1.
Maximize the perspective view
(you know, place the cursor
into the view port you want
to maximize and click on the
<0> key in your numeric
keypad, Num Lock on) and rotate
the image as shown. Switch
to the polygon edit mode and
select the polygons in the
order I show you: top, bottom,
left, right. The order will
be helpful, but is not essential.
You may experiment.
2.
Click <Ctrl><f>
and enter in the Make Spline
Patch window the numbers as
indicated. Hit "ok" or <Enter>.
This is what you get:
3.
You say, "Wait! I did not!
Where's that color come from?"
Ok, here's how: Go to the
Surface Editor, select Default,
and click on the little color
square to bring the palette
up. There click on any color
you like, as long as it looks
like mine :-). No really,
it's your choice. Make sure
you check "Smoothing" in the
Basic tab page.
4.
Ok, with that out of the way,
we need to do something with
that patch. Hit <w>
and the Polygon Statistics
window will appear.
a)
click on the Minus sign next
to Total (fig 2-8)
b)
click on the Plus sign next
to Faces (fig 2-9) (if you
followed my suggested selection
order you'll have polygons
facing you - if not, click
the <f> key to flip
them)
c)
select a new layer (click
on the lower half of another
layer field)
d)
click the <x> key (polys
will disappear) (fig 2-10)
e)
click the <'> key to
switch layers (spline cage
appears as black outline)
f)
click on the <v> key
and polys will reappear (fig
2-11)
g)
click on <'> again to
return to the original layer
and select the polygons for
the next patch as in figure
1. Do this until all patches
have been created.
5.
NOTE: Occasionally
you will get a message that
"The Curves Don't Cross Correctly".
What happened will be that
you have selected an additional
polygon line, as I did, in
this case (see weird arrow).
Other possibilities could
be that there are more than
one point involved at one
intersection. However, in
this particular case, I hit
"ok" and simply deselected
the extra little polygon line
and all was fine.
6. Are you finished? That
wasn't that bad now, was it?
Save your file as ship_tute4.lwo
