CompuServe Thread

Keith If I didnt have acess to another modeler like animation master or macromodel and had to use 3ds only I would carefully consider what horizontal cross sections of the head would look like and create drawings of the cross sections to use in creating the sections in the shaper. I would make the most complex section first and then copy and modify it for the others. Then I would spend time doing a trial and error process of getting the sections into their proper place on the path in lofter, trying the mesh, adjusting the path and sections as needed and trying again. Id be happy to hear about an easier approach but this will work. Ed

Geoff, the elephant head sounds like it could be done in the 3DS Lofter using the Deform/Fit technique. Read up on it in the manual, and do the applicable tutorials if you are not completely familiar with it. Also, I believe there is some good reading re Deform/Fit in the book Inside 3D Studio. IMHO, you will never regret learning as much as possible about the Deform/Fit operations in 3DS, especially if you find yourself modeling organic shapes very often. If this does not appeal to you and you don't mind spending some extra $s, check out Schreiber's MetaReyes Meta Balls modeling IPAS plug-in. Once you learn the techniques involved, you should be able to model a very convincing elephant head. If you are not familar with this modeling format, download relevant pics here in the libraries. Search them with keywords like Metaballs and Schreiber. After the initial modeling, you should be able to take care of most of the bumps/wrinkles with a good Bump Map. Good luck! -Alan

Keith, >> I have just set myself the task of creating an elephant in 3DS 4. >> I can create the trunk, tusks, legs and ears but have come to a complete halt >> at creating the head. I would approach this with creating cross sections in the shaper as in the previous message or study the shape real closely and see if it can be done with deform fit. I was given the task of creating flying pigs in a screen saver package (3DPC for Windows) and actually used both methods. With shaper cross sections I created the head and attached that to the body. Later I figuired you could create the head and body together with deform fit. If you have a chance check out Michele Bousquet's Tips and Tricks series books. I wrote a tutorial on creating the flying pigs using deform fit. I believe the mesh is on the disk in the back. Let me know what you think if you do check it out. Ralph