3DS MAX Model Hi-fi Speaker in 3DS Max Tutorial

Autodesk 3dsMax Tutorial

Requirements:	3DS Max (v 6.0 or higher recommended)
	3DS Max 7 or higher is required for using files provided for download
	Basic knowledge of working in Max
Special Notes:	I used 3DS Max 7 (in 1024x768 res.)
	I leave space b/w text lines because it make reading easy
Tutorial Type:	Basic

Techniques you'll learn:

    Using Snaps

    Using Lathe modifier
Greetings!
Hello,This tutorial is sister-page of my "Animating with the Audio Controller". After completing this tutorial,

I recommend that you should read the animation tutorial.And I'll try to keep things simple because I know

lots of newbie read this,in fact new users are more eager to learn.

Let's Get Started:

We first draw the 2D sketch of the speakers and then apply the Lathe modifier.We use snaps feature to achieve the goal.

Start 3ds max by clicking the 3ds max icon (refer to your OS Documentation on how to click)

On the main toolbar click and on the Snap button and select the 2.5 

(If you cannot see this type of button

you might have to scroll the toolbar)

Then right click on the

,

Grid and Snap settings dialogue box appears.Only check (enable ) the Grid Points.

This will snaps the cursor movement to the default grid(you will experience that in a minute).

After all the Grid and snap setup we start drawing the line, make sure that Snap button enabled.

click on create panel > shapes > line.

Select the Left Viewport and maximize it (

 button on bottom-right corner).

Press "Z" to zoom extents (doing so will reset the level of zoom of the grid to the default, so that the

distance between each Grid Points reset to 10 pts)

As we are using the Snaps we also use the coordinate display to measure our vertices placement.

Draw The Line:
(Set the reference coordinate system to world)

Draw like one in the picture below, I am writing the coordinate values so you can easily copy. Create four vertices on the

positions as shown.


Create two separate lines as shown below:

We draw an Arc™ in the middle to create the hemisphere like thing in the center of the speaker .

Zoom in a little on the center of two line we just created,click on the Arc button. Start you Ark from one vertex

of line to the other,after joining both vertices Press the "S" Key to disable the snap and drag to the right to give

a nice round shape.See the Pic

Join the both end of lines with arc,your final shape should look like one in the image

We have the final shape,but we have to unify these line into one shape, to do this select any shape and in the modify

panel expand the "Geometry" rollout and click on the Attach button, select all other shapes.



At last before applying the Lathe modifier weld vertices,this is because we joined different shapes.

One vertex is show as a tick or plus mark and one or more vertices are show as 

.

On the modify panel expand the + sign and select vertex in the list.

Select the vertices by dragging a selection box over the

symbol.You can check how many vertices

you selected by expanding the Selecting rollout and look in the bottom of the roll out.

Expand the Geometry rollout,scroll down and find the Weld button,enter 1.0 in the value box.

Select the double vertices by dragging the selection box, and click Weld,

should change into a + sign.

Apply the Lathe modifier

If you completed all above steps then you are ready to apply the Lathe modifer.Select the line and on the modifier panel

click on the modifier drop down list and press L key to jump to Lathe modifier.

You will see something strange on the screen,on the Property rollout of the Lathe modifier,change the direction to X and

keep experimenting with the check boxes and buttons..Set the output to Patch.If you are lucky you will see speaker like one below.

If there are some dark spot on the speaker press F10 for rendering menu> common parameters > options, enable the Force 2-sided

This will remove any dark patches in your speaker when you render but you have to ignore the patches in the viewport.

speaker is too big,scale it down.

Installing the speakers.

Create a box with Length& width = 35 Height 75 resize speaker the to match the box as in picture.

Make a clone of speaker by Shift+ Drag

To install the speaker we have to make socket or holes where the speaker goes.To do this we use the Boolean

compound object.

Select the Front Viewport by Pressing the "F" key ,press Z to zoom extents (or simply see the whole thing)

Create two GeoSphere(s) little bit larger than the speaker.Align it manually with it.

Drag and copy the sphere,align the second sphere to the second speaker.

In Boolean we can Add , subtract objects, in this case we subtract the Spheres from the box to make holes.

First Attach both Spheres to make them one object, select one sphere,right click and select Convert To > Editable Poly

On the modify panel of newly converted sphere,expand the Edit Geometry and click on attach button,click the other one.

Both are now unified.

Move the Sphere's half into the box,see the pic

On the create panel> geometry , click on the drop down button and select compound object.

Click on the Boolean button,click on 

button and select the box or spheres.

Choose Subtract (A-B) or Subtract (B-A) and watch the results.

We need a box with two holes like this

Simply move speakers the into the socket.If there's gap between the holes and speaker , finish it with a tube.

The End

This concludes this article/tutorial.But if you want to bring your to life, i mean want to simulate the vibration

according to a sound clip then read my Animating Speakers w/ SoundController tutorial.