Lofting a vase

In this chapter, we'll be making this art glass vase using the loft compound object. In 3ds Max, a loft is slightly different than it is in some other programs. If you've used to Maya, or more traditional NURBS modeling, a loft is usually just a surface that's drawn between two curves. Well in 3ds Max, a loft has one additional requirement which is that it must have a path, and this line here is the path of the 3ds Max loft.

The loft must have exactly one path, and it must have one or more shapes which are the Profile Curves. Okay, I'm going to open up the scene that just has only the splines in it. Here is the scene that just has only the shapes in it, and I'm ready to create a loft. To do this, I'll select the path. I'll tell you what, I'll make this bigger by hitting Alt+W so we can see it a little bit better. So I've got that path selected and now I want to go to the Create panel, and I'll go to a new category that you haven't seen before.

Under Geometry, select this pulldown list and go to Compound Objects. As the name indicates, a compound object is made out of two or more other objects. When I've activated that panel, now you'll see some of these are lighting up and some of them are grayed out. I need to have the path selected at this point or I will not be able to create the loft. You'll notice that if I click off of that path, now loft is grayed out.

Again, you got to have it selected first. Then click the Loft button. And at this point now, you have to select the profile curves, or the shapes. You'll see down here in the Create panel, Get Shape. Click that Get Shape button, and then click on one of the profile curves like this circle. And as soon as I've done that now, you'll see I've got a cylinder. Now my object color is currently black. I'll just go and change that.

You can see that better now. Very simple! I've got a loft now. It's a compound object made out of a line and a circle. Let's make it more interesting by adding another profile curve. To do this, I am going to get in a little bit closer, and I want to go into Wireframe Mode so we can see this a little bit more clearly. So I'll press F3 on my keyboard. Notice that there's a very small yellow X down here, that's our current position along the path.

I can change that position by adjusting this value here. This is a percentage of distance along the path. If I set that value to 50 and press Enter, now it's moved up to half way along the path. I've now set it up so that if I choose another shape, it will be positioned at that location. I'll click Get Shape, and then click on my star and there you go! Now I've got two shapes along the path.

I'll press F3 again, so we can see that better; I've got two shapes on one path. I can right-click to exit that creation and then I can go into the Modify panel, and I can in fact do those same things again. I can choose a location along the path. I will need to be in Wireframe Mode to see it, and I will probably have to get in very close. But I can do all those same things from within the Modify panel. I can choose a position along the path and then get a new shape.

But I basically got the shapes that I need now. Hit F3 to go back to Shaded Mode. In the next movie, we'll work on the aesthetics of this and moving the shapes around along the path and changing their parameters.