The topic for today’s post came about as an idea to have a community modeling challenge. This was supposed to be a weekly challenge, but it got side tracked by real life issues. Anyways the model was chosen in the YouTube community tab and Discord. So once we had the model selected it was down to making it. Well in the videos below you will see my take on how to model and unwrap the model.
Modeling The Chair
For the modeling phase we basically have two videos. In the first video you will see how to make the chair’s legs and armrests. You will get a better idea on how to create your model to look better once textured.
Following from there we move onto the second video. In this video we go over how to create the seating, piping and stitching for the chair. Go ahead and check out that video below.
UVW Unwrapping The Chair
It’s a well known fact that if you have a perfect 3d model but don’t have a uvw unwrap you have a useless model. So knowing this it’s only logical that we would want to have a proper UVW unwrap for our chair. For this i’ve chosen to use RizomUV and the bridge between 3ds Max. Now granted you can do the UVW unwrapping inside 3ds max as well, i simply personally thing that Rizom is faster. So if you want to see how i did the unwrapping, check out the video below.
So if you have went over the three videos now you have a pretty good idea on how to make this model. And also you know how to unwrap it properly. All in all that about covers it so no point in making this any longer then it has to be. So if you found this helpful help spread it around so it might reach out to some more people and hopefully help them out as well.
In today’s post we will take a look at how we can create a Quilted Leather chair. After finishing with this tutorial you will know how to approach any similar model. This whole topic will be divided into four phases.
Modeling The Backrest
In the first part we will see how to start with the modeling of the back rest. First thing that we will notice here is that we won’t be modeling from a blueprint, but rather an image. Knowing this it means that we will have to deal with a bit of a perspective distortion. Since this is a simple geometry to create we will start off with a simple plane. But instead of me explaining what you can do is check out the video below and see me doing it.
Modeling The Seat and Legs
In the second part of the tutorial series we will focus on the seat and the legs of the chair. Similar like in the previous video we we do some basic box modeling techniques. Since there isn’t really all that much to explain you can go ahead and check out the video below.
Modeling the Quilted Leather
Now for the third part we go a bit deeper on the modeling front. For this we will start by selecting the surface that will be covered by the quilted leather. After this we will add a quick UVW unwrap so we can use SlideKnit. I have covered how to use this script in a previous video, but shouldn’t be hard to figure it out. After we have that we will create a base for the quilting and wrap it around the surface. All in all you will see me use a few tricks on how to fix up some issues and problems. So go ahead and check out the video below to see me do it.
Unwrapping The Model
In the last part of the series we will go over how to unwrap the model. For this we will use Unfold3D and will see how to get the model ready for texturing. Since this is a pretty straight forward topic as well check out the video below.
Final Thoughts and Resources
This was a fun model to create, and it did have some challenges but in the end we made it. I did use couple of scripts so here you can go and get those scripts.
Today we go on another modeling tutorial adventure. For today’s topic i have chosen a model that received a request a while back. That was how to model a specific chandelier.
Modeling Phase
Like always, modeling starts with setting up a blueprint to follow. So if you want to follow along with me, get the image from below. Now the actual modeling for this chandelier model took a bit longer then what i initially expected. Due to this i decided to split it up in two parts. In the first part we will go over how to create the cage of the chandelier. And then we will also create some of the elements for the inner parts. So check it out in the first part of the video below.
In the second part of the video we will continue with creating the rest of the elements. That being the crystals, the light bulbs and the holders for them. You will also see how to get the crystals perfectly aligned on the handing part of the chandelier. So check this out in the second part of the video below.
Texturing And Materials
When creating modeling tutorials i usually don’t go over the materials. Main reason is that to me it seems very simple, but i’ve received some requests so here it is.
Generally when creating materials for a model, first thing you do is separate how many materials will you need. After this you need to go ahead and address those material needs. In this model it ended up being three materials. The metal, the crystal and the material for the light bulb. Before doing any of the materials though you need to see if you have to do UVW unwrapping. For this model, i got away with doing the simple UV mapping with the UV Map modifier.
The metal material will show you how to control the reflections and color of the shader. The crystal material will how you how to get that colorful refractive look that makes crystal unique. And the shader for the light bulbs will show you a few tricks on getting that glow effect. So all in all if you want to see how i did it check out the video below.
Final Thoughts
So if you followed the videos now you know how to model a chandelier like this. It was fun creating it for me, and all i can say is i hope it was helpful to you. Also if there is anything that you would like to see me create a tutorial about leave a comment on the YouTube channel and i will do my best to help you out. So until next time i leave you with the blueprint for the chandelier.
For today’s article we have another modeling tutorial. This time around we are going to check and see the whole process of creation. We will start from the blueprints, the modeling and end up with the UVW unwrapping.
