Home > Tutorials > TRS2006 Gmax Locomotive Dynamic Brake Blister Tutorial

Gmax Locomotive Dynamic Brake Blister Tutorial

In this tutorial you will learn how to create the dynamic brake blisters used on many North American Locomotives.

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.

Figure 1 Original box

Figure 2 Lower outer vertexes moved and welded

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.

Figure 3 End vertexes moved into location

Figure 4 Box after all vertexes moved into location.

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. (Hold down the control key to select multiple edges)

Figure 5 First edges to be chamfered

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.

Figure 6 Second set of edges to be chamfered

Figure 7 End result after second chamfer

Figure 8 Final result with smooth modifier added

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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