3D Modeling Tutorial - Autodesk VIZ

Working with Autodesk VIZ can be very easy, once you are familiar to its interface.

This tutorial is adapted from sources of http://www.allahabadtoday.com/ and http://archone.tamu.edu/aangulo/ENDS170/TUTORIALS/VIZ/exercise04_tutorial.htm

When you bring mouse on an empty area inside Command Panel, it changes to Hand shape, now press mouse button and drag Up or Down and you are able to see many more buttons. It means part of Command Panel containing buttons is also movable.

Create your first 3d object

Click mouse in Top View Port, it will be surrounded by Yellow Color rectangle, showing that Top View Port is Active.

Now click in Perspective View Port, it will be surrounded by Yellow Color rectangle, showing that Perspective View Port is Active. Similarly click on other View Ports one by one and observe the reaction.

Now bring mouse near Command Panel > Click on Create Panel > Click on Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on Teapot button Now we are Ready to make Teapot.

Bring mouse in Top View Port, press mouse button and drag to make Teapot of desired size, release mouse button. Congratulations, your first 3d object is ready. You can observe this object from different angles in different View Ports. White color object - shown in Top, Front and Left View Ports is known as "Wireframe or Mesh" and colored object in Perspective View Port is known as Shaded, gives only a rough feeling of Object. Final rendered Image of this object will be far better. Create few more 3d objects, using same procedure. Right click an object>Properties>Color picker to change colors

Now click on Select Object Tool on the main toolbar and then bring mouse in Top View Port, click on second object. Second object will be selected and first object will be deselected. Similarly click on third, fourth objects one by one and observe the reaction. Objects can be selected in any View Port. Now click on an empty area, anywhere outside the current selection in the View Port. Selected object will be deselected.

Thus for deselecting all objects, we can simply click anywhere in the View Port on an empty area. Click objects while pressing Ctl key for selecting two or more objects.

Let's create some more 3d objects

First check the unit setting by Customize>Units setup. Set US Standard-Feet w/Decimal Inches, and Default Units:Feet

Creating Sphere
Bring mouse near Command Panel > Click on Create Panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on Sphere button Now we are Ready to make Sphere. Bring mouse in any Viewport, press mouse button and drag to make Sphere of desired size, release mouse button. Similarly create few more spheres of different sizes.

Deleting Objects : Click on Select Object Tool and then click on any Object to select it, press Delete button on Keyboard or Edit Menu > Delete
Selected Object will be deleted.

Creating Box 1. Create Panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on
Box button

2. A Box has three parameters - Length, Width and Height

(or depth). Bring mouse in Top Viewport, press mouse button on one end and drag upto second end to define Width and Length of Box, release mouse button. Now move mouse Up to define Height of the Box and click mouse button at suitable height. Height of the Box will be Visible in other three viewports. Use Parameters in Command Panel to set up the box dimensions: 5, 5, 5

3.

Creating Cylinder 1. Create Panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on
Cylinder button

2. Bring mouse in Top Viewport, press mouse button and

drag to define radius of Cylinder, release mouse button. Now move mouse Up to define Height of the Cylinder and click mouse button at suitable height. Height of the Cylinder will be Visible in other three viewports. Use Parameters in Command Panel to set up the Cylinder dimensions: 3, 5. And change other parameters to see the results.

3.

Creating Torus 1. Create Panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on
Torus button

2. Bring mouse in Top Viewport, press mouse button and

drag to define radius of Torus, release mouse button. Now move mouse outside or inside to define radius of the Cross Section of Torus and click mouse button at suitable size.

Creating Cone 1. Create Panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on
Cone button

2. Bring mouse in Top Viewport, press mouse button and

drag to define radius of Cone, release mouse button.

3. Now move mouse Up to define Height of the Cone and 4.

click mouse button at suitable height. Now move mouse Up or Down to give desired shape to the Cone and click mouse button.

Creating GeoSphere 1. Geospheres produce a more regular surface than standard

spheres. Geosphere uses triangle faces instead of square faces and created using fewer polygon faces than the standard Sphere object. They also render with a slightly smoother profile than a standard sphere given the same number of faces. Create Panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on GeoSphere button Bring mouse in any Viewport, press mouse button and drag to make GeoSphere of desired size, release mouse button.

2. 3.

