Finishing the Power Charger Model

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You'll complete the power charger using versions of methods you learned earlier in the tutorial, but you'll also learn a new technique that lets you create a new object based on an existing object's position and orientation.

Open a starting file:

Choose File > Open and browse to the \tutorials\new_modeling folder. Open the file tut_powercharger_base5.max.

Clone the conduit:

Click to select the Power Conduit - Base object in the viewport.
Right-click and choose Rotate from the Transform quadrant.
If necessary, press the = key to enlarge the Transform gizmo.

You'll clone the object as you rotate it.
Hold down the Shift key and then rotate the object about the X axis by 90 degrees.

Watch the coordinate display in the status bar as you rotate the object.
In the Clone Options dialog, make sure Copy is chosen, name the object Power Conduit - Midlink. Click OK.
On the toolbar, click the Select And Move button, and then make sure the reference coordinate system is set to Local.
Position the clone so it is between the four strut landings (the flat planes on the top of the two-hole housing). First move it in the YZ plane, then on the X axis.
Use Arc Rotate to rotate the viewport so you can see the new position from another angle.

Move in local YZ plane.

Move on local X axis.

Rotate the view.
Zoom in and position the clone so it intersects with the two-hole housing.

Position the clone like this.
On the toolbar, click and hold the Scale button to show the Select And Scale flyout. Choose Non-Uniform Scale, and then set the reference coordinate system to Local.
Scale the conduit along the local Z axis to shorten it.

You can use the same technique to make the struts.

Create a strut:

Hold down the Shift key and then use Select And Non-Uniform Scale in the Local Z Axis so the clone (Copy) is taller than the conduit. Name the new object PowerStrut.
Use the corner gizmo to select the XY plane and scale the PowerStrut object so it has a narrow radius.

Non-Uniform scale to narrow the radius.
Move the PowerStrut so it is positioned directly over one of the strut landings.

Position the PowerStrut object like this.

You'll employ a neat trick now, by choosing the reference coordinate system of the two-hole housing to clone the other struts.

Instance the other struts:

Make sure the Move tool is still active, and then from the reference coordinate system list, choose Pick. Then click either side of the two-hole housing in the viewport.

The name of the object you have selected (either Two-hole Housing - Left or Two-hole Housing - Right) appears in the reference coordinate system field.
Now use Shift-Move to position a clone of the strut object to the other side of the two-hole housing. In the Clone Options group, choose Instance. Click OK.

Moving in another object's coordinate system

Since you are in the coordinate system of the housing, the new strut aligns easily.
Hold down the Ctrl key and click the original strut. Now, with the two struts selected, use Shift-Move again to create the two back struts. Again, in the Clone Options group, choose Instance and click OK.

The strut instances
Click Select and Non-Uniform Scale, and choose Use Pivot Point Center. Scale the struts along the Z axis using the Two-hole Housing - Left coordinate system. Scale them so they are just slightly taller than the power conduit.

Tip: Watch the struts in the Left viewport to better gauge the size of the struts.

Unhide more components:

Select and hide the Power Conduit - Midlink and the PowerStruts objects.
Unhide Cylinders 02 - 06 to display the pre-modeled power conduit - midlink and powerstruts.
Unhide Box03 and Box04 to display the one-hole housing.
Unhide Box01 and Box05 to display the no-hole housing.
Unhide Cylinders 07 - 12 to display the upper power conduit and the additional struts.

These parts were all made with techniques you have already learned.

You're almost finished creating the power charger. All that remains is to model the turret and barrel.

Create the turret and barrel:

Rotate your viewport so you can see the front of the no-hole housing.

Starting viewport looks like this.
On the Create panel, choose Sphere from the Object Type rollout.
Turn on AutoGrid.
Create a sphere at the front of the no-hole housing.
In the Parameters rollout, turn on Base To Pivot.

This moves the base of the sphere to its pivot point, which is normally in the center. That way the sphere is fully visible when using AutoGrid.
Set Hemisphere to 0.5. Use the spinner and watch in the viewport.
Set Radius to 40 units.
Set Segments to 15.

Create a hemisphere for the turret.

There are many objects in the viewport now, so it's getting difficult to see what's going on. Next, you'll use the Isolate function to make modeling the barrel easier.

Isolate the turret:

With the sphere selected, from the Tools menu, choose Isolate Selection.

All the objects in the scene are hidden except for the turret.

Tip: If you still see the original Start Shape object, go to Display panel > Hide rollout and turn on Hide Frozen Objects.

Model in Isolate mode:

Right-click the hemisphere and choose Convert To > Convert To Editable Poly.
If necessary, rotate the view until you can see the front of the hemisphere.
On the toolbar, from the Region Selection flyout, choose Circular Selection Region.
In the modifier stack, expand Editable Poly and click Polygon.
In the Selection Rollout, turn on Ignore Backfacing.

Tip: This step is important. If you don't turn on Ignore Backfacing, you'll be selecting more polygons than you need.
On the toolbar, click Select Object.
Starting at the center, drag a selection circle to select the top two rings of polygons at the top of the hemisphere. You need only drag outside the innermost circle of polygons to pick up both rings.

Drag a selection circle within the second ring of polygons.

Result: all these polygons are selected.
Flatten the top of the hemisphere by non-uniform scaling the faces along the Local Z axis.

Remember to change the reference coordinate system.
Once the faces are flat, move the polygons back toward the hemisphere.

Scale and move along the local Z axis.
On the toolbar, click the Select Object button, and then select only the inner circle of polygons, by dragging a circle. Once you've selected these polygons, extrude them, and then bevel and extrude a few times to create the charger gun barrel. Use a negative extrusion to create the hole in the barrel.

Select these red polygons.
Use Extrude to begin building the barrel. Use the following illustration as a guide for the extrusion height.

Creating the barrel.
Next, use Bevel to construct the end of the barrel. Use Bevel Settings because you'll make several extrusions and bevel to form the end.

Bevel and finish with negative extrusion.
Click the yellow Exit Isolation button to exit Isolate mode and view your finished model. If necessary, move or rotate the gun barrel a little to align it better with the rest of the model. You can also open the Material Editor and drag the Gray Block material to the barrel.

If you don't see all the geometry click Zoom Extents in the viewport navigation controls, and the entire model should reappear.

Finished model of the power charger.

You can find a finished version of this model in the file tut_powercharger_complete.max.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned how to convert 2D shapes to 3D objects. Then, using low polygon modeling techniques, you learned how the sculpting tools in Autodesk VIZ can be used to create more complex objects.