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Uses for Bend tool in Max

lionheart

lionheart

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Just showing how I made a trim thumb wheel.

I started this from just a Spline of 'half' of a notch. I Mirrored a copy of the Spline and welded it together. I then used Cross Section and Surface together, in that order, stacked, with 0.0 as the setting and saved that as the 'section' in Editable Polygon. Note that you make 2 Splines (one is a copy) and you span them together with Cross Section + Surface. That makes the part a 3D object. (Remember to adjust its mesh complexity, and set Surface to 0.0" or you have a mess).

I then created 14 copies in a row, Attached and Welded together to one part, the long strip of knobbie things. I then used Bend to turn it into a wheel.

Next, I used Bridge on all of the notches (that took a while) then selected all openings and used Cap to cap them up. Center circles also. Worked nicely. I wanted to share this. It might help someone. Might really work well with small knobs that have those texture grooves in them. (I already created mine. This would have come in handy.

I had watched some tutorials the other night, one on Bend tool. Goodness. I had never got it to work. This guy reverses the Angle in Bend to -90 deg and it works! Thanks to him for that. Some young boy in India doing a tutorial. I learn so much on YouTube. Incredible....



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Thanks Bill, more than one way of skinning a cat! I still use your spline and Lathe method to make oleo legs - takes moments once the outline is drawn and is fantastic for 3D gauge bezels too. :-)
 
The bend tool is a most useful tool as I've mentioned in another post. I can see you have enjoyed experimenting with it.
For the thumb wheel this is what I would do.
Create a cylinder, 0 height sections and based on 14 nubs give the cylinder a multiple of 14 sides, I chose a multiple of 4, to keep a nice curvature, 56 sides.
Add edit poly and delete end caps.
Select every 4th edge around the circumference and extrude hit plus extrude again for a double extrusion hit plus once more and select the borders of the deleted end caps extruding the edge for a nice chamfer hit done.
hit cap to cap the borders and your finished.
That's how I would skin this cat. ;)
 
Paul Domingue said:
The bend tool is a most useful tool as I've mentioned in another post. I can see you have enjoyed experimenting with it.
For the thumb wheel this is what I would do.
Create a cylinder, 0 height sections and based on 14 nubs give the cylinder a multiple of 14 sides, I chose a multiple of 4, to keep a nice curvature, 56 sides.
Add edit poly and delete end caps.
Select every 4th edge around the circumference and extrude hit plus extrude again for a double extrusion hit plus once more and select the borders of the deleted end caps extruding the edge for a nice chamfer hit done.
hit cap to cap the borders and your finished.
That's how I would skin this cat. ;)
Click to expand...


That is my normal way. Thats how I made one of the knobs on this panel just before I used Bend on this new one. I was able to get all the curvature done for each grip section just the way I wanted it without extruding them later, then bent it into the wheel. And.... I got to use Spline which I think is the fastest way (in most cases) for quick generation of a shape that is rounded using Lathe. Also just for gauge faces, its great to outliine the part (flat plate) with Line (Spline) and then make it a Poly and Extrude it. Several of my octagon shapes and there inner surfaces I did this way (Tom). Great tools... Thank You Jesus for 3DS Max! woo hoooo!


See knob with curved notches, done with extruding. Kind of a pain. Making it in a Bend, first by Spline and section, would have been much faster.

Second (Tom) I created that gauge with two Splines, Attached them, then made them into a Poly. The interior is left out. I extrude parts, cap, done. Super quick. In the old days I would have made that from a box. eeks....
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Another one. Trim Wheel for the elevator. Created the top edge side. I made one section, calcuated that there are 24 units total. Made 23 clones. Attached and welded. Centered the Gizmo. Applied Bend, -90 deg on direction. Bend 360 deg. Voila... Then mirrored it, created the center hub area, widened it with 3X FFD. Done.... Went fairly fast. I cant imagine having created something like this in Gmax. So glad I saved up all my pennies to get Max. Wheww.......

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Note that I accidentally welded the upper extrusions on the top edge of the wheel. They needed to be indented all around. Had to do microsurgery to repair that. Then Mirror and do the centers.

I learned from Arramus to make copies of my part at certain 'big' stages, so I can easily backtrack fast. Delete/Redo/Copy/Delete/Redo...

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Would make a great UFO saucer yacht... :)
 
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Love these threads....thanks Bill. Max is amazing and I always learn when you show stuff you are doing. I sometimes marvel at how deep max is. I can be studying one feature, like lights or rendering, and you are learning stuff I'd never done before in modelling.

My current struggle with max is doing sweeps or lofts using a custom cross section and having the results be predictable without a lot of trial and error time. Each time I've worked long enough to make it work, I move on....and thus, never figure out why my efforts produce so many unexpected results with the process. Commonly the custom cross section is the result of some prior modelling and then I'll turn a selection of edges into a shape. Last night, after trying several things to fix the bizarre sweep I was getting, I traced the shape with a new line, and it worked as I expected. This after struggling for some time using the shape and getting wacky results. Is it just that easy? Probably need more success to be sure, but something about redrawing the shape with line made the difference.
 
bob5568 said:
Last night, after trying several things to fix the bizarre sweep I was getting, I traced the shape with a new line, and it worked as I expected. This after struggling for some time using the shape and getting wacky results. Is it just that easy?
Click to expand...

Yes it is. If you use a Create Shape off the geometry, it picks up the position and orientation of the geometry's original pivot and the results are screwy and unpredictable. Using 3D vertex snap and tracing a new line instead is reliably simple. You can also place the pivot for the new line to suit and it just works. Same goes for lofts and it's exactly the same with Gmax.
 
bob5568 said:
Love these threads....thanks Bill. Max is amazing and I always learn when you show stuff you are doing. I sometimes marvel at how deep max is. I can be studying one feature, like lights or rendering, and you are learning stuff I'd never done before in modelling.
Click to expand...


Bob, you should try this technique...

http://fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/experimenting-with-new-modelling-technique.431495/

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I love that one. NURMs or TurboSmooth, but never tie down the shape in rich polygons until its absolutely finished. You can also stack Modifiers on it, such as Edit Polys, to keep working the mesh while keeping the base simple frame.

Below is 'making a fuselage in Splines.' If you are fortunate to have cross sections, this can be nice. You can also basically draw them over a plane photo, guessing the shape, like making buttons from a photo (knobs and things), then turning the Spline cross sections sideways. Then you join them in order, save a copy, then add CrossSection and Surface (one on top the other), set Surface for 0.0 and adjust mesh count on the bottom slider, (Iterations), and Voila, a fuselage. I only do have the shape then mirror it, or use Assymetrical tool. Works better then Mirror and autowelds. But only after you skin the shape with a surface and make repairs on it. (Never turns our perfect).

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/tutorial-making-a-fuselage-from-splines.272307/


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