3D Development Software

There are lots of different 3D modelling programs out there, from the popular ones such as 3Ds Max and Maya to the less known such as DAZ Studio 4 and Bryce. 

First of all lets start with 3Ds Max. 3Ds Max offers a wide range of import and export file types. any 3D model created can be exported to programs such as Adobe Illustrator (*_AI), 3D Studio (.3DS), Shockwave 3D (*.W3D), ASCII Scene Export (*.ASE) etc.... This allows the modeller to have greater variety of programs to use one the model is finished. 3Ds Max also has a very large range of file types that can be imported into the program such as 3D Studio (*.3DS, *.PRJ), Adobe Illustrator (*.AI), Autodesk Inventor (*.IPT, *.IAM), 3D Studio Shape (*.SHP), Wavefront Object (*.OBJ) and Material (*.MTL) and many more, 



3Ds max also allows you to animate your models as well as creating them, this can be useful if the model needs to be animated but don't want the hassle of exporting the model and re importing it into another program just to animate it. you can also render in real-time so that you can view the final product without having to first export it. this helps with efficiency and small tweaks to the project. 

however 3ds max can cost around £3,335.00 which is a very heavy investment for any software especially as there are free 3D modelling programs available 

Another 3D modelling software is called cinema 4D is believed to be better for movies and CGI/Animation within films where as 3Ds Max is believed to be a better program for games and architecture. however the way in which to chose which to use ultimately comes down to what type of work you will be creating, if you are creating large and possibly endless ideas then it is said that 3Ds Max is better with its more versatile range of tools. however Cinema 4D costs about £1,368.00 which is significantly less than 3Ds Max but still a large investment. 

As well as these well know modelling there are also some other programs which are maybe not as popular as the previous ones. 
First of all FormZ this is a modelling program for AutoDesSys, This program allows you to present your designs interactively on line with the new VR creation features. These allow you to create web ready interactive panoramic and 360 object movies of your design. however this program also can cost up to £995.00 where as on the other hand you can get DAZ Studio which was originally £155.00 is now free for anyone to download. DAZ studio a lot like 3Ds Max also has its own animation tools. also within this you get Bryce which is a 3D modelling software more specifically aimed at landscape modelling which i have found to be very useful in game development or architecture. 

Mesh construction

Firstly to explain mesh construction i am going to give a walk through of a object i created explaining the aspects of mesh construction along the way.

Firstly in the command panel click the create tab and then the shapes sub tab, here you can get open and closed splines. a spline is any 2D object that has veracities and segments. There are also doughnuts and eggs which involve two splines.

 Now if i remove these splines by using Ctrl + Z i find that i cant remove all of the splines due to the amount of them, therefore to allow me to undo more moves i can go to customize in the tool bar and then preferences.

 Then under the scene undo title we can select the amount of stages we wish to be able to undo in the future.

Now i am going to create an open spline using the front view port by simply selecting the line shape then clicking and dragging then repeating again until i have three points (start, middle and end) then right click to end the shape.

Now we can go to the modify tab and click the + key next to the line and you can see we have vertex, segments and spline.

Now i am going to life the middle vortex to create a triangular shape.

Then i cloned the spline by holding the Shift key and then left clicking and dragging on the spline creating an exact replica. I have also re coloured the splines so they are easier to see, the original spline is red and the clone is green.

as i clone the spline a box appearers with the options copy, instance and reference. to clone and create a separate spline i selected instance because no matter what i change about one of the splines it will change the other one exactly causing a mirrored effect. this would then mean that i have less control and flexibly within my creation.
Now i am using the bend modifier in the drop down, make sure that the vertex sub-object is unselected, This is a demo to show the difference between a instance clone and a copy clone.

no i am going to remove my instance clone and make two copy clones this has no referencing system, so now i have three splines.

Now i am going to attach these splines together. this is done by selecting one of the splines and then selecting attach in the geometry roll down in the control panel.



















I then hover over the other splines and will see a + symbol with four circles, once this appears simply click on the spline you wish to attach. in this case i am attaching all three of my splines. dont forget to deselect the attach tool once done. So now they are all selected.












Now i am going to turn this into a surface using the cross section tool in the geomatry roll down (same area as attach) and now i simply click from one spline to the other.


Again make sure to turn the cross section tool off after use, just like the attach tool.











now as you can see there isn't a surface but it has created a structure between each of the splines which i can now place a surface one using the surface modification (in the modification drop down) and now i have a surface.



















Now if i go back into the spline level of this object and use the vertex sub-object and select the veracities i can then modify them even after i have placed the surface.








As you can see i dropped the center of my surface downward and as you can see it gets rid of the surface and just shows the wire frame structure. if i wish to see the surface at the same time to know what it would look like after these modifications i can select the end result button (looks like a Solid bar) in the command panel just below the modification selection box.

Now i can also add effects such as bezier (selected by right clicking and in the top left quadrant selecting bezier) to alter my surface shape.and as you can see now i have a curve travelling through my surface.

Now This doesn't look very detailed. This is due to the low amount of sub-divisions in the surface, in order to view the sub-divisions properly i have to select the surface layer in the modification box and then in the modification drop down select edit poly modifier.










and now i get a much greater surface division.












Now i have more sub-objects that can be selected and now i have edges, (when this is a spline between veracities it is called a segment but when it is a poly it is called an edge). I also have the sub-object border which if i was to create a hole in the poly it would detect the edges and fill the hole back in, and finally we have element which is the whole object. this is used to select a complete object or set of attached splines if there are multiple objects within the space. now again on top of the edit poly modifier i am going to select the mesh-smooth modifier from the drop down.


Now im going to use NURMS (sub-division method  and so now when i choose the sub-division amount you will see the surface curves get smoother.

