Group Reflection & Evaluation

 

Throughout the duration of the six week long "Museum of Power" assignment the active group members have worked efficiently together to produce an ambitious and innovative project. The initial brief was to produce a 3D animation of an item from the Museum of Power in Langdon, Essex. Our group chose the LMS Fowler 2-6-4t Steam Engine which turned out to be a rather demanding decision due to the shear number of parts which make up the Locomotive. This therefore dramatically increased the end level of detail needed in the 3D representation to match that of the real Steam Engine. This was passed on in the form of a substantial workload which could only be completed if appropriately divided between the group members.

Consequently before any production took place an initial group meeting was conducted where our individual skills were established. As a result the outlook of the project was split into key areas which in turn were shared amongst the group. The Steam Engine itself required to be modeled to a high enough level of detail to show the functioning of working parts. Myself and Steve Harwood were allocated this task as we enjoy the task of 3D modeling and were therefore willing to exert the amount of time needed to fashion the majority of the components in 3D using 3DS Max. This section of work was divided further to allow simultaneous production of the the required components which could later be merged rather than waiting on each other for the completion of specific tasks. I was responsible for producing the main Body and Undercarriage parts of the Train whilst Steve Harwood constructed the wheels, boiler and front sections of the model. Once these tasks were eventually completed I made the Passenger Carriage in 3D whilst Steve Harwood textured both the original Steam Engine and new Carriage.

Steve Muller was specifically identified for his natural animation skills which were employed to produce the "Fly In" animation where the separate parts of the Steam Engine are assembled. He also proposed an idea to include a character early on in order to effectively show how the Steam Train would have been used back in the early 1900's. The addition of a character is a unique asset that I believe enhances the end animation increasing its appeal to a wider audience such as young children who may not normally take an interest to an informative mechanical themed video. Towards the end of the project it was decided that additional characters were needed to enforce the Time period at which this particular Steam Engine was used in. Consequently the original SteamBot character was modified to create 4 additional themed characters including BoilerBot, KidBot, ProfBot and GentBot. These extra characters were included as passengers in the Passenger Carriage and were modeled to symbolise typical job roles of the late 1920's. This concept was developed further with Lee Hallett's decision to include narration in the final animation to strengthen the delivery of information of what the Steam Engine was used for. Lee also produced the Train movement animation to a realistic level of detail where the individual components rotate smoothly and increase in speed as the train progresses. The majority of paperwork including meeting minutes, presentations and group organisation/scheduling were additionally done by Lee whilst production on the other elements continued with the remaining group members.

The occurrence of regular weekly meetings ensured that the current progress was consistently reviewed allowing the upcoming workflow to be planned for the following week. Any indecisions were discussed and voiced with opinions therefore no arguments as such were experienced. Due to the fact that as individuals we personally get on well with one another and I feel this helped us to perform as a group to be able to effectively communicate and discuss what was needed.

The only and main issues encountered were experienced in the last couple of weeks of the semester. These were basically technical limitations rather than any physical disagreements amongst the group members. During the final rendering stage of the project the different sections of the animation were rendered on different computer setups. This is combination with the high use of MeshSmooth modifiers meant that severe problems were encountered once the end files were merged. This lead to problems with opening the files on different computers which hindered the animation and final rendering stages for a couple days. However this was successfully resolved by remaining in constant contact with the other group members to discuss potential solutions. Eventually the previously described issues were sorted out by optimizing the number of MeshSmooths used and how many "Iterations" were set for each under their parameters. Also after performing test renders on various computers it was ascertained that my desktop system handled the files with the least strain on the CPU and Memory. Whereas previously renders would fail of the computer system would lock-up whilst opening or editing a file.

Overall I am extremely content with how we performed as a group, due to the fact that no issues arose concerning a lack of communication or failing to complete assigned tasks. Working with such a dedicated group has been an enlightening experience which showed how the quality of the end product can benefit as a result.

