Our team member Eumel3d has wrote a F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions) for his Spline-Head 3ds max tutorial, based on feedback he got from readers. Check it out - 11 questions - 11 answers...
| How to model a Spline-Head in 3d Studio MAX
Part IV - Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.) Hey boys and girls, As I have gotten tons of mails about my Spline-Head-Tutorial, I decided to write a kind of Part 4. It's more of a FAQ, but at the end I will give you the main hints on how to model the eyes and the ears. So: As soon as you get a problem in one of the 3 parts just take a look at this Add-On Tutorial; I am sure you will find the answer. Alright enough stupid talking. Lets start: 1. When I have finished Part 1 and add the surface modifier, I get a picture like the one below. What have I done wrong?
Question 1: When I have finished Part 1 and add the surface modifier, I get a picture like the one below. What have I done wrong?
Answer: Alright, 3 possibilities:
Perhaps you have connected the wrong points. If you have done that: Select your line, goto the modify-menu and select Segment. Now select the 2 wrong segments (they should turn red) and hit the "del" button. After that, click the create-line-button and create the lines as they should be. 2.You have saved in .3ds format (DO NOT DO THAT; save in max-format. The reason is that in .3ds, you loose all your modifiers which we need later on.)
Lots of people have just chosen the wrong modifier from the list. In the tutorial, I wrote that you should add the "Surface" Modifier. Most of you selected "Material," which is a kind of surface-modifier (first pic below). The problem is, that we do not have a surface yet, so you cannot select the Material modifier. The modifier you should take is a spline/editing-tool (second pic below). So if you have chosen the wrong modifier, remove that modifier from the stack and add the right one. Question 2: When I have finished Part 1 and I add the "Surface" Modifier, I get a picture like the one below. What have I done wrong?  Answer: No problem. Just activate "flip-normals" in the modify-menu Question 3: I have saved my project. When I open it again, the background /images are gone (not in the right position, etc....) Answer: Sometimes 3dsmax doesn't always do what we want ;). If you hit the "shift"+"ctrl"+"alt"+"b" buttons and the image is still not the Go to your front-viewport and create a box which has exactly the same size as the pic (if you are using the pic from the woman from the tutorial: width=320, lenght=384, height=0. Now, open your material editor. Select a free material field scroll down to diffuse-map and select bitmap and add the nfront.jpg you have downloaded. When done, change everything that is shown on the right. (click to enlarge) Now apply the material to the box. You should see the woman's head in your front-viewport (you have to change your viewport settings to "smooth and highlight" by right-clicking on the word "front". Now move the box until it fits your previously created line. Do the same with your right viewport. Question 4: Why do I get so many sharp corners while modelling the head?
Answer: No problem: Just select all the vertices from the head, right-click on one of them and select smooth. Another thing you should think about is: When you want to create a new line in 3dsmax and want to connect it to an existing spline-cage, you have to activate 3dsnap-endpoint. When doing this, everytime you move your mouse-cursor over an existing vertex, a blue line appears. This blue line shows you to which line 3dsmax will attach the new line. So when creating the head, everyone has to know to which line he/she wants to connect the new line. Alright, that is still a bit complicated. Therefore, I have added a few pictures, which should help. You know that is very important, because when you later want to add the "Surface" modifier and you did not pay attention to that, you won't get smooth surfaces. Now, I hope you understand what I mean. :) Question 5: I have created a wrong line. How can I delete it? Answer: No problem. If you just want to delete a segment, select the line, go to the modify-menu. In sub-objects, select segment. Click on the segment you want to delete (it should turn red) and press the "del" button. You can also delete vertices like this. Question 6: Can you please explain how to model the ear? Answer: The ear is a very complex thing to model. When you have totally finished modelling the head, you can start to model the ear. First of all, select your head, go to modify-menu, select "segments" and select the 4-6 segments where the ear should Now change to your top-viewport, click the "move"-button and move the selected segments (while holding down the shift-button) a bit to the right. In the pop-up menu (weld-endpoints) click NO. In your modify-menu scroll down until you find the detach-button, and click it. Find a good name and click ok. We have now created a second object (the basic-ear-shape). We have detached it because it is much easier to work, and you cannot run into the problem that you move some wrong vertices from the head later on. When you have finished the ear, you can just move the whole ear back to the left, and weld it to the head. Alright, select the new line and start modelling the ear. The few pics below should help you: As modelling an ear would be a stand-alone tutorial, I have just added a few screenshots from a finished ear. I have used all the modelling techniques I have explained in the Head-Tut. All you need is a bit of imagination, and lots of time. ;)
If you still have troubles, please visit: Link 1 or Link 2 ! Question 7: Can you please explain how to model the eye? Answer: There is a really good tutorial on the net. Go and check it out. ;) Question 8: Can you send me some finished, high-res heads? Answer: NO!! Question 9: Do you know any usefull books about modelling in 3dsmax? Answer: Of course, You can find some in our bookstore: http://www.3dkingdom.org/...shop.html Beside those books I have: 3dsmax4 Professional Studio, from Ralf Hietel, Ralf Rendelmann and Jorg Walther, (Data Becker) - it's in German but I am sure there exists an English version. 3dsmaxR3 Professional 3d-Effects, from Jon A. Bell (mitp) - again in German Character Studio v3, from Stefan Wibbe, Isabelle Pollmann, Dirk Wollschlager (Galileo Design) - german Question 10: Can you please tell me an easier way to create a head? Answer: Box-modelling is the easiest way, but you cannot work so much on the details. There are lots of box-modelling tutorials out there. Some of them are good, others not. The problem with boxmodelling is that you can get very fast a very good looking result, but if you really want to get some high-res and detailed faces, you will soon scratch on the limits of box-modelling. It's up to you to find the best solution for you. There are so many modelling techniques, everyone has to search for his or her own. This head tutorial should just be a guide into the world of spline-modelling. I am sure that there are lots of tutorials out there which are much better then this one, and everyone is invited to collect links to head-tuts which he/she found usefull and post them as a comment below this article. So everyone can help the others to get better. Question 11: I still have a question? Answer: 3 possibilities: Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV (F.A.Q) Thanks for reading my tutorials! Grammer check by BryanA. |
1.You have not connected all the points correctly.
3. You have applied the wrong modifier. 
be connected afterwards. (pic below)
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