Introduction
Reference images are a huge help when modelling in 3D and one of the best ways to make use of reference images is to load them directly into Maya as image planes so that you can literally model around them. Even a simple drawing can help to keep the proportions of objects in check, even if the finer details are done by eye. The best way to use reference images is to get hold of three orthogonal views of the object in question and load these into the respective views in Maya. This can be trickier than it sounds because all three views need to line up accurately or else you'll get in a mess. We've gone for a model of a commercial airliner, a typical sort of object you might need to model for an animation, though it might be a car or a character, it works just as well with just about any object. Luckily the drawings for these aircraft can be downloaded from Airbus the makers of this particular aircraft (an A300, see the url below). We'll show you how to take the raw eps drawing and covert it in to three images for the tutorial.If a drawing in unavailable but you have access to the actual object in question (perhaps a car or a person if it's a character that you are modelling), then you can generate at least the front and side views by taking photos yourself. If doing this with a zoom-enabled digi cam then set the zoom to full which has the effect of shortening the focal depth and reduce the affect of perspective and reduce barrel distortion from the camera lens.
Step 1 : Eps
The diagrams for the plane we will be modelling can be downloaded from Airbus' website. Once downloaded it can be opened and rasterized in Photoshop as a Grayscale file approximately 3200 pixels wide.
Step 2 : Export
The three orthogonal drawings can be cut and pasted as new layers and aligned to make sure that they line up properly. Then these images can be exported (with an alpha channel) as individual Tiff image files.
Step 3 : Planes
To set up Images planes go to the Top viewport and choose Image Plane>Import Image... from the pane's View menu. Load the Top.tiff (whatever you named it) and set the mode to RGBA so that only the lines are visible. You can change the colour of the lines using the Colour Offset attribute. Add the other two planes in their respective viewports and align them using the Center attribute (x y z fields) in Placement Extras.
Step 4 : Cyl
With the image planes set up we can being modelling using Maya's polygon tools. Start by adding a Polygon Cylinder to the scene. Rotate the cylinder 90° on the x axis (using the Channel Box on the right to enter the rotation value accurately).
Step 5 : Subdiv
Click on the name 'polyCylinder1' in the INPUTS section of the Channel Box to open the Cylinder's attributes. Set the Subdivisions to: Axis=8, Height=7, Caps=1. Change the height and Radius to fit the drawing in side view.
Step 6 : Proxy
With the cylinder selected choose Polygons>Smooth Proxy in the Modelling menu set. Make sure Keep Hard Edges is off in the Attributes (eg enter a 0 for off in the Channel Box) and set the subdivision levels to 2.
Step 7 : Edge loop
With the polygon cage selected (not the subdivided surface) switch to Edge editing mode (right-click, choose Edge from the marking menu) and then use the Split Edge Ring Tool (Edit Polygons menu) cut in some extra edges for the nose. Select and move/scale the loops in Vertex mode to match the nose image.
Step 8 : Scale
Switch to top view and edit the edge loops so that the fuselage matches the image in this view too. Use the scale tool and scale only on the x axis to widen the selected ring of points or edges. Repeat the procedure to form the tail section.
Step 9 : Tail
In Top view select the Create Polygon tool from the Polygons menu and begin drawing the tail. Click to place point and hit return to finish. The polygon will automatically close. Place as few points as possible to form the rounded section. You can always edit them later.
Step 10 : Extrude
This will be a purely polygon object; no smooth proxy or SubDs here. Rotate the tail poly in front view to match the diagram, then in face mode extrude the polygon using Extrude Face (Edit Polygons menu) to give it thickness, but don't attempt to tape the wing yet.
Step 11 : Bevel
Select the top and bottom edge loops, except for the ones near the body and Bevel them (Edit Polygons>Bevel). Set the segments to about 8 and Offset to 1. This creates a rounded edge to the tail.
Step 12 : Edit
Now you can simply select and scale the vertices to create the right taper for the tail wing. The rear section is a control surface which should really be a separate object for animation. To add this detail you can use the Cut Faces Tool with all the faces of the wing selected to cut through the whole wing.
Step 13 : Gap
This edge loop is the selected, beveled then the resulting polygon faces selected and extruded to create a thin gap in the wing. You could select and chip this group of polygons off to for a separate object for animation.
Step 14 : Mirror
To create the other wing select the tail wing object and choose Polygons>Mirror Geometry (set to +X). In the Channel box set the Pivot X attribute to 0 so that the mirror occurs centrally on the right side of the plane.
Step 15 : Tail plane
Create the vertical tail plane in much the same way as the horizontal ones. When modifying the bevel vertices you can use the Soft Modification Tool (Modify>Transformation Tools menu) to reshape the edge of the tail. The scale tool alone will not be enough. This remains editable by selecting the small S in the 3D view.
Step 16 : Cut
Again use the Cut Faces tool, beveling and extruding to form the gap between the body of the tail and the control surface at the rear.
Step 17 : Wing
The Wings are built by first drawing the cross section of the wing in the side view. Forget the rounded front edge for now, this will be bevelled in the next step. Select the face and extrude it, scaling as you go to match the first section of the wing.
Step 18 : Edge
Once this is extruded the front two edges can be selected and rounded as we have done before. Before extruding again the two edges at the end of the face are selected and deleted to give a single face to extrude.
Step 19 : Part 2
The end polygon can now be selected and extruded once again. This time you can scale the polygon in y as well so as to taper the wing towards the tip. Use all three orthogonal views to align the wing with the drawings.