Week 10

 

LMS Period 3 Vestibule Open Third

Now that the modeling of the LMS Fowler 2-6-4t Steam Engine had been completed, work continued by researching typical Passenger Carriages that were used in the same time period and vicinity. Given the fact that the Steam Locomotive was produced by London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) Railway company the group decided that a passenger car made by the same manufacturer would be most suitable. Consequently the LMS Period 3 Vestibule was chosen as the passenger carriage to be modeled for inclusion in the final animation.

 

LMS Period 3 Vestibule

(Click for Full-Size)

 

Restored Carriage

(Click for Full-Size)

 

With Steve Harwood currently busy texturing the original Steam Engine model, I began construction on the passenger carriage which will be incorporated into the animation sequences being produced by Lee Hallett and Steve Muller. Having previously modeled the main body and undercarriage of the 2-6-4t Steam Engine this experience could be applied to the passenger carriage. As a result the creation process involved was considerably shorter than the initial steam engine, due to the know-how already established considering modeling this type of vehicle. Additionally several parts could be salvaged from the Steam engine model then modified for the passenger carriage such as the trailing end of the undercarriage and wheels for example.

 

Construction Process

In order to fashion the body of the passenger carriage a section of polygons from the original train were copied and extruded out to get the basic shape. This was then modified in accordance to the reference images gathered of the passenger carriage.

 

Body Start

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Having adjusted the body's dimensions to match that of the side reference image, the end walls were produced by inserting additional edges then extruding out the newly formed polygons. A slight overhang was made were at the of either end to simulate the presence of a connected roof.

 

Bridged End Walls

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The next stage consisted of inserting extra edge rings to mark out the size and position of the windows. Firstly one window will be made, then it will be cloned the required number of times and modified for varying sizes. Having inserted new edges the polygons between these were inset creating an outline of additional edges. The selected polygons were then deleted to cut the rough window hole through the side of the body. The corner vertices created via the inset function were then scaled inwards to produce smooth curves to the corners of the window hole. Additional edges were added for the position of the separate window pane struts which were then formed by bridging the required polygons. The entire body object was then given a "Mesh Smooth" modifier to preview its smoothed appearance and to therefore identify areas that required extra edges or further tweaking.

 

Window Area Construction

              1                             2

        

 

 3                            4

         

 

5                            6

         

(Click Images for Full-Size)

 

To reduce production time of making and evenly positioning separate windows the "Array" tool was used to conduct this task with ease using just a single window object. The Array tool basically allows a selected object(s) to be cloned a specified number of times incrementing the space between each copy based on the X, Y & Z offset options. In this case a total 7 window objects were cloned and spaced out along the Y-Axis. The first window object was positioned at the end of the reference image so that the spacing preview of the Array tool could be compared directly to the positioning of the reference image. As a result the correct spacing between each window was easily established using this quick visual method.

 

Window Array

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Window Array Before Bridging

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The edge polygons on either side of the window objects were deleted allowing the Borders to be selected and then bridged to fill the gap between each window. Smaller windows were also produced using the same techniques and positioned at each end of the passenger carriage. A door was also constructed using these steps and consisted of a small window in addition to hinges which were produced using a number of cylinder objects. This selection of objects was grouped and positioned according to the reference image of the side of the passenger carriage. An appropriate sized hole was also cut into the body where the door overlapped leaving a slight gap between the door and edges of the body. The pivot point of the door group was then moved to the centre of the hinges allowing the door to rotate realistically, however it is unlikely that any door movement will be incorporated into the final animation.

 

Smoothed Door

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Undercarriage Construction

The next process involved creating the undercarriage sections to support the body and hold the wheels in place. Intuitively the old trailing undercarriage from the main Steam Engine file was imported and slowly adapted to fit the passenger carriage in accordance to the reference images. Firstly the redundant parts were deleted then the selection of undercarriage was lined up approximately with the side reference image. The main supporting beams of the undercarriage were then extended and angled support struts were introduced.