Preparing the Blueprints
This is the first phase of modeling anything really. Usually i don’t cover this phase as i have created a video about this in the past. But since i have received multiple question about the creation process i decided to include it this time around. We will start with creating the front and side views as we are lacking a top view for the blueprints. The creation process is in Photoshop so if you want to see it check out the video below.
The Modeling Phase
Modeling this chair wasn’t really that hard, but it did have a few challenges. We will go over creating each part of the chair separately, the legs, seat, back rest. Since creating these elements is a bit of a time hog i decided to split it into two parts. Main reason for this is because i don’t like creating videos that are over 30 min long. Anyways if you want to see how i created the basic version check out the videos.
After having watched the videos you will have the basic chair model done and finished.
Creating A Tall Version of The Chair
Before going on to the UVW Unwrapping phase i decided to go in and make a variation video. The idea here was to give you an overview on how you can reuse your modifier stack before collapsing it. In this case i only had to do minor adjustments to get the tall version. But actually if you have the modifiers in your model, you can get a much more complex model. And the bonus is that you will have to do half the job. So if you want to see how i created the tall version check out the video below.
The UVW Unwrapping Phase
This is the last video for the chair and it’s going to be about UVW unwrapping. Again this is where most of the people for some reason are having issues. As i’ve said before, UVW mapping is not that complex, and with the help of Unfold3D it’s fast as well. So if you want to see me do the unwrapping for this model check out the video below.
Final Words
So if you’ve went over all of these videos then you know how to model this chair from scratch. So all i have left to do is leave you with one last thing, and that is the blueprints. This is in case you don’t want to create them yourself in Photoshop.
As always i hope you guys had fun and learned something new. If that is the case help with sharing this post so it reaches more people and hopefully helps them as well.
Today’s article is going to be a pretty straight forward one as it will cover modeling a bar chair. When i got the idea to make the video, in my head i though it would be a quick one. Well once i started recording it turned out to be a bit longer. But lets start from the start.
Modeling Phase
Whenever you start modeling something, first step you need to make is get some reference. Most of the time that reference will be technical drawings. But sometimes you might get an actual picture of the thing you need to model. The main difference between the two is that the second one has perspective distortion. In the videos below you will see how to get started on modeling the chair.
The modeling phase is basically split in two videos as it was getting quite a bit on the long side. So without actually going and explaining too much about the videos go and actually check them out.
In the second part of the video we will continue adding some details and accents to the model.
Unwrapping Phase
The UVW unwrapping from what i’ve noticed is where most of my students have struggled at. When it comes down to unwrapping i’ve actually created some tutorials, so if you are struggling check it out. For unwrapping this model i used Unfold3D opposed to using the native 3ds Max unwrapper. Main reason for this is that i am not a huge fan of Max’s unwrapping tools. The thing here is that once you understand the logic behind unwrapping, it’s the same in any software. So if you know how to unwrap in 3ds Max, or don’t have Unwrap3D then you’ll still be able to understand. Anyways without too much further explanation, check out the video below.
Final words
I really hope you guys had some fun with this model, and maybe even learned something new.
So this about wraps up our model for today. And if you do decide to go and model this chair you will probably want to have the blueprints for it. So go ahead and get them from here. So i’ll see you all in the next post. Cheers everyone.
The idea for this post came from a simple need. That is the need to have a high quality, low poly foliage model. Main reason for this is that if we go in an import raw assets the poly count goes way up. Coming from a 3ds Max background, when needing to create grass and foliage i would use Forest Pack Pro. The main difference is that in Max you are rendering still image so having many instances is not an issue. Well the answer on how to get that quality into Real Time is what drove the idea for this post.
Creating the Low Poly model
When creating a low poly model, or any model for that matter Reference is king. This means that you always want to have an image of what you are creating at hand. We will try to create a fern model like the one above.
Creating something like that means that we will need a texture to start from. In general you can either take the pictures on your own, and prepare the textures. Or you can go over on Google and search for a texture with an Alpha map. Or alternative route would be to go to a site that sells textures like that. In my case i chose a texture from Megascans as those textures are high quality 4k images. You will see me set up the textures, then individually cut out all the leaves. After this i will show you how to get a controlling points with the help of bend modifiers. And in the end we will even see how to add vertex color. The vertex color will later be used in UE4 for simulating wind. Knowing all this check out the video below to see how i did it.
Creating the UE4 Material
After creating the asset in 3ds Max we will jump over to UE4. Generally creating a material if you have all the nodes is a pretty easy procedure. You take all the nodes and plug them into the material and you’re done. You will see me create a system for the Vertex Color that will control the wind. Another thing that i will show you is how to increase the normal map strength. And we will also see how to control the diffuse strength with the help of scalar parameters. Even though it’s not that complex, some of the tricks there are pretty cool so check them out.
