3D
Studio Max Locomotive Dynamic Brake Blister Tutorial
In this
tutorial you will learn how to create the dynamic brake blisters used
on many North American Locomotives.
3DStudio Max will
be referred to as 3ds.
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1. Box and Vertexes
Create
a box with the following
dimensions
| Parameter |
Dimension |
| Length |
2.7 |
| Width |
0.27 |
| Height |
0.5 |
| Length Segs |
3 |
| Width Segs |
1 |
| Height Segs |
2 |
Then
convert the box to editable mesh and using the vertex sub-object select
and move the outer lower vertexes back to the rear vertexes and weld
them in place. You may need to rotate around the view-port to get to
all the vertexes.
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Figure 1 Original
box

Figure 2 Lower
outer vertexes moved and welded
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After you have moved the lower vertexes rotate around
the viewport again until you can see all the verexes on one end. Move the
vertexes as shown in figure 3 welding together as you go. Rotate around the
viewport agian and do the same to the other end.
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Figure 3 End vertexes
moved into location

Figure 4 Box after
all vertexes moved into location.
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2. Chamfering
Now
that the vertexes have been moved into location and welded together
we can chamfer the edges. Select the edges as shown in figure 5 and
type 0.05 into the chamfer setting and press enter.
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Figure 5 First
edges to be chamfered
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Once you have chamfered the first set of edges deselect the lower
edges so that the top six edges are selected as shown in figure 6. Type
0.018 into the chamfer box and press enter. You should end up with the
result shown in figure 7.
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Figure 6 Second
set of edges to be chamfered

Figure 7 End result
after second chamfer

Figure 8 Final
result with smooth modifier added
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3. Smooth modifier
If
after changing the viewport back to "Smooth + Highlights" you are not
satisfied with the smoothness of the mesh then you have two choices.
1. You can select the edges again and chamfer them which will add more
polygons to the mesh or 2. You can add an "Edit Mesh" modifier to the
stack. Adding the "Edit Mesh" modifier allows the mesh to appear smooth
without creating more polygons. When you add the modifier select the
"Auto Smooth" option.
Don't forget to delete the unseen polygons on the back of the Blister.
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Download this tutorial here as
a PDF document.
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