Spline Modelling Tutorials

[onlyplace4 603]

Spline Modelling

by onlyplace4

Part One

Getting Started

Level: Beginner

Introduction

Many people are often totally bemused and bewildered by the vast array of tools available to them within gMax, and even more so when, or if, they progress onto 3D Studio Max. As a result I am going to do my best to take you through the process of spline modelling, starting with the very basic elements, and progressing through all the various tools, interfaces and functions.

However, before we start actually modelling with splines we need to understand a little about the gMax interface and what the various buttons etc., do. Therefore, this first tutorial will be very basic and will concentrate, in part, on the gMax interface.

Getting Started

Obviously, before you can do anything you need to lay your hands on both gMax and the SimCity 4 Building Architect Tool (B.A.T.). I will assume, for the purposes of this section that you have a registered version of SimCity 4 with the Rush Hour expansion pack, or that you have purchased the Deluxe version of the game.

gMax was/is a free 3D modelling program produced by the same company that produces the amazingly powerful (and complex) 3D Studio Max. However, on October 6, 2005 this company (Autodesk) made the decision to no longer supply gMax as a stand-alone product. All is not lost though as the program is still available from Turbo Squid. If you do not have gMax you will need to register with Turbo Squid (www.turbosquid.com), but don't worry, registration is free. Once you are registered go to www.turboquid.com/gmax and you can download and instal the program. You will need to do this BEFORE you instal the B.A.T. as the B.A.T. is actually a plugin for gMax and not a stand-alone program.

With gMax installed you can now download and instal the B.A.T. To do this you need to register your game with http://simcity.ea.com and then go to http://simcity.ea.com/coolstuff/bat/index.php where you will find the download at the top of the left hand column. You should also, whilst you are on the site, download any or all of the updates and patches that you might think you need, including the Lot Editor and Plugin Manager as you will need both of these to get your creations in game.

Ok. So now you have programs installed you are ready to go, but I can bet that 90% of people will sit google eyed at the screen the very first time they open up the B.A.T. (yes, you open the B.A.T. to open gMax for modelling for SimCity 4 as this is the only way to get gMax to utilise the extensions of the B.A.T.).

The gMax interface

Now we get down to the nitty-gritty, and start to look at the program itself. I am not going to go through each and every command in the program as, after all, experimentation is usually the best way to learn anything new. I will, however, go through a few of the most important functions that have a 'must know now' status.

On the top menu Bar select Customize > Grid and Snap Settings. This will open up the dialogue shown below:

For working with splines (which is after all the purpose of this tutorial series) I would always recommend that you select the options you see ticked in the picture above. Don't worry what these mean at the moment, all will become clear!

Now select the 'Home Grid' Tab in the dialogue so that it looks like that shown below:

Change the 'Major Lines every Nth' to 10 and uncheck the 'Inhibit Grid Subdivision Below Grid Spacing' so that these now resemble:

Now you can click the red X close button at top right and the dialogue will close. Don't worry that there is no OK or Cancel button. Simply closing the dialogue updates your settings.

Now we need to turn the Snap function on so that what you draw on the screen will be aligned with the grid and/or the other splines in your model. To do this we look at the bottom of the main screen just to the left of the large button that says 'Animate' This area, upon loading, should look like:

Select the Magnet icon that is just to the right of the 3D cube. If you hold down your mouse button over the icon a small submenu will spring up allowing you to select which of the various 2D snap functions you want to use. I always make sure that I select the one with the small number 3 to top right of the icon. Once you have selected it you should have:

Now we are set up and ready to model!

Your first spline model

OK, first problem ... just where the heck are the Splines hidden? You could spend a lot of time looking for them, but they are very easy to find. On the right hand side of the screen you will find six tabs, a row of icon, a drop down menu, a box headed 'Object Type' and another called 'Name and Color'.

Select the second icon from the left and, hey presto, you have the spline modelling selections!

Select the button marked 'Line' and you are ready to draw.

Ignore all the various sub-settings for the moment, though I do sometimes change the 'Drag Type' from 'Bezier' to 'Corner', but it's not essential to do this.

