Hi Everyone,

I ran across a tutorial yesterday at http://www.suurland.com/tutorials_blueprint_max.htm showing modelers how to set up a blueprint drawing for creating a model. I used the basic idea and adapted it for 3D Canvas Pro.

First use a drawing program such as Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro to create 3 separate drawings instead of the conventional 3 view drawing on one sheet. Crop each portion of the drawing to the edges of the object. Save them in whatever graphics format works best for you. I use Windows BMP format right now, but may start using TGA or TIF. Images can be around 400 pixels wide.

Next, drop a cube onto your 3D Canvas scene and create a panel. For this tutorial I right clicked the cube and selected Scale/To Size and entered the values X = 8, Y = .03, Z = 8. Then center the panel in the drawing space. Drop 2 more cubes and size the same way. The values I used for them are X = 8, Y = 2.5, Z = .03, and X = .03, Y = 2.5, Z = 8. Arrange them so that they intersect each other in the centers of the objects.

Using the Point and Face Selection tool, select the top side of the large panel and then place your top view drawing in the materials library as a texture. Select UV Map and adjust the picture so that it fills the panel. Do this with the side and front views and there you have it, a 3 view drawing that's in proportion and can be used as a template for your model.

I've included the drawings I used for the tutorial in a zip file so that you can see the results. You may have to tweak the panels size a little to get everything looking correct.

Hope it's helpful,

Richard T.

3D_Panel_1.jpg (46 Kb, 378 downloads)

Second Step

3D_Panel_2.jpg (47 Kb, 357 downloads)

Third step.

I think that using this technique can solve some proportional problems.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Richard Thompson,

3D_Panel_3.jpg (31 Kb, 334 downloads)

The Zip file with the drawings

3_View_Drawing.zip (31 Kb, 89 downloads)

Very handy tips Richard. I hope this will help others with their modelling.

Yep...great idea.

It should work with figures as well...I'll take a look.

Bazza

Thanks fellas, I thought it was a good idea since I'm always struggling with getting things just right.. it has to be right or it just won't do!

Richard T.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Richard Thompson,

I am trying to use this tutorial to model a building and have created the various views on scaled faces. The problem I have is I can't see the template drawing through the primitives I drop in the scene. Is there a way to make the objects translucent? Second, the front and back are different as are the two sides. I am set up for the 4 views; perspective, front, side and top. Can front be changed to back, top to bottom, etc. or do I have to rotate the object 180 degrees?

Hi RJ,

If I remember right, ( I'm not in front of my computer at the moment..) you can right click in one of your four views and go to ortho view, and change which orthographic view you want in that pane...and as far as your translucency problem... you could go wire frame on the objects.. or, perhaps paint the faces with a color that has the transparency up just enough to make the object see-through?

I suggest that you switch between solid and wireframe mode to check your proportions during your work. I color the model a bright color like red or green to use with this technique.

I assume that's what your trying to do?