& Construction
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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Build a simple primitive model and then manipulate it using the tools in the Modeling ribbon.
Tutorial resources
These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:
Transcript
00:04
Let's take a look at how we can start to get some geometry into our scenes.
00:07
So the first thing we want to do is start to create some initial pieces of geometry.
00:12
And in most applications like this,
00:14
you're gonna have some basic shapes like spheres and cubes that you can bring in
00:18
in three S max. These are called primitives and they're very easy to create.
00:21
There are a couple of places we can do this. So we could go up to the menu
00:24
and choose create,
00:26
go down to standard primitives and we can start to drop some shapes from here.
00:30
But most of the time we'll come over to our command panel,
00:33
go to the create panel and let's work our way from top to bottom
00:36
and we can start to filter down what we want to actually create.
00:40
So right below the little plus sign, you can see
00:43
there's geometry that we can create,
00:45
but we can also create shapes,
00:46
lights, cameras and so forth.
00:49
So let's say we want to create some geometry,
00:51
we'll continue to go down and here we can
00:53
further filter what we want to actually create.
00:55
So we could create standard primitives, extended primitives and so on.
00:58
We'll just stick with standard primitives.
00:60
Continuing our way down, we can now choose the object type.
01:02
So here's where we get to select the actual shape that we want to use.
01:06
So we could create a box, a sphere and so forth.
01:08
Let's create a box.
01:10
Now, clicking on this doesn't actually create the box yet.
01:13
If we come down to creation method,
01:14
you can see there is a cube and a box creation method.
01:18
There's also this keyboard entry where we can
01:20
actually put in numbers and create the cube.
01:22
If we know exactly how big we want it to be,
01:25
we're going to do an interactive creation mode here using the box method.
01:29
So I'm gonna click and drag
01:31
and you can see that the base of the box is being drawn out from that initial corner
01:36
and it's being drawn out
01:38
in two dimensions. So aligned with the grid.
01:40
If I release the mouse button
01:43
and move the mouse, it's now going to change the height.
01:45
And you can see those values change over under the parameters. If I click again,
01:49
now I have the box,
01:52
we can also go in and let's change our shading to edged faces.
01:56
We can come in and start to change our height segments
01:59
with segments and so forth.
02:01
So you can change how many segments you have on that actual box.
02:04
Let's right. Click to complete that.
02:06
And now you can see those parameters go away.
02:08
So once you create your primitive
02:11
to further modify it, you're gonna click over next to the create panel,
02:15
the modify panel.
02:16
And now you can see this box listed here
02:19
here, we can go in and change those values that we initially had.
02:22
So link
02:23
with
02:24
height and also the divisions.
02:27
Let's go ahead and delete this and I'll show you a couple of other ways that we can
02:30
create geometry. So creating a box from one corner to the other,
02:34
you may need to do that at some point.
02:36
But there are many cases where you're creating a model,
02:38
you want to create it at the origin.
02:40
And so there are a few ways that we can do this.
02:42
Uh We could come into our keyboard entry and we
02:44
could put some values in here for the length,
02:47
width and height and just hit create.
02:49
And you can see that box
02:51
is created right down there at the origin.
02:53
We could also choose a cube method of creation.
02:56
If I do that, you can see, I don't have that initial base
03:00
part. It's making the cube uh the same dimensions. Obviously, it's a cube.
03:04
So all the sides are the same. So it's drawing it out all in one sort of stroke.
03:08
If you want to create a different kind of primitive, let's say a sphere,
03:11
we'll click on sphere.
03:12
And you can see there are two creation methods here, edge and center.
03:15
So if we take a look at the difference between those,
03:18
you can see this sphere is being drawn out from one side to the other.
03:21
All right, whereas if we change it to center,
03:24
it's gonna draw out from
03:26
the center of the sphere. So it just depends on how you like to work.
03:29
I'll go ahead and get rid of this sphere.
03:31
So you can see there are a number of
03:32
different types of primitives that you can create.
03:35
And oftentimes the objects that you'll be making
03:37
will be similar to one of these kinds of primitives.
