To start the tutorial you need to open the 3D Max file where you already having a textured surface. Tutorial I will not teach you how to make a good quality patterned/textured surface using 3D Max. If you need to learn that part, you may go through my following tutorial.

Modeling a Patterned Metal surface

This is the texture I am going to use.

To make the normal map, first select proper area from the texture which is tileable. I have selected following part, which is square in shape. Try to select a square shape, it will be easy to work with.

Draw a square plane with the same dimensions as the selected object part. Use Align to place the plane on top of the object. Then move the plane object little up until it does not touch the pattern object.

Press F10 to open Render Setup window, go to “Common” tab > “Assign Renderer” rollout and set “Default Scanline Renderer” as the “Production” method.

Select the plane object and from the main menu, choose Rendering > Render To Texture. (Shortcut for the Render To Texture dialog is 0).  Go to > “General Settings” rollout of the “Render To Texture” dialog and define the output path where you want to save the normal map texture.

Go to “Projection Mapping” group under “Objects To Bake” rollout, turn on “Enabled” and turn off “Sub-Object Levels”.

Click Pick button under the same group to display the “Add Targets” dialog and choose the object you want to bake onto the plane object (that means – textured surface). Then choose “Use Existing Channel” under “Mapping Coordinates” group, if it is not already chosen.

Scroll down an go to “Output” rollout and click “Add” to open “Add Texture Elements” dialog. Select and add “NormalsMap” from “Add Texture Elements” list.

Go to “selected Element Common Settings” group, and select “Bump” as “Target Map slot”. Then select the size of the map you need to have. For that I am going to select 256×256. Even smaller map will  be enough since we are going to make a texture which may not need that much details. However, if you need you may select larger sizes as well.

Now you have sett all the settings and ready to bake. Press the “Render” button at the bottom of the “Render To Texture”.

As the result, it will open the render window and render the texture. But it might not be the texture you are looking for. Don’t worry, after rendering it will automatically save your baked texture at the place you have specified. Go and see, it will be there as a .tga file and you may need Photoshop to open it. Open it from Photoshop.
This is my normal map.

If you have used TurboSmooth while modelling the textured surface, it may having rounded corners and will appear in the normal map in a different colour (pink). You have to do very simple correction to the map using Photoshop to remove this coloured corners. Use brush tool and paint 4 corners using background colour.
Now you are having the Normal map. You can use it by repeating to both directions without a boundary.
 
If you don’t know how to use the prepared map, follow the instructions.
•    Open Material Editor, select empty material slot.
•    Scroll down to Maps rollout, press button in front of “Bump” and set “Normal Bump” as bump type.
•    Set the prepared map as the Normal map of “Normal Bump”.
•    Draw a box, and lights around it and apply prepared material to box.
•    Render and see.

Modeling a Patterned Metal surface

Convert the created cylinder to “Editable Poly”, go to Polygon Sub-object level and delete all the faces keeping only 4 faces from the side of the cylinder (see figure below). Make sure to select the 4 faces symmetrical across a major direction to make the next steps easy.

Mirror the remaining faces across the symmetrical axis and place them touch each other from the edges (use Snap).

Attach the two objects together (using “Attach” button under “Edit Geometry” rollout) and weld the vertices on touching ends (using “Weld” button under “Edit Vertices” rollout) without using the shape.

Select the top border of the object and add a cap to the object (using “Cap” option available under “Edit Borders” rollout).

Mark the following pattern on the created cap by connecting the vacant vertices around using “Cut”.

Grow a new set of faces (polygons) around the base of the object, by select and zoom the bottom border of the object holding the “Shift” key.

Reduce the sharpness of the top 2 points of the object by pulling them inside along the long axis of the object.

Reduce the sharpness of the narrow points of the base as well (reduce by same amounts).

Select and Chamfer the boundary between the base and the extruded part of the object.

Draw a plane between the longest vertices of the object (don’t worry about the size of the other direction, it might be zero). Copy the correct Length or Width of the plane and paste as the other parameter (Length or Width) of the plane.

Set the number of segments plane to 6 and 4 as you see below (don’t change the correct direction).

Place bounding vertices of the object exactly on to the following vertices of the plane using Snap.

Paste 2 copies of the objects and place on both sides of the existing object using Snap. Then attach the 3 objects (not the plane object) together, and Weld the vertices at the boundaries. Now, you should have something like below.

Apply TurboSmooth modifier with 2 Iterations and see how it looks like.

If you feel that your pattern is loose or tight, now you can correct it. I feel my pattern is loose. So I am going to make it tight (or packed) by making the embossed shape bigger. Make sure to maintain the 3 shapes equal in size after changing their sizes.

Take a copy of the object, rotate exactly by 90° and place next to the first object using Snap. Then attach the two objects and weld the vertices on the connected edge.

Take another copy of the joined object, rotate exactly by 180° and place next to the first object using Snap. Then attach them and weld.

