Mapping the Roof

The front section of the house still needs the roof mapping applied with proper orientation.

1.  Return to the top of the modifier stack and apply a Mesh Select modifier.

2.  Go to the Polygon sub-object level.

3.  In the top viewport, Ctrl-click both visible polygons on HouseShape01. These should be the two roof polygons, as seen in the perspective viewport(s).

4.  Apply a Material modifier and set the ID to 3.

5.  Apply a UVW Map modifier with Planar mapping along the Y axis.

6.  Enter the Sub-Object level of the UVW Map modifier.

7.  Rotate the gizmo 90 degrees in the World Z axis.

8.  Click Fit, exit the Sub-Object level, and deselect the house by clicking anywhere off the object in a viewport.

The front section of the house is complete. You should now have a scene matching the file House04.max from the CD. Take a moment to examine the modifier stack for HouseShape01 at this stage.

9.  Select the object HouseShape02.

10.  Apply a Mesh Select modifier and choose Polygon as the sub-object level.

11.  In a perspective viewport, click the long, front polygon of the rear section of the house. (This is the side of the house that currently has a roof material mapped to it; see Figure 4.28.)

FIGURE 4.28  The modifier stack after mapping the windows

12.  Apply a Material modifier with an ID value of 2.

13.  Apply a UVW Map modifier of Planar type and with X axis alignment.

14.  Click Fit.

15.  Go to the Sub-Object level of the UVW Map modifier and, using the Select and Non-Uniform Scale tool, scale the mapping gizmo along the X axis down to 35 percent.

16.  At this point, you should take the time to go back and rename the modifiers for HouseShape02. Save or hold the scene.

17.  Return to the top of the stack for the object HouseShape02. Once again, apply a Mesh Select and choose Polygon as the sub-object level.

18.  While holding down the Ctrl key, click the two, tall end polygons of the back section of the house (you might have to do this in two different perspective viewports).

19.  Apply a Material modifier with an ID of 4. You should now have something like Figure 4.29.

FIGURE 4.29  You should now have windows on all the short walls of the house.

20.  In the Polygon sub-object level, apply a Mesh Select and select both of the roof polygons using the Ctrl key.

21.  Apply a UVW Mapping modifier. Select Planar as the method.

22.  Rotate the gizmo 90 degrees.

23.  Click the Fit button.

24.  Increase U tiles to 1.5 in the Mapping Parameter rollout.

25.  Arc Rotate around to the backside of the house. Apply a Mesh Select and select the last polygon (the rear wall of the house).

26.  Add a Material modifier with an ID value of 5.

27.  Apply a Planar type UVW Mapping modifier with Z axis alignment.

The house is now complete, and after renaming the modifier stack of HouseShape02, you should have a finished house, as seen in the file House05.max. Again, you may want to take some time to examine the modifier stacks of the two objects present in the scene. The stacks may seem long for the “simple” resulting model, but keep in mind that every edit and every parameter performed to these original shapes can be “gone back to” in the stack at any time and altered.

Once the decision has been made that the house is complete and you will be putting it into a game engine, you would first collapse the stack and save a version of the house that has a name like “House01-collapsed.max”. All the mapping and UVW coordinates will remain, but the overhead of the modifier stack will be eliminated.

There is also a great feature in MAX called Polygon Counter under the Utility tab. This will bring up a floater that counts the polygons of both the current selection and the entire scene. This is good if you know the target maximum you are “allowed” to have for a specific game platform.

Summary

Modeling with solid objects is only one way to create complex models in MAX. Now that you have completed this chapter, you should have a deeper understanding of how to put these types of objects to work for you. Additionally, you should be able to comprehend some of the direct benefits of both types of solid geometry—modifiers and compound objects. Finally, you should be well on your way to comfortably experimenting with this type of modeling.

Finding the balance between speed, complexity of the mesh (face counts), and levels of detail (accuracy) is almost an art unto itself. As your experience with the program grows, your ability to delineate which method to use (solid or spline modeling) will improve. In the next chapter, we will explore organic modeling.

© 2000, Frol (selection, edition, publication)