 

Aligned & Modified Undercarriage Section

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Edge Extruded Support Beams

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The middle section of the undercarriage was then formed using a series of edge extrudes and bridges to fill any gaps created. At this point only half of the undercarriage will be made allowing it to be clone and mirrored for the opposite end of the carriage at a later stage. This will cut down on the working time required as well as ensure that the undercarriage is symmetrical with no missing parts.

 

Undercarriage Middle Section Scaling

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Work then began on the axel area which will hold the wheels and braking system. The wheels arches were again copied from the original train model and then modified to fit the new passenger car undercarriage. The brake housing system was then constructed from a group of cylinders and the actual unit fitted to the axel surround was made from a box object  with multiple edge loops allowing further details to be extruded then shaped out. This was then connected to the main undercarriage and small details were added such as nuts & bolts which help portray how the parts are connected. Smoothing was then applied to the cylindrical objects to remove harsh edges caused by alternately angled polygons, the entire group of objects was then cloned for the opposite side of the undercarriage.

 

Wheel & Braking Details

 

1                             2

         

 

3                            4

         

(Click Images for Full-Size)

 

The last detail to be added to the undercarriage involved several supporting beams which hold each of the wheel sections together. This again was constructed via box and cylinder objects which were converted to Editable Poly's then transformed accordingly by extruding edges as well as moving vertices.

 

Wheel Section Supports

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Rear Door Construction

Having produced the main body and undercarriage objects the last few steps remained involved adding further components to increase the level of detail in comparison with the real passenger carriage from the reference images. The rear doors and connecting seal were the next features to be modeled. Starting with the back door was formed from a box object and was split down the middle to represent the two separate doors. A number of edge loops were inserted into each half allowing the top section of each door to be curved into an arch shape. The connecting door plate was then made be cloning and scaling down the first door object. This was made into one solid object by attaching the two halves, the middle gap was then filled by bridging the edges either side. All the polygons on either side of the connecting plate were selected, inset and then deleting leaving a door shaped rim which was made slightly narrower using the scale tool.

 

            Back Door                                           Connecting Door Plate

         

(Click Images for Full-Size)

 

Next the rubber connecting seal which stretches between the back door and connecting plate was produced using a box object with multiple segments. Every other edge loop was then selected and scaled down to produce a zigzagged folding effect. Additional edge rings were then inserted either side of the triangular polygons to ensure that the Mesh Smooth modifier only rounded off the sharp points whilst retaining the same amount of protrusion. The seal was then extended around the edge of connecting plate by sequentially extruding and rotating the end polygons until one whole half was complete. This was then mirrored, attached and welded to form one complete seal object which was then given a Mesh Smooth modifier to provide more a softer rubber-like appearance.

 

Connecting Door Seal

         

(Click Images for Full-Size)

 

Finishing Touches

To finalize the passenger carriage several smaller details were added to exemplify the overall level of detail. The first extra object was a circular hand rail curving across the rear sections and following the gradient of the roof. These were produced much like the hand rails made for the main Steam Engine, starting with a manually drawn spline object which was lofted using a circle spline as the loft shape. The lofted path was then scaled down using the "Scale" Loft Deformation tool to result in a much more appropriate rail diameter in comparison to the reference images. The ends of the rail were angled inwards slightly using the Vertice sub-object mode to scale and rotate the end polygons as required. Further support posts were added to basically simulate holding the rail in place on the rear ends of the carriage, these were produced using cylinder objects that were also scaled using edge loops to create curved bases. These group of objects were then attach and smoothed then mirrored for the other end of the passenger car.

 

                Back Rail Spline                                         Back Rail Loft Scale

          

(Click Images for Full-Size)

 

Smoothed Curved Hand Rail

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The last area to have further detail introduced was the roof of the passenger carriage. Curved roof segments were created by extruding and strip of the roof polygons then detaching it to form a separate object. This was then given a couple of edge rings to control the curve applied by the Mesh Smooth  modifier. Once one of these roof beams was produced it was included in an Array object involving the creation of 17 clones spaced out evenly along the Y-axis.