Apply TurboSmooth and see; you will see that it is not perfectly weld.

To correct that delete all the faces outside the below marked area.

Marked the lines connecting un-welded vertices to the vertices outside and weld them again.

Turn-on TurboSmooth and ensure all the vertices are perectly welded.

Mirror the object along the X and Y axes, and place the copies to touch each other using “Snap”. Attach objects together, and weld the vertices at the joined boundaries.

Now the work is complete. You can expand the prepared pattern by copy it along the both axes as match to the area.
This is how it looks like with the materials.

Though, just said the diamond shape there are number of shapes use for diamond cutting. Among them, I have selected “Round brilliant” shape for this tutorial since it is one of the most common shape.
To start modelling, create a “Hedra” object (Create > Geometry > Extended Primitives > Object Type rollout > Hedra) with default parameters. You may change the size of the object by changing Radius as you like.


Place the create object at the origin (0, 0, 0) using “Move Transform Type-In” (you can get it by right-click on “Select and Move” toggle). Then right-click on the object and convert it to an “Editable Poly”.
Go to “Edge” Sub-object level, select top 4 edges and connect them with a new ring of edges at the centres using “Connect” tool available under “Edit Edges” rollout.

Go to “Polygon” ” Sub-object level, select the 4 polygons above the newly added edge ring and delete them.

Now it is need to close the opening of the object which is created after deleting the polygons. To do that, go to “Border” Sub-object level, select the border of the opening and press “Cap” button available under “Edit Borders” rollout.

Turn on Snap, and draw a NGon (Create > Shapes > Splines > Object Type rollout > NGon) across the top 4 vertices with 8 sides. So, 4 out of 8 points of your NGon should go through top 4 vertices of the object.

Go to “Edge” Sub-object level and select one of the 4 edges of the top square shape and the parallel edge in the next level: all together 2 edges (see figure below).

Connect the selected 2 edges using “Connect” tool available under “Edit Edges” rollout. Repeat these steps to other 3 sides of the top square. After repeating, you should have something like below.

Go back to Vertex Sub-object level and move the 4 remaining top vertices (newly added) on to the remaining edges of the nGon keeping Snap on.

Draw 4 new lines connecting the bottom-most vertex and the 4 newly added vertices in the mid raw using “Cut” tool available under “Edit Geometry” rollout.

Draw another NGon with 8 sides across the 4 outer mid vertices as you done early.

Mover the 4 remaining vertices on to the vacant NGon points using Snap. Now you can see, you are having the basic shape of a diamond.

Now we are going to add more details to the diamond by further dividing the faces. To do that, select the 8 edges which are connecting top and mid rows and add another vertex ring between top and mid levels (near to top level) using “Connect” tool available under “Edit Edges”.

Select 8 new edges and 8 edges in the mid raw and connect them again using “Connect” tool. You should get something like below.

Then draw the following pattern by connecting the vertices of the top level and new vertex ring using “Cut” tool.

Again draw the following pattern by connecting the vertices of new vertex ring with the mid level vertices using “Cut” tool.

Remove the vertices marked in the above image.

Now change the positions of the top vertex ring and newly added vertex ring by move them along Z-axis and scaling until you get a proper shape like below.

Now, top section is complete and we can move to the bottom.
Select the lone 8 edges in the bottom section and draw a new line connecting them in the mid-height using “Connect” tool.

Then draw the following pattern using “Cut” tool.

After drawing the pattern, we do not need the edge ring we added to the bottom section anymore. Go to Edge Sub-object level and remove them.

Now go to “Vertex” Sub-object level, select the bottom most vertex and Chamfer it by small amount.

Now it is almost complete, but there are few more things to do to make it perfect.
Draw another NGon with 8 sides across the mid level vertices if you already deleted the one you drawn early. Or you can use the previous NGon if it is still there. Select the NGon and Increase the number or sides to 16. Select the diamond object, go to Vertex Sub-Object level and move the remaind 8 vertices in the mid level to vacant NGon points.

Select the NGon and increase the number of sides to 64 and decrease the radius of the NGon to make it just inside the diamond.

Apply Extrude modifier to NGon with an Amount higher than the height of the diamond. Move it along Z-axis to cover the diamond as you see below.

Apply Boolean operation to the objects as an “Intersection”. As a result, It will give you the diamond shape you had early with a belt around it.

However, sometimes it will remove some of the edges of the object. If so mark them again using “Cut” tool.
After correcting the minor errors you can get the final object. This is what I got.

The flange section I am going to model consists of 2 flanges and a pipe bend section. Since this tutorial going to be bit longer, I have divided it into 2 tutorials. The first tutorial named as “Model high quality pipe flange in 3D Max” and it covers the flange modelling part. This is the second tutorial, and this will teach you how to model the bend section and how to connect with the flange section. To obtain the best results, I am strongly recommended to go through my first tutorial.

