Creating the Wings

Modeling an Airplane

Creating the Sponsons

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials >  Modeling Tutorials > Modeling an Airplane > 

Adding the Stabilizer and Rudders

Continue from the previous lesson, Creating the Wings or open p38_wing.max from the \tutorials\p38_lightning folder.

In this lesson, you'll add the horizontal stabilizer and the twin rudders. You'll use cylinders and editable poly techniques to build these pieces.

Add the horizontal stabilizer:

1. Click the Top viewport to activate it.
2. From the Create panel, click Cylinder.
3. In the Top viewport, drag out the radius of the cylinder in the center of the horizontal stabilizer. When you release the mouse button, you then drag to set the height of the cylinder. Moving the mouse upward gives a positive height; moving it downward gives a negative height. Give it a positive height.

   

   Create a cylinder to make the stabilizer.

4. Edit the Parameters, as follows:
   • Radius=0.66m
   • Height=0.051m
   • Height Segments=1
   • Sides=14
5. In the Name And Color rollout, type stabilizer.

   Naming your objects proves useful later.

6. Right-click the cylinder and choose Convert to: > Convert to Editable Poly.
7. In the Modify panel, on the Selection rollout, click Vertex.

   Now the vertices are visible in the cylinder.

8. Select half the vertices, and move them to the right. Select the other half of the vertices and move them to the left.

   

   

   Move the vertices to match the top view of the stabilizer in the background image.

9. Click Vertex selection again to turn it off.
10. In the Front viewport, move the stabilizer up along the Y axis so it lines up with the background image.

    

    Align the stabilizer with the background image.

    

    Wingspan and stabilizer in Perspective viewport

    Next, you will construct the twin rudders.

Just like the stabilizer, you'll use a cylinder, converted to an editable poly object, to create one of the rudders. In this case, you'll use the soft-selection feature when you select and move vertices. After the rudder is properly shaped, you'll use the Symmetry modifier to create the second rudder.

Create the twin rudders:

1. Click the Left viewport to active it and click Zoom Extents if necessary.
2. On the Create panel, turn on Cylinder.
3. In the Left viewport, draw a cylinder over the rudder.

   

   Start with a cylinder to make the rudder.

4. Set the following parameters:
   • Radius=0.72m
   • Height=0.051m
   • Height Segments=1
   • Sides=15
5. On the Name And Color rollout, enter the name rudder.
6. Click the Modify panel tab, and then right-click the Cylinder in the modifier stack. Choose Convert To: Editable Poly.

   The modifier stack no longer shows the cylinder; it now shows Editable Poly instead.

7. In the Selection rollout, click Vertex.
8. In the Left viewport, drag a selection window around the top vertices.

   Remember that there are vertices at the top and bottom of the cylinder, so even though a single red dot appears in the viewport, you are actually selecting two vertices.

   

   Select the top vertex.

9. Open the Soft Selection rollout, and turn on Use Soft Selection.

   Now the red dot is flanked by yellow-green dots.

   

   Soft Selection display

10. In the Soft Selection rollout, increase the Falloff value to 1.524m.

    The selection expands in the viewport.

    

11. Using the Transform gizmo, move the selection upward to shape the rudder.

    

    The rudder begins taking shape.

12. Select the bottommost vertex, and move it down to finish the shape.

    

    The rudder is fully shaped.

13. In the modifier stack, click Editable Poly to turn off sub-object selection.
14. In the Top viewport, select and move the rudder to the left into position.

Use Symmetry to create the second rudder:

There are several ways that you could create the second rudder but you'll use the Symmetry modifier for this part of the lesson.

1. Make sure the rudder object is selected and open the Modify panel.
2. Open the Modifier List and select Symmetry.
3. In the Parameters rollout, change the Mirror Axis to Z.
4. In the modifier stack display, expand the Symmetry hierarchy by clicking the box marked with a plus sign. When Symmetry expands, click Mirror.

   

   At the Mirror sub-object level, you can adjust the location of the mirror axis.

5. In the Top viewport, drag the Mirror gizmo to the center of the stabilizer. When the new rudder lines up with the background image, release the mouse button.

   

   The new rudder

6. Click Mirror again to turn it off.
7. Rename the object rudders.

   The Symmetry modifier adds geometry to an existing object. It does not make a clone of the original so both rudders are treated as a single object.

   

   The completed tail section and wings.

8. Save your work as myp38_wing_and_tail.max.

   In the next lesson, Creating the Sponsons , you'll create the sponsons that support the tail section and house the engines.

(Optional) Separate the rudders:

It's not really necessary, but if you want to separate the rudders, you can do so by adding an Edit Mesh modifier.

1. Open the Modifier List and apply an Edit Mesh modifier to the rudders.
2. From the Selection rollout, choose Element.
3. In the Top viewport, select the right-hand rudder.
4. From the Edit Geometry rollout, click Detach.

   The Detach dialog appears.

5. In the Detach As field, enter the name starboard rudder and click OK.
6. Turn off the Element button and rename the selected object as port rudder.