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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 Computer RelaysNote: 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's head is dominated by his computer relays. There are six of them and they flip and clack when he thinks of anything. Basically they are a set of valves that open and close, much like the valves on a saxophone. In fact, Fred Barton calls them "Sax Valves". Our valves won't be an EXACT duplicate of the original because I don't have the specs, but instead will look like them yet be easy to make in Bryce 5. We'll also set them up ready for animation! This is a simple section to model as long as you have done the earlier sections and are familiar with the terms I use.
If you have saved and closed your model, 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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Step 1: Make the Valve Hinge Axle 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 FRONT view (press 4 on the keyboard) and your workspace should appear to be blank. Click on the Cylinder in the Create Palette to bring it into your work space. It will arrive in the wrong orientation for our purposes. Click on the Attributes Box for the cylinder and change the Z rotation: Z = 90. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Open the Attributes box again and perform a Set As Unity. Click the Check Mark to apply the change. Click on the Attributes Box again and set the following coordinates: Position:
X = 0, Y = 144.85, Z = -7.75 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Assign a material to the axle. I chose brushed silver. This is a painted object so assign it to your "painted" family (I used the orange color cube) SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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If you look at these mounts from the side in SOLO view, they look completely spherical. But we have positioned them so that they will look like "ball mounts". To see that, just exit Solo mode and render them with Robby's skull. You'll see they are embedded into his "face", and thus do look like mounts. Since we have done so much work in the Materials Lab, I'll only suggest what you do here to save pages in the tutorial (which is already way too long!) Just remember that you can make any material appear to glow by assigning the same color to both diffusion and ambience in the Lab. Then by boosting the ambience, you increase the object's glow! |
Step 2: Make First Axle Mount There are seven "mounts" that support the valve axle. They keep it from bending and warping under the strain of the valve covers' constant motion. They also light up sometimes. I have no idea why. 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 = -12, Y = 144.85, Z =
-6.95 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Assign a material to the mount. I chose the brushed silver to match the axle. When I wan this to illuminate, I just boost the ambience value. This is a painted object so assign it to your "painted" family (I used the orange color cube) Now to get all the other mounts, all you need is the Multi-Replicate window! With the mount object selected go to the EDIT menu (not the Edit Palette) and choose Multi-Replicate. In the Multi-Replicate window, enter the following: Quantity
= 6 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. You will now have seven mounts along the Valve Axle. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 3: Make the
Valve Hinge
There are six valve covers with arms and hinges. We are now making a hinge. We'll make a complete valve cover set, rotate it to its proper angle and then duplicate the complete set for the series of six that we will need. Click on the Sphere in the Create Palette to bring it into your work space. (You could have duplicated the Valve mount instead if you wanted.) Click on the Attributes Box and set the following coordinates: Position:
X = -10, Y = 144.85, Z =
-7.75 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Assign a material to the hinge. I like the yellow gold color from the Simple and Fast materials. This is a painted object so assign it to your "painted" family (I used the orange color cube) SAVE YOUR WORK |
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Step 4: Make the
Valve Arm
Click on the Cylinder in the Create Palette to bring it into your work space. It will come into the workspace in the orientation we need. Click
on the Attributes Box and set the following coordinates: Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Assign a material to the arm. I chose the brushed silver from the Metals category in the materials selector. It could be the "gold" used for the hinge if you like. I prefer the silver to add variety for visual interest. This is a painted object so assign it to your "painted" family (I used the orange color cube) SAVE YOUR WORK Note: If you look from the RIGHT (press 3 on the keyboard) you'll see that the valve arm is aligned to the edge of the valve hinge. When this renders, it will make a nice blending effect, much like the construction of real "sax valves". |
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Step 5: Make the
Valve Cover
DUPLICATE the valve hinge 1. It has the color you need so you'll save a step this way. Click
on the Attributes Box and set the following coordinates: Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. If you duplicated the hinge, you don't need to assign a color. If you created a sphere object, assign a color to match that of the hinge. I like the yellow gold color from the Simple and Fast materials. This is a painted object so assign it to your "painted" family (I used the orange color cube) SAVE YOUR WORK |
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FRONT VIEW RIGHT VIEW
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Step 6: Group the Valve Parts and Set the Origin Shift-Select the valve hinge 1, valve arm 1 and valve cover 1. A G will appear at the bottom of the icon column. Click on the G to GROUP the objects. Open the Attributes box for the new group. Click ON "Show Origin Handle". Click the Check Mark to assign the change. You'll have to move the origin handle manually. It needs to be in the X-Y-Z center of the valve hinge 1 sphere. So you have to check it from the FRONT view AND the RIGHT view. It may take a few tries to get it right. Check in the Attributes box for the coordinates and switch back and forth until you get it right. You can be off on any coordinate by .01 and it really won't make a difference. Check
the coordinates in the Attributes Box. They should match
the following: If your figures match mine you can name your group. Name: valve cover group 1. Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. SAVE YOUR WORK! It should be obvious that the valve cover has to rotate as if it was hinged on the valve axle. That's why we positioned the origin point for the group this way. When we rotate the group, it will appear to rotate on the axle. If you switch to the RIGHT view (press 3 on the keyboard) you'll see how to center the origin point so it matches the center point of the valve axle.