Open the 3D max file which is having the flange you have modelled in the first part of the tutorial. You should have something like below in your viewport.

Select the flange object and disable (turn off) the TurboSmooth modifier to obtain the low poly object.

Right click on the “Select and Move” Toggle to obtain the “Move Transform Type-in” and set all X, Y, Z values under “Absolute:World” to zero to bring the flange object to origin (0, 0, 0).

Go to Polygon Sub-object level of the object and select the top most polygon ring of the flange (see figure below).

Push the “Grow” button under the “Selection” rollout to grow the selected polygons up to chamfered polygons. Then delete the selected polygons and exit from Polygon Sub-object level.

Go to top viewport, turn on Snap and click the Tube button (Create > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Object Type rollout > Tube) to draw a Tube object. Before draw the Tube object, change the number of “Sides” under the “Parameters” rollout to the number of sides you are having for the flange (for me, it is 16 sides). (Note – If you followed me correctly in the previous tutorial, the number of sides will be twice as the number of holes you are having in the flange.)
You have to make sure that the two radiuses of the created Tube exactly match to the hole of the flange we made by deleting some polygons. Don’t worry about the height of the Tube, we can correct it later.  You will not get the correct result at once because it is bit difficult to draw a Tube than the Cylinder. Use the top viewport, it will make the job little easier.
This is the tube I have created on the flange with correct radiuses; hope you will also get a similar result.

Correct the height of the Tube as you like by changing the “Height” under “Parameters” rollout. You don’t need to concern about the height too much, you can correct it later. If the Tube gone through the flange, move it along the Z-axis until it comes out of the flange. Increase the Height Segments of the Tube to 6 or any even number nearby. Don’t increase it too much 6 or 8 will be enough.

Select the Tube object and apply Bend modifier to it using the “Modifier list”. Increase the Angle under “Parameters” rollout to 90.0. Hope you got a nice pipe bend, if not change the “Bend Axis” and check. You should get the correct result from one of them.

This is what I got as the result.

Now you can see the basic shape of the pipe bend you are going to have. If you are not interested in what you got, go back to Tube parameters and change the Height of the Tube until you get the correct shape.

Once you satisfy with the shape of the bend, right-click on the tube and convert it to an Editable Poly. Go to Polygon Sub-object level of the object and select and delete exactly a half of the object (see figure below).

Now, exit from the Polygon Sub-object level and move the remaining part of the bend along the Z axis to some distance using “Select and Move” toggle.

Go to Perspective viewport and rotate the viewport (not the object) to an angel where you can clearly see the flat bottom of the bend section. Go back to Polygon Sub-object level and then select and delete all the polygons in that flat bottom (see figure below).

Then again exit from the Sub-object level and perfectly place the “bend” section on the opening of the “Flange” using “Snap” tool and “Select and Move” toggle. If you followed the steps correctly, the internal and external faces of the bend should correctly match with the faces of the flange. This is what I got.

Select the flange and attach the bend to it using the “Attach” option (button) available under “Edit Geometry” rollout. Go to Vertex Sub-object level, select all the vertices and weld them together without losing the vertices nearby (use “Weld” button under “Edit Vertices” rollout).

Now, go to Front or Left viewport where you can see the finished bend part as below.

Select and Mirror the object along any direction to obtain another bend part.

Rotate the second bend part from a 90° (use Snap tool) to make the cut planes parallel.

Place one part on the other using “Snap” and “Select and Move” toggle tools to make the complete 90° bend section.

Attach the two sections together as you done previously using the “Attach” option (button) available under “Edit Geometry” rollout. Go to Vertex Sub-object level, select all the vertices and weld them together without losing the vertices nearby using “Weld” button under “Edit Vertices” rollout. Turn on TurboSmooth modifier and see how the final result looks like.

You can use this method to model different shapes of flange bends by changing last few steps. Here are few example bends.

Hope you enjoy my tutorial. Put a comment if you having any question regarding this. I am always willing to help you. Don’t forget to cheer us by putting Facebook like.

Now you should having a short-flat cylinder like below.

Select the created cylinder, right click on it and converted to an Editable Poly. Go to Edge Sub-Object level, select all the edges of the circle on the top face (select one edge and the press “Loop” button under “Selection” rollout) and scale it to the size you need as the outer diameter of the pipe.

Select the edges inside the ring, add another ring inside the first ring by pressing “Connect” button under “Edit Edges” rollout and change the diameter of the new ring by changing the “Slide” value as required as the internal diameter of the pipe.

Then go to Polygon Sub-Object level of the object, select and delete the bottom half of the object from the Front viewport.

Go to top viewport, select and delete all the polygons, only keeping to triangular parts (see the picture below).

Now, go back to Perspective viewport and see. If you have done the job correctly, the object should have only 8 polygons.

Delete the 2 triangular polygons as well (now it is remaining only 6 polygons).

