To create the shapes for the telephone receiver, you'll use some of the same techniques that you used to create the cross-sections of the base. For the receiver, you'll make three cross-sections.
Load a start file:
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Continue from the previous lesson, Loft the Telephone Base, or you can open telephone_base_3d.max from the folder.
Create the receiver cross-sections:
The receiver cross-sections will be made as if looking directly down on the telephone. You will create two cross-sections; one for the mouth and ear piece at each end of the receiver, and one to represent the middle of the handle section.
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If you're continuing from the previous lesson, select all the objects and shapes and right-click to open the quad menu. From the Display (upper-right) quad, click Hide Selection.
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Activate the Top viewport and then drag to create a circle and set its radius.
The initial size doesn't matter because you'll adjust that next.
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On the Parameters rollout, set the Radius to 10.
This produces the first cross-section.
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On the Name And Color rollout, change the name to Receiver–End.
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The Circle tool is still active so create another circle next to the first.
You will modify this one to represent the middle cross-section of the receiver.
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On the Parameters rollout, set the new circle's Radius to 5. This is the second cross-section.
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On the Name and Color rollout, change the name to Receiver–Middle.
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Create one more circle and set its radius to 7 to produce the third cross-section.
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On the Name And Color rollout, change the name to Receiver–Bend.
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Select Receiver-Middle, then right-click and choose Convert To > Convert to Editable Spline. Do the same for Receiver-Bend.
When you convert the first spline, Autodesk VIZ displays the Modify panel so you can start editing the shape of the cross-sections.
Reshape the bend and middle cross-sections:
You could leave the cross-sections as they are, but you're going to adjust some of the vertices to give the sections a better shape, something a little more “retro” and stylish.
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Drag a selection window around the top and bottom vertices.
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On the main toolbar, click Select And Move to turn it on, and then move the two vertices upward, as shown in the following
illustration.
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On the Selection rollout, turn on Segment mode, and then drag a selection window across both bottom segments.
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Move the segments downward to match the following illustration.
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In the modifier stack, click the Editable Spline entry to turn off sub-object mode.
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Select the Receiver-Bend shape. Then in the modifier stack display, expand its hierarchy and click Vertex to use the Vertex sub-object level.
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Drag a selection window around the top and bottom vertices.
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Drag them upward slightly, so they match the following illustration.
Now you can loft the receiver.
If you wanted, you could make a selection of different end cross-sections, such as an octagonal and a square one, or different mid-handle shapes. Then while lofting, you could try the different cross-sections to see which pleases you or your clients the most.