Week 10 – Sound Research and Editing

One of my tasks allocated for this project was to provide all of the sound effects used for the final animation. We decided that we wanted a mixture of sounds from the environment and sound of the engine itself.

To start with, I took a look at the environment that had been modelled for the animation and started looking for sound effects that would match the scene. I used the sound of water rippling, a water wheel turning and some general ambience sounds of birds, wind and trees to create the sound effects required for this part of the video. For the engine itself, I used audio of the actual machine running from the video that I took at the Museum of Power when we visited a couple of weeks ago. I also added this to the beginning environment scene and mixed it quietly with the rest of the audio to make it sound muffled as it was inside the dredger on the lake.

Week 9 – Creating the Handle

To create the wheel and handle, I started by drawing a helix with plenty of turns for the thread and making sure that the radius were the same. I then added an extrude modifier and changed the amount until the extruded part just touched the next coil. I then added a normals modifier to turn the thread the right way round as it was currently inside out.

I then used a Vertex Weld modifier to weld the gap between each coil together. I adjusted the amount just enough so the gap disappeared. I then went to Editable Poly and chose Edge mode. Selecting one edge down the length of the object, I pressed the Ring button to select the entire helix. I then clicked the connect button and gave the selection 1 segment. This now created another helix travelling the length of the object.

To set the thread depth, I selected one edge of the spiral and clicked the Loop tool to select one spiral. I then used the scale tool to decrease this spiral which would then adjust how deep the thread was. I then scaled the whole helix down the length to adjust how close the thread was.

To create the wheel on the end, I drew a Torus shape for the outline of the wheel. I then added a thin cylinder in the middle and joined that to the outside with small boxes. This then created the main wheel shape.

To create the wooden handle, I drew out a spline line for the outside shape and then used the lathe modifier to create the entire handle. It took a couple of attempts to get this right, but eventually, I had a shape I was happy with.

Finally, I placed this handle onto the wheel and then placed both onto the thread I created earlier. I added a long cylinder to the end of the thread to create the connecting rod.

Week 9 – Modelling Side and Handle

Before I started modelling the side part I had been allocated, I decided to draw out the part onto paper so I could clearly see what I was modelling. Using the reference photos and video taken, I was able to create a drawing I could work from which was easier to use than lots of photos.

I started by using a spline to draw out the shape of the metal side, following my drawing I had done earlier. I experimented with the different initial and drag types for the corners to get them as smooth as possible and to match the model as best they could.

When I had the shape drawn out in 3D Studio Max, I converted the spline to an editable poly. I then used the extrude tool to make the shape 3D and give it some depth.

To create the tapered metal strip, I simply created a long, thin box which I converted to editable poly. I then went into vertex mode and moved the bottom vertexes out to create the taper effect.

I then used more thin boxes to create the angle-iron sections of the side plate. I rotated one piece 90 degrees to connect to the other to create the right angle piece. I then went into vertex mode to move some of the vertexes at the end to create the sloping metal end.

Spheres were used to create some of the bolt heads seen on the model. These were placed half in, half out on the model so only half of the sphere was actually on show. This looked quite effective and worked well as a pan head bolt. For the other hexagonal bolt heads I used a Gengon (found in extended primitives). These were then positioned onto the model to work, like the spheres, as bolt heads. To create the nuts seen on some of the bolts, I used another Gengon but created a hole through the middle with a cylinder and the Boolean tool. An OilTank was then added inside the Gengon to look like the end of the bolt.

The bottom of the lever was created by using a box for the metal plate and two cylinders placed on top of each other to represent the spacers on the model. Four small spheres were used as bolt heads in each corner of the small metal plate.

I created the lever itself by drawing a long, thin box into the front viewport. I then drew a cylinder that had the same diameter as the width of the box. Entering editable poly and polygon mode, I selected and removed half of the polygons of the cylinder so I was left with a half cylinder. I then attached this to the box to create the main part of the lever.

