Castlemania Stage Seven – Progress Review
We’ve been moving along quickly learning how to master 3DVIA Shape and have reached a point where a review of what we’ve covered so far would be appropriate. This review will be useful as a quick-reference guide to help you find the videos, tools and tips that have been helpful along the way.
The model of the overall castle and town are also at a natural breaking point. It has gotten so large that working with it is difficult, so I’ve broken it into multiple models, which can be worked on separately and then combined.
All of the Castlemania 3DVIA Shape files can be found in the Castlemania Group for you to download and change as you desire. In addition, the Castlemania Group has been published as a Live Marketing App, which you can send to your iPhone or iPad and check for updates while you’re on the go.
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Castlemania Stage One – The Journey to Mastering 3DVIA Shape
In the beginning, we learned a little about castles and why they exist. To build our own castle we needed land that we could protect while the castle was being built, and the town grew around it. This provided the starting point to learn some of the basic concepts of using 3DVIA.com and 3DVIA Shape.
Reference Videos:
- Tips & Tricks – How to Register & Publish to 3DVIA (created by the great folks at 3DPLM)
- Tips & Tricks – Modeling Commands in 3DVIA Shape (created by the great folks at 3DPLM)
- Remixing Models: a quick tutorial
Tools Used:
- “Rectangle”
- “Snap Behavior”
- “Push n Pull”
- “Eraser”
- “Paint”
- “Grid Options”
Tips:
- Be sure to save frequently
- How to open a draft version of a model
- How to use “Save As” and “Publish As”
- A solid yellow line indicates that your line is on one of the major axis
- Look for “~” in a measurement as an indicator that “Snap Behavior” is off
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Castlemania Stage Two – The Big Picture
In this stage we learned about the importance of size – file sizes and model sizes in particular. We then began modifying the land to suit our needs.
Reference Videos:
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #1 : How to Box Select
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #2: How to Select an Entire Component
Tools Used:
- “Paint”
- “Undo”
- “Snap Behavior”
- “Push n Pull”
- “Wireframe”, “Vertex” and “Smooth” modes (in 3DVIA Player)
Tips:
- Find file sizes and number of triangles in the “Stats” tab
- The importance of “triangles”
- The meaning of “Usable in Shape”
- Three-sided polygons give you flat surfaces – four-sided polygons are often curved surfaces
- Use copies of inserted models rather than inserting them again
- Use white “handles on models to change the size/scale
- Use the “CTRL” key to select multiple items
- Change the model color to make construction lines easier to see
- The color/texture of existing geometry is applied to new geometry during changes to that geometry
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Castlemania Stage Three – More land and the Castle Plan
In this stage we learned several more advanced methods for modifying our land and started laying out the castle plans.
Reference Videos:
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #23: How to Use Advanced Push-Pull
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #6: How to Fill a Hole
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #18: How to Use Move and Modify Modes
Tools Used:
- “Select”
- “Draw”
- “Circle”
- “Offset”
- “Deform”
- “Space Bar”
- “ESC” key
Tips:
- After selecting a model, use the blue area to move it and the yellow swirls to rotate it
- Use the “ESC” key to stop using a tool
- A yellow dashed line means it is lined up with another part of your model (inferencing)
- Use the orange “anchor points” shown by pressing the “Space Bar” to accurately paste copies of geometry
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Castlemania Stage Four – The King is Coming!
To help protect the king and the town, we made a lot of fences after learning how to revolve geometry and make patterns.
Reference Videos:
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #4: How to Revolve Geometry
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #24: How to use the Reference Point
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #11: How to Create a Pattern
Tools Used:
- “Deform” tool – yellow directional arrows, yellow rotational curves, yellow scaling handles, white reference point
- “CTRL +C” keys
- “CTRL +V” keys
- “CTRL +Z” keys
Tips:
- You are able to rotate geometry when the profile and axis of rotation change to orange
- During rotation, the degrees of rotation are shown in the little box near the tool icon
- Move your mouse farther away from the center of rotation to rotate by smaller amounts
- Use construction lines to make new geometry as part of the main model
- When using the “Push n pull” tool, the distance moved will snap to an existing line or surface
- Draw on the “Ground” plane to have better control of both large and small measurements on a part
- Zoom in to get smaller measurement increments
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Castlemania Stage Five – The King Approves the Plans
All of the king’s troops needed shields to help protect themselves, so we learned various ways to make curved surfaces and add textures.
Reference Videos:
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #17: How to Use Deform Modes
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #19: How to Use Freeform Deform Mode
Tools Used:
- “Deform”
- “Paint”
Tips:
- How to know when to use the “blue – move”, “green – modify” and “orange – deform” modes
- Use major grid lines as center lines for easier symmetry
- Use straight lines to create a representation of a “curve”
- Press the “Space Bar” to show the “mirror button” tools
- Use construction lines to align different shapes
- Use construction lines to connect separate parts of your model so intersection lines will be visible
- The rotation of textures is limited to 5 degree increments
- Move a copy of a surface and then connect the vertexes to thicken a curved surface
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Castlemania Stage Six – The King’s Changes
The king required numerous changes to the plans, so we focused on how to move and modify existing geometry, learned about grid manipulation and worked with the Freeform Deform tool.
Reference Videos:
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #19: How to Use Freeform Deform Mode
- Modeling a Flag With 3DVIA Shape (created by 3DVIA modeler shodiq38)
- 3DVIA Shape – Tip #1: How to Box Select
Tools Used:
- “Grid Options”
- “CTRL +X” with “CTRL +V keys
Tips:
- Use the “Grid Options” alignment tool to easily draw new geometry
- Use a single rectangle when applying logos with text or a specific orientation
- Thicken your part to get the logo to read correctly on both sides
- Hover the mouse over a circle to see the center show up as a blue point
- When needed, draw lines past the connection point to be sure they end where you want them
- A perpendicular line will be yellow
- A parallel line will be blue blue
- Use the “ESC” key to stop creation of a line when you are using the line to find a measurement
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In the next stage we’ll get back to learning new tools, advanced concepts and building the details that will make the castle even more formidable!
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Check out the Castlemania Group!
It has all of the models that are part of the Castlemania 3DVIA Shape Tutorial Series in one easy-to-access place. You can join and add your own models to the group too!
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Links to other Castlemania Stages:
Castlemania Stage One – The Journey to Mastering 3DVIA Shape Begins
Castlemania Stage Two – The Big Picture
Castlemania Stage Three – More Land and the Castle Plan
Castlemania Stage Four – The King is Coming!
Castlemania Stage Five – The King Approves the Plans
Castlemania Stage Six – The King’s Changes
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Castlemania Stage Eight – Arrows & Towers
Castlemania Stage Nine – Merlons & Finials
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