 

Smoothed Roof Struts Array

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Lastly to end with small roof vents were constructed from Tube objects which were transformed using "Bend" modifiers. Although they weren't difficult to produce their shape had to be somewhat improvised as the reference images failed to provide a clear enough view of their actual shape. However the end object is as close to the reference images as possible from the little detail provided and I am rather pleased with the end smoothed result. Again these were included in an Array similarly to the roof struts to reproduce the required number of clones dictated by the reference images.

 

Roof Vent Object - after Bend Modifiers

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Roof Vent Array

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Once these extra details had been finalized a conclusive check was carried out to ensure all of the objects were smoothed appropriately and that all required vertices were welded. The final Passenger Carriage Model can be viewed below note that it is not textured yet as Steve Harwood is currently working on the UVW Map using Adobe Photoshop.

 

Final Passenger Carriage Model

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Overall I am extremely satisfied with how the Passenger Carriage turned out as I believe it is clearly comparable with the reference images which will be further enhanced once the UVW Map and textures are applied. Production was shorter than the Steam Engine model due to the fact that several parts were adopted from the LMS Fowler 2-6-4t model and customized to suit the composition of the Passenger Carriage. The previous modeling techniques and knowledge applied during the first Steam Engine Production could also be exerted during production of the Passenger Carriage which prevented previous problems from reoccurring.

 

Week 9

 

Main Body Construction

Having produced the underlying bottom body trim and couplers, construction on the physical body/shell of the Steam Engine could begin. The body of the train is perhaps the most important feature throughout the model as it in combination with the front circular boiler are the dominant features which help to portray this particular Steam Engine, allowing it to be distinguished from others. Due to this fact a vast amount of time was spent towards the modelling of these features.

The Construction began with the back wall of the body starting with a box object that was converted to an editable poly and altered in height according to reference image plane in the left viewport. Several edges were then inserted along the back wall to enable for sloping sides to be crafted.

 

Body Back Wall w/ Extra Edges

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

After connecting the required edges to produce a curved top to the back wall, the newly created edge polygons were extruded lengthways to fabricate the sloping sides present on the rear section of the body which is used to house coal for the Steam Engine.

 

Sloped Coal Housing Walls

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

These walls were then continued following the contours of the body around the driver cabin door and window section. Curved sections were introduced again by adding extra edge loops to provide the necessary vertices to alter the body's shape. In order to ensure a symmetrical body both sides were selected and scaled simultaneously. I was particularly satisfied at this stage as the production thus far had been relatively simple yet still wielded pleasing results which closely represent the reference image which is evident from the screenshot below.

 

Curved Driver Cabin Wall

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The coal housing and driver cabin walls were then connected using a combination of the Extrude, Bridge and Edge Ring tools during a lengthy and frustrating process connecting the various surfaces each flowing in different directions. A flat upright segment was created between them which will later be inset and carved out for a rear window frame.

 

Connected Sloping Walls w/ Window Area Setup

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

In order to ease the modelling process of the body sections, the wall segments so far were split down the middle and the left half was deleted. This was done so that I only had to focus on the right half, which could then later be mirrored using the symmetry modifier for the other side of the body. Having done this another wall was extruded out to form the back wall of the driver's cabin, further edges were also inserted to allow the top half to be curved for the shape of the roof.

 

Driver Cabin Back Wall w/ Extra Edge for Roof Formation

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

This recently created back wall was then given an arched top simply be moving the vertices created from the additional edge loops. The curvature was matched as accurately as possible based on the range of reference images previously collected. The top point of the curve was made to be near horizontal so that the arch will flow smoothly once a symmetry modifier is applied, this will therefore prevent a sharp point from occurring when the two halves of the body are connected.