However, before we start to draw we need to check one more thing, so in the top menu bar select the 'Object Select' tool, as this will cancel the 'Line' tool.

Now select the Front viewport by clicking in it and check the Grid scaling at bottom right of the main screen.

Initially this will be 10.0 (as shown above), but we need this to be 1.00 so that one small square is one unit wide as in SimCity 4 one unit = 1 meter. For ease of reference I will refer to modelling units as gu (generic unit), so by setting the grid size to 1.00 we are in fact setting it to 1 gu. To do this you need to zoom in to the Front viewport. You can do this two ways. Either you can use the thumbwheel on your mouse until the Grid scaling says 'Grid = 1.0', or you can select the zoom tool (bottom right of screen)

and then drag your cursor over the Front viewport whilst holding down your left mouse button until you reach the desired Grid scaling. If you move the heavy horizontal and vertical lines in the Front viewport whilst doing this, simply hold down your middle mouse button (the thumbwheel), and drag your mouse across the viewport as doing this pans the viewport.

Right, now we have all that sorted, select the 'Line' tool from the Spline menu to the right of the main screen and then place your mouse ten small squares to the left of the heavy vertical line, and on the heavier horizontal line. The X:Y:Z indicators at the bottom of the main screen should say -10.0|0.0|0.0 if you do this correctly. You will notice a bright cursor appears behind the tool cursor, but this cursor does not exactly follow the mouse, but instead snaps to the grid intersections. This is the grid snap coming into play, and it means that we do not need to be 100% over the intersection, but rather near it, and the program will make sure that the line starts at the correct place.

Ok. Now click your left moouse button to start the line, and then release the button. If you move your mouse you will now see your line anchored to the point we just selected which is at x=-10.0, y=0, z=0.

Now set points at the following co-ordinates:

X	Y	Z
-1	0	0
-1	0	5
1	0	5
1	0	0
10	0	0
10	0	10
-10	0	10
-10	0	0

When you set the last point you will get the following dialogue:

Select 'Yes' and you will complete the spline, closing it and turning it into an editable object. Your Front viewport should now resemble:

Don't worry if you've made a few mistakes as now I'm going to show you how to correct them. Lets say that you positioned the top right hand corner at x=10, y=0, z=9 ; one lower than it should have been in the z direction. All is not lost, don't panic, it's easy to rectify. Select the second Tab on the row of six tabs at top right of the main screen (the one showing a bent blue pipe), and you will be presented with the Modifier menu. Don't be alarmed, it's really not as hard as it looks!

Under the heading 'Selection' click on the series of red dots

which will put a '+' on each and every point (or vertex) on the line you drew (you'll notice that now my top right corner is lower than it should be). Click on the point that is not positioned correctly and it will be highlighted with a pair of arrows leading out from it. However, it is still locked in place and we need to select the 'Select and Move' tool from the top menu bar (the one with crossed double-ended arrows)

Now go back to the Front viewport and you will see that the arrows have changed and you have a red '+' over the point we need to move. Simply place your cursor over the selected point (the mouse pointer will change to resemble the selected tool), press and hold down your left mouse button, and drag the point up one square, then release your mouse button. There you go, fixed the error! Click anywhere in the viewport and the point selection is cancelled.

Ok, lets say that we want to move both the top corners down to z=8 ( down two squares). To do this select a point to the left of the top left corner point, press and hold down your left mouse button, and drag a box across both the top points. As you drag your mouse a dotted line box will be displayed. When you have dragged the box around both points, release the mouse button and both top points will be selected. Now place your cursor over either of them, press and hold your left mouse button, and drag the point down two squares, noticing that as you drag one they both move. Now when you release your mouse button your Front viewport should resemble:

Click on the modifier selector again (the highlighted icon with the red dots), and you come out of the editting mode whereupon the hightlights for each set point will disappear.

