The smallest. Of course, if you are interested in building detailed models, you don't have to follow this principle. However, if you use Lai Su to support your family and make a living, then an overly detailed model is unnecessary. You should make the model as simple as possible on the premise of completing the work. Once you have to change the model, especially when it is about to be completed, the simpler the model, the easier it is to modify it. If your model is clearly divided into groups or components according to some principles, you can actually save any component to a single file. When you need to change a component, just open the saved file, edit and save it, and then call it again in the model containing the component. This is not interfered by other things in the scene, and the editing speed is fast. If you model and weigh the scheme at the same time, make a big block first and gradually add details to the model as you design. You can easily replace some rough building blocks with exquisite models, provided that you have enough in-depth design.

Import CAD file

It sounds really exciting to import a CAD file into su, then simply draw a line segment to generate a surface, and then build a 3D model by pushing and pulling. But the effect of this work actually depends on the quality of your CAD drawings.

Importing 2D CAD files will actually cause many headaches. A skilled hand-drawn CAD drawing with a simple outline will not cause much trouble, and there are many hand-drawn details, so the messy CAD drawing is not so easy to use. "There are small line segments, and the two lines don't intersect at the corner. One line looks parallel to the other, but it's actually just a little different." The CAD drawings of these problems will become a stumbling block when you build the model. It seems that they should be said to be steel needles, because they are too small for you to detect and correct. Using such CAD drawings to import su as the base map, you will spend more time correcting mistakes than saving time. Nearly finished CAD drawings actually contain a lot of unnecessary information when modeling. Your overly detailed layering method or overlapping lines in CAD drawing need not be modeled in su. If such a defective and complicated CAD drawing is to be imported into su for modeling, the previous cleaning work will waste a lot of time. So it's best to blast all the blocks formed in CAD immediately after importing su, put all the lines in one layer, and then turn them into a group as a base map, so as to save more time and trace them again. Even well-defined 2DCAD drawings are not without problems. Remember: Su's layer won't isolate lines from different layers for you (that is, if three lines belong to three layers and they form a face, the face will still be generated, but it won't be generated because the three lines are not on the same layer. ), the layer in the middle of Jiangsu is just a classification method to distinguish lines and faces intuitively. This function also applies to imported CAD drawings. During the import process, any lines on one layer that overlap with those on other layers will be ruthlessly cleaned up. So in some cases, it is very useful to import things layer by layer. Every time you import a layer of things, su will automatically group them, without accidentally killing overlapping lines (Translator: Note that different layers in CAD should be saved in different CAD files, because the layers that are not visible in CAD will also be imported into su).

The wall with doors and windows in CAD has been interrupted by doors and windows. If such CAD drawings are imported, it will take time to repair the walls of the upper and lower parts of doors and windows.

As a single face, the elevation is usually of little significance for building a 3D model, but it is very useful. You can import the elevation, stand it up and put it next to the main body of the model to help you accurately capture the dimensions on the elevation. My experience is that to avoid potential problems, it is the best way to use the method of redrawing CAD drawings in SU instead of directly stretching imported CAD drawings to build models. I will group the imported CAD drawings (this will prevent the lines drawn in SU from sticking to them), then draw the lines I need, and simplify the lines I draw if necessary (for example, ignore the holes in the window wall, and I will insert the window components later). I use rectangular tools and snap lock functions wherever necessary and possible. Don't easily believe that you can draw a beautiful square by catching corners (unless you draw line by line and make sure there are no annoying "short lines" near the square).

If you decide to directly use the imported CAD drawings for stretching modeling, you must be aware of any weird faults (off-axis, short lines, double lines and "oops", etc. ) will be imported into SU and become a part of your model. You may only find them hidden under useful lines in some places, so be prepared to clean them up and correct them happily. The foreigner seems to be threatening us, but we still listen to him and follow him honestly.

At the same time, remember that if you create a model by stretching the whole plane, all the geometry will stick together. Such a model will make it difficult to edit some of them without affecting other models, and it will be difficult to group them or components afterwards. Therefore, when you build a model, you should divide different blocks into different groups or components at the time of building.

Some key points of modeling

Before you become an expert in SU modeling, please turn off "length snap" (a snap similar to grid snap). This switch is controlled in Window-Model Information-Units-Enable Length Capture), unless you have to capture every grid point in the model with this capture form. Make good use of auxiliary line tools. Often used. Create a shortcut key to clear all auxiliary lines at once, which can be easily deleted when filling the scene with auxiliary lines. Auxiliary lines have various uses. For example, when you model based on an imported picture, you can easily capture some useful points if you draw a few auxiliary lines on some important lines in the picture. In the case of auxiliary lines, the reasoning locking function can also play a better role. Moving objects along auxiliary lines is also much faster than moving objects in a certain direction in 3D space out of thin air.

