Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials >  Modeling Tutorials > Refining the Airplane > 
Using Soft Selection
 
 
 

The original propellers on this model are a little too clunky-looking. In this lesson, you'll remove the existing propeller blades and replace them with new blades.

Set up the lesson:

Change the propellers:

  1. In the Front viewport, use Zoom Region to center the view around the port engine of the airplane.

  2. Select the Lightning.
  3. Go to the Modify panel and pick the Editable Poly entry in the modifier stack.
  4. Click the Show End Result On/Off Toggle button that is located along the bottom of the modifier stack.
  5. From the Selection rollout, turn on the Element button and make sure Ignore Backfacing is turned on.
  6. While holding down the Ctrl key, select each of the propeller blades.

  7. Click the Detach button from the Edit Geometry rollout and click OK at the Detach dialog.
    NoteWhen you detach the propellers, notice that they disappear from the opposite side of the airplane. This is because they are no longer part of the editable poly that has a Symmetry modifier applied to it.
  8. Click the Editable Poly entry in the modifier stack to turn off the sub-object mode and pick the propellers.
  9. Press the Delete key to remove the propellers you just detached.

    The Lightning has no propellers now.

Add the new propeller blades:

You'll use the Merge command to add a new propeller blade to your model.

  1. Choose File menu > Merge.

    The Merge File dialog appears.

  2. Browse to the \tutorials\p38_lightning folder and double-click the file newprops.max.

    The Merge – newprops.max dialog appears.

  3. Select the Blade01 object and click OK.

    The new propeller blade appears in your scene.

  4. Activate the Front viewport and turn on the Select And Rotate button.
  5. While holding down the Shift key, rotate around the Z-axis to approximately 120 degrees.

    The Clone Options dialog appears when you release the mouse button.

  6. Set the Number Of Copies to 2 and turn on Instance in the Object group. Click OK.
    NoteTurning on Instance is very important, as you'll soon see.

Add a final touch for realistic propeller blades

Now that the new blades are in the scene, you'll want to twist the blades to make them look realistic. You'll use a Soft Selection to accomplish this.

Twist the blades:

  1. Turn on Select Object. In the Front viewport, select the top propeller blade.

  2. On the Modify panel, click the Vertex button in the Selection rollout.
  3. Drag a window around the top set of vertices at the tip of the propeller blade.

  4. Open the Soft Selection rollout and turn on Use Soft Selection.
  5. Drag or set the Falloff setting to 6'3”.

    Notice what happens to the adjacent vertices as you increase the falloff. Vertices closest to the top will be affected more than the vertices that are further away.

  6. Turn on the Select And Rotate button and rotate the selected vertices around the Y-axis to –35 degrees.

    Because the second and third blade are instances of the first, any change you make to the first blade affects the other two.

  7. Click the Vertex button in the Selection rollout to turn off the Vertex sub-object mode.
  8. Turn on Select Object and select the Lightning.
  9. Select the Editable Poly entry in the modifier stack and click the Attach List button, next to the Attach tool, in the Edit Geometry rollout.

    The Attach List dialog opens showing you the three propeller blades.

  10. Click the All button at the lower left and then the Attach button.

    The blades are now attached to the rest of the airplane, and they are automatically added to the opposite half due to the Symmetry modifier.

  11. Save your scene as mylightning04.max.

Next

Using the HSDS Modifier

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