3D Modelling Projects

Model an Easter Scene

This project involves modelling Easter Eggs and Easter crosses which are placed into a basket on a table top. The final scene will look something like this:

The instructions are below and you can view a video of the 3D modelling at:

1. Model an Easter egg

1. Open 3ds max and set-up units (mm)

2. In the front view add an egg template or use 3ds max's egg shape which creates inner & outer egg shape (only need one of them); if using 3ds max's egg shape make sure the angle is set to 0. The egg shape needs to be 120mm x 80mm. Position egg shape at 0,0,0. Save the file as Easter_egg.max.

3. Select egg template and freeze selection (turn off Show frozen in grey). In top view create sphere with 18 segments and radius 40mm. Move sphere to 0,0,0 and then scale and move the sphere so that vertically (Z axis) the sphere is roughly the same height as the egg template.

4. Add Edit poly modifier to sphere and name the object 'Egg'. Scale the egg's vertices on X and Z axes so that the sphere takes on the complete shape of the egg template.

5. Unfreeze and delete the egg template and make sure the egg looks correct at different angles in the 3D view. Save your file.

2. Model an Easter cross

1. Start a new file in 3ds max and check the units are still at mm.

2. In top view create a cylinder with radius 40mm, height 20 mm, sides 14, height segments and cap segments 1. Save your file as Easter_cross.max.

3. Add Edit poly modifier and choose Polygon selection. Select the top and bottom face and delete them both. Add Shell modifier with inner amount set to 0mm, outer amount set to 1mm and segments set to 1.

4. Clone the cylinder two times and then name the three cyclinders Cross_vert, Cross_horiz and Cross_mid.

5. Hide Cross_mid and Cross_vert and move Cross_horiz to 0,0,60. Select Edit Poly in the stack and pick Vertex selection. In top view select all the vertices and scale vertically so that there is an inner distance of about 8mm on the Y axis. Next, select the group of middle vertices that form a rectangle and scale them so that they almost touch vertically. This will form a bow shape.

6. Unhide Cross_mid and in top view rotate 90 degrees on Y axis. Move Cross_mid to position -10,0,70 and select Edit Poly from the stack. In top view select all vertices and then scale on Y axis so that it touches Cross_horiz. In front view, with all vertices selected, scale on Y axis the same as you did in the top view. You may need to adjust in the top view so that Cross_mid doesn't intersect Cross_horiz.

7. Unhide Cross_vert, and freeze Cross_horiz and Cross_mid. Rotate Cross_vert 90 degrees on Y axis and then move to -10,-43,70. Pick Edit Poly from stack and choose Vertex selection. In left view select all vertices and scale on X axis so that there is an inner distance of about 8mm on the X axis. Next, select the group of middle vertices that form a rectangle and scale them so that they almost touch horizontally.

8. Move Cross_vert to -10,-4.3,70. Back in Edit Poly mode pick Vertex selection and select all the vertices below the middle section of the cross. Move these vertices to position 0,-4.3,0.

9. Unfreeze all and then group Cross_horiz, Cross_vert and Cross_mid using the name Cross. Open the material editor and in an empty slot add a palm bark texture as a bitmap to the diffuse parameter. Make sure the Show shaded material in viewport option is on and name the material Cross_palm. With the Cross group selected drag the Cross_palm material to the Cross group. To the cross group add a UVW Map modifier and set it to face. Save your file.

3. Model a basket

1. Begin a new file in 3ds max using units of mm.

2. Create a ChamferBox (Geometry->Extended primitives) in the top view with length 365mm, width 175mm, height 75mm and fillet 5mm. Set length, width, height and fillet segs all to 1. Position the object at 0,0,0. Name the object Basket_main. Save your file as Easter_basket.max.

3. Add Edit poly modifier and pick Polygon selection. In the front view select all the top polygons and delete them. Add shell modifier using inner amount of 0mm, outer amount of 5mm and segments 1.