Select the 2 smaller polygons on the top surface, and extrude them a bit (maybe half of the flange height) using “Extrude Polygons” (use “Extrude” button under “Edit Polygons” rollout).

When “Extrude” it will generate 2 more nearly square polygons on both sides of the extruded part. Delete them.

Select the 3 long edges of the two large polygons on top and insert a new edge at the middle of them using the “Connect” option under “Edit Edges” rollout.

Turn on snap, go to Create > Shapes > Splines > “Object Type” rollout > Circle and draw a small circle on the top plane around vertex marked in the picture above. We are going to use this circle as our reference for small holes place on the flange. So you can resize it as you like. To do that, go to “Modify” tab and change the “Radius:” under “Parameters” rollout as you like. Then go to “Interpolation” rollout and reduce the number of “Steps:” to 1. Now, you should have an octagon around the vertex as you see below.

Go to Top viewport and see whether any of the two vertices of the octagon are going through the edges of the major object. If not, turn on “Angle Snap Toggle” with a snap “Angle” calculated using (360°/(number of holes x2)
(for me it is 22.5° (360°/(8×2) = 22.5°) )  and rotate the octagon (circle) to bring 2 of vertices on top of the edges.

Select the main object and make the edges of the octagon on the main object using the “Cut” tool under “Edit Geometry” rollout starting from a vertex on a line (keep Snap on). Once mark the octagon, we do not need it any more – you may delete it.

Go to Polygon Sub-object level and delete the 4 polygons inside the octagon, to make an octagon hole inside. Go to Vertex Sub-object level and weld the marked vertices of the above image to the vertices nearby using the “Target Weld” tool available under “Edit Vertices” rollout. Now you should get something like below.

Then connect the 4 unconnected vertices of the octagon to 4 major vertices of the object (see figure below) using the “Cut” tool available under “Edit Geometry” rollout.

Go to Edge Sub-object level, select the 8 vertices of the octagon and extrude them down-words to an amount equal to half of the flange height (for me it will be 10 mm) using the “Extrude” tool available under “Edit Edges” rollout.

Select all the marked edges in the following figure and double the lines by chamfer them to a small amount using “Chamfer” tool available under edges “Edit Edges” rollout. If you like to have different amounts chamfer, select the edges as groups (as numbered below) and apply “Chamfer” separately.

Once you complete the above step, you will see 4 small triangles are formed. We need to remove them. To do that, go to Vertex Sub-object level and attach inner vertices of the triangle to outer vertices using the “Target Weld” tool. Make sure to maintain the double lines. If you one everything correctly, you should received something like below.

Now we have completed modelling the basic shape we required. Don’t worry if you can’t see a flange from this object. You will see it sooner.
Take a mirror copy of the object along the Z axis.

Then, place the mirror object to touch with the edges of the mother-object as you can see below (use Snap tool). Attach the mirror object to the mother object using the “Attach” button available under “Edit Geometry”.

Go to Vertex Sub-object level and select the 6 vertices marked below.

Use one of the “Select and Scale” toggles and decrease scale along the Z-axis to 0 or near 0 until you see them touch (see figure below).

Select all the vertices, and press Weld the un-weld vertices. Make sure not to lose the double lines while you are doing that.
Then go to top viewport, select the object and “Select and Rotate” toggle available on the top. Turn on Snap (change the angle as appropriate) and rotate the object by holding the “Shift” key until it exactly passes the boundary of the first object. For me it is exactly 45°, and you may get 90°, 22.5° etc. Once you rotate the object to the correct amount, release the mouse press. Then it will appear “Clone Options” dialog asking the number of copies required. Set the number of copies as required to complete the flange (I need 7 more copies) and press OK.

Hope you got something like below as the result.

Select one of the objects and attach rest of the objects to it, as you done to correct the mirrored object. Now there is only one object, to make it complete, go back to Vertex sub-object level, select all the vertices and Weld once without losing the double lines. Exit from the sub-object level apply TurboSmooth modifier from the Modifier list with 1 or 2 Iterations. Hope you got a quality pipe-flange the result. This is what I got.

Render and see how it looks like.

If you need to model a thread according to standard sizes, first you need dimensions. If you don’t have them search in the internet, you could easily find them. Otherwise, you may just used your dimensions.

For my model I have selected the M12 size thread with following main dimensions.

Major Diameter – 12.00 mm (say D1)

Minor Diameter – 9.85 mm (say D2)

Pitch – 1.75 mm (say P)

Now we can start the tutorial. First go to Front viewport of the 3D Max, and create Plane object (using Create > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Object Type rollout > Plane). Change the Length and the Width of the created plane to 0.875 mm and 12 mm. If you are using different sizes, use your P/2 and D1 for Length and Width. Change the Length Segs and Width segs to 2.

