Before getting into gMax it is worth making a few calculations so that you get the height and width of the tree correct. In this tutorial we are modelling a European Larch - my book of trees tells me that it grows to a height of 38 metres. As well as a full-grown tree I will model a 25m. specimen as well. My book tells me nothing about the width of the tree, but I made a note of the size of the original image (remember?). This was 456 x 748 pixels. Here a pocket calculator comes in handy because we can calculate that, if the height of the tree is 38m., then the width of the tree will be 38 x 456 / 748 metres (or just over 23m).

We are now ready to start gMax. First, we'll make sure that the settings are correct:

1. Choose Customize / Units Setup from the menu and make sure that Metric is selected. Click OK.

2. Choose Customize / Grid and Snap Settings from the menu and click the Home Grid tab at the top. Set the Grid Spacing to 1.0m and the Major Lines every Nth value to 10. Click the dialog close button.

3. In the Command Panel click the Shapes button:
   

4. Select the Rectangle button in the Command Panel.

5. In the Front viewport draw a rectangle roughly the size we calculated above (38 metres high by 23 metres wide). Don't worry about being too accurate because we are going to adjust the size in the next step.

6. If necessary, you can adjust the size of the rectangle by using the Keyboard Entry section at the bottom of the Command Panel. Accuracy is not vital though!
   

7. To make sure that the rectangle is centered correctly, choose Tools / Transform Type-In (or right-click the Select & Move tool on the toolbar). In the Type-In dialog, right-click the X and Y spin buttons in the Absolute: World section to set their values to 0.

8. If necessary, select the Select & Move tool in the toolbar and use it to move the rectangle down so that its bottom edge is resting on the ground (unless you really want floating trees!).

We can now start putting the texture onto the rectangle...

Home     Back    Next

Web page created by TaFWeb Design © 2005