Final Thoughts
Creating this post i have to admit was fun for me. Main reason is that i did a bit of research as well so i picked up some skills. I would like to say one thing to everyone out there, don’t be scared of trying new stuff. I have received multiple messages of people telling me that UE4 looks too complex. Well honestly, it’s really not that complex as long as you approach it with an open mind. Another driving force should be the fact that UE4 is going to be the main tool for Archviz. Maybe this will take some time but it will get there. So with this post i showed you the basics of creating foliage so you can use it in your scenes. I’ll see that in the future i make more videos about modeling, and then using those models inside UE4.
Until then though, everyone stay safe and keep on learning.
First of all, this is going to be a rather long post split into six parts. The reason for the lengthy size is that we will take a look at the whole workflow. This workflow means starting in 3ds Max and ending with our model inside Unreal Engine 4. Alright then lets start !
Modeling the Custom Chair
The first thing that we need to create is going to be the HP ( high poly ) model. This is a given if we want to have a good quality model when we later bring it into UE4. For this case i decided to go with a custom chair. If you read the FB group you will know that i kinda messed up with a NDA issue. This meant that i had to rerecord everything from scratch. So to make it safe i decided to go with something that doesn’t exist. The modeling of the said chair will show you how to use couple of different techniques. These techniques are like box modeling, modifier stacking, cloth simulation and a few others. Anyways you can see all of this in the video below so go check it out.
Creating the Low Poly
The second video will cover the creation of the LP ( Low Poly ) model. In the past i have created a few videos that were about retopology. Well this time around it was more of a simplification rather then retopology. This is because when you have a HP model that was created with proper box modeling it’s faster and easier. In the video below you can check out the whole creation of the LP model.
UVW Unwrapping
This is where it starts getting interesting. A lot of people for some reason find this complicated and hard. For this phase i wanted to show you two ways for UVW Unwrapping. In the first video i decided to go ahead and do the UVW Unwrapping inside 3ds Max. You can see how i did it in the video below.
Now if you watched the video above you heard me saying that i hate doing unwrapping in 3ds max. It’s not that it’s hard, it’s simply tedious if you ask me. This is why i decided to throw in a bonus video about Unfold3D. This is a piece of software that is used only for one thing, and that is UVW unwrapping. So if you want to see how that worked out, check out the video below.
Texturing the chair with Substance Painter
For the texturing phase i decided to go with Substance Painter. If you have never seen or used Substance Painter you are missing out. It’s an amazing software that makes texturing assets an easy task. Since i haven’t made any prior videos with the software i will stick to the basics. This means we will use already existing materials that come with the Substance Painter. So if you want to see how i did it, check out the video below.
Exporting the model to Unreal Engine 4
In the last part of the mini series we will see how to get the model to Unreal Engine 4. We will also see how we can prepare the model so we have no issues with the transformations. How to prepare the model for use of multiple materials in UE4. How to compile the materials so we can use the textures from Substance Painter. In short all the things that you have to do to your model to get it working inside Unreal. Again, if you want to see that check the video below.
Is that all ?
Well with this we covered the whole process of preparing an asset to go from Max to UE4. If you followed the videos you will have an idea of the steps you need to do. So i do hope you guys found this entertaining and educational. You guys learned the workflow, and i learned the importance of an NDA 🙂
In any case, if you liked the post like and comment on the videos and help spread the word around.
Today’s post comes as a direct request from a reader.The request was to model an interesting looking wooden chair. Initially when i saw the model i thought it was a simple 50$ chair. But as you will see it ended up being a whooping 9500$ piece. When i saw that i simply knew i had to make the model so this is how it all started. Just so i covered everything i decided to split this into two videos. In the first phase i go over modeling the chair, and in the second the UVW unwrapping.
The modeling Phase
The modeling phase of this project was a fun one. The model seemed very simple at first glance, but once you start doing the work it had it’s challenges. In the first part of the modeling video i went over the logical composition of the model. After the part division you will see me start with modeling the parts individually. When modeling i always choose to take things as simple as possible, as it makes controlling the model easier. But instead of explaining everything it’s a much more effective means if you can watch it happen. So if you want to see the creation process, then check out the video below.
The Unwrapping Phase
In the second part of the video i will focus on the UVW Unwrapping part. Up until now i really haven’t done any UVW unwrapping videos for the models that i’ve made tutorials about. And honestly i’ve received a few requests to do some tutorials about this topic. So i decided to make a video about unwrapping this model. Depending on the feedback i get from you guys i may continue doing these kinds of videos in the future. For this video i decided to stick to 3ds Max and not take it into an external program. In order to follow along you will need to download the Tex Tools free script. So if you want to see how i did the unwrapping then check out the video below.