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Step 7: Rotate and Multi-Replicate the Valve Cover Group Switch to the RIGHT view if you need to. We need to rotate the valve cover group so it appears to be sitting on the valves we will make. Select the valve cover group 1 and open its Attributes Box. Set the rotation for the X value: Rotate: X = 24, Y = 0, Z = 0 Click on the Check Mark to apply the change. You can see now why we took such pains to properly position the origin point for the group. You can now switch back to the FRONT view. (Press 4 on the keyboard.) Now, to make five more of them in ONE step! With the group selected, go to the EDIT menu (not the Edit Palette) and click on Multi-Replicate. In the Multi-Replicate window, enter the following: Quantity
= 5 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. You will now have six valve covers hinged along the valve axle sitting nicely spaced between the valve axle mounts. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 8: Make and Multi-Replicate the Valve Seat Switch to the FRONT view if you need to. We need a valve seat for the valve cover to "cover". We make that from a cylinder object. But rather than dig one out of the Create Palette, let's duplicate the valve hinge axle! Select the valve hinge axle and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attributes Box and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = -10, Y = 137.60, Z =
-7.95 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. The valve seat has the same brushed silver material as the hinge axle. Since it is a duplicated object, it is also assigned to the "painted" family. SAVE YOUR WORK! Now, to make five more of them in ONE step! With the valve seat selected, go to the EDIT menu (not the Edit Palette) and click on Multi-Replicate. In
the Multi-Replicate window, enter the following: Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. You will now have six valve seats sitting under the valve covers and nicely aligned. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 9: Make and Duplicate the Valve Seat Lights There are two large red lights on the ends of the valve seat row, one on the left and one on the right. We'll make one, duplicate it and change the duplicate's X position and be done! Let's make the light by duplicating ANY valve hinge mount. Select any valve hinge mount and DUPLICATE it. Open the duplicate's Attributes Box and enter the following coordinates: Position:
X = -11.25, Y = 137.60, Z
= -7.95 Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. Assign a material to the valve light. I chose the simple RED material. Since this will "fake" a light, set the ambience color to match the diffuse color. That way, to make it glow you just have to increase the ambience! This is already assigned to your "painted" family. SAVE YOUR WORK! DUPLICATE
the right red valve light. Open the Duplicate's Attributes
Box and change the position: Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 10: Group the Valve Assembly We have everything nicely aligned and don;t want to mess it up! Making a group of all the items (objects and groups) will keep things in order and make it easy to select the entire assembly if we ever need it. CAREFULLY shift-select (the marquee drag select may be easier, but be careful NOT to grab the camera!) all the items and groups we made. Of course, you're going to see that little G in the icon column. Click on it to GROUP all the items. Yes, we have another "super group". Check the coordinates in the Attributes Box. They should match the following: Origin:
X = 0, Y = 140.10, Z = -8.09 If your figures match mine (or are within .01 of them) you can name your group. Name: valve assembly group. Click on the Check Mark to apply the changes. SAVE YOUR WORK! |
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Step 11: Render your work! If you render your work while in SOLO mode, the valve assembly should look like the image on the left (your left). If you exit SOLO mode and render your model, it should look like the image below. I only rendered Robby's skull for these images.
SAVE YOUR WORK! |
Congratulations! You have completed Robby's computer valves and set them up for eventual animation by adjusting the origin points. This assembly looks quite complex, but thanks to Bryce 5's Multi-Replicate command, it was really very simple.
We'll move on now to Robby's "power coils". These are located at the base of the valve assembly and send power to Robby's relays. I don't know why. But they look very nice and are simple to make. And when they are done, we'll have completed the inside of Robby's head!
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Tutorial copyright - © ClydeSight Productions - 2004