So what use is a simple outline of what is obviously a wall with a doorway? Not a lot as it stands, but you can give the wall solidity easy enough. At the top of the Modifier menu there is a dropdown menu which will have Modifier List in it. Click on the arrow to the right of this and the list will open. Again, don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks. From the list select 'Extrude'

and instantly your spline will be filled with colour in your Perspective viewport. We want to give the wall some depth as, at the moment, it is simply a plane, so to do this we put a number into the 'Amount' box. Try various numbers remembering that positive numbers give a positive y effect, and negative numbers give, quite naturally, a negative y effect. 0.5 should be enough, though in my own models I tend to go for 0.2 gu.

And there you go, a solid wall with a hole in it for a door.

Before I finish this starting tutorial, we'll make the wall a bit more useable.

In the modifier menu select Extrude and the click the small trash can to the bottom of that list to remove the extrusion. This will return you to the simple spline model.

Now select the first tab of the six at the top of the right hand menu bar and once again select the 'Line' tool. Back in the front viewport add two more splines at the following co-ordinates in exactly the same way as you did for the main spline.

X	Y	Z
-7	0	5
-3	0	5
-3	0	2
-7	0	2	close spline
3	0	5
7	0	5
7	0	2
3	0	2	close spline

  

Your front viewport should now resemble

Again you can edit any of the points if you have made a mistake.

Next select the Modifier menu (second tab on the right hand menu bar) making sure that one of the three splines we have just drawn remains selected. Look down the menu until you find the button marked 'Attach' under the heading 'Geometry'.

Select it and then return to your Front viewport and position your cursor over one of the unselected splines and click you left mouse button. Do this for the other spline as well, and then deselect the 'Attach' tool. You can tell when you are over a splain that can be attached as the mouse cursor will change. Now reselect the 'Extrude' tool from the Modifier list (which will still be set to the Amount you previously set and, there you have it, a wall with a doorway and two windows.

---

In the next tutorial I will be looking at how to form more complex objects using splines and will be dealing with a few of the more basic modifier functions.

[Constantina 5]

Great Article!

There used to be an article called 'Splines are a Snap!' in 4.0. It is similar to this article.

[onlyplace4 603]

Can anyone see the images? I've been trying to resize two of them with the hosting I used and their site does not seem to be responding at the moment. If this continues I will rehost the pictures elsewhere and then edit the article.

Edit: decided not to wait so have rehosted pics and editted article to suit ... hopefully all will now be ok

[steVie 0]

Good post onlyplace4. I recently picked up this fantastic program to hopefully one day join the ranks of some of the batting gods here. It's a great walkthrough and I'm sure will come in handy for others as well. And Constantina was right about the Splines are a Snap post. It is here in the Omnibus https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=140&threadid=74880&enterthread=y ..as another piece of reference.

[MStar 0]

So I've managed to do this through the clicking points, as well as using the spline box function to specify a length and width, but what I really want to do is use the keyboard entry function for line splines. For some reason though, the shapes don't extrude properly when I do it that way. If I make the same example wall, but entering the points manually using keyboard entry, the spline looks fine, but won't extrude properly afterwards. Extruding only seems to make it taller (adding the thickness to the Z axis instead of the Y.)

Any idea how I can fix this?

[onlyplace4 603]

You have to ensure that you have the right viewport selected. If you have the perspective viewport selected you will find all kinds of problems as splines are directional by viewport. I would suggest doing the spline editting in the front viewport for those yu want to extrude front/back, and in the top viewport for those you want to extrude up/down.

Hopefully that will cure your problem.

[MStar 0]

Creating it in the top viewport causes it to extrude left/right (x axis)

The top and left viewports cause it to extrude up/down (z axis)

<edit> hmm i think i got something... bbiab

[MarcosMX 216]

MStar: That's weird. If you create a spline in the Top View Port it should extruded down or Z axis.

[MStar 0]

http://www.plurplurplur.com/PGIMiResE.gmax is the building I'm trying to do, but the keyboard entry splines are causing me grief.

[Aidian_KIDD 0]

Awesome tut, really helped with the basics of shapes and makeing realistic walls and buldings...hope to see your next one soon!

[Petrij 1]

Great tutorial! Images is good! When will be next part ? I tryed to make house but second wall was strange rotated mhmm how to name that

[Jasoncw 11,840]

Moved from BAT - Workshop Archive.