NEW TECHNIQUES! - Creating and Animating door

The first stage for me was to create the inside and outside doors for the Guildhall. These doors would be used by the rest of the group so it was key that I produced these quickly and effectively. I also have learnt new techniques with both the creation and animation aspects of this model.

I first created a box using standard primitives with 8 width segments. This would allow me to have a full door with 8 panels.

I then converted this to an editable poly which would allow me to edit the edges of the panels and to make them stand out more. I selected one panel edge and then clicked loop (selection panel) which selected all the edges around the door for that side of the panel I selected.

Once I had these edges selected I could go about making the panels have more depth and give the door the look that it had panels rather that just flat. To achieve this I used chamfer (edit edges section) which created 2 other edges either side of my original edge.

Now that I had 2 other edges either side I could use the original edge to create an indent to the door which would give the impression that it was the gap between the panels which is attached to the door. I went to the top view screen and simply selected the middle edge of the three and used the select and uniform scale tool and shrunk the size of the edge in the y axis.

Now I was happy with the outcome and that I could see that my door had one panel, I went about doing the same process for the other panels. Again I selected the edges of each panel on one face, this time I selected the other 6 edges at the same time by clicking on an edge and holding down the ctrl button. I then clicked the loop button again and this selected all the surrounded edges within that panel in the y axis. I used the same settings that I had done with the previous chamfer with these to keep each panel width equal and consistant.

I then selected all the top edges in the middle of each panel and reduced the size to match the length of my first panel, again using the select and uniform scale tool and ensuring the length was the same as the first.

Once I was happy with how my door was looking with 8 panels showing depth I went about applying a texture to my surface. This is where my first NEW TECHNIQUE was learnt.

Below is the original image of the texture I found from the internet at: http://www.lovetextures.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/feb/0210-6.jpg

I then took this image into photoshop and rotated the image 90 degrees so that the grains where running vertically just like my door panels. I then selected the top half of the image.

Once I had done this I created a duplicate layer and switched the top half of the image with the bottom. This would allow the image to tile more effectively when in 3Ds Max as the grains would then match up. (NEW)

Now that my texture was ready for tiling I had to make sure that the centre of the image would match up with grooves and grains as the bottom and top of the original image now met at this point. It is also apparent that if I had not moved the top section to the bottom what the result would have been like on my panels as it does not match up. To make them match up I simply just the clone tool and holding down alt and cliking on an area of the top layer I could then paint a matching grain pattern. The picture below shows the work in progress.

I then saved the file as a psd file so I could now use this in 3Ds Max. Now with that NEW TECHNIQUE I could apply it as a material for my panels. By opening up the material editor and selecting an empty material I then went to the grey box next to diffuse and selected bitmap as an option. I then selected my textured image. Next I applied a bump map to this image and played with the glossiness and specular levels til I was happy with the outcome.

I then applied this to material to my door and was happy with how the wood looked and was being displayed on screen. However, I could not distinguish when looking at the door face on that I had panels so I had to find a way of making these stand out. This is where another NEW TECHNIQUE was introduced. If I selected all my door panels usong the polygon tool in edit poly I could give them a different ID. So I set these polygons to ID:2.

I then made sure that all my other polygons (grooves) were set to ID: 1 which they were. However, just because I gave them different IDs didn't mean that I would then have solved my problem. I also had to create a multi/ sub-object material with 2 IDs set. The first was a simple dark brown colour which would be for the grooves between each panel and should give the model the look of depth. The second ID was my panel texture that I had created earlier.

I then clicked on show standard map in viewport which allowed me to view the door with the applied materials in my viewports. I then rendered the image and was very happy with the results. I then decided that the next stage for the door would be to create hinges for the back so that when I created the animation part for this the door would look realistic when opening by using the hinges.

To create these I simply made 2 cylinder shapes using the standard primitives panel selection and changed the number of sides. For the bar on the back of the door I changed that to three which created a triangle shape. I converted these to an editable poly where I then attached the two cylinders together using the attach tool. I created a material for this aswell by selecting just a black colour and changing the glossiness and specular levels to make the hinge seem like a shiny metal.

I then cloned this hinge and moved it to the bottom so I had both hinges in place. I then selected the door and attached the hinges to this. This was how the outside doors would look. For the inside doors I changed the material of my wood texture and found it at: http://www.pixelab.be/blog/uploads/pixelab_birch.jpg. I then done the same procedure as I did for my previous wood texture, and applied the same material set up to this. Once I was happy with the result I went about making the doorframe for the door. This was made by using box modelling where I extruded certain polygons to provide depth and a realistic looking frame. I also changed the postioning of some vertices to allow my frame to take the correct shape. I then applied a white coloured material to it where the gloss was high to provide a nice shine.

At this stage this is how the door and doorframes looked.

Now I was happy with how my door was looking I could go about the animation aspect. This is where I learnt a NEW ANIMATING TECHNIQUE. Making sure that I had my door selected ( not my doorframe) I went to the animation toolbar and went to reactor, create object, hinge constraint. This then applied a hinge modifier which would allow me to edit it. I then changed the pivot point so that it was on the edge of the door where a hinge would go but in the centre of my door.

I then changed the parent and child space properties so that the door would open the correct way. To do this I rotated the child space section so that the door was showing the opening with the door being pushed open rather than pulled. I also made sure that the maximum angle the door would open to would be 90 degrees.

Next in the reactor panel, when selecting the doorframe I applied the properties shown below. These settings where inforced as the doorframe is stationary and won't be moving in the animation.

Next in the reactor panel, when selecting the door I applied the properties shown below. These settings where inforced as the door is the moving object.

Now that the settings were in place I had to create a csolver modifier and add the rigid body collection where the box none was displayed, and add the constraints of the hinge modifier, door and doorframe.


I then done a preview in reactor and was happy with the result. I then converted this to an animation where I simplified the animation using the dope sheet.