03:39
And so it can be a good starting point.
00:04
Let's take a look at how we can start to get some geometry into our scenes.
00:07
So the first thing we want to do is start to create some initial pieces of geometry.
00:12
And in most applications like this,
00:14
you're gonna have some basic shapes like spheres and cubes that you can bring in
00:18
in three S max. These are called primitives and they're very easy to create.
00:21
There are a couple of places we can do this. So we could go up to the menu
00:24
and choose create,
00:26
go down to standard primitives and we can start to drop some shapes from here.
00:30
But most of the time we'll come over to our command panel,
00:33
go to the create panel and let's work our way from top to bottom
00:36
and we can start to filter down what we want to actually create.
00:40
So right below the little plus sign, you can see
00:43
there's geometry that we can create,
00:45
but we can also create shapes,
00:46
lights, cameras and so forth.
00:49
So let's say we want to create some geometry,
00:51
we'll continue to go down and here we can
00:53
further filter what we want to actually create.
00:55
So we could create standard primitives, extended primitives and so on.
00:58
We'll just stick with standard primitives.
00:60
Continuing our way down, we can now choose the object type.
01:02
So here's where we get to select the actual shape that we want to use.
01:06
So we could create a box, a sphere and so forth.
01:08
Let's create a box.
01:10
Now, clicking on this doesn't actually create the box yet.
01:13
If we come down to creation method,
01:14
you can see there is a cube and a box creation method.
01:18
There's also this keyboard entry where we can
01:20
actually put in numbers and create the cube.
01:22
If we know exactly how big we want it to be,
01:25
we're going to do an interactive creation mode here using the box method.
01:29
So I'm gonna click and drag
01:31
and you can see that the base of the box is being drawn out from that initial corner
01:36
and it's being drawn out
01:38
in two dimensions. So aligned with the grid.
01:40
If I release the mouse button
01:43
and move the mouse, it's now going to change the height.
01:45
And you can see those values change over under the parameters. If I click again,
01:49
now I have the box,
01:52
we can also go in and let's change our shading to edged faces.
01:56
We can come in and start to change our height segments
01:59
with segments and so forth.
02:01
So you can change how many segments you have on that actual box.
02:04
Let's right. Click to complete that.
02:06
And now you can see those parameters go away.
02:08
So once you create your primitive
02:11
to further modify it, you're gonna click over next to the create panel,
02:15
the modify panel.
02:16
And now you can see this box listed here
02:19
here, we can go in and change those values that we initially had.
02:22
So link
02:23
with
02:24
height and also the divisions.
02:27
Let's go ahead and delete this and I'll show you a couple of other ways that we can
02:30
create geometry. So creating a box from one corner to the other,
02:34
you may need to do that at some point.
02:36
But there are many cases where you're creating a model,
02:38
you want to create it at the origin.
02:40
And so there are a few ways that we can do this.
02:42
Uh We could come into our keyboard entry and we
02:44
could put some values in here for the length,
02:47
width and height and just hit create.
02:49
And you can see that box
02:51
is created right down there at the origin.
02:53
We could also choose a cube method of creation.
02:56
If I do that, you can see, I don't have that initial base
03:00
part. It's making the cube uh the same dimensions. Obviously, it's a cube.
03:04
So all the sides are the same. So it's drawing it out all in one sort of stroke.
03:08
If you want to create a different kind of primitive, let's say a sphere,
03:11
we'll click on sphere.
03:12
And you can see there are two creation methods here, edge and center.
03:15
So if we take a look at the difference between those,
03:18
you can see this sphere is being drawn out from one side to the other.
03:21
All right, whereas if we change it to center,
03:24
it's gonna draw out from
03:26
the center of the sphere. So it just depends on how you like to work.
03:29
I'll go ahead and get rid of this sphere.
03:31
So you can see there are a number of
03:32
different types of primitives that you can create.
03:35
And oftentimes the objects that you'll be making
03:37
will be similar to one of these kinds of primitives.
03:39
And so it can be a good starting point.