Final Thoughts
Like i said in the beginning, this was a fun model to work on. The only thing that makes this model unique is that i decided to do the UVW unwrapping as well. Now if you guys liked seeing me do the unwrapping then leave a comment or a like. And i’ll see about continuing making unwrapping videos for the future videos as well. So for now that would be all, and as always you can ask anything you might want to know on the YouTube channel or the Facebook group, and also you can jump in on Discord for a direct way of communication.
Hey everyone and welcome to today’s topic on 3ds max modeling, with the help of smoothing groups. First of all i want to note that this was initially a 2 part video. Upon finishing the original recording i actually saw that i was breaking an NDA that i had signed. NDA’s are a pain, so i rerecorded the video to what you see here. But like all things everything has to have a start, so lets start from the beginning.
3ds Max Modeling with Smoothing Groups ?
You can do 3ds Max modeling with two different approaches. First is with chamfered edges approach to get the round look on edges. The second one is with the help of supporting geometry and turbosmooth modifier. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. So it would be great if we can combine the positives from the two workflows into one. This is where the modeling with smoothing groups comes into play.
How do we combine them ?
Combining these two workflows is really not that hard as you will be able to see in the video below. The short explanation would be that we will use two different turbosmooth modifiers in one stack. The difference is that the curvature of the faces will be controlled by the smoothing group.
If you have never worked with smoothing groups, you can change them by finding the menu. As you can see in the image here the smoothing groups look like a bunch of numbers in a calendar. The polygons that have the same smoothing group (SG) will try to make a smooth surface. So if you have two or more polygons with the SG1 they will try to make a smooth surface. And if those polygons meet with other polygons with a different SG you will get a sharp edge. This right here is the base of the whole workflow of using smoothing groups for modeling.
How does this help us ?
Understanding the SG concept is the base of working with this approach. The idea is that like i already said we will use two turbosmooth modifiers. The first one will control where the edges and curves will show up based on the SG. At same time the second one will control the sharpness of the edges. Now this is actually not that hard to grasp, and when explaining it it sounds a bit more complex. So instead of me trying to further explain how this works, check out the video below and see for yourself.
Final Thoughts
If you watched the video and are back here reading this then kudos to you. As you might have seen it’s a fairly powerful approach to modeling. The place where this shines is rapid prototyping modeling. So basically when you need to make your models very fast while they are still subject to changes. That means that this kind of modeling is more forgiving towards small issues and is very easy to modify. The down side is that it will give you a rather dense mesh. But at the same time Max has no problems with dealing with dense meshes if they are modifier stacks. The main issue is if you want to UV unwrap these models, in that case they can be a pain. So all in all it’s a great way of modeling, and especially if you have to make high poly models.
So i hope you guys enjoyed this video, and you managed to learn something new today. That would be all for today, and as always if you enjoyed it help by sharing it around. Bye for now and i will see you next time.
Hey everyone and welcome back after a small posting break. The subscribers to the YouTube channel, or the FB page have seen my last post. If you are not subscribed (shame on you) then keep reading. In today’s post we are going to cover how to model a PVC window in 3ds Max. So let us jump right in.
Why Model This ?
Now this is not a stupid question but rather a good one. The reason for modeling this is so that you can get an extra level of detail in your scenes. I’ve actually seen many people when it comes down to making windows and doors, they simply put in a box. The issue with using a simple box, is that you are pretty much confined. That means that you can’t open the door or window as it will look fake. On top of that since it’s a box there is no extra details on the edges from the AO map. So as you might have figured it out it can be very beneficial to have proper model for this.
Preparing for the modeling of the actual window
First of all, when approaching any model that you want to make, you need to have proper reference image. When modeling a PVC window what you need to know is that the frame has a profile. What this means is that we can google search for PVC profiles and get a better idea. Now once you find a window or door profile, you need to have the shape of the window. You can choose any profile you want, or you can choose the one that i used.
Modeling of the Window
If we have the profile, and the shape of the window we can start with the modeling phase. This might look a bit complicated, but it really is quite simple to model. In the video below you will see how to trace the profile. How to get it to the right size for your window, and reuse the wall frame for the window frame. After we have that we will see how and why we need to chamfer the edges. After all that we will have the PVC model of our window. As they say a picture is worth 1000 words, and a video 20 minutes. So if you want to see how i went ahead to model this then check out the video below.
Final Thoughts
After watching the video you probably have seen that this is quite easy to model. And even as such i hope you guys had fun, and learned something in the process. If you did then help spread the word, and like comment and share this on social media. That would be all for today, and i will see you all in the next post.
