Greetings,
I’m a recent migrant from VIZ. I’m reading a lot of references to objects having been “box modeled”. But searches for what exactly box modeling is have turned up empty. No returns from Max help either. Would someone please point me in the right direction? Any tutorials out there?
Thanks in advance,
Porter

Porter Wayfare
Max Design 2009/2010, 32 Bit
Acer 1710, Pentium 4, 3.00GHz, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5700, Windows XP

Box modeling?

Create a box or any other simple primitive like a cylinder, convert to Editable Poly (or add an Edit Poly modifier). In Polygon SubObject mode select polys and extrude / bevel / inset them to create the basic shape of your model.

There’s a reasonable explanation of this in the Max 9 tutorials (sadly not included with 2009). You can d/l the Max 9 tuts from here if you want them. Look for “using the edit poly modifer” in the Contents.

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

in my opinion one of the best examples of box modeling is the Joan of Arc tutorial at 3dtotal, go to

http://www.3dtotal.com/ free stuff - tutorials

by default you will be in the 3dsmax - beginners. to the right of beginners is Complete Projects in there is a link ‘modeling joan of arc’

this tutorial has been rewritten for maya and other programs.

just be aware that it is translated from french and some of the wording may be a little confusing. also the artist uses editable mesh, update that to editable poly, and uses a simple mirror instead of a symmetry modifier to create the second half of the body. he also uses a mesh smooth modifier for subdivision where with the settings in the tutorial you could use a turbo smooth or built in NURMS subdivisions instead of the mesh smooth.

Check this out too, box-modeling and subdivision modeling are basically the same thing…

http://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/page1.htm

- Neil