However be careful using this as you are creating more polygons when you increase the division amount causing more stress on your CPU. Now i have all these modification tools on these simple splines, i can also travel back to the base splines, however when i do i get a warning message basically telling me that altering the splines it may cause unwanted effects due to the modifications in place for example, if i accept the message and then move my poly it in fact break my surface, as you can see half of my surface is missing.

This is due to the veracities that were connected being broken apart. So if editing/re-editing your object be careful as it is very easy to break your object, however you can select all the veracities together in that area and it will give you more control as you are altering the original shape without breaking it.

Now i am quickly going to show the curve feature on a spline, so i will create a new spline and make a triangular shape again.



So now if i right click on the centre veracities and look in the top left quadrant i am able to select the smooth tool, this then makes the spline automatically curve.


























However there isn't much control over the curve other than moving the curves focus point back and forth, however i can look at the tangent in and out of the vertex by right clicking again and selecting bezier again. This now creates a line that when pivoted changes the curvature of the spline.





































COMPUTER MONITOR


firstly I created a box with the dimensions 80cm - 80cm - 5cm.















Now I am going to turn this box into an editable poly and then select the sub object "edge" and i am going to select two parallel edges. I am then going to right click and select connect, this will simply connect the two parallel edges. I am also able to move this connection to my desired location along the object.

Im actually going to create two connections by selecting the small box next to the right click and the connect to be able to type in my wanted parameters.  

Now as you can see I can change the segments, pinch and slide. Pinch moves the segments closer or further apart and slide moves the segments along the face of the object. Now if I go to the polygon sub object and select the poly I just created (section between the segments) and then select extrude in the roll down bar (or the settings box next to extrude for more specific measurements) I can now extrude the poly by simply clicking and dragging the poly in the direction I wish, as you can see I'm going to drag it upwards to create the stand for my monitor. I can then use the move tool to slant the extension.

Now I'm going to extrude again on the top of the first extrusion and then using the + button in the extrusion settings I'm going to repeat the same changes three times giving me a total of four extrusions. 

Now using the polygon sub object again I'm going to bevel and extrude to create a place for the monitor screen to connect to the stand. I'm also going to use the bevel tool to create the screen. 

Now that I have the outline of the screen I'm going to give it some depth with another extrude and then use the insert tool to make the screen more realistic by adding depth into the screen and then a final bevel to finish the screens depth. 

Now I'm going to add a slight slight rotation to the screen to show that the screen will pivot.

Then I just added a few features like curving the stand and support on the back.

Geometric Theory

Cartesian Co-ordinates System

Cartesian co-ordinates system is a system created by Rene Descartes, the Cartesian co-ordinates system involves X,Y,Z axis although Rene didn't create the Z axis. The Z axis was created in the Early 19th century. The Cartesian co-ordinates system is used by 3D software to generate the 3D models in real space. The point where the X and Y axis meet is called the origin (0,0), these axis display the vertical and horizontal positions of an object (X=Horizontal, Y= Vertical). The Z axis then shows the depth of the object within the space.


3Ds Maxx
3Ds Maxx has by default 4 view ports these are Top view port (shows X,Y) Front view port (shows X,Z) Left view port (shows Y,Z) and the perspective view port (shows X,Y,Z). These ports help to view the model being created from different angles which can help with making sure the model is in proportion etc. Any port that only shows two of the three axis is known as orthographic view.

3D geometry 

Firstly i created a geometric shape by selecting the create tab then the geometry tab in the command panel.

I can then change the parameters for the cube i created, if i press F4 then i can view the edge segmentation on ;my cube, this basically shows the edges of the shape and any segments that have been placed in the shape.

If i de-select the object but wish to change the parameters then i can click the object again and select the modify tab at top of the command panel.

I can navigate around my object by holding the alt key and the middle mouse button. i can also view a full screen view port, by clicking the view port you wish to maximise and then click the maximise button in the very bottom right corner of 3Ds maxx.

 I then created another cube with the dimentions Length: 50 Width: 50 and hight: 50 with segmentations 3 by 3 by 3 this is now a parametric standard primitive cube (this is where modify the parameters)

 I can also change the name of my goemtric object by making sure it is selected and the double clicking the box in the command panel which displaye the object name and simply replacing it with the name desired, for example here i change my object name from "Box002" to "Purple Box"

 I can also clone any objects by firstly selecting the select and move tool in the top menu bar, then selecting the objects. Finally click and drag the object whilst holding down the shift key. and so now you can see i have an exact replica of my original cube with the exact same dimensions and segments.

Now if i right click on my new cube and select "convert to editable poly"

Now this makes my cube an edible poly object and i now have sub objects in replacement of my parameter controls in the command panel. This now means that i can not change any of the parameters or the amount of segments on my object, insted i am now able to modify the shape of each segment but i will explain this more later on. if i still wish to change the parameters and amount of segments on my object as well as having the ability to edit my geometric object with the sub objects as though it was an edible poly i can simply use the drop down bar in the command panel and select edit poly modifier (make sure to have the object selected before hand).

I now also have all the sub objects i would have if i had converted my cube to a editable poly, these sub objects are called; vertex, edge, boarder, polygon and element. (i will describe each one and the uses later.) and so now i can use the sub objects as well as still change my parameters and amount of segments. so now if i select the vertex sub object tool i find that at each point in which my segments cross there is a small blue dot, these are the veracities which can be modified on the object.

once i have edited the shape to what i want i can then add another modification, so i go back to the command panel and select the drop down. this time i am going to apply a modification called "Meshsmooth" this will make all the mesh around my object smooth and this in turn will remove the sharp edges of my cube.