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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 SkullNote: 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!
Robby has a head, of course, and it is made of very many parts. We'll break them down into sections to make things easy to model and keep track of. His head really has two basic parts-- the solid head--what you see inside and from the back, and the clear "dome". We won't model the dome until the very end because it takes a glass material which takes a while to render in Bryce 5. Since there are these two parts to Robby's head, I've chosen to call the structure that holds all the interior head parts: Robby's skull.
The skull has only one solid piece-- a sphere. The rest of the skull are Boolean negatives and an Intersect. You'll understand better when you model it, so let's get going! In this section, you'll increase your Boolean skills and learn how to use multiple Boolean objects to make Bryce 5 create a complex shape.
If you have saved and closed your model, open it now and go to the RIGHT view. Select NONE and click on the SOLO button. You should have a blank workspace.
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Step 1: Make the Skull Robby's skull is made from a very elongated sphere. If you are in wireframe mode and can see your model, 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 RIGHT view (press 3 on the keyboard) and your workspace should appear to be blank. Click on the Sphere in the Create Palette to bring it into your work space. Click on the Attributes Box and set the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 103.71, Z = 0 This is part of Robby's body, so assign it to the Robby Paint family (I used the dark green color cube) Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 2: Make Skull Top KO The top of Robby's Skull is flat. It will become the base for his gyros and pilot light. We can make the sphere we just created have a flat top with a Negative Boolean. Click on the Cube in the Create Palette to bring it into your work space. Click on the Attributes Box and set the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 159.20, Z = 0 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Although this is a Boolean Negative, it does have a surface and color that we will see. Assign it to the Robby Paint family (I used the dark green color cube). Note: You can temorarily apply a color such as dark gray or black to this object for the modeling purposes. When we apply the Robby Paint at then end of the tutorial, it will be replaced with the proper color. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 3: Make the Front Face KO Robby has a flat face that holds his relays and other contraptions. It has a complex shape that no Bryce 5 primitive can match. But we can combine a set of primitives and get the same effect, it just takes a few extra steps. And everything is made of Boolean Negatives! Select the Skull Top KO and DUPLICATE it. Click on the Attributes Box for the duplicate and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 141.44, Z = -13.44 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. We want to make this object completely transparent. So enter its Materials Lab and boost the transparency value to 100. The object in the Nano preview should disappear, showing your setting is correct. To keep it safe, assign this to your "Painted" family. As you can see, this Negative Boolean will eliminate the front part of the Skull sphere when grouped. Now we go after the interior. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 4: Make the Back Face KO Robby's face is sloped back, that's why these objects we are creating are angled. Select the Front Face KO and DUPLICATE it. Click on the Attributes Box for the duplicate and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 139.80, Z = -9.14 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Assign it to the Robby Paint family (I used the dark green color cube). Note: As this object is derived from the Front Face KO, it will have 100% transparency. When we apply the Robby Paint, that will be re-set. But for now, so we can actually see the face plate, we should set the Transparency to ZERO (0). You can even apply a dark grey or black to the object so it stands out better in your modeling process. As you can see, all the Negative Boolean objects we are creating have some overlap. Just as positive objects blend when they overlap, so do negative objects, so they will make a seamless knock out when everything is grouped. It may seem odd that we have two pieces for the face KO, but you'll see why we had to do that in a minute. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Note: The copy and paste feature of the materials Lab makes it very easy to transfer materials from one object to another. It's a really useful function. You can also, as you'll see later, assign a material for permanent storage! |
Step 5: Make the Bottom Face KO Robby's face has a curved bottom, which we must make from a cylinder. Go to the Create Palette and select a cylinder. It will arrive in your workspace with the wrong orientation for our purposes. Click on the Attributes Box for the cylinder and rotate the cylinder Z = 90. Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Click on the Attributes Box for the cylinder and perform a Set As Unity. Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Click on the Attributes Box for the cylinder and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 125.46, Z = -11.51 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Assign it to the Robby Paint family (I used the dark green color cube). As you can see, this Negative Boolean will create a curved bottom corner when all the objects are grouped. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 6: Make the Upper Lip KO Robby's face has a secondary upper lip, I think it acts as a frame for the dome. It follows the angle of the upper lip. Select the Front Face KO and DUPLICATE it. Click on the Attributes Box for the duplicate and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 128.28, Z = -14.84 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Also, perform a Set As Unity on the Front Face KO. We don't need its angle anymore Assign it to the Robby Paint family (I used the dark green color cube). If you have a really good imagination and maybe squint a little, you can see the shape all these negative objects will combine to make once everything is grouped. That's why we had to use so many objects, we needed the shape that no single Bryce 5 primitive could have made. Now you can see why we needed two pieces for front face KO. A single piece would have ruined the upper lip KO angle. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 7: Make the Mouth KO Robby's skull will overlap part of his mouth assembly and it will ruin the nice voice box we made for his voice tubes. So we'll cut out a space in the skull to prevent that from happening. Select the Cube object from the Create Palette. (We don't want to duplicate the face KO's because they have a special color). Click on the Attributes Box for the cube object and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 120.96, Z = -19.85 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Assign this to the "Robby Paint" family (I used the dark green color cube). SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 8: Make the Face Vents There are 8 face vents in two groups of four-- one group on the left and one on the right side of Robby's face at the top. We make them from the cylinder object. Switch to the FRONT view (press 4 on the keyboard) so we can see them better. Select the cylinder object from the Create Palette. It will come into the workspace in the correct orientation for our purposes. Click on the Attributes Box for the cylinder object and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = -10.50, Y = 150.75, Z
= -5.95 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Go to the object's Material's Lab and color this object Black from the Simple and Fast selection, but in the values section, boost the specularity to 50. Assign the face vent to the "painted" family. It is very easy to make and position the other 7 face vents, and we won't bother with Multi-Replicate this time. Select the face vent 1 and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attribute box and change the X position to -9. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Bryce 5 will automatically name this face vent for you as Face Vent 2. Select the face vent 2 and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attribute box and change the X position to -7.5. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Bryce 5 will automatically name this face vent for you as Face Vent 3. Select the face vent 3 and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attribute box and change the X position to -6. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Bryce 5 will automatically name this face vent for you as Face Vent 4. This completes the right side face vents. Select the face vent 4 and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attribute box and change the X position to 6. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Bryce 5 will automatically name this face vent for you as Face Vent 5. Select the face vent 5 and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attribute box and change the X position to 7.5. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Bryce 5 will automatically name this face vent for you as Face Vent 6. Select the face vent 6 and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attribute box and change the X position to 9. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Bryce 5 will automatically name this face vent for you as Face Vent 7. Select the face vent 7 and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attribute box and change the X position to 10.5. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Bryce 5 will automatically name this face vent for you as Face Vent 8. This was all quicker and easier to do than to read about! SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 9: Make the Skull Intersect The Sphere that makes Robby's skull is very long and will render through his lower body if we don't do something about it. We have two choices. Cut off the bottom of the sphere with a negative Boolean, or isolate the top of the skull with a Boolean Intersect. Since we haven't done too much with Boolean Intersects, we'll go that route. Change your view to the RIGHT view (press 3 on the keyboard). Select the Cube object from the Create Palette. Click on the Attributes Box for the cube object and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 140.56, Z = 0 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Go to the object's Materials Lab and set the transparency value to 100. Assign the intersect to the "painted" family. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 10: Group the Skull Objects Shift-Select (or use any other method you like to select multiple objects) all the objects we made for the skull. A little G will appear at the bottom of the icon column. Click on the G to GROUP everything! Click on the Attributes Box for the group and check the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 103.99, Z = 0 If your figures match mine (or are close - within .01) then everything should be fine. Assign the Name: skull group Bryce 5 will NOT show the Boolean operation in the working window, but you will see the results when you render the view. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 11: Render Robby's Skull When you render the skull you just made, it should look like the images here. I have already assigned the Robby Material to the parts that will receive that color for illustration purposes (you'll see this in all future renders). Your object will appear completely gray unless youy applied some color to the top and back face KOs. You can see that Robby's "face" was created by the compound negative Booleans acting as a single object. And you can also see the face vents at the top of his face. This isn't the top of his head, his dome extends beyond, as we shall see. Notice also the area knocked out for the mouth. Now to see THAT in action, just click out of SOLO mode and render your completed model -- well, completed so far, we still have a ways to go before it's a Robby we can recognize. It should look like the image below.
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Congratulations! You have completed Robby's skull and have given him a blank face! You used all the principles we have been working with and have successfully grouped multiple Boolean groups into a single complex unit to make a compound shape. You learned that multiple Boolean operations can take place in a single group!
Now , we have to fill Robby's head with ideas! Well, okay, just a lot of "do-dads" that make him so interesting and give him personality. We'll work from the top down and start with his pilot light. Yes, it turns out that Robby is just a very high tech floor lamp!
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Tutorial copyright - © ClydeSight Productions - 2004
