Transforming Primitives

Complicated 3D Objects are usually created from collections of simple primitives such as Cubes, Cylinders etc.

Unmodified primitives can be used to create many common objects. But to create most objects, primitives are transformed into other shapes using Operations.

What follows is an explanation of how to transform a cube into another object by application of the Operation-Extrude.gif (924 bytes) Extrude Operation and Operation-Smooth.gif (525 bytes) Smooth Operation.


Click Button-Toolbar-RenderSmooth.gif (176 bytes) to turn Smooth Rendering off. Smooth Rendering is typically used for final rendering of scenes. During the modeling phase however it tends to obscure the details of an object making modeling more difficult.

Drag and Drop a Cube onto the scene.
TutorialDetail1.gif (19027 bytes)

 

Enter Face Selection Mode by clicking on Button-Toolbar-SelectFace.gif (906 bytes). Select a single face. Note that the appearance of the face selected may not be exactly as shown here. You may find that the select face is outlined rather than being painted blue.

Set the parameters for the Extrude Operation by right clicking on Operation-Extrude.gif (924 bytes). An Extrusion Amount of 0 and a Bevel Amount of -.2 is required. This will extrude the face 0 units and bevel it -.2 units. This will result in a subdivision of the selected face into five faces.

Click on Operation-Extrude.gif (924 bytes) to perform the Extrusion Operation.

 

TutorialDetail2.gif (18622 bytes)

 

Select the center face created.

Extrude this face with an Extrusion Amount of .3 and a Bevel Amount of 0. This will extrude the selected face .3 units and apply no bevel.
TutorialDetail3.gif (18871 bytes)

 

The result of the extrusion.
TutorialDetail4.gif (19683 bytes)

 

Select the extruded face.

Extrude it with an Extrusion Amount of 0 and a Bevel Amount of -.1. This will result in a subdivision of the selected face into five faces.
TutorialDetail5.gif (19039 bytes)

 

Select the center face created.

Extrude the face with an Extrusion Amount of -.3 and a Bevel Amount of 0. This will intrude the face .3 units.
TutorialDetail6.gif (19145 bytes)

 

The result of the intrusion.
TutorialDetail7.gif (20125 bytes)

 

Repeat all steps on the other original faces of the cube.
TutorialDetail8.gif (21140 bytes)

 

Apply the Operation-Smooth.gif (525 bytes) Smooth Operation two times.

Apply the Operation-Crease.gif (514 bytes) Crease Operation and adjust the slider to show the amount of creasing you want.

 

TutorialDetail9.gif (23027 bytes)

 

Click Button-Toolbar-RenderSmooth.gif (176 bytes) to turn Smooth Rendering on.

So what do we have? Nothing really. But, these techniques are used extensively to add details to objects.
TutorialDetail10.gif (24006 bytes)