Modeling a Robot

A beginners guide to starting out modelling in 3D Studio Max, a simple primative model which is far less complex than it really looks.

This robot was created in 3D Studio Max version 3 in about an hour but any version can be used because only these basic tools were used :-

Move, Rotate and Scale.

It is ideal for a complete beginner to model in this way because you only scratch the surface of Max but still begin to get an understanding of the 3d space that you are working with.

The robot is made up of primative shapes, only 4 kinds in all, which are moved, rotated, scaled and cloned to form the overall model. . and thats it!

These primatives can be found in the create tab as shown (the ones used are highlighted in yellow.)



Rather than go step by step though the possitioning of each primative, I think it will help you to learn better just by looking at an overall guide and then finding your own way a little.

The next image shows which primatives go where :-

They are colour coded as follows :-

Red = Torus
Blue = Tube
Yellow = Sphere
Black = Cylinder
White = Cone

Use the above picture and the final Render as a guide for placing the primitives - some areas are a little more tricky than just place, move/rotate and these are :-



The indented circular sections as shown here are used throughout the model, simply use a tube primative and then a create a cylinder and possitioned inside.

The second areas that are a little tricky are the thigh and shoulder joints as shown here :-



These are created with four toruses, the method I used was to make the first vertical one (created in the left or right viewport) then work in the front viewport as shown above. Hold down shift (this is the clone button) and rotate the torus anticlockwise about 20 degrees and release, choose 3 duplicates from the popup window and you should have the above result (with the thigh joint the forth one was also scaled)

Rather than do these processes for each rght and left side of the robot you can use the

mirror tool to flip and clone then

To finish I selected all opjects and choose a material from the standard Max 3 library

This was applied to all objects (drag and drop) and you should find your pritatives already have suitable uvw mapping co-ordinates.

Place 3/4 omni lights around you model and ajust the settings until you get the desired look. . . have fun!

Any questions contact me here: tomg@3dtotal.com

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