Then turn on Snap, and place left-bottom corner of the plane exactly on the origin (o, o, o) using “Move Transform Type-in” you get when right-click on “Select and Move” toggle.

After that, right click on the create plane and converted to an Editable Poly. Go to Vertex sub-object level, select the mid column of the vertices and change the X position of the selected vertices to 9.85mm (the value you taken as D2). Then select the middle vertex row and drag it near to the bottom vertex line. Now you should have something like below.

Now, go back to parent level (exit from the Vertex Sub-Object level), make a duplicate of the plane and place on top of the first plane as you can see below.

Now you having the guidelines required sketch. Go to Create > Shapes, select Line as the Object Type and draw the following sketch (follow the arrows if you can’t see the sketch clearly). Make sure to turn on Snap before you sketch it.

Once you have created the sketch, you do not need the two planes anymore. You can either delete it or hide it. Then again go to Front Viewport, and duplicate the sketch for about 20-30 times, by positioning the bottom vertex of the new sketch on the top vertex to get a continuous line like below.

Now, select the bottom-most line, and attach all the remaining lines to it by using the “Attach” button under Geometry rollout in the Modify tab (or use “Attach Mult.” Button Just below the “Attach” button to select rest of the lines from the list).

Go to Vertex Sub-objective level, press Ctrl+A to select all the vertices, and press “Weld” button below “End Point Auto-Welding” under the Geometry rollout, to connect the copied lines to gether. Start from zero and increase the amount step-by-step, until the vertices get welded. But make sure you haven’t missed any want vertex.

Go to parent level and apply “Extrude” modifier from Modifier list. Increase the Amount to 34.3219 mm (use (D1+D2)/2 x π if you used different dimensions), and let the number of Segments to remain at 1. If you worked correctly, now you are having something like below.

Select and right-click on it and select “Convert to Editable Poly”. Go to Vertex Sub-object level, and select all the vertices in one side of the object (say left).

Move the selected vertices up-wars or down-words along the Z axis to an amount equal to the pitch you have selected (mine is 1.75 mm). Take the help of “Offset:World” of “Move Transform Type-In” (right-click on “Select and Move” Toggle) to move the vertices to exact amount you need.

Then go to Edge Sub-object level of the object and select all the longer edges which connect left and right vertex lines (all the edges except zigzag lines). By keeping the selection, press the small “Settings” button, just in front of the “Connect” button under the “Edit Edges” rollout. Apply “Connect Edges” with 32 or 64 Segments as required.

Now you should get something like below.

Go back to parent level of the object and apply “Bend” modifier from Modifier list. Set the angle to 360 (or -360) digress and set the bend axis to Z.

If you have done everything correctly, you should get something like below as the result.

Go back to the viewport, right-click on the viewport and convert the model to an Editable Poly. Go to Vertex Sub-object level, and select the vertices which were coincide after applying Bend from the top viewport (see figure below).

Press the small “Settings” button in front of the “Weld” button (under “Edit Vertices” rollout). It will open “Weld Vertices”. Start the “Weld Threshold” from zero and increase little-by-little until you connected the vertex line without collapsing the model.

If you want to have a cut-ends from both ends, go to Top viewport and draw a Plane object covering the area of the screw (see figure below).

Then go to Front or Left viewport and set the elevation (by moving along the Z axis) of the plane to go through the screw. Take a copy of the plane and place it in another elevation across the screw.

Select one plane, convert it to a Editable Poly, and attach the other plane to it. Then select the screw object, go to Create > Geometry > Compound Objects > Boolean. Go to Parameters rollout and select Cut -> Refine as the Operation. Then click on “Pick Operand B” button under “Pick Boolean” rollout and select the planes. Then the two planes will disappear, but it cuts a line at the places where the planes were. Convert the object again into a Editable Poly. Go to Polygon Sub-object level and select and delete all the polygons outside the newly cut lines.

As the final step, go to “Border” sub-object level of the object, select the two open borders at the top and the bottom an press “Cap” button under “Edit Borers” rollout. This will be your final result.

This is how it is looks like when rendered.

If you faced any problem while following this tutorial, you are free to add a comment on that. I am always happy to help you.

The method I am going to teach you is not straight forward as this – that means you have to do bit more works. But, it will give you a good end result.  For this tutorial, I am not going to state the values related to the size of the object, since it might vary with the size of the object you are using. But I will tell you how to guess the values suitable for the object.

To start the work, you need to prepare a flat surface to place the extruded text. I am recommending you to start it with a simple box object. Go to Create > Geometry > Standard Primitives > Box, and draw a box in the 3d space, near to the origin with whatever detentions you like. Now I am going to prepare a text object on top of the prepared box. To do that, go to Create > Shapes > Splines > Text, turn on “AutoGrid” and click on the tip surface of the created box object. Then it will place a line-text with a default text.

To change the text, go to Parameters rollout and type the text you required in the Text box under it. Change Font type, Size and other parameters under the same rollout (Parameters rollout) to customize the text as you like.