Creating Tube 1. Tube is similar to the cylinder with a hole in it. 2. Create Panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on
Tube button

3. Bring mouse in Top Viewport, press mouse button and 4. 5.

drag to define the first radius of the tube, release mouse button. Now move mouse to define the second radius, then click mouse button. Move mouse up or down to define a height, either positive or negative - and click mouse button.

Creating Pyramid 1. Create Panel > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Click on
Pyramid button

2. Bring mouse in Top Viewport, press mouse button and

drag to define the base of the pyramid, release mouse button. Now move mouse Up to define Height of the pyramid and click mouse button at suitable height. Height of the pyramid will be Visible in other three viewports. Note : You can Create Objects in any Viewport

Moving Objects

bring mouse in any View Port, press mouse button on the object and drag mouse Left-Right or UpDown, you are able to move object in all directions. By using this tool - we can Select objects, Move previously selected objects, or both select and move objects in a single mouse action. To move a single object, you do not need to select it first. When this button is active, clicking an object selects it and dragging the mouse moves it. To restrict object movement to the X, Y, or Z axis, or to any two axes, we can use Move Gizmo.

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1. Create teapot, click on Select and Move Tool on the main toolbar and 2.
then click on the object. The Transform gizmo (move gizmo) appears at the center of the object. The Transform gizmos are viewport icons that allow us to quickly choose one or two axes when moving an object with the mouse. When we point the mouse at any axis or arrow, it turns yellow to indicate that its active. Now we can move the selected object along the indicated axis. In addition, we can also use other areas of the gizmo to perform movement along any two axes simultaneously.

Click on Select and Move Tool on the main toolbar and then bring mouse in Front View Port in this area. In this situation both Xaxis and Y-axis are yellow and it also shows yellow square between two axes. Press mouse button here and move mouse Left-Right or Up-Down, you are able to move object in all directions.

Bring mouse in this area, both Xaxis and Y-axis are yellow and it also shows yellow square between two axes. Press mouse button here and move mouse Left-Right or UpDown, you are able to move object in all directions.

Bring mouse here, X-axis turns yellow. Press mouse button and move mouse Left or Right. In this situation we can move object along X-axis only (horizontal).

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Bring mouse here, Y-axis turns yellow. Press mouse button and move mouse Up or Down. In this situation we can move object along Y-axis only (vertical).

Using the Axis Constraints

Autodesk Viz 2005 and Viz 2006 provides one more alternative to constrain the movement of the Object. Axis Constraint buttons which were frequently used in Viz 4 and lower, were available on Main Toolbar. Axis Constraints toolbar is OFF by default in Autodesk Viz 2005 and Viz 2006. You can turn it ON by right-clicking on the main toolbar and selecting Axis Constraints from the pop-up menu.

Floating Axis Constraints toolbar screen.

appears on the

Axis Constraint buttons on this toolbar help you to specify one or two axes about or along which the movement (or other transformation like Rotation and Scaling) takes place.

When you click Select And Move tool and then click Restrict to X-axis button, you will only be able to move the object in Left or Right direction. Use this when you want to make sure you dont inadvertently move an

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object in the other directions. Similarly you can restrict movement in Up or Down direction by clicking on Restrict to Y-axis button.

When Restrict to XY Plane or Up-Down both.

button is clicked, object can move Left-Right

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Rotating Objects

The button highlights. You can now click on the object to select it, rotate previously selected object, or both select and rotate an object in a single mouse action. To rotate an object, you do not need to select it first. When this button is active, clicking on object selects it and dragging the mouse rotates it. To restrict object rotation to the X, Y, or Z axis, we can use Rotate Gizmo. The Rotate Gizmo is built around the concept of a virtual trackball. You can rotate an object along the X, Y, or Z axis, with free rotation. The axis handles are circles around the trackball. Drag anywhere on one of them, and you can rotate the object along that axis. As you rotate along the X, Y, or Z-axis a transparent slice provides a visual representation of the direction and amount of rotation. If you rotate more than 360, the slice overlaps and the shading becomes more and more intense.

Create teapot, click on Select and Rotate Tool first and then click in the Front View Port to activate it. Now click on the object. The Rotate Gizmo appears around the object.

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1. Bring mouse near green color horizontal line in the Front View Port, it turns yellow. Press
mouse button and drag mouse left or right. Object will rotate along Y-axis.