Using as few mouse clicks as possible to complete the task is our main idea. But sometimes, the faster way is to draw more things as an aid, and then go back a little. For example, the shortcut to select all the edges of a face is to select the face and all its edges first (this goal can be easily achieved by double-clicking the face), and then exclude the face from the selection range, which is much faster than selecting the edges one by one. Tools such as stretching, auto-folding, moving and copying can quickly create new geometry, which is much faster than hand drawing. Try to use these methods instead of silly line-by-line drawing. Sometimes the geometric figures generated by these methods will have some redundant lines or faces, so it is much faster for you to clean up afterwards than to draw them yourself. Rectangular tools are usually faster than linear tools, and have special advantages in drawing squares or closed quadrangles. Participants should find and use it.

The method of drawing complex shapes with rectangular tools (you can draw two L-shaped planes, three H-shaped planes and so on). Then you can finish the work by deleting one or two lines, which is faster than drawing all the edges here and there with a straight tool. Because SU has unique characteristics of healing lines, the divided plane can heal automatically after deleting unused lines.

Stretching tool is a sharp tool for us to transform 2D graphics into 3D models, which can easily help us create the required surfaces. Use this tool as much as possible. In order to stretch some places, you can also draw some extra lines to achieve the goal, stretch and then delete unwanted faces.

Having said so much, everyone should have mastered it. Sometimes it's better to draw a stroke with the line drawing tool than to save 5 minutes to build a geometry with the so-called shortcut method, but to spend 15 minutes thinking about how to achieve the goal. Capture and capture lock

The annoying mouse jumps to a captured point by itself, which brings trouble to your modeling? Do you want to turn off this "smart" snap so that you can draw quietly? Too bad you can't turn off this snapshot. Without this, Sue is not Sue, so please accept it happily. This is the best feature ever. The foreigner's words remind me of a famous saying, "Life is like being raped. If you can't resist, just enjoy it. " )

Let's talk about the working principle when drawing lines and moving:

(Translator: I have a special explanation for this part in the FLASH tutorial of the website. Foreigners speak almost like me, so it's easy to translate. Please read my tutorial. )

If you don't capture the desired direction (especially the axial direction), but capture points on other geometric figures, you can move the mouse a little further first, wait until you capture the desired direction, hold down the SHIFT key, lock the capture direction, and then move backwards. If "annoying capture" doesn't capture the direction you want, it makes you misuse the capture function. If you have made great efforts to keep Sue from catching other places by mistake, then you have misused the snapshot function. Changing your capture mode and using the capture lock function anytime and anywhere will obviously speed up your modeling. (Translator: Everything is your own fault. Su Can can't be wrong! Foreigners are really religious, which reminds me of the famous saying just now ...)

In my opinion, when you try to distinguish different geometric figures by layers, it is better to simply take layer 0 as the current layer forever and draw everything on this layer. Use assembly components to distinguish different geometries. If you need to use layers to control the display and hiding, put these groups and components in different layers (you don't have to divide everything in the groups and components into layers). In this way, lines and faces in groups and components still belong to layer 0, but their visibility can be easily adjusted by controlling the visibility of layers. I haven't found anything useful about the Su floor.

Groups and components

No one has ever said that it is too early to form a group. You can group the first row from scratch, and then you can edit the group and add other content to it. In other words, it's too late to form a group. Once the model is almost built, it will take you a lifetime to select the geometry you want from the glued models. A face may be divided into one group and its edges may be in another group. What a terrible thing! How to modify and edit such a model!

The method I found to group glued models is to copy the whole model, group some of them, then delete things outside the group, copy the whole model, select other geometric bodies to group, and so on until everything is grouped into different groups, and then put the groups together. (Translator: This requires carrying forward the revolutionary spirit of hard work and hard work. Let's not wait until this step to think of grouping. If the whole model is carefully grouped, you can explode a group at any time without sticking to other geometry. There are several different ways to move some geometry from one group to another.

The simplest method is to explode (at this point, everything in the group is in the selection state) to delete the geometry to be moved from the selection set and reassemble the rest of the geometry. Then bomb the target group and reorganize the geometry that just jumped out and all the geometries of this group into a group. I like to use the cut and paste function to achieve this goal. I double-click to open the first group, enter the editing state, cut the geometry to be moved (CTRL+X), close the group, open the target group, and paste (CTRL+V) to close the group.