Once you personalize the text as you want, go to “Interpolation rollout” and reduce the number of Steps to 0.

Then you will get a bad-looking spline-text with less amount segments.

Select the text object in the viewport, right-click in it and select “Convert to Editable Spline”. Go to Vertex sub-object level of the object and select all the vertices where you need to have sharp edges. As an example, the 4 sharp edges of the letter – D (see figure below). Go to “Geometry rollout” and press “Chamfer” tool. Then go to prespetive viewport, press and hold the left-mouse button and drag a bit until you are getting 2 vertices, per each selected vertex (don’t worry, to check whether you get the correct amount of vertices, once you double one vertex, it will double the other vertices as well). But remember, not to increase the distance between these vertices (the amount of Chamfer) too much, just separating the vertices will be sufficient.

Once you complete, go back to parent level and convert the object to an “Editable Poly”. Then it automatically fills inside the text.

Now you need to correct the poly object you got as required for the further works. First go to “Vertex” sub-object level and turn on “Snap”. Select the “Cut” tool under “Edit Geometry” and connect the vertices to get a nice mesh with triangles and squares. Don’t forget to connect you are having 2 vertices in the sharp edges, and they need to connect to others separately.

If there are places where have on vertices to connect, such as the straight line of letter-D, (see figure above) connect them by joining the lines in few places as bellow.

Now, there is another important thing to do. That  is, you might get extra vertices while you are using the “Cut” tool. To remove them, select all the vertices and press “Weld” button under “Edit Vertices” rollout.

Then go to Polygon sub-object level and press Ctrl+A to select all the polygons. Then extrude the selected polygons to any amount by pressing “Extrude” button under “Edit Polygons”.

Keeping the selection, then go to “Bevel” option just below “Extrude”. Apply it with any amount you like, as the Height and a similar negative value as “Outline Amount”.

If you have done all correctly, you should get something like below.

Now, go to Border Sub-Object level, and select all the borders by pressing Crtl+A. Press the “Extrude” button under “Edit Borders”, and extrude the selected edges with 0 “Extrusion Base Width”.

You should get something below as the result.

Now, you have build-up the flat surface around the text object manually. Hope you will have some understanding on tools such as “Target Weld” and “Cut”. Make sure to make sure the plane is only covered from triangles and squares. Build the surface around the text to a one like below.

Now almost everything except, smoothing is completed. To make the text object smooth, apply “TurboSmooth” modifier with two Iterations. See the image below, how it looks like.

If you like to have sharper edge at the bottom of the Text, turn-off TurboSmooth modifier, select the edges you need to make harder and “Chamfer” them a bit. Then , turn-on TurboSmooth modifier again and see the difference.

You may also change the top polygons of the Text to get different appearances.

To place the prepared text on an object you have created, scale the Text as you need, delete some polygons on the main object, align the text on that, attach to it and finally work with “Cap Close”, “Target Weld” and “Cut” tools to nicely connect it to the object.

To start the work, find a good image which having a human face close-up. You may select either colour or B&W, but i recommended to use a bigger image. I have selected the following image with 1024 x 963 px.

Open the selected image in Photoshop and then go to File menu and start a new PSD file with the same dimensions as the selected image. You may choose background colour as white and Color mode as RGB. Copy the selected image and pasted on the newly created PSD file (Now it should pasted on the file as a new layer). Select this new layer, go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast… and increase the Brightness of the layer until your image looks pail ( like a washout image). I have increased the Brightness to 100, but it might not be same for you. Select a value you prefer. You may fine tune it later, once you get the complete idea of this tutorial.

This is how my image looks like when change the Brightness.

Copy the selected layer (Ctrl+A to select all and Ctrl+C to copy) and paste (Ctrl+V) 4-5 times on the newly created PSD file. If you do it correctly, the pasted images will be on different layers as below.

Now you are having several similar layers. Click on the “Eye” of the layers and hide all the copied layers except the first one. Now, Background and Layer 1 will be the only two visible layers.

If you feel, you might lose the positions of the pasted images while working, lock the positions of all the layers using the “lock Position” button just above the layers.
Then go to Image > Converse Size and change the Width and the Height of the converse to 200%.

Now it should have enough space around the selected image. Surely you will wonder about this step, but it is really essential to overcome a limitation of Photoshop software. Sometimes you may not require this step for Photoshop versions higher than CS2 (I am not sure). But I really need it because I am using Photoshop CS2.

Now set the Foreground colour and Background colour to pure black and pure white respectively.

Then select Layer 1, and apply Filter > Sketch > Halftone Pattern. Set the filter parameters; Size-1 Contrast-10 and Pattern type-Circle and press OK.

Then you should get something like below with nice circular pattern.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast… and increase Brightness. But don’t increase the Contrast, it will lost some of the details in the lighter areas (see the figure below).