4. Open the material editor and in an empty slot add a basket texture for the base as a bitmap to the diffuse parameter. Turn on the Show shaded material in viewport option and name the material Basket_main_mat. With the Basket_main object selected go into Edit Poly and make sure the selection is set to Element. Then drag the Basket_main_mat material to the Basket_main object. Add a UVW Map modifier to the Basket_main object, set it to box with alignment Z. The default length, width and height values should be OK but adjust them if need be. You may find that an Unwrap UVW modifier is better than the UVW Map modifier.

5. Hide Basket_main and in front view use the Line shape (Shapes->Splines) to draw one half of the handle so you have an 'r' shape. The overall size needs to be 92mm wide and 80mm high with the curve near the top. Name the object Handle_path and position at 0,0,0.

6. In front view draw a rectangle shape (Shapes->Splines) with length 30mm, width 10mm and corner radius 1mm. Name the object Handle_shape. Select Handle_path and create a loft object (Geometry->Compound objects), click Get shape under Creation method and select Handle_shape. In loft properties set shape steps to 0 and path steps to 1. Name the object Handle_1.

7. Hide Handle_shape and Handle_path and then add a Symmetry modifier to Handle_1 with the mirror axis set to X, and Flip, Slice along mirror and Weld seam both on. Move the mirror so that a complete handle is formed.

8. In the material editor choose the next empty slot and add a texture for the handle as a bitmap to the diffuse parameter. Don't forget to turn on the Show shaded material in viewport option and then name the material Basket_handle_mat. Select the Handle_1 object and drag the Basket_handle_mat material to the Handle_1 object. Add to the Handle_1 object an Edit Poly and then an UVW map modifier set to face.

9. Unhide Basket_main and then select Handle_1 and move to -74,96,72. Clone Handle_1 as Handle_2 and move to -74,-96,72. Group Basket_main, Handle_1 and Handle_2 as Basket. Save your file.

4. Model the final scene

1. Begin a new file in 3ds max using units of mm.

2. Import->Merge from the Easter_basket file the Basket object and move to position 0,0,0 then select Freeze selection. From the Easter_egg file Import->Merge the Egg object and clone the egg 5 times so that there are 6 in total and name them Egg_1, Egg_2, etc. Scale each of the eggs so that they are different sizes and then place them in the basket evenly spaced out.  Save your file as Easter_scene.max.

3. In the material editor in an empty slot add a patterned texture of your choice as a bitmap to the diffuse parameter. Set the Specular level and Glossiness to 20. Name the material Egg_wrap_1 and create a number of other egg materials in a similar way with different textures, naming each one Egg_wrap_2, Egg_wrap_3, etc. Drag each of the egg materials in turn to each egg object, reusing the materials as needed. Add to each of the egg objects a UVW map modifier with Cylindrical mapping,  default values for length, width and height and alignment set to Z.

4. Select all six of the eggs and choose Freeze selection. Import->Merge the Cross object from the Easter_cross file and clone two times so there are three crosses in total. Name the crosses Cross_1, Cross_2 and Cross_3. Position and rotate the crosses in the basket to your liking.

5. Hide all objects and then in top view create a box with length 850mm, width 1500mm, height 50mm, and length, width and height segs all set to 1. Name the object Table_top and position at 0,0,-114. Open the material editor, pick an empty slot and add a wood texture as a bitmap to the diffuse parameter. Set Specular level and Glossiness to 20. Turn on the Show shaded material in viewport option and name the material Table_top_mat. Drag the material to the Table_top object.

6. Unhide and unfreeze all objects and then group all objects except Table_top as Basket_and_items. Rotate Basket_and_items 90 degrees on Z axis and then freeze the object using Freeze selection. In the front view add an Omni light (Lights->Standard), name it Key_light and place it at 0,0,206mm. In the light settings turn Shadows on and set Multiplier to 0.8. In front view create another Omni light, name it Fill_light, position it at -308,-74,175mm and set the Multiplier to 0.3. Add an omni light in the front view, name it Back_light, place it at 15,-470,319 and set the Multiplier to 1.

7. Add a Target camera (Cameras->Standard) to the top view with default settings and name the camera Camera_main. Move Camera_main to -30,-446,467mm and Camera_main.Target to 11,-68,1.0mm. Save your file.

8. Render the scene and make any changes to camera, etc. if need be.

All content of this and related pages is copyright (c) James S. 2013-2015