Creating a Realistic Hourglass

Creating a Realistic Hourglass

Adding a Free-Form Deformation

 

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials >  Modeling Tutorials > Creating a Realistic Hourglass > 

Creating a Tapered Cylinder

You'll start by building the chamber that will contain the sand using a cylinder and then add a taper modifier. Using the symmetry and curve parameters, you'll create the approximate shape of an hourglass.

1. Restart 3ds Max by choosing File > Reset.
2. Click the Min/Max Toggle button found in the view navigation tools at the lower right corner of the user interface. This switches from a display of four, small viewports to a single, large one. The currently active viewport is the one that is enlarged, in this case the Perspective viewport.
3. On the Create panel click Cylinder.
4. Right-click the Snap Toggle button to open the Grid And Snap Settings dialog and make sure the Grid Points snap setting is active and all other snap settings are turned off. Close the Grid and Snap Settings dialog.
5. Press S on the keyboard to turn on snapping. As you move your cursor in the viewport you will see the blue Snaps icon displayed as it passes over grid points.

   

   Snap cursor

6. When your cursor is snapped to the center of the grid, press and hold the mouse button and drag outward to begin creating a cylinder. Press S again while you are dragging to toggle snapping off.

   Using snapping in this fashion lets you begin creating the cylinder exactly in the center of the grid, but you can then make the radius any amount you want by turning snapping off in the middle of the action.

   

   Drag outward to set the cylinder's radius.

7. Drag out any radius you want, and then release the mouse button and move the mouse upward. Now you are setting the height. Click to finish.

   

   Drag upwards to set the cylinder's height

   It doesn't matter what radius and height you create now because you'll change them later.

8. Click the Zoom Extents button to center the scene in the viewport.
9. Click the Modify panel tab, and then, in the Parameters rollout, change the Cylinder Radius to 20 and the Height to 60. You can either type the new values or use the spinner.
   TipUse the Tab key to move from field to field as you type the values.
10. Right-click the Perspective viewport label and choose Edged Faces from the menu. You should see the height segments as well as the shaded faces.

    

    Edged Face display

11. Increase the cylinder's Height Segments setting to 10.

    

    Additional height segments displayed on the cylinder

12. From the Modifiers menu, select Parametric Deformers > Taper.

    The Parameters rollout shows the default Amount setting of 1.0.

    

    The cylinder tapers in the viewport.

13. In the modifier stack, click the plus button to expand the stack, then click Center.

    The Center tripod is visible in the viewport, as well as the orange taper gizmo.

    

    Taper center

14. On the Parameters rollout, in the Taper Axis group turn on Symmetry, then move the center gizmo upwards in the viewport. Use the transform gizmo to move in the Z direction. Move your cursor over the transform gizmo. When the blue Z axis turns yellow, drag upwards to move the taper center about halfway up the height of the cylinder. Release the mouse button to place the gizmo center.

    

    Move the Taper center.

15. Enter 30 in the Z field of the Coordinate Display at the bottom, just to the left of the Set Keys button.

    This places the gizmo precisely at the center of the cylinder's height.

16. In the modifier stack, click Cylinder. This lets you make changes to the original cylinder parameters.

    On the Parameters rollout of the Modify panel, reduce the radius of the cylinder to 3.

17. Click Taper in the modifier stack, then on the Parameters rollout increase the Taper Amount to 10.0 and set the Curve amount to 10.0.

    

    Increased taper and maximum curve amount

    Two more adjustments will make this look more like an hourglass.

    Tip If you don't see the taper when you highlight the Cylinder, turn on the Show End Result On/Off Toggle button at the bottom of the modifier stack display.
18. In the modifier stack click Cylinder and then increase the Height Segments to 29.

    By creating an odd number of height segments, you create a small band around the center of the hourglass.

19. Click Taper in the modifier stack and reduce the Amount value to 5.0.

    

    The chamber is taking shape.

20. Save your work. Choose File > Save and save your scene as MyHourglass.max.

Although the object is beginning to look more like an hourglass, it still needs some refinement. In the next lesson, you'll add an FFD modifier that will allow you to narrow the passage where the sand will flow from the upper chamber to the lower one.