Now the first layer is completed.

Turn on the “eye” mark of the Later 2 to make it visible. When it visible, it will cover the finished layer, the Layer 1. Zoom out the image until you can see the complete area of the Canvas and select a nearly square area using “Rectangular Marquee Tool”. This rectangle should draw to cover ¾ of the image and go to one end of the corner of the canvas at the opposite end. If it is not clear, see the figure below.

Now we are going to change the Layer 2 to get a similar look as Layer 1. To do that, by keeping the selection, apply “Halftone Pattern” filter and then adjust Brightness without changing the parameter values you have used for Layer 1 (make sure you have selected Layer 2). Now you should get a similar layer to Layer 1. Press Ctrl + Shift + I to invert the selected area, and then press Delete to remove the area which haven’t apply the effect. Then set the “Blending mode of the layer” to “Multiply”.

Repeat this to 3 more layers by changing the selecting area for rest of the three corners. Once you have completed repeating this you should get something like this (if you having more unused layers, keep them hide further).

Now, the remaining part need bit of art. First, hide all the layers on top of the Layer 1 (Layer2, Layer3 …). Now you can see only Layer 1 with a centre point of the pattern in the mid. So we have to remove that point. Use Eraser tool or brush tool with white colour to remove these centre point (use with less Hardness to avoid having boundary).

Now turn off the visibility of the Layer 1 and on Layer 2. Remove its centre point and make the two internal borders smoother using the Brush or Eraser tool.

Repeat this to rest of the layers as well.
Now turn on all the layers (except unused layer), you should have something like below.

Now turn off all the layers except Layer 1 and 2, and erase the Layer 2 at the places where the curved lines are crossed in a lesser angle (say 45°) to having an unpleasant pattern.

Once you repeat this to rest of the layer, you will get something like below
.
If there are place where don’t covered by at least two layers, add 1-2 more layers with different selection areas to cover them. Remove the centre points and sharp edges of the new layers as well. I have two more layers.
Now go to each layer and erase unnecessary places as you like. You don’t need to have visible more than 2 layers at the same place. Once you satisfy about what you get Flatten the image and adjust Brightness/Contrast of the image as you like. You may also adjust the colour of the image using “Colour Balance…” s well.
This is what I got.

Before starting all, it’s better to know how the volleyball looks like (if you already know just skip this paragraph). According to Wikipedia, Volleyballs are round and traditionally consist of eighteen nearly rectangular panels of synthetic or genuine leather, arranged in six identical sections of three panels each, wrapped around a bladder.
Before starting my tutorial I would like to acknowledge Thomas Suurland, because I have extracted part of my modelling procedure from his “Football tutorial”.

Let’s start. Go to Top viewport and draw a plane with, length = 600, width = 210. Set the Length Segments to 3 and Width Segments to 1.

Right click on the Select and Move toggle and set X, Y, Z values of the Absolute: World to 0 (to place the plane at (0, 0, 0)).

Get two more copies from the plane (Hold the Shift key and drag). Change the Width of middle plane to 180.

Turn on Snap toggle and right click on that. Grid and Snap Settings dialog will appear. Select Vertex option and deselect rest. Close the window.

Drag the planes and place them in a way that they are touching each other (use Snap option to move). Don’t interchange the planes; the narrow plane should be in the middle. After placing the planes it will look like a one rectangular plane. Select the middle plane, press the Object colour button and change it to another colour.
Select one plane and apply Unwrap UVW modifier. By selecting the plane, right click on the viewport and convert it to Editable Mesh. Do the same thing to other two planes as well.

Select the 3 planes and make 5 more copies from that. Then altogether there will be 18 planes (mesh objects) in 6 panels.

Now turns on Angle snap Toggle, right click on that to open Grid and Snap Settings window. Set the Angle in the General group to 30, 45 or 90.

Now you have to make a cube from these 6 panels, as they look like 6 faces of a cube. You only need to rotate and move options with snap for this. Make sure all the faces are facing outside when complete the cube. When you complete the task, rotate panels until the three strips are not parallel to neighbouring ones.

When you done that, from all sides cube should looks like this.

Now let’s apply material to the planes. Not as in early days, today volleyballs come in different colour combinations. In additionally, manufacturers print their Trademarks and different logos on the ball. To make our ball more realistic, we also need to add few logos on our ball. But keep in mind; you need more material slots when you are using more colours and logos. However in this case I am not restricting you. You can use any number of colours and logos you want. (But don’t make it fancy. You may find good combination through internet search.) This is the algorithm to find out the number of material slots you need.

No of material slots = (No of strips covered by logos)  +  (No of colours using)

I am going to use 3 colours and keep 3 strips for logos, and the number of material slots I need is 6. You can make the correct materials later, for this moment it is enough to make them different by changing their Diffuse colour.