A chamfer box was used a little way up the lever as a connecting spacer. I used polygon mode to select and remove more polygons to create the straight edges. I then used the Cap edges tool to cover up the holes I had made by removing polygons.

A small box, to show the locking mechanism, was placed a small way further up the lever. Four small gengons were used as bolt heads in each corner on the front face. I then drew a cylinder handle for the top of the lever.

To create the locking handle of the lever, I drew out another box and added 4 segments in each axis. This enabled me, when converting the box to editable poly, to select and remove polygons in the middle of the box. This was to allow the part to fit around the lever. I used the cap tool to cover any holes I had made. This was then placed onto the lever and two cylinders were used to represent the pins holding the lever in.

I then drew a final long, thin box to use as the connecting rod between the locking handle and locking mechanism a bit further down the lever.

The rack section of the lever was created by first drawing out a box into the front viewport. I then made sure that the box had plenty of width segments and chose 53 as the final number. After converting to editable poly and selecting polygon mode, I selected alternate polygons along the top of the rack box and then extruded them down to create the rack model. When I was happy with the looks of this, I then created a cylinder with the same diameter as the height of the box, cut the cylinder in two and placed at either ends to create the rounded ends. These were attached to create one object. I then applied a curve modifier in the x-axis of 58 degrees and 90 degrees direction to create a realistic rack.

This was then placed just under the locking mechanism of the lever and duplicated either side. Two cylinders were used as connecting bolts and two gengons and OilTanks were used for the bolt heads.

A connecting rod was created by drawing out a long, horizontal, thin box and then just extruding the end to create the staggered effect. This was then joined on to the raised chamfer box created earlier on the lever.

Finally, I drew out small cylinders, placed them through the metal side and used the Boolean tool to create the holes.

Week 7 - Job Allocation and Beginning to model

As I didn’t feel I would be able to model quite as much as some of the other group members, I chose to model a small section and then mainly focus on the post production audio and video editing. The parts I chose to model were the base that the whole engine sat on and a side plate with lever and handle.

To create the base I started by creating a chamfer box in the top viewport. I then changed the fillet size until I had a good representation of the curve on the base of the engine. I then converted the chamfer box to an editable poly. Using polygon mode, I then selected the polygons on two opposite ends and deleted them to create straight, rather than curved, ends.

I then created a cylinder in the top viewport and used the scale tool to change one axis so the cylinder became oval. I then duplicated this and placed the two cylinders through the chamfer box and used the Boolean tool to remove these from the base. This then created two recesses where parts of the engine rotated into.

Next, I selected polygons on the underside of the chamfer box and removed them to get rid of the bottom half of the curve. I used the cap tool to create a cap over the parts I had removed. I then drew a thin box, the same size as the base, for the chamfer box to sit on. I then converted the box to an editable poly and attached it to the chamfer box to create one object.

I removed polygons on one end to create a recess where the main body of the engine sat. I placed small cylinders around the edge of the base and used the Boolean tool again to remove these cylinders to create holes for fixing points on the base.

Finally, I added two boxes near the back of the model for part of the engine to sit on and also created four triangles for supports on the bottom of the base.

Week 6 - Starting the Group Project

Having spent the last 5 weeks working individually on modelling our own heads, the next 6 weeks will be devoted to group work. We will be constructing a model of a steam engine from the Museum of Power in Langford, Maldon.

As a group, we visited the Museum in Week 3 and chose one of the engines in the exhibition. The next stage was to present the idea to the rest of the class and lecturer for approval. A short PowerPoint presentation was shown, highlighting which engine we had chosen to model, what it was originally used for and how the team was to be divided up and work on each part. The presentation was received rather well with positive comments and a couple of suggestions. We were also advised to ensure we knew what measurement we were working in. One suggestion was to include a character in the animation but we decided against this as a group as we felt it may be too much work to complete in such a short space of time.

With our project approved, we set off for our first team meeting to decide our plan of action for the following six weeks!