Note: Su Can does not automatically place the pasted geometry in the original location. When pasting, the pasted geometry is at the cursor position, so you need to move them to the desired position. If it is difficult to move to the desired position or the reference point cannot be found, you can copy (CTRL+C) and paste, so that the geometry in the first group will not disappear. After pasting, move the geometry to the geometry position in the first group, align it, and then close the second group and open the first group to delete the copied geometry. (Translator: Actually, the purpose of copying without cutting is to keep the position of the original geometry. You can also draw a reference line outside the group to achieve this goal. )

Use components to create duplicate units in the scene. Don't be busy making a very detailed component before placing a copy of it in the scene. You can first build a decent block, make a component, copy this component to where you need it, and then go back and edit one of them to make it more detailed. All copies and original components will be automatically changed accordingly. This is a very useful function in Sue. For example, repetitive units such as columns, doors, windows or stairs can be built with building blocks first, and then carefully edit the components and add details after the model is basically formed, which is very useful for complex large-scale models. The same components do not have to have the same shape. Any one of them can be scaled separately in all directions. For example, the components of a tree can be scaled to different sizes, so that the trees in the scene will not be uniform and look more natural. When the branches and leaves of the tree need to be changed, you can enter the component editing, and all the trees will still change accordingly, while still retaining their unique sizes.

You can copy a group and mirror it. Put it together with the original component to form an object. This method is suitable for any symmetrical object in the model. You only need to change half, and the other half will change with it.

axis

Many tools and operations are related to shafts. Under certain conditions, changing the position and direction of the shaft will make modeling easier, and then we can restore the shaft to its initial state. Select "according to axis color" (this option is BYAXES in the window-model information-display-edge-drop-down menu), so that we can judge whether these lines are parallel or perpendicular to the axis according to the color of geometric edges. If some edges in the model are not parallel to any axis, they will be displayed in black. You can check these lines by changing the direction of the axis.

Remember! This is a model!

Modeling in perspective state. Rotate the model as if it were a solid model in your hand, and then check your work. In Su's view, it is not good to always use the front view (top view, left view and right view) to model ...). When drawing in this state, something unexpected always happens: Is the endpoint of the line you draw at the top or bottom of a wall? You can't see it on the floor plan. (Translator: This is because MAX's capture can be switched between, 2.5D and 3D capture, while SU's capture is always in 3D state. )

Sometimes you need to draw on a 2D plane. On the front, it is difficult to guarantee whether the line drawn by Su is above or below this plane. You can draw a big rectangle on this plane in advance, just like you spread a piece of paper on this plane (pay attention to the prompt "ONFACE" given by Su Capture when drawing), so you won't draw on other planes. Just delete this "paper" after painting.

Because you build the model in 3D space, it is very important to ensure the accuracy of the position, and the direction of the axis is the easiest to capture in SU, so to be on the safe side, you can move an object twice, first along one axis and then along another axis, which is easier to grasp accurately than moving the object obliquely directly. (Translator: This is similar to the multi-view operation in MAX. SU has no multi-view interface, so she has to use this method. )

Turning your perspective will help you capture. For example, if we draw a line and want to capture the green axis, but Sue always supplements the blue axis, then it will be easier to capture it by turning perspective.

The frame chosen in Su Can is just a rectangular frame. If you want to select something, you must constantly rotate the perspective, or simply turn the perspective to the appropriate position, so that you can select the desired object with a rectangular box at one time. Remember to zoom the view with the mouse wheel. Zooming is to zoom to the position of the cursor, so that we can easily zoom in and see what we want to see.

visual angle

Sue has several cool realistic models. Most of them are used for decoration, so make good use of them. Use transparent mode (X-ray X-ray mode). This mode can play a great role when we need to see the inside or back of the model. For example, we can turn on the transparent mode by drawing a line with the endpoint inside the model (this mode can be switched when executing commands). The wireframe display mode can help us to observe and capture more clearly. At the same time, it has a very good use, that is, when we need to hide only the edges but not the faces, we can switch to the wireframe reality mode, select the edges to hide, and then switch to other display modes, so that we can see that the wireframe is hidden, but the faces are not. "Bold Border" mode (translator: window-model information-display-outline in three check boxes under the edge)

