help im stuck.

[FORM3D]

Hi folks.

i have to model one of these white tarp canopys ,and I am having trouble getting the form correct.

the tricky thing is that the form is convex in one section and concave in the other, I have been unsuccessful so far creating this with soft selection and think to my self there has to be a simpler way of modeling this?????

your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have attached a couple of screen shots to hopefully show what i mean.

many thanks

J.

[Billabong]

Is this what your wanting

[FORM3D]

Hi there ,

no unfortunately, I’m able to get the canopy to be either convex or concave , but not both at the same time ...

if you look at the two sections one profile is convex the other concave.

is proving rather tricky, thanks for your input.

J.

[mattclinch]

spline cage it, the surface modifier, then convert to edit poly?

 

think this is roughly the shape your going for (minus the guide rope pulls)

[Billabong]

Oh I see now, yeah that is a bit of a tricky one, not really sure at thjemoment, but illhave a play and if I come up with anything Ill post it

[FORM3D]

cracking!

that looks just the business.

How do i spline cage ??

[mattclinch]

draw lots of splines that snap to each other at the vertices (use 3d snap in vertex mode) , then whe you have detailed the shape enough, collapse them or attach them all together and apply a surface modifier. the more spline-based detail the greater the accuracy of the surface.

[FORM3D]

brilliant .

thanks very much . ill post my progress.

[FORM3D]

this method works until i detail up the spine then the geometry disappears all together ?

[mattclinch]

the splines should be detailed before you add the surface modifier. the geomtry is based on the points where vertices of splines exist in the same position, so don;t go cutting and detailing all over the place.

also, as your object is symmetrical in 2 axis, i would only model a quarter of the object, then use two symmetry modifiers to complete it.

[FORM3D]

forgive me for not getting this,

I have attached the max file to illustrate what happens when i apply the surface mod.

The geometry simply disappears ??

[Claudio Branch]

I opened your file with Max 9 (64x) and there was nothing inside.

 

When you applied the Surface modifier did you toggle the Flip Normals settings and play around with the Threshold as well?

 

I used your initial views to create my own "samurai helmet" canopy.

 

Here are the views...

[daniohayon]

The Surface modifier leaves too much for the software to guess and I try to stay away from it. I think you'll find using the Loft (Compound Objects) very useful. It generates a better geometry and you'll have absolute besier control over the results with the separation of both axis (front and left views of your canopy).

 

So, Loft a circle along a line. This will get you a cylinder looking object. In the Modify panel under Skin parameters adjust the path steps to 25 and the shape to 50. Next open the Deformation panel and press on the scale to open its controls and activate it. You will have to unlock the 'X' axis from the 'Y' axis and turn the curve into something like the images attached. Make sure that the right side points are at 0.0, so the top would be closed.

 

Lastly you could turn this into Poly and weld all the top point verts together.

 

Cheers,

 

Dani