Build from subdivision primitives in Alias

00:03

I can use primitives to create some of the basic shapes for this bike.

00:07

There's four subdivision primitives here on the palette

00:10

and up here on the shelf.

00:13

So I'll just start with the SubD cylinder

00:16

and it says enter the position.

00:17

So if I click in the perspective view, it gets created in a column orientation

00:22

centered on the ground plane.

00:24

So if I wanted to do this part of the exhaust, for example,

00:27

I'd need to rotate this by clicking here

00:30

and typing 90 degrees in the prompt line.

00:33

Alternatively, if I just delete that one,

00:36

what most users do is first choose an orthographic view and then place the cylinder

00:41

so that it's already in the orientation that I wanted.

00:44

And that just saves me doing the rotation.

00:48

So then I can use the Transform manipulator to

00:51

get that into the right shape and position.

00:56

For the front forks. I can use another cylinder.

00:59

And this time I'll use the top view to place it

01:02

and then I can use the left orthographic view to stretch it and scale it

01:07

and move it roughly into position.

01:11

And now if I rotate it,

01:12

you'll see that the Transform manipulator goes with it when I'm in this Pivot mode.

01:16

So the scaling still works nicely.

01:19

And here it can be useful to use the Move Pivot tool to control that pivot position.

01:24

And I'll just drag it so you can see the green pivot point.

01:28

And I'm just gonna hold down the Ctrl key

01:30

to snap it accurately to this vertex point,

01:34

so that now when I do a transform,

01:36

the scaling and rotation is working from that

01:38

pivot point in a much more manageable way.

01:42

And I've always got the option to switch to Global if

01:44

I prefer to work in the grid directions around the centroid.

01:49

So I'm gonna leave these two as simple cylinders.

01:54

But for the seat, I'll need a more sculpted shape.

01:56

So I'll start with a box primitive and I'll double click or Shift-click

01:59

to open the option window.

02:02

But first, I'll just place it

02:04

and shade it

02:06

and scale it a bit

02:08

and it doesn't look much like a box because it's

02:10

the control cage shape that box is referring to.

02:15

So I can get that a bit wider.

02:17

And now it's really important to keep this

02:19

window open so you can change these settings.

02:22

So I can make a guess as to what I'm going to need

02:26

and I can continue to transform the box.

02:30

But as soon as I close that window, I can't get back to it.

02:32

There's no Query Edit History on SubDs,

02:36

but that's not a problem because let's say I now spend some time sculpting the seat,

02:41

either using the Transform tool or the individual Move,

02:44

Rotate and Scale tools whichever you prefer.

02:50

So I'll get more of a seat shape.

02:52

I can bring up the middle a bit

02:54

and then maybe drop this center part down

02:59

and then maybe rotate the whole seat and move it up a bit.

03:03

And then now if I need to change the number of divisions in either direction,

03:06

I can use Delete and Insert.

03:09

So if I use Pick Edge Loop,

03:11

I can then just hit Delete on the keyboard to remove one

03:14

and to add divisions, I can use the Insert tool here.

03:17

And there's two options.

03:20

Parallel is the default,

03:21

which means I select an edge loop in the direction that I want an extra one in

03:25

and then just drag it to the location I want.

03:28

And I can do that in either shading mode,

03:31

but I'm gonna undo that one.

03:32

And then this time I'll use the Perpendicular option instead.

03:37

And here I just click on any edge to break in a new edge loop across it.

03:43

And it's up to you which one you prefer to use.

03:47

So you can keep sculpting and adding or deleting

03:50

divisions until you get the shape you want.

03:53

And you can create some quite useful

03:55

results starting from simple primitive shapes.

Video transcript

00:03

I can use primitives to create some of the basic shapes for this bike.

00:07

There's four subdivision primitives here on the palette

00:10

and up here on the shelf.

00:13

So I'll just start with the SubD cylinder

00:16

and it says enter the position.

00:17

So if I click in the perspective view, it gets created in a column orientation

00:22

centered on the ground plane.

00:24

So if I wanted to do this part of the exhaust, for example,

00:27

I'd need to rotate this by clicking here

00:30

and typing 90 degrees in the prompt line.

00:33

Alternatively, if I just delete that one,

00:36

what most users do is first choose an orthographic view and then place the cylinder

00:41

so that it's already in the orientation that I wanted.

00:44

And that just saves me doing the rotation.

00:48

So then I can use the Transform manipulator to

00:51

get that into the right shape and position.

00:56

For the front forks. I can use another cylinder.

00:59

And this time I'll use the top view to place it

01:02

and then I can use the left orthographic view to stretch it and scale it

01:07

and move it roughly into position.

01:11

And now if I rotate it,

01:12

you'll see that the Transform manipulator goes with it when I'm in this Pivot mode.

01:16

So the scaling still works nicely.

01:19

And here it can be useful to use the Move Pivot tool to control that pivot position.

01:24

And I'll just drag it so you can see the green pivot point.

01:28

And I'm just gonna hold down the Ctrl key

01:30

to snap it accurately to this vertex point,

01:34

so that now when I do a transform,

01:36

the scaling and rotation is working from that

01:38

pivot point in a much more manageable way.

01:42

And I've always got the option to switch to Global if

01:44

I prefer to work in the grid directions around the centroid.

01:49

So I'm gonna leave these two as simple cylinders.

01:54

But for the seat, I'll need a more sculpted shape.

01:56

So I'll start with a box primitive and I'll double click or Shift-click

01:59

to open the option window.

02:02

But first, I'll just place it

02:04

and shade it

02:06

and scale it a bit

02:08

and it doesn't look much like a box because it's

02:10

the control cage shape that box is referring to.

02:15

So I can get that a bit wider.

02:17

And now it's really important to keep this

02:19

window open so you can change these settings.

02:22

So I can make a guess as to what I'm going to need

02:26

and I can continue to transform the box.

02:30

But as soon as I close that window, I can't get back to it.

02:32

There's no Query Edit History on SubDs,

02:36

but that's not a problem because let's say I now spend some time sculpting the seat,

02:41

either using the Transform tool or the individual Move,

02:44

Rotate and Scale tools whichever you prefer.

02:50

So I'll get more of a seat shape.

02:52

I can bring up the middle a bit

02:54

and then maybe drop this center part down

02:59

and then maybe rotate the whole seat and move it up a bit.

03:03

And then now if I need to change the number of divisions in either direction,

03:06

I can use Delete and Insert.

03:09

So if I use Pick Edge Loop,

03:11

I can then just hit Delete on the keyboard to remove one

03:14

and to add divisions, I can use the Insert tool here.

03:17

And there's two options.

03:20

Parallel is the default,

03:21

which means I select an edge loop in the direction that I want an extra one in

03:25

and then just drag it to the location I want.

03:28

And I can do that in either shading mode,

03:31

but I'm gonna undo that one.

03:32

And then this time I'll use the Perpendicular option instead.

03:37

And here I just click on any edge to break in a new edge loop across it.

03:43

And it's up to you which one you prefer to use.

03:47

So you can keep sculpting and adding or deleting

03:50

divisions until you get the shape you want.

03:53

And you can create some quite useful

03:55

results starting from simple primitive shapes.

Video quiz

Required for course completion

When sculpting a shape from a box primitive, how can you increase the number of divisions after closing the Subdiv Box window?

(Select one)
Select an answer

1/1 questions left unanswered

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