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Other
ClydeSight Productions Bryce 5 Tutorials:
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Learn Bryce 5 modeling by building a robot model based on "Robby, the Robot™"*
See local media coverage of this tutorial!
| This tutorial is intended to teach Bryce 5 users basic modeling techniques by building a robot BASED on the character Robby the Robot™. The Bryce 5 model can be used for educational and personal use ONLY. Commercial use of the model will require a license from Turner Entertainment Co., A Time Warner Company. ClydeSight Productions does not condone or imply any use of this model that would be construed to violate their rights, nor does it use the model in any of its own commercial products. See Disclaimer |
Building
Robby's ChestNote: This is a highly detailed tutorial. I STRONGLY suggest that you print these pages (there will be a lot of printed pages!) and use the hardcopy as a guide while working. It's much easier than having both Bryce 5 and your browser open and then flipping between applications!
We continue to build our model and learn from the experience. In this section, we'll make Robby's chest and the "rings" for his arms-- what I call his shoulders. This is relatively simple-- we'll rely on what we've learned so far, and learn a few new tricks along the way.
If you have saved and closed your model of the legs and hip, open it now and go to the FRONT view. Select NONE and click on the SOLO button. You should have a blank workspace.
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Note: The torus is a very useful object for making spherical objects that aren't completely spherical! The shape is determined by the inside radius of the torus in combination with the (in this orientation) Y size. This is VERY USEFUL when making round shapes that need some "flattened areas". A torus is not a sphere with a hole in it, it is a unique mathematical shape with its own special geometry. |
Step 1: Get the Torus and Make the Chest. We start with the torus, just as we did for the hip. Make sure you have not selected anything and click on the SOLO button in the VCR controls. This will hide all objects in your wireframe view. You should be in the FRONT view and your workspace should appear to be blank. Click on the Torus object in the Create Palette. You already know that the torus will come into your workspace with the wrong orientation for our purpose-- so perform the X = 90 rotate and Set As Unity function just as you did in Step 1 of the hip section of this tutorial. (If you need to review, click here.) We're going to do things a little in reverse this time so you get used to the double edit function of the torus. Click on the A box to open the Attributes box. Set the coordinates as follows: Position:
X = 0, Y = 101.33 , Z = 0 You don't need to set the rotation coordinates, they are automatically set to zero by the Set As Unity. Note that we set the Boolean of the chest to Positive. That's because we need to make a knock out in it, which we'll do in the next step. Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. We will edit the torus radius, as this will give us our final shape. Click on the E box to open the Edit Torus Window. Set the radius to 210 (remember Bryce 5 creates a torus with a radius of 256 by default) Click the Check Mark to close the Edit Torus window. Now go BACK to the Attributes Box and look at the Y size. You'll see it has changed! The Edit Torus radius function affects the Y size (in our orientation), but NOT the other way around. So NOW you can reset the Y size. Set the Y size back to 29.40 Click the Check Mark to close the window and apply the settings. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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A Boolean negative that is practically embedded in another object will make a type of "niche". This is a very useful function! |
Step 2: Make the
Chest Knock Out
Robby has a heart box in his chest that we'll make in the next section of this tutorial. The box sits partially inside his chest and sticks out in front a little. We need to make a "niche" or knock out to receive the box when we make it. You see, the box is flat, but the chest is curved. If we didn't knock out part of the chest, when we put in the heart box, some of the chest would stick through! We'll use the Rounded Cube 1 imported object, just as we did in Step 5 of the hip. Import the object from the Create Objects Dialog box, rotate it -22.5 degrees on the Y axis and do a Set As Unity. (Click here if you need to review how to do this), Select the rounded cube 1 object and change the attributes as follows: Position:
X = 0, Y = 101.33 , Z = -26.27 You don't need to set the rotation coordinates, they are automatically set to zero by the Set As Unity. Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Here's a new way to change the color for this object: Click on the triangle next to the EDIT tab in the upper part of the workspace. A Materials Selector will pop-up. Pick Simple and Fast and flat gray. Click on the Check Mark to apply the material. Now you know TWO ways to apply a material to an object! SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 4: Make the Upper Base Ring Robby's chest has two rings at the base, and they must be made individually, but we'll do it the easy way. We'll duplicate the chest and alter it. Duplicate the chest. You now know that the inside radius of a torus is important. In this case, we want to enlarge it. Click on the E box to open the duplicate's Edit Torus window. Change the radius to: 256 (The Bryce 5 default). Click on the Check Mark to apply the change. Click on the Attributes Box to enter the Attributes window. Enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 86.63, Z = 0 You don't need to set the rotation coordinates, they are already zero. Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 5: Make the Lower Base Ring Duplicate the upper base ring. We don't need to edit the inside radius this time. Click on the Attributes Box to enter the Attributes window. Enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 84.63 , Z = 0 You don't need to set the rotation coordinates, they are already zero. Click
on the Check Mark to apply the changes. SAVE YOUR WORK! Note: The "Rings" are partially embedded in the chest and each other. This gives them the "ripple" look they require. |
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Note: We DON'T do Set As Unity on the shoulder tori because they are oriented to the word space correctly for our purposes, even though they are a 45 degree angle. |
Step 6: Make the Left Shoulder Ring Robby has a ring around each of his arms where they enter the chest. I call these his shoulders. We'll make the left one (remember, that's Robby's left, not yours!) from a torus object, and duplicate it to make the right one. Click on the torus object from the Create Palette. A torus will appear somewhere in your workspace. This time we WON'T Set as Unity. We will rotate it on the Y axis to orient it to the curvature of Robby's chest. Click on the Attributes Box to enter the Attributes window. Enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 19.40, Y = 101.33 , Z = -19.37 DON'T Set As Unity! Click the Check Mark to close the Attributes box. The Bryce 5 default radius of 256 is just fine, so we won't edit this torus! SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 7: Make the Right Shoulder Ring This one's a no-brainer! Duplicate the left shoulder ring. Click on the Attributes Box to enter the Attributes window. Enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = -19.40, Y = 101.33 ,
Z = -19.37 The duplicate should jump over to the right side of the chest. If it is set properly (look at the image), it is correct. Click the Check Mark to close the Attributes box. SAVE YOUR WORK! Note: In this duplication, we not only changed the polarity of the new object's X position, we also changed the polarity of its rotation from a negative to a positive value. |
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It's very easy to get a number wrong when creating an object. Things like using a 2 for a 3 and so on. The group coordinates act as a "check sum". If the numbers don't match, you must UNGROUP and check each object for the proper coordinates, then GROUP again and check again.
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Step 8: Group the Chest Objects Now that all objects are made, we can group them. All the Boolean indicators will operate as expected. Carefully select all the objects and click on the G icon in the icon column to group them. Open the Attributes box. If you have done everything correctly, you should see the coordinates as follows: Position:
X = 0, Y = 99.58 , Z = -0.17 If your numbers match mine (or are within .01) Name the group: chest group Click the Check Mark to assign the name. This group will also have the Robby skin color, so assign it to the Robby Paint Family (dark green). Remember that when you assign the group to a family, everything contained within the group becomes a member of that family as well. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 9: Check the Model If you render your Chest Assembly in SOLO mode it should look like the image on the left (your left). If you exit the SOLO mode and render your model, it should look like the image below (I show two views and have adjusted the lighting for clarity). |
Congratulations! You have made Robby's chest and you've learned some new things. In this section we learned how smoothing a mesh object works in Bryce 5, how to create a Negative Boolean group to create a niche, and how to go back and forth between the Edit Torus window and the Attributes window and adjust dimensions for the effect we want. We'll use all these techniques in the next section of the tutorial when we give Robby a heart! It's got a lot of detail, but it's also a lot of fun! But first, we'll start with a frame for his Heart Box.
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Tutorial copyright - © ClydeSight Productions - 2004
