Complete tutorial of how to create a monster in 3ds max
Create the Monster
When creating concept sketches, you need to consider
what your model will be used for, and your deadline. For
example, will your character be animated? Will it always
be seen from a distance? If so, the model doesn’t require
as much detail - you’ll be able to substitute detailed texture
maps for actual object geometry. If the model will be
seen up close, the mesh should be high resolution, and
include details such as eyelids and fingernails.
You must also consider whether there
will be any facial animation. If so, you
should create the gums and teeth. You
should also make the face high resolution
for creating morph targets. Then,
consider how the character’s look and
feel should be modeled. Our tutorial
creature isn’t one that does a great deal
of talking, so we can primarily focus on
the body details. Let’s take a look at
the artists’ conceptual sketches of the
Monster creature, shown in pictures 1
and 2. | As you can see by the sketches, this Monster is a very detailed creature. If we attempted to model all the details, this tutorial might take months! Instead, we’ll model the major distinguishing details, and accomplish the smaller ones using bump maps. Since the Monster is defined and muscular, MetaReyes is a perfect tool for its creation. Let’s take a look at MetaReyes. |
picture 1 | 
picture 2 | MetaReyes Overview
Third party plug-ins like MetaReyes add possibilities to
3D Studio Max. If you haven’t bought a copy of
MetaReyes, go to their website (www.infografica.com) and
download the demo. You’ll need it to complete this tutorial.
The only thing missing in the demo file is the ‘Save’
function, but that won’t prevent our completing this tutorial |
picture 3 | MetaReyes is a modeling and animation plug-in for 3D
Studio Max. It combines metaballs and splines, which are called ‘Metamuscles.’ A metaball is created, and then a spline connects another metaball to it, forming a smooth skin surface. Let’s open the MetaReyes rollout and become more familiar with the program. Go to the Create, REM Primitives rollout and view the tools panel, which is shown in left picture | |
Let’s consider each of the tools, and the role it plays in
organic modeling. A) Muscle Types are ‘standard,’ or ‘bulging’ muscles. The default is ‘standard,’ which is what we will use for the Monster.Standard muscles are most commonly used for> modeling. Bulging muscles are used for animation. They bulge and stretch like real muscle when placed between two moving points. B) Display Mesh Density relates to how the objects are seen in the viewports. When Mesh is unchecked, the metamuscle is displayed in cross sections composing the radii of the metaballs and the splines. When Mesh is checked, the skin of the metamuscle is displayed. C) Radial Density pertains to the resolution of the radii of the object in the viewport. D) Length Density is the density of the mesh along the splines. The higher these numbers are, the denser and more detailed the mesh will appear. E) Render Mesh Density operates the same as Radial and Length density, but pertains to the rendered objects. F) Fusion Strength gives you different colored boxes that correlate to different influence strengths of the metaballs. Some have a positive attraction, while others are negative. From left to right; red is soft positive; yellow is medium soft positive; green is medium hard positive; blue is hard positive. On the other> hand, dark brown is soft negative; beige is medium soft negative; dark green is medium hard negative, and turquoise is hard negative. |
 | 
pictures 4and 5 | | Take a look at Pictures 4 and 5 to see how negative metaballs influence other metaballs. Picture 4 shows you the metaballs in wire form. Picture 5 displays the influence in smooth mode. OK, that’s it for the tool panel. With our basic understanding of the MetaReyes tool, let’s look at creating shapes with the metaballs. To create a metamuscle, you begin by creating a metaball. Picture 6 through 8 show the cross section, or radius, of a metaball in wire form. A series of mouse clicks cycle through determination of the radius, scaling the sides, and rotation of the metaball radius. In the viewport, click the mouse once to determine the radius. Picture 6 shows the metaball’s initial radius. Another click scales the sides, as shown in Picture 7. Finally, a third click of the mouse rotates the metaball, as seen in Picture 8. The next click of the mouse creates the spline and, finally, the next creates another metaball to repeat the process. Review Picture 9 to see how the splines interact with the metaballs. Take a look at the lower Left Viewport in the figure. You’ll see a series of metaballs connected with splines. The first metaball is indicated with the “A”. The second is labeled “B”, which is joined by the spline indicated by the “D”. The third, and final, metaball is indicated by the “C”. The spline connecting the metaballs creates a smooth skin between them. When you’re finished with the metamuscle, simply right-click the mouse to finish. You’ll end up with something like the shape shown in Picture 10. |
| The splines create a gesture for the metaballs to follow. The mesh, as it travels along the spline, averages out between metaballs. This disposes of the longtime problem of a metaballs model appearing like a sack of marbles. Instead, the tension between the balls is distributed evenly, creating a smooth organic shape. You can see that creating an organic shape was very simple using the metaballs. Now that we have a handle on the basic idea of MetaReyes, we’re ready to get started modeling the Munster. | 
picture 6 | 
picture 7 | 
picture 8 | 
picture 9 | |
picture 10 | 
picture 11 | | Creating the Torso The best place to begin modeling this bizarre creature is the torso. We’ll start by creating a basic structure to act as an armature for the muscles to lie upon. First, enter the Create panel, and select REM primitives, MetaReyes. Accept the default settings for now. You can experiment later with the different settings, particularly the softness, hardness, positive and negative of the different colored metaballs and the effects they create. The default is red, or Soft Positive, which will work fine for now. You can select Display Mesh to see your mesh while you’re working, but turning it off will make it easier to see the metaballs. This is a good idea if this is your first experience with MetaReyes.
