Setting Up Viewport Backgrounds

Your Ad Here

You can load images or drawings in viewport backgrounds to use as patterns for building your airplane. Each viewport can have its own background, so you can load a corresponding image in the Front, Side, and Top viewports to guide you as you build your model.

In general, when modeling something you've previously visualized or seen, it's best to start with sketches from several different viewpoints, such as top, side, and front. Also, the drawings should all be to the same scale, if possible. In this lesson, you'll use three drawings of an P-38 Lightning taken from WWII plane-spotting cards.

Three views of the P-38 Lightning from a set of plane-spotting cards

Set up viewport backgrounds:

Move your cursor to the Top viewport and right-click to make it active.
On the menu bar, choose Views > Viewport Background.

Tip: You can also use the keyboard shortcut, Alt+B.
In the Viewport Background dialog's Background group, click Files.
Navigate to the \tutorials\p38_lightning folder and choose p38topview.jpg. Click Open.
In the Aspect Ratio group, choose Match Bitmap. Click OK.

A sketch of the top view of the fighter is visible in the Top viewport and the Viewport Background dialog closes.

Top viewport displays the Top view background image.
Turn off the grid display by pressing the G key.
Choose Views > Viewport Background to again open the Viewport Background dialog.
At the lower left, click the arrow by the Viewport field, and choose Left.

The Left viewport becomes active.
Click Files and choose p38leftview.jpg for the Left viewport. Again, choose Match Bitmap. Click OK. Turn off the grid display again.

Left viewport with its corresponding background image.
Right-click in the Front viewport and press Alt+B to open the Viewport Background dialog again. Click Files again and choose p38frontview.jpg for the Front viewport. Choose Match Bitmap, then click OK. Turn off the grid display.

The three images are displayed in their appropriate viewports.

Next you will zoom and pan each view to more closely match the background images to the calibration box to make sure the three viewports are in the same scale. Each image is currently centered within the calibration box.

Calibrate the viewports:

Activate the Top viewport.
In the viewport navigation controls, at the lower right, click Zoom. Zoom the Top viewport until the width of the box matches the width of the wings. Match the wingspan as closely as you can.
Click Pan in the viewport controls, and then pan the viewport to center the box over the bitmap vertically. It won't be perfect, the two rudders will extend slightly beyond the calibration box.

Top viewport aligned with calibration box
Zoom the Front viewport. Again match the wingspan first using zoom, then pan to adjust the vertical height. Since the landing gear is not shown in the plane-spotting card, align the top of the box with the tops of the rudders.

Front viewport aligned with the calibration box.
Now repeat zooming and panning in the Left viewport.

Left viewport aligned with calibration box

All three viewports are now calibrated so the picture in the viewport represents the approximate dimensions of the P-38.

You can zoom and pan the background images in the viewport if you want to center or enlarge them. To zoom or pan the background images do the following:

Zoom the background images and calibration box:

Activate the Top viewport, then choose Views > Viewport Background.
Turn on Lock Zoom/Pan.

Turning on Lock Zoom/Pan locks the background image and objects together, so if you use the zoom or pan buttons from the viewport navigation controls, you can zoom in on the background image and objects or shift them horizontally or vertically.

This is very handy if you have a detailed background sketch and know you will be zooming in to work on objects.
Repeat this for the Left and Front viewports.

You will notice the background image shifts when you close the Viewport Background dialog.

Tip: Sometimes the background image can shift out of alignment with your geometry. This is inconvenient, but there is a workaround.

If you open up a saved file or notice the background image has shifted, do one of the following:

Use the viewport navigation Zoom and Pan buttons to make the background images the correct size and position in the viewports. Turn off Lock Zoom/Pan, and then use the same navigation tools to align the geometry with the bitmaps. You can use Ctrl+Alt+B to toggle Lock Zoom Pan.
You can also move the objects in the scene to match the background image. Then if you use Zoom Extents, the image will be centered with the geometry.

Hide the calibration box:

You don't need the calibration box now, so you can hide it. To do so, select the box in any viewport, right-click, and then choose Hide Selection from the quad menu.

You can always unhide the calibration box and repeat the above procedure to re-calibrate. To unhide the box, go to the Display panel and choose Unhide By Name, then in the dialog, select the box.
Save your work as myp38_backgrounds.max.

Creating the Wings