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Gmax: Modelling nosesection

bpahe

bpahe

Resource contributor
Messages
335
Country
sweden
Hi there!

I´m currently modelling the exterior model of my first aircraft for FS, in Gmax, a program that I have a fairly good knowledge on. I´m doing the Evektor Eurostar.

Since the nose is made out of "curved plates" which are not so easy to recreate using modified cylinders or boxes, I am curious of how seasoned designers go about when doing such parts of an aircraft. I started out trying to do the shape using splines/arcs, but am currently using "hi-res" (i.e. with many sections/faces) planes which I shape to form. I guess there might be a better way to do this, so suggestions are most welcome.

Thanks

/hans
 
Hi Hans,

when modeling the fuselage, I start with a box with only one length and one height segment and, depending on how acurate the model should be, up to 10 width segments. Then I add a mesh edit modifier and, because I just model one side (left or right), I delete the two faces (two triangles) in the middle. Next step is to go to the vertex mode, activate the front view, select a vertex and adapt it by moving to the desired form.
Notice that I start in the middle of the fuselage!
Next, I activate the face mode, select the front faces (when designing the tail of course the back faces) and pull a new set of vertices out of the fuselage. In vertex mode I repeat moving the points to the desired position.

With this method, its very easy to design complex structures, because you go on step by step.

I'm not sure if anybody can understand this short description. If not I can post some screenshots. When I am back home.

regards
Vitus
 
Hi Vitus!

I do understand, that´s the way I started out, and probably (?) is the most common way of going at it. But for the first plane I started on (the one I fly, the Atec Zephyr 2000 C), this method did not suite very well, since the plane does not have a straight line anywhere - at all! :)
So I went for the Eurostar instead, but actually started building it in the same way that the real thing is built - using planes (steel in real life, pixels in mine, haha). I think it is quite visible what I mean in the attached image. The bent faces that are shown in this, now quite old, picture are made of cylinders, also the enginecover.
The lower part of the nose however have caused me some trouble, since I find it hard to get a nice, even surface by moving/stretching vertexes. So I want to find out if I am doing it wrong (if there is a right & wrong in our business)... :confused:

/hans
 
Last edited:
Hi!

Attached is an image of the section that is taking its toll on me... the pink area, if that is not obvious. :o

/hans
 

Attachments

  • EuroNose.jpg
    EuroNose.jpg
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Hi Hans,

that doesnt look too bad to me! Of course it still requires a lot of work and manual adjustment, but I dont know a better method then move, squeeze and stretch the vertices ;)

Well I saw a guy at a 3D convention, who designed organical structures, heads and spaceships in minutes, just by using one perspective view and the functions "select", "soft select", "extrude" and "move". He started with a single box and "kneaded" it, as it was a mass of paste! Awesome!

He used lightwave for that and, as he was a pro, modelled the whole day long...

Sorry that I could not help you. :(

regards
Vitus
 
Hi again!

That is help, so thanks. All I need to know if it is the right way to go, and obviously it is. So I´ll keep stretching... :)

/hans
 
There's also the Box Modeling technique - which is a very good way to get smooth flowing surfaces like what you're looking for. You build a very very low poly, boxy object, then apply a Meshsmooth modifier to it, which subdivides the polys into smaller ones and smooths everything out. You can then continue editing the low poly, boxy version (which is very easy since there aren't many vertices), and the smoothed result will update on the fly. For more info, check out the very last thread on this page:

http://64.34.169.161/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=10;t=1985;st=80
________
BeautyDuo
 
Last edited:
Hi!

Thank you both for the very usefull links - I have searched a lot for tutorials but had not found those.

I did a fair deal of work yesterday and basically finished the nosesection. It needs some shaping, most of all one vertex needs to be split since it gives a too sharp edge for the smoothing to take care of. I mostly used lines to create closed splines which was then converted to editable meshes, which resulted in a rather low-polygon area. I´ll move on now to do the tail & wings and will carefully read the tutorials whilst building these.

/hans
 
Hi!

I´m posting an image of the work so far, better than the first try, I think! :)

/hans
 

Attachments

  • eurostar_02.jpg
    eurostar_02.jpg
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Very nicely done... make sure when you've finished molding all the parts that they've joined/welded together and smoothed... :cool:
 
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