Making decks from a hull - 3DS Max 8 SP3

Posts

• Commander_Truestar0 Posts: 0Member

  January 2007 #2

  Ok...
  
  First off....I am a beginner
  And I have a job that is killing my free time at the moment...
  
  I started playing wth rhino some time ago and came up with a model that was going great just based on "eye sight" measures until I realized I could only fit one of the three decks of an S Class Scout in the hull I had created.
  
  So I junked that and went out to raise cash to buy lightwave and start completly new from there. )
  
  SO then I got Lightwave and life intervened. I made a system of one sun orbited by one planet which was then orbited by one moon...all untextured or skinned. And then the job attacked...
  
  Since then, I did start a project based on the Far Trader Bray Keveon fro the T20 stories some of you might have read on-line. I did it in the few spares I have when I am not working and I have yet to post the next jpg to my web site(www.usedstarship.com).
  
  Anyway, to prevent my inability to fit the innards into the hull, I figured I would create the decks first and then build the hull around them!
  
  So the currently avail wips on my web site for The Bray Keveon are internal only. First I pulled the deck plans of the ship and created "boxes" to space out the decks side by side(lower deck to the left as you look at the pics..iirc).
  
  Once I get the decks properly built, I will stack them one over the other and "drill" the holes for connecting iris valve and hatch passages through the decks. This includes both conections between decks and connections to external hatches, valves, cargo doors...
  Once that is done, I will begin building the hull around the internal fittings, drill matching holes into the hull to connect up with externally opening hatches, valves, locks and cargo doors. Then I will create and fit the needed hatches, valves, locks and cargo doors.
  
  So how does this help you?
  
  Use my step one as your step one.
  1: Take the deck plans for th ship you want to model.
  2: Create boxes that are the correct dimensions for each internal structure
  3: Stack the decks and create rods that drive through and past the structure representing the path of hatches, etc..
  4: Loft a hull around the structure so that externally opening hatch/valve/etc.. passage rods pass through the new hull.
  5: Booliean cut the rods out of the structure so that the hatch openings exist..
  6: create the hatches, etc and fit them..
  7: Fragment the hull you lofted into sections you can set to invisible..this will help make texturing easier
  8: Testure and skin the hull sections
  9: Do the decks as you need or have time to...
  10: Set the sections blocking your intended scenes to invisible and render for cut away shots.
  
  Of course, I ama nube and I am betting there are other folks here can recommend easier methods.
  
  Marc
  
  
  

  SandmanNinja wrote: »

  3DS Max 8 SP3
  
  Hi...
  
  I have a starship blocked out - the shape minus all the detailing.
  
  I'd like to insert decks - I've tried planes, but it didn't work - intersecting my ship, then do some sort of boolean operation to 'trim' the excess that 'hangs over' the hull.
  
  I've tried a number of times, but I can't quite figure out how to do it.
  
  I've got a few bipeds on my model - 1.82 meters (my height) - to help me visualise the scale, and if I can get a central deck, I'd stick a biped above and below and do deck above and below the central deck (plus a bit extra for the piping, conduits, etc - prolly 2.5 or maybe 3 meters per deck). Repeat until I run out of hull.
  
  After I do the decks with the walls and other perm. fixtures (showers, bulkheads, desks, benches, tables, etc), what's the best way to isolate that one deck and show it from a 2D top-down view? Use layers and view from top?
  
  Can I ask for some suggestions? The ship is a flattened cylinder, so the cut-out won't be the same (as the shape varies slightly depending upon where the plane intersects).
  
  I can already imagine the Engineering room (HUGE - spanning many levels) and the Bridge. I'd like to do the corridors, crew lounge, bunk rooms, various weapons compartments, etc. I use to do deckplans for Traveller, so this would be a 3D extension of it.
  
  Thanks all!
  
  -SandmanNinja
  
  (attached is clay, advanced lighting, 1000 rays, 3595 faces - did some detailing)
  
  (getting the greebles to lay flat on a flattened cylinder isn't fun! sigh...)