Car Tutorial Part 2 – Car Body

Ed Ferguson, CascadiaDesignStudio.com




Model a car in MoI using SubD Scripts:

SubD is short for subdivide, or subdivision. In SubD modeling you’re working with a polygonal mesh. Forming a car body for example begins with constructing a base mesh, then subdividing portions of it into areas you’ll manipulate via the control points at the vertices of the polygons. Think of it as a wire cage that gets deformed by pushing and pulling spots where the wires intersect.

SubD modeling is better suited for organic shapes (blobs). Nurbs modeling, which is the method used in MoI, is better suited for precise shapes that can be defined by profile curves and modified using Boolean operations. So, we’ll make the basic car body in SuD and modify it in a precise way using native MoI Nurbs tools.

You’ll need to first install Max Smirnov’s SubD scripts. See the links below:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=6674.51
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=6674.173
http://moi.maxsm.net/
http://moi.maxsm.net/media/files/ (The file names are download links, click to download the scripts)

I recommend adding dedicated buttons to run the SubD scripts. See:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=7245.69

Start by thinking about the type of car you want to make. If you are making a model of an existing car, search the web for blueprints and dimensions. In my case I wanted to make my own design of a sports car having about the same dimensions as a newer Corvette.

Start with Draw Solid > Box to make a rectangular solid 171” long, 77” wide, and 28” high. I tend to first draw things by eye in MoI, and then use the Edit Size box to enter the precise dimensions.



Select the top edge (yellow) of the solid and click the SubD Split button (I’ll assume you created buttons for the SubD scripts, otherwise use your assigned hot key to run the scripts)



Slide the split to 70 as shown in the Split dialog box. Click once to finalize the split.



Select the left upper edge shown by the arrow, and Split lengthwise. Repeat for the opposite side. The exact distance is not important at this stage.



Select the larger top face and Extrude it up 17.5”





Just for fun, select the object and click the SubD button. Now our boxy structure has transformed into some kind of science fiction hover car from the 1930’s. Click Undo to get our boxes back.



It’s a good idea at each stage of this process to make a copy of your model and set it to the side. That way you can always grab an earlier version if things go wrong.