every viewport is shaded by first activating it and then pressing the F3 keyboard shortcut.
Select the top reference plane in the Perspective viewport. Using the Move tool, move the plane downward on the Z axis (blue axis) until it is at the bottom of the other two planes.
Select the side reference plane in the Perspective viewport.
Notice that the height of the helmet in this reference plane differs from its height in the front reference plane.
Move the side plane upward on the Z axis so that the helmets’ heights match. You can keep an eye on the pilot’s belt as well.
Move the side reference plane on the X axis (red axis) to the right edge of the virtual studio.
Finally, select the front reference plane and move it on the Y axis to the back edge of the virtual studio.

Freeze the reference planes:

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

Select all three of the reference planes and go to the Display panel.
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.
Expand the Freeze rollout and click Freeze Selected.
Save your file, naming it My_Virtual_Studio.max.