3ds Max Tutorials Chapter 5

Spline Modeling

In this chapter we mostly covered spline modeling and different things that you can do with splines.

In the top picture, you can see the wire-frame of the model below. This is a great way to show you how modeling using the spline and the lathe tools work. What I did was I created a spline (a line that can curve) and made it just how I wanted it, and then I used the lathe tool on it.What this did was it rotated the spline around its center a short ways, created a line for the wire-frame at that position, and then it would rotate again until it had come all the way back around 

Another really cool way to use splines in modeling is by lofting.This is pretty much the same thing as lofting in Maya, the only difference is instead of selecting all of your splines in order and then selecting the "Loft" tool, you select the loft tool first, and then click from spline to spline.

This logo was made using splines. All it took to make the splines have an actually thickness was selecting them, going to the rendering settings, and editing the thickness of the spline.

Here is the same group of splines, but instead of rendering it with a thickness, we rendered it with a bevel. if you look at the edges of the letters you can see that it is beveled so that the letters stand out more.

This text here was made just using the Text Plus feature that 3ds Max offers. Basically its like a text box for 3D modeling. Really helpful and simple tool to use.

And finally we have sweep modifiers. Instead of just increasing the width of the spline and creating a cylindrical shape, you can change the shape and thickness of the spline using the sweep modifier. These handrails were created using the sweep modifier on some splines that we had in the scene.