Apply prepared materials to relevant strips (don’t worry about the cubic shape, it will getting  round later). This is how my cube looks like.

Let’s begin the rest of modelling now. Select one of the strips, and apply Edit Mesh modifier to that. Press Attach List button under Edit geometry Rollout and select all the planes in the Attach List and press Attach button (make sure there is no any other object in the scene). Now Attach Options dialog will appear. Select first option (Match Material IDs to Material) and press OK.

Now all the planes we made are attached as a single object.

Go to Face sub-object level of the Edit Mesh modifier, select all the faces (shortcut Ctrl + A) and go back to parent level. Apply MeshSmooth modifier to the object. Change the Subdivision method to Quad Output and set the number of Iterations to 2 (you may change it later if you need).

Add Spherify modifier to the object. Now the object should looks like a perfect sphere.

Then apply Face Extrude modifier to the object, and set the Amount to 5.0 and Scale to 96.5.

Then apply MeshSmooth modifier again, and change the Subdivision method to Quad Output and the number of Iterations to 1 or 2. Now the modelling part is complete. If you follow me without a mistake, you will receive a good volleyball. Render and see how it looks like, this is how my one looks like.

Now it’s time to make real materials. However the material you are using may depends on the rendering type. I am going to use Default Scanline Renderer. If you like to use my rendering setup, place a Skylight anywhere in the scene as the lighting source, and a plane just under the volleyball to receive shadows.Press F10 to open Render Setup window, go to Advanced Lighting tab and Light Tracer as Advanced Lighting method. Change Rays/Sample to 500. Keep other settings as they were.

Select one of the prepared materials, and do following changes.
1.    Set Specular Level, and Glossiness values to 0.
2.    Set the diffuse colour of the material to a colour you want. but it’s better not to use pure colours.
3.    Set the Amount of Bump map under Maps rollout to 20.
4.    Add Noise material as bump map.

5.    Change the Noise Type to Regular and Size to 2.0.

Repeat above steps to other materials as well.
Now Prepare texture maps you needed using Photoshop, and apply them as Diffuse colour maps for materials allocated for logos. Change the tiling until maps are properly place on the ball.
Render and see how it looks like.

If you faced any problem, please let me know. I would like to help you.

Today I am going to do the first; yes to model high-poly twisted steel rods by your own with few minutes.
First open 3D max as usual or Reset once if you have already worked with the 3D max. Now go to Customize menu and select “Unit Setup”. From the “Unit Setup” window, select “millimetres” as the unit and press OK to apply.

Go to Create > Geometry, select Cylinder as the Object type and draw a Cylinder in the Perspective view. Now select the created cylinder, then go to Modify, and set the Radius and the height of the created cylinder to 20.00 mm and 100.00 mm respectively. Then set Height Segments to 10,  Cap Segments to 1 and Sides to 14.

Select and right-click on the Cylinder object (you may use any viewport) and select “Convert to Editable Poly”
Now you should have something like below.

Go to Polygon sub-objective of the object and select two opposite polygon lines.

Select Bevel option under “Edit Polygons” rollout by clicking the small button in front of it. Set Bevel type to Group, height to 1.0 mm and Outline Amount to -1.0 mm and apply.

By keeping the polygon selection, then apply Extrude (just above the Bevel button) by keeping Extrusion Height as 2.0 mm and Extrusion Type as Group.

Now deselect the selected polygons and select following polygon pattern both sides of the two bevelled lines. (it is bit difficult to describe than select, hope you will understand the pattern by seeing the following figure. However the pattern should not include polygons next to bevelled lines)

First apply Bevel and then Extrude for the selected polygon group as early by keeping the same settings.
If you one correctly, you should get something like below.

Now select “Edge” sub-object level of the object. Go to Left viewport and select following edges.

Go to “Connect” option under the “Edit Edges” rollout and apply it with only one Segment.

Again go to “Polygon” sub-object level, select and delete all the polygons outside the newly created lines.

Exit from the sub-object level and go back to Perspective viewport.
Select the object and make 3-4 more copies and attached one behind another to be looks like a continuous tube. Use Snap option to this (I hope you know how to make copies and place them using the Snap option)

Select one object, go to Attach option under “Edit Geometry” rollout and attach rest of the copied options. Go to “Vertex” sub-object level and select the vertex rings where the objects are jointed. Go to Weld option under Edit Vertices rollout and apply it by keeping weld threshold at 0.01mm.

Then go to “Edge” sub-object level. Once you go to Edge, you will see some edge rings are already selected (it should be already selected if you haven’t done anything out of my steps). Press “Remove” button under “Edit Geometry” rollout so it will remove these rings except the two rings at the two ends.

Now, exit from the sub-object level and apply TurboSmooth modifier with 2 iterations. Now you should get something like below. If you happy with this, you can stop. If you like to make it twist, apply Twist modifier and increase the Angle to a value you like.

Hope you interested in this.