Charlene's Drawing Board

~~Charlene Russ, The Artist Edge

Using Modifiers in 3D Studio Max

(Also, see my special Valentine article in this issue, on using the Extrude Modifier)

Modifiers are a kind of modeling shortcut or effect that can be applied to an object.

• FIRST the object that you wish to apply a given modifier effect to must be selected in your viewport .
• Click the Modifiers tab and then click the desired modifier from the icon strip that appears. The modifier will be applied and a parameters window will appear on the right side of your screen. The strength of the effect may be increased or decreased by using these toggles.

The Ripple Modifier

This modifier is useful when creating hilly terrain, cloth, or movement in a body of water. These modifiers can be animated through the use of key frames for interesting video imagery and motion effects.

Decreasing the wavelength of the effect will heighten the frequency or increase the number of smaller ripples in the wave.
 

The Wave Modifier

Question: How do I change the spacing of the ripples? The amplitudes seem to only make the waves higher. Wavelength makes them move along the surface. Phase seems to do the same thing. Decay makes them die out.

Answer: You're right. Increasing the amplitude will heighten the pitch of the wave, making it taller. You can shorten or lengthen the wavelength, creating frequent ripples or gradual, grandiose waves. Decay is a term used with regard to sine waves; it refers to the valleys, not the apexes of the wave. In a sound wave, for instance, the apex or peak is the loudest pitch, as the wave 'decays', the pitch of the sound decreases and tapers off. The Phase toggle deals with the initial position of the ripples along a given area. The Wave Modifier is based upon the idea of the sine wave, which is a 2D concept. A sine wave occurs somewhere between two points along a segmented line. By decreasing the wavelength you are, in effect, increasing the frequency of the waves and decreasing the size of the individual waves. The visual results are smaller ripples along a plane.

General FAQ

Question: Why do the modifiers start out with values in them- they seem to have the last value you use, even when there is zero effect showing on the object?  Shouldn't they start at zero?

Answer: Excellent observation.  I'm glad you brought this up. When you save a scene in 3DS Max, it saves all elements in your scene, including parameter values. You can reset your scene to the default using the Reset function from the file menu. Saving a scene freezes everything you have done up to that point, including objects, modifiers, lights, materials you've added, and effects. Though you may not have applied modifier values to a given object, the scene recalls the previous values you applied to your last object.

Viewport Coordinates

Question: What reference coordinate system should I use? What do the colored arrows in the corners of the window stand for? They don't seem to match the arrows inside the object. Are they in a particular coordinate system?

Answer: The colored arrows in the viewport screen indicate the perspective at which the camera is viewing the object(s).

• The 'X' coordinate runs bilaterally east and west or left and right. The 'Y' coordinate runs north and south or up and down. The 'Z' diagonal coordinate runs toward you in the 3D perspective viewport.
• When scaling or rotating an object, you may restrict the effect to a particular coordinate/s by clicking the 'x,y,z,xy,yz, or zx' coordinate buttons.

The Bend Modifier

To bend an object:

• Select an object and click Modifiers rollout > Bend.
• On the Parameters rollout, set the axis of the bend to X, Y, or Z. This is the axis of the Bend gizmo, not the axis of the selected object.
  • You can switch between axes at any time, but the modifier carries only one axis setting.
• Set the angle of the bend along the chosen axis.
  • The object bends to this angle beginning at the lower limit, which is by default the location of the modifier's center.
• Set the direction of the bend.
  • The object swivels around the axis.

You can reverse angle and direction by changing a positive value to a negative value.

To limit the bend:

• Turn on Limit Effect in the Limits group.
• Set values for the upper and lower limits. These are distances in current units above and below the modifier's center, which is at zero on the gizmo's Z axis by default. You can make the upper limit zero or positive, and the lower limit zero or negative. If the limits are equal, the result is the same as turning off Limit Effect.
• The bend is applied between these limits. The surrounding geometry, while unaffected by the bend itself, rotates to keep the object intact. This is analogous to bending a pipe, where the unbent sections rotate but remain straight.
• At the sub-object level, you can select and move the modifier's center.
• The Limit settings remain on either side of the center as you move it. This lets you relocate the bend area to another part of the object.

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Charlene Russ is an instructor with Eclectic Academy, and is currently teaching Introduction to 3D Studio Max.  She teaches novice students the basics of 3D design and modeling techniques.  She is also an adjunct instructor with a Florida community college in the Digital Arts dept.  Charlene's personal site is Chromacrys Media: Graphic Design, which features a wide gamut of useful design related information.