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3D the Wings3D thread....

  • Thread starter Thread starter IBox
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IBox

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Hi guys and gals... gidgit here... had to change my username as I had changed my email address and thus my password is not able to get to me for gidge...

So... IBox it is, or if ya like just call me James... :D

Anyways... I saw how much fun everybody is having in the C4D thread and I thought what the heck... there is room for one more little app eh...

Wings3D... http://www.wings3D.com



--------------------------------------------

the basics... of box modeling with Wings3D

You download Wings 3D from the link above, if you havn't already got it :D :P


Shape and Complexity...

What ever it is you are trying to create in 3D, it must contain certain levels of shape and complexity in it's being, and or road to existance... really... shape and complexity...

really think about those shapes.... how many boxes would it take to fill up that shape with a little tinkering here and there, just to get things right... from the git go ... The key foundation of form if you will :D

Listen, I was making up a Human Assist Powed Electric Motor Vehicle fo fun a while back, and last night proceeded to desiging yet another, in an wierder sort of tearshape design, and even though I did not have the shape as nice, or as good, as I thought I should have, I kept designing on in the interior... it wassss great fun... and terrific practice/// can't emphasize that one enough folks....

Here is a pic of that ugly dear drop design... only partially finished... remember, Ifudged on the shape from the git go... and thus really only had fun doing some further detail for the kicks }P , pretty much shelved... :{ [shhh] ;\ :D

lesson learnt... get that basic shape down as well as you can first
 
and here is a wire shot of this thing...

any body can do this stuff... it just take the right direction... from the beginning... so as to not make as many mistakes the next time around by thinking first...

and even more importantly...

understanding how to build as basic as possible through each stage of division, and how to do the little things required to take time out for, in order to save your ass time in the long run... and a few other tips and tricks in order to make things real easy from the start, once learned that is... :D

Like for instance... when working in Wings... extruding detail out from say the second divide as shown below this post, in the boxy looking big pic... if you want to view this smooth shot shown here, then just hit shift/tab, and voila... you be in sub-d... you can work in this level too, but it is better if you go up to your top left corner and hit the shaded white pyramid icon to get into a boxier subd mode... the smooth mode ends up doing this as the operation is executed anyhow... you will see what I mean....

So yea... pop up a cube on the screen and hit shift/tab... and again to get out... try it again.... and out... it's your best buddy :D
 
and here is a wire of this model after one subdivision from basic shape box stage... this is the level of division most things are worked out in...
 
And, a look at the mesh upon adding a couple of things and then doing a second divide, thus smoothing things out for some test rendering :D
 
Now then... my idea here is to make up a new, better looking, more conventional looking but efficient Human Assist Electric Vehicle...

If anybody would care to draw out a side profile of some sort of design depicting such a vehicle, by all means... post the said side profile and I will show you how to begin creat'n the rough shape in Wings to get things going...

and in the mean time I will attempt to design my own shape, and will post it in Wings file format for any wishing to work on this project as it unfolds... I mean let's have some fun, while very quickly learning to box out some cool stuff...

one shape coming up... may take an hour or so... I am hoky pinoki eh ;\ [shhh] :D
 
and... for those totaly new to Wings3D... upon downloading and installing it on your machine... open it up, go up into the top menu... Edit> Preferences... and then look for the Highlighting section and make sure to check active "smart Highlighting" ... this feature will allow you to mouse over verts/edges and or faces and see each lightup for possible selection...

Now then, for those who have never tried Wings3d before... after making sure that this feature has been checked off.... to pop a primitve on screen to work with you have to have your mouse cursor in the work area/canvas... right click and you should see a list of primitives....

choose "cube" ....and then when you see the cube on screen hit "r"... this automaticaly sets the axis of the object to wings default perspective ... it is important to do this each time you pop a primitive on screen, because some times via bug in app the primitive comes in off axis... and ...

Axis is everything... when creat'n anything in 3D....

So right click and pop a cube on screen....

then hit the middle mouse wheel/button move your hand from side to side and go for a camera ride :D ... sweet eh.... this dolly cam is also your buddy....

now roll that mouse wheel and zoom in and out... cool :) now hit "r" and you back at the starting axis position....

now hit shift/tab and see the sub-d preview look at things... note... this sub-d takes a lot of power resources when working with larger file sizes... so...

lets go up to the shaded white pyramid icon up top left, and hit it... now you are working with a boxy cage sub-d view.... still pretty cool, but for the most part folks, I rarely work in sub-d, but rather mainly use the shift/tab to preview what my model will look like smoothed (subdivided )... and for work, it is the chunky non sub-d method which I find works the best...

Extrude and Extrude>region along norm from z axis ...... take a cube and left click onto and select opposite end faces... when they are selected they should be red in color.... now with both opposite ends selected, right click and hit "Extrude>normal " and extrude out say a cube's size... like this... and here is the pic also showing the axis... this is the start to our HAPVehicle here... and now when ever I am moving or extruding something out I know which way everything is going because I always work my models with the axis setting and rules in mind... Z= front to back, X= side to side and y is of course always top to bottom...
 
the difference between Extrude and Extrude>Region is...

take a look at the pic below... after we had extruded two new areas along z, we then hit the spacebar to deselect... and then selected the top three faces, right clicked and chose Extrude>Region> normal or Y to extrude the whole areaa as one.... should have we extruded these faces via just Extrude>Normal say, well there would be seperate walls between cubes... not a clean solid mesh area as is the case vi Extrude>Region... try both methods here and then once you have extruded the area, with the faces still selected, right click and Scale>uniform and watch the difference between the two methods...
 
this is what would happen if you just hit say Extrude>normal when extruding out that area... when you scale>uniform or whatever you find they actually are seperate extruded areas....
 
While hitting the Extrude>Region brought out the whole area as one and then when scaled the whole thing also goes as one...
 
and for Selecting....

many routes to go depending on the stage of the model...

Loop election select any edge not right on and end... like in the middle here... and hit "L" (not case sensitive) ... and voila... one loop
 
now just hit "f" and that whole face ring is selected.... note... when you slect from a loop it will select faces each side of the loop... so if it a ring one wide then the ring method is the way to go...

oh yea, and to increase or decrease the amout of the selected area, just hit the +/= keys... :D
 
so there are a couple of tips in how to select those edges/faces... more will come with color selection once we get started...

in the mean time... now that you know how to get a cube on screen, and what extrude method to use... and what you working axis is... pop another cube on screen and work it around some.... practice... Move commands, Extrude commands, scale and rotate commands as well...

select verts (points) by hitting "v" then choosing which ever verts...

edges by "e", and faces by "f"

loops by "L"

Rings by "g"

and don't forget you "shift/tab" for smoothed previews...

here's a shot of the ring selection in shift/tab smooth preview subd mode, and the second one when you then click that smooth white icon top left to gain a now boxy sub-d mode...

==========

next stage.... defining the rough shape....
 
so anyway, I have decided to work with this shape we have just created extruding>region and scaling>uniform....

I don't want such a deep bottom hull for my vehicle so I select the top part by Windows selection method... put cursor near an are and holding left button down drag a select... keep in mind you do not select around said area, but rather just so as you have selected within area... try it both ways to see what the difference is... around area vs through areas like as in shown here...
 
now right click and "move>Y" ... and move your hand slightly to the left until you have it down far enough...
 
hit the space bar to deselect and then do a windows selection grabbing the backend... and then when end face are selected "Move>z... and move your hand right so as the backend looks like it is getting closer to the front... it should end up like this...
 
next, hit spacebar to deselect, hit the middle button and move you hand up so as to gain better view of top/side perspective.... then select the top rear edge as shown here...
 
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