This mode can not only make the model more beautiful, but also help us check whether a straight line is on a plane. If it is in a plane, it is a thin line, if not, it is a thick line. "Display edges with the colors of layers" (translator: in window-model information-display-edge drop-down menu-BYLAYER) can help us find edges that are wrongly assigned to other layers. The colors of the layers can be set in sharp contrast for easy observation. When editing a group or component, you can use "hide other models" (translator: set the hide check box after window-model information-component-fadestoreofmodel), and it is better to set a shortcut key, which will be very convenient. By switching with this option, you can hide other geometries when editing groups or components, which is very important for models with many objects to avoid presbyopia. Or when editing a group or component, adjust the Fade slider to adjust the authenticity of other geometry. Sometimes, you need to make other objects virtual (especially in transparent mode). Don't turn on dithering (hand-drawn effect and scribing effect) during modeling, which will increase the difficulty of your drawing. Don't rush to give materials to your model, it will not be conducive to clearly establishing and testing the model.

Specifying materials too early means that a large number of faces will be re-assigned materials in the future, and even problems such as the model is too complicated, the redundant materials cannot be cleaned up, and some faces cannot be specified with new materials. Remember hidden objects, because hidden objects will be deleted in some operations. When you edit the model, you hide something, which can help you see these protected objects more clearly, but it may also make the model messy. For example, if you forget to restore the display of these objects, you may miss them when moving geometry to other layers or providing new materials. Remember, in SU, only visible objects can be selected, and hidden objects will not be selected. Use the automatic selection function

The moving tool and the stretching tool have automatic selection function. Even if no objects are selected, when performing these functions, SU will automatically select the objects where the mouse is located, and you can see that they are automatically displayed as selected. Automatic selection is a very quick function. The automatic selection of stretching only selects faces and ignores objects that cannot be stretched, such as lines. When you are in doubt, right click.

Right-click and you will find all the interesting functions in the right-click menu. Do you know that there is a very practical "even division" tool? You can select a line, right-click and you will find this tool. The "Separation Degumming" tool is also located in the right-click menu. When you find that an object can only move along one plane, you can use this tool to make it leave this plane. (Translator: This function is specific to components) Save the page.

Adding or deleting geometry in one page will affect the whole model, and other pages will be added or deleted accordingly. However, the display properties of each page are independent.

For example, you have saved 12 pages in the model, and each page has a different display style. Now you think the shadow should be deeper, and you forgot to hide the axis. You must set a shadow on each page, hide the axis, and then "update" the page, repeating 12 times.

You decided to hide some ugly lines. This is where you hide these lines on the surface of each leaf and update them.

(Translator: Sue, this is really killing me. I'm exhausted ~) I think it's best to find out why you want to create a page first, and then tick off all the attributes in the page settings except the features you want the page to keep. Then create several pages as needed, and only keep the display properties; Establish a few that only retain views and perspectives; Create several properties that only keep shadows; After creating multiple layers, only the visibility of the layers is maintained. .....

In this way, for example, if you want to hide some objects, you only need to do one or several hiding operations on some pages, so that all pages can hide these objects, because you don't let most pages keep their own characteristics of hiding and displaying objects. When an error occurs.

When there is an error in the model, the earlier it is found, the easier it is to fix it. For example, faces can't be formed, some faces and edges are missing, moving tools can't move some objects, stretching tools can't stretch faces, or components can't make holes in faces ... To find the missing geometry, first set the display properties of all layers to On, and turn on the "Show hidden objects" option, and the missing ones may appear. Many other problems are related to non-square geometry. This is usually caused by unskilled drawing, not paying attention to the capture axis (or lacking this concept). There are also reasons such as using the wrong CAD drawings or not using capture correctly. If you can't form a face, draw a few diagonal lines in the figure surrounded by edges. If you can form such a face, try to delete the diagonal line you just drew. Sometimes the formed surface can continue to exist, and sometimes it can't. If not, those edges are not on the same plane. If you draw a diagonal line, you can only form a face in one part, and the edges of the other part may not intersect. When the stretching tool can't stretch a surface, it may be because something is not parallel, or you are trying to push a larger surface into a smaller surface. When the move tool can't move some objects, you may be moving an object that can't collapse automatically. You may need to draw some lines to help Sue fold automatically. Sometimes the model is found to be wrong or confused, so it is best to start drawing again from the files backed up in the previous steps. It is often more time-saving to repaint than to rack one's brains to find the wrong reason. If you use groups or components to distinguish different geometries, you may find that confusion or errors are limited to one or several groups or components. If you don't distinguish between groups or components, and the models stick together, then you can only learn lessons.