[3ds Max] Modelling Tunnel Junctions

Nightingale

I made these straight tunnels by creating several variations of NURBS loops, and then using U-loft to make the meshes out of them (and then using the bend modifier to achieve the angled meshes).

I would like to begin making similar meshes, but in a sort of Y-shape as well as a T-shaped mesh, but I have no clue how to do this. UV-loft wouldn't work. I don't think 1-rail or 2-rail would work either.

It is not necessary that I use NURBS, but I do want to make sure that I get similarly-organic shapes. You may have noticed that I made 2 LODs of each mesh, but I probably will only need to have 1 LOD of each mesh so I don't need to worry about using a technique that lets me scale the detail at the final stage.

Which techniques/modifiers should I use to accomplish this?

Sean VanGorder

I think you may be making this more complicated than it needs to be by using NURBS and lofting and all that. Personally I would just simply box model out the junction shape like this.



Then to quickly get it to resemble what you already have you could subdivide it a few times, smooth the geometry with either a relax or turbosmooth modifier, and then throw on a few different noise modifiers with different scale values to get the irregular surfaces. Of course you could also do this by hand and get a more unique looking mesh, but it will also take longer.

Nightingale

Thank you so much for explaining how to do this.

I am still an amateur with 3ds Max so I did not know this was a valid way to do things.

Butthair

If you're planning on connecting these pieces, be sure to stay to the grid and keep a unit size in mind. A common one being powers of 2, usually 16 or 32 being the smallest. This way if the length is 256 it can connect to other that are 256, and when you have a corner it will also fit with having to fudge meshes or vert snap only to find out certain areas won't line up later down the line.

Nightingale

These will be modular, but as you can see in the image I included in the OP, there are "lips" at the end of each piece which allow them to fit together without requiring super exact precision.

Lazerus Reborn

Nightingale wrote: »

These will be modular, but as you can see in the image I included in the OP, there are "lips" at the end of each piece which allow them to fit together without requiring super exact precision.

Most engines have a grid snap function though which eliminates the need for "lips". Look into other modular projects around on polycount to gain a understanding of how to plan it.

Mark Dygert

If you're using max, shove the pivot point for your object(s) into a good spot and then rotate the gizmo for the symmetry modifier to create branches.