Step 20 : Split
The rounded section is adjusted, deepening it at the tip where it has become too short after the scaling. The vertices are scaled in z and the rotated ready for the next step. Before creating the rounded end a face needs to be created. This is done using the Split polygon tool and joining the two points at the end of the rounded section.
Step 21 : Select
Selecting first the new polygon face and then the edge (use Shift to multi-select, right click to choose the component mode) around which the polygon will be rotated. Now you can choose Wedge Faces from the Edit Polygons menu.
Step 22 : Wedge
Adjust the wedge faces attributes in the Channel box to add more divisions and adjust the angle. The end face should point straight backwards along the z axis ready to be extruded.
Step 23 : Divis
Select the end polygon and extrude it to make the wing tip. Scale it in y and use the views to align it. In the Channel Box increase the divisions to give it the same number of edges (plus 1 for the bit that extends past the wing) as the top wing surface. Don't worry about matching the bottom.
Step 24 : Append
The tricky bit is to delete the polygons on the inside faces of the wing and wing tip, then using the Append Polygon tool fill in the gap. To use this tool click on the edges of the object in the order you want the polygon to form. Go in the direction indicated by the pink arrows on the edges. WingCuts.mb***
Step 25 : Surfaces
Use the Split Polygon tool to cut in the detail of the wing's control surfaces. Delete any unnecessary edges in the process. Match the cuts on the top and bottom of the wing where the surfaces will be bevelled.
Step 26 : Gap
Select the edges that will for the gap, not forgetting any small ones and Bevel them to create a small strip of polygons. Select these and Extrude them inwards to create the gap. It's difficult to see in the OpenGL view, but it shows up clearly in the render. Mirror the wings as you did with the tail.
Step 27 : Curve
In the Side view begin drawing the curve for the engine housing. You can either create the whole engine with one curve or several separate revolves. Once drawn Choose Surfaces>Revolve. Enter x=0, y=0, z=1 in the Revolve attributes in the Channel Box to use the z axis to revolve around.
Step 28 : Revolve
You'll need to move the curve now in y so it's the correct distance from the z axis; the Revolve surface will update making this easy to judge. Fine tune the vertices of the curve to get the desired shape, then continue with the other parts of the engine in the same way. Note that it is not perfectly round so you need to scale it in x a little and edit the vertices to get the right shape.
Step 29 : Mount
Back to polygons for the engine mounts. Draw the engine mount outline in Side view adding extra points on the curved edges. This is them moved into position in Front view and extruded as with the tail.
Step 30 : Taper
Some of the edges are selected and beveled, adjusting the offset to 1, and divisions to 10 or so. The rear vertices can then be selected and scaled in x to make the mount taper. The front round is edited to remove the flat spot in the center at the front giving a nice smooth rounded edge.
Step 31 : Extra
The details under the wing are modelled in a similar way. The front and especially the rear of these objects are tapered. To do this properly extra cuts are added using the Split Polygon tool (note selected edges). This avoids problems with non-planar polygons.
Step 32 : Clean
If you are concerned about non-planar polygons you can always run Polygons>Cleanup [Options] and choose to tessellate non-planar faces. As you can see, after a bit of point editing non-planar geometry was present, and now safely triangulated. This can be duplicated and scaled to form the other ones.
Step 33 : Fin
Select all the engine and under-wing objects (and the wing if you didn't mirror it earlier) and grup them (Edit menu). Select the group and Duplicate it (Edit>Duplicate with Transform). In the Channel Box enter -1 in the Scale x attribute to flip them to the other side. Run Modify>Freeze Transformations to fix the result. If you wish other details can be modelled to make the plane as complex as you like.
Layers
Keep things organized using Maya's Layers which can be found below the Channel Box (there are three buttons at the top of the channel box strip to display Channels, Layers or Channels + Layers). For instance when editing the polygon proxy cage you can put the subdivided surface in it's own layer and set it to Reference mode (R in the second column check box) so that you can see it but not select it. Right-click on a layer to see options related to it. Visibility of layers can be set by clicking in the first column check box allowing you to easily simplify the scene. We also put the image planes in their own layer.
Soft Selection
The Soft Selection tool has a number of options that you need to select in order to get the right results. To reshape the front bevel on the tail we first selected the central vertex on each or the 'ribs' of vertices at the front edge of the tail then selected the tool. We moved the handle along y a little then in the Channel box altered the Fall Off Radius (0.5) and importantly turned off Fall Off Masking and turned on Falloff Around Selection so that the other vertices around the selected ones are affected. By moving the SoftMod1 handle you can control the roundness of the tail edge after scaling in x, which tends to flatten the vertices out.
Selections / Marking Menu
In Maya you can select different component types and multi-select items using the Shift Key. However it takes a little getting used to because in some editing modes Shift-right-clicking brings up an optional Marking Menu (the gray compass menu that pops up under the mouse). The procedure then is this; select a face, then right-click without holding Shift to enter Edge mode, then hold Shift down and click on the Edge so that you have both a Face and an Edge selected, a necessary technique in order to use the Wedge Faces tool. To Deselect you hold the Control key when clicking or dragging over components.
Details
You can add details such as the cabin windows, doors, cockpit windows etc but if this is meant to be a medium resolution object it's probably best to use texture maps for these details. You could model the cockpit windows but it might be best to convert the polygon object to Subdivision Surfaces so that you could make use of the multi resolution nature of SubDs to model the fine details of the windows, and use the hard edge creasing. Alternatively you can freeze the Smooth Proxy model into a fine polygon mesh and use Booleans to cut the windows out.
Images
Let me know if this was helpful (or not!) by filling in this 1 minute feedback form.
Maya Image Planes modelling by Simon Danaher ©2006