OK, let’s create the basic shape of the torso. Highlight the Left viewport, and click the mouse. All the metaballs we will create are perfect spheres, so non-uniformly scaling the metaballs is unnecessary. Now click again to create the radius of the metaball. Click again in place for rotation. Be careful not to rotate the metaball - this would cause a twist in the mesh, resulting in what looks like a balloon animal! Finally, click again to create the spline. Now, drag the spline downward and create the second metaball. Use Picture11 as a guide for placing the remaining metaballs. The first Metaball is indicated with an “A”, and the last with a “B”. |
picture 12 | 
picture 12 | | Size the second metaball a little smaller than the first. Then, drag the spline down to create the third metaball in the same manner. Make it slightly smaller than the second metaball. Finally, create the fourth and fifth metaballs and splines, as shown in Picture 11. Be sure to make the fourth metaball slightly larger, to strengthen the joint in the torso. Finally right click the mouse to finish the metamuscle. You can now click on Fast View in the Modify panel to see the final mesh, shown on the right side of Picture 11. Now let’s work on the shoulder area. We want to create metamuscles that give the torso bulk. Using the same technique you used in creating the torso, lay down a series of metaballs as shown in Picture 12. The shoulder metamuscle is shown in red. Create the first metaball a little above and near the center of the torso. Then, create a small, spherical metaball next to the first one to create the width of the shoulder. The next metaball starts running parallel to the torso. Keep adding the metaballs, as shown in Picture 12, until the shoulder metamuscle travels up and back into the body. Now it’s time to add more bulk to the body, by creating the metamuscle for the abdomen and tail/spine. Refer to Picture 13, and you’ll see several colors, indicating the different metamuscles in the body. The green metamuscle in the image indicates the shoulder muscle we created earlier, while the black metamuscle is the original torso | |
You’ll want to create a metamuscle below the torso to make abdominal muscles. Refer to the red metamuscle in Figure 13 to create the metaballs for the abdomen. Then, create a long metamuscle for a tail and spine, illustrated by the blue metamuscle in the same figure. Finally, create the small metamuscle shown in yellow. This small metamuscle adds bulk to the body. Now, to complete the body, mirror the metamuscles by selecting one and choosing mirror. Now restrict it on the X-axis, and move it into place on the opposite side. Do the same for the shoulders, tail, and metamuscles that fill the area between the torso and the shoulders. Once completed, you may want to change the details of the body somewhat. You can edit the metaballs and splines on the vertex, or radii level, by going into the Modify panel and choosing Edit Muscle. Below is a description of each control in the Edit Muscle control panel. Edit Vertex is the default setting that allows you to move the metaballs in the viewports. Insert Mode creates more metaballs along the Delete removes metaballs Edit Angles rotates the metaballs. Edit Segment scales the metaballs along an axis. Edit Radii allows you to scale the radius of each metaball along the metamuscle.Notice how all the metamuscles together make up the body. You can see the basic torso object is at the center. The other muscles lie around it, giving the body detail. Remember, this is where the details of realistic creatures are added to the model. You can add as much detail as you’d like by simply adding or removing metaballs in the metamuscles.
Let’s take a look at modeling those arms.
author: http://3dflashworld.com
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