Figure 7.35 The Previous Shape and Next Shape buttons loFtInG an objeCt | 365 3. Figure 7.32 Moving the midpoint vertex Figure 7.33 The pedestal after increasing the scale to 125 percent at the midpoint Figure 7.34 The Scale Deformation points are inserted. To find the exact percentage value for the smaller circular cross sections, click the Percentage radio button in the Path Parameters rollout and then use the Previous Shape and Next Shape buttons to jump to those shapes in the loft object, as shown in Figure 7.35. Select Insert Corner Point and then click on the red line at approximately 12 percent, where the 4½˝ radius circular cross sections begins, and then click again, at about 88 percent, where it ends (see Figure 7.34). The solid line indicates the location specified in the Path field of the Path Parameters rollout. The vertical dashed lines indicate the points along the path where shapes are placed. Here, you’ll restrict the scale defor- mation to the shaft section only. The entire length is in a constant state of increased or decreased scale. Figure 7.30 The Scale Defor- mation button Figure 7.31 The Scale Defor- mation (X) dialog box for the pedes- tal loft object 364 | CHAPTER 7 orGanIzInG and edItInG objeCts The main, tubular shaft isn’t the only part of the pedestal with an increased scale. The pedestal shaft bows outward at 50 percent along the path (see Figure 7.33). In the right field, enter 125↵ (see Figure 7.32). The right field is the value, as a percent- age of scale, of the loft at that corner point. The left field is the location, as a per- centage of the path, of the selected corner point. There are two fields at the bottom of the dialog box. Like most objects in 3ds Max, selected corner points are white. A white box appears showing the location of the new corner point. Click on the red line, about halfway along its length.
You want to change the scale at the middle of the object, but not at the ends, so you’ll need to add a new corner point at the midpoint of the path. In this exercise, only the scale of the X-axis is changed, but the Make Symmetrical button forces the Y-axis to match the X-axis. Make sure the Make Symmetrical button in the Scale Deformation box’s toolbar is active. To change the scale, you would move a corner point upward to increase it or downward to decrease it.
The black boxes at the end of the red line represent the corner points where the scale is defined. In other words, all the cross sections appear at the same size as their instanced counterparts. The red line, cur- rently at a value of 100, indicates that the scale of the loft is consistently at 100 percent of its designed size. This opens the Scale Deformation (X) dialog box shown in Figure 7.31. The Z direction always points along the path the X- and Y-axes are always perpendicular to the path. Scale changes the size, in the X or Y direction, of the loft object. Expand the Deformations rollout and then click Scale, as shown in Figure 7.30.