Olivier Amrein-Skol

 

Olivier Amrein>PolyMesh Modeling - part 1 -

for SoftImage|XSI

 

level: all

 

Remarks:
This tutorial is intended for people having already some XSI notions
Be sure your in "model" module (press 1)
I do often work in Hiddenline mode which suits me the best
Works with XSI 1.5 and more only
This is what we are going to achieve (or try to):

 

 

let's start with a marvellous 6-sided cube: Get->Primitive->Polygon Mesh->Cube
select the 2 front edges by holding E-key
note: you can also write edge[7,10] in the selection field (it should work)

note : E-key is to switch in edges mode, Y-key in poly-mode (with rectangular selection), U-key is raycasting selection poly mode

now we will subdivide the edge: there are 2 methods:
- in the menu Modify-> Poly Mesh-> Subdivide Edges (Evenly)
- or pick point in the selected edge and by holding ALT and right mouse button (RMB)...
you get a very cool "Contextual Menu" ...where you find our Subdivide Edges (evenly) command

 

 

select the newly created edge and move it a bit in the front

scale it in x to 0.6

 

we now have on each side a pentagon ... with non coplanar points... we are going to add a new edge to correct this.
back in object mode (often the spacebar will do it) and select the onject
do the Contextual menu trick (a.k.a. Magik-menu) and select Add Edge Tool
(or press \ (which doesnt work cause I have a swiss keyboard))
(or go in the menu Modify->Ploy.Mesh->Add Edge Tool)
select the 2 points and add the edge

do the other side too
hum...I'm pretty lazy :o)

in the right view draw a curve (Create->Curve-Draw CV NURBS) a bit like this one :

 

select the front poly (using the raycast method U-key for instance)

and do an Extrude Along Curve ...
select the curve you just draw and set the SubDivs to 6 ...you should get this figure:

 

now to the tail ...
select the extreme back poly and do a Bevel Component (using the Magik-menu) on it of around 0.4

note : dont forget to deselect previously selected component or you'll get weird results

with the back poly still selected do an Extrude Along Axis:
length 8
subdivs 6
in the tranform panel:
sclae x=0.1 y=1.6 z=0.1
rot x=40 y=60 z=30
fianlly turn the per subd off
do you get something like fig8 ?

 

reselect the object and select the Split Edge Tools and
use the middle button (Split All Parallel Edges) on the edges shown in those 2 fig.
this is a good way to add points for further refinement, isn't it?

 

select the 2 lower front vertex and Bevel them (0.5)...

now let's subdivide this a bit:
go to part 2

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Olivier Amrein-Skol