A Slightly Disappointing End

Although I was quite pleased with what I had modelled in 3D Studio Max, I was a bit disappointed that I ran out of time to try any materials out. I also didn’t get chance to create the ears on my model. I always knew when I started this part of the assignment that it was going to be difficult and time consuming, and I didn’t expect to get too far in the 4 weeks that we had effectively.


Not being very confident with 3D Studio Max, and finding the concept of 3D modelling quite challenging, I was able to complete the tutorial videos up to Part 8. I learned quite a few new techniques with 3DS Max along the way which should become useful when I start the next part of this assignment for this module.

I did run into several problems along the way which I think are partly to blame as to why I only managed to complete what I did. I spent quite a long time with the Topology of my face which was important for the module. It took three attempts to get this right and even then there were still a couple of errors. Once I was into 3DS Max and starting to model, I managed to work ok for a while until I started extruding the splines to create the 3D element, where I found a few more problems with my mesh. I had not correctly drawn in some of the lines and ended up with overlapping lines. These took a while to work out how to solve the problem and actually sort them out. By this time, there was only about a week to go until the hand in date and I was getting worried about how much I would be able to actually complete. However, I still carried on and was able to complete the rest of the head, minus the ears.

The main problem I was up against, as was the same with some other assignments, is time and my time management. I tried to keep on top of the workload, spreading it out equally across the 4 weeks, but due to some other problems mentioned above, I wasn’t able to stick to this schedule as much as I would have liked. Then, not being able to find additional time to work on the model, time ticked away!

If I get time, I am intending to carry on with the model in my own time, even though the hand in date has passed, working through the tutorial videos as I feel the skills I can learn will be helpful to me for the rest of the module. I would like to have a go at creating the ear and then the materials and maps required to put the actual texture onto the 3D model.

Overall, although I haven’t managed to complete the model as far as some of my fellow classmates, I am quite pleased with how much I have personally achieved. When looking at the module in the first week, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to complete this module at all! I have managed to pick up some new skills with 3D studio max which I am also pleased about, and now I look forward to the second part of this assignment.

Neck and Side

To create the rest of the head and neck, I went into edge mode and dragged out the edges from the sphere to continue down the back of the head to the neck. Using the topology I had drawn on in Photoshop as guidelines, I was able to create the required quads for this section. I then started to fill in the centre around the ear area. I worked in circles creating quads by pulling out edges and drawing in any that were needed. When all of the quads were drawn in, I started to move the individual vertexes around using the move tool until they were spaced out correctly.

I then set about extruding the lines out to the side to match the front image. This was quite tricking and in the end was easier when I hid the reference plates as they just seemed to get in the way. I used the soft selection tool to pull the side of the head out in a realistic manner. This worked quite well and I was able to tweak individual vertexes afterwards when turning the Soft Selection off. The area under the chin was also tricky working out exactly where each point had to go. After a bit of trial and error, I managed to get the basic shape setup.


I still had a gap under the chin but I left that for the moment. I then set about connecting the vertexes of the sphere to the front face. I used the Snap to Vertex tool to help with this. I then selected the face and in the modify panel, selected Attach. I then chose the back of the head to attach. This then connected the two pieces of the model together to form one single model. I then selected all of the vertexes and chose the Weld button in the modify panel to connect all the vertexes together so I could continue modelling.


With the two pieces connected, I then started to move vertexes around again in perspective view to get the join right between them. I turned on the turbosmooth to see the end result. I then kept tweaking vertexes until I had a smooth mesh. Unfortunately there were a couple of triangles near the bottom of the face which did result in a slight pinching effect but it was not really obvious.


I then continued to model underneath the chin, extruding lines to create the polygons that I needed to finish the neck. Once I had these created I spent some time moving them into position to create the remainder of the neck.


To start with, the head looked a bit too tall; this was because I had based the sphere around the top of my head, forgetting about my hair on top. To resolve this, I selected all the vertexes on the top of the head and moved them down into the head until they were at the correct height. I then adjusted the other vertexes on the side of the head that were now out of place.


Finally, I had a model of my head that, although didn’t look exactly like me, did have some resembling features!