2. Now bring mouse near red color vertical line, it turns yellow. Press mouse button and drag 3. 4. 5. 6.
mouse up or down. Object will rotate along X-axis. Now bring mouse near yellow color inner circle. Press mouse button and drag mouse up or down. Object will rotate along Z-axis. If we bring mouse near grey color inner circle, it turns yellow. Press mouse button and drag mouse up or down. Object will rotate along Z-axis. Now click in the Top View Port to activate it and then click on the object. Try rotating object by pressing mouse on various part of Rotate Gizmo, and drag mouse Left-Right or Up-Down and observe the effect. You can try similar process in the Left and Perspective View Ports.

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7. You can move the pivot and rotate the object around the new pivot position.

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Modifying Solids with Parametric Modifiers

(modified based on http://archone.tamu.edu/aangulo/ENDS170/TUTORIALS/VIZ/exercise04_tutorial.htm) 1. Make the top view or the perspective view active by clicking inside the viewport. In the Create Panel/ Geometry/ Standard Primitives/ choose Box. Creation Method: Box Keyboard Entry: Accept the default values for the location of the box in the three dimensional coordinate system (x = 0, y = 0, z = 0). Length = 20' Width = 30' Height = 60' Find the Parameters for the Box object, and input: Length segs: 2 Width segs: 3 Height segs: 6 Generate Mapping Coords: on Real World Map Size: on Hit Create 2. Select the box01, if unselected. Find and choose the array option, within the Tools menu. Accept default options, with the following changes: In the Incremental section, input 40'-0" for the "X" , and 50'0" for the "Y" coordinates. In the Count section (for the 1D option), input 7 units. Select Copy in Type of Object Click OK then. 3. Six boxes out of the seven will be modified using parametric modifiers. Once an object is selected, there are two ways to find the modifiers: Find the modifier list within the modify command panel, look inside the object-space modifiers list and choose a modifier Find and choose the Parametric Deformers in the Modifiers menu.

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4. Use the Select by name icon, found in the Main toolbar, choose the box06. Choose the Bend modifier: In the Parameters, Bend/ Angle, input 90. The Direction remains 0. In the Parameters, Bend Axis, choose Z. Verify the effect, modify if necessary. 5. Select by name the box05. Choose the Taper modifier: In the Parameters, Taper/ Amount, input 1.0; Taper/ Curve, input 1.0 In the Parameters, Taper Axis/ Primary, choose Z; Taper Axis/ Effect, choose XY Verify the effect, modify if necessary. 6. Select by name the box04. Choose the Skew modifier: In the Parameters, Skew/ Amount, input 20'-0"; the Direction remains 0. In the Parameters, Skew Axis, choose Z. Verify the effect, modify if necessary. 7. Select by name the box03. Choose the Twist modifier: In the Parameters, Twist/ Angle, input 90. The Bias remains 0. In the Parameters, Twist Axis, choose Z. Verify the effect, modify if necessary. 8. Select by name the box02. Choose the Stretch modifier: In the Parameters, Stretch/ Stretch, input 1.0. The Amplify remains 0. In the Parameters, Stretcht Axis, choose Z. Verify the effect, modify if necessary. 9. Select by name the box01. Choose the Spherify modifier: In the Parameters, Percent, input 60.0 Verify the effect, modify if necessary. 10 Save the max file

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VIZ Shortcuts
http://archone.tamu.edu/aangulo/ENDS170/TUTORIALS/VIZ/exercise04_tutorial.htm Bottom View Front View Hide Grids Toggle Isometric User View Left View Maximize Viewport Toggle Open File Pan View Perspective User View Quick Render Render Last Render Scene Save File Top View Undo Scene Operation Undo Viewport Operation View Edged Faces Toggle Viewports Wireframe / Smooth+Highlights Toggle Zoom Extents Zoom Extents All Zoom Extents Selected All Zoom Mode Zoom Region Mode Zoom Viewport In Zoom Viewport Out B F G U L ALT+W CTRL+O CTRL+P P SHIFT+Q F9 F10 CTRL+S T CTRL+Z SHIFT+Z F4 V F3 ALT+CTRL+Z SHIFT+CTRL+Z Z ALT+Z CTRL+W [ (open square bracket) ] (closed square bracket)

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