 

Curved Driver Cabin Back Wall

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Now that the curved shape for the roof had been formed the roof itself was extruded out along the remainder of the driver cabin walls. A hole was purposely cut out to fashion the top of the door area which joins the roof. This was accomplished by removing the polygons above the door, the remaining edges were then bridged to fill the resulting gaps.

 

Extruded Roof Section w/ Door Hole

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The hole surrounding the top of the door area was then given curved corners by creating a number of extra edge loops, the resulting produced vertices were then manipulated until a appropriate curve was reached. The main sides of the body were then extruded out coordinating with the curve of the body trim below it. The main walls were also given a greater thickness corresponding with the sides of the boiler as pictured in the reference images.

 

Curved Door Hole & Main Body Sides

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The next stage was to proceed with the window frames which are located on both the front and rear of the body. Firstly the front driver windows was worked on by insetting a certain group of polygons based on the approximate window frame shape.  A hole was then created by deleting the polygons inside the window frame, the resulting gaps left were filled using the Bridge tool.

 

          Window Frame Inset                                  Window Frame Hole

          

(Click Images for Full-Size)

 

The rear windows were then created using the same process, at this stage the main shape of the body had been formed, consequently the right half was mirrored, aligned and then welded to produce one solid body object.

 

Mirroed Body Halves

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

 

Aligned Body Halves

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

 

Welded Body Halves

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The entire body object was then positioned relative to the existing Steam Engine Elements in addition to the side reference image. It was ensured that the body was perfectly centred on the body trim as any offset would produce unwanted results deterring from the overall level of realism.

 

Final Body Positioning

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The last main stage to finalize the main shape of the body object was to add the side windows located either side of the driver cabin. This was achieved by connecting several edges using the ring edge selection tool and then using the connect function. These additional edges enable the shape of the windows to be formed using the reference image plane as a guide.

 

Side-Windows Edge Flow

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The corresponding polygons positioned directly over the window holes were removed then the gaps left between the interior and exterior wall surfaces were bridged along the offending edges. The result of this process can be seen below.

 

Bridged Side-Window Edges

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Now that the entirety of the Steam Train's Body had been modelled further detail was developed by making the sun-roof with moveable shutters. After examining several of the research images it was determined how the roof shutters actually function. Each of the shutters is held on by a runner allowing them to slide back and forth the desired by the driver. Modelling these components was rather straightforward yet the end results were remarkably pleasing. The runners evenly spaced over the driver cabin area of the roof were construction by simply extruding thin, lengthy polygons created by inserting multiple edge rings.

 

Roof Edge Loops for Runners

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The shutters themselves on the other hand were crafted by extruding an existing portion of the roof then detaching it from the main body object. It was then re-sized and positioned accordingly between the two previously made runners.

 

Roof Shutter extruded from Roof

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The shutter than had channels carved into it which will be filled by the runners allowing it to move forwards and backwards. The implementation of these grooves will also mean that the two object surfaces of the roof and shutter will not clip which could prove problematic during the animation phase if the roof is made to open for example. Overlapping pieces of geometry can cause severe rendering problems are consequently best avoided, for this reason the channels were added even though they will marginally add to the total number of edges/polycount.

 

Roof Shutter Runner Channels

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

A Turbo Smooth modifier was applied to the shutter to preview its smoothed appearance, several edges were also added to restrict the amount of smoothing especially on the edges surrounding the channels where the runners will fit.

 

Roof Shutter Smoothed Preview

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The next obvious task was to make the actual hole for the sun roof by deleting the necessary polygons and then bridging the gaps created from this action. Two additional edge loops were introduced around the rim of the sun roof which prior to this was being rounded off by an undesirable amount when previewing with a Turbo Smooth modifier. Then to complete the sun roof the first shutter object was cloned and positioned in between the runners on the opposite side of the hole.

 

Sun-Roof Edge Loops

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Adding Details

Once the main body area had been completed by cutting out the required number of windows and sun-roof section, it was decided to add further detail to enhance the overall level of realism present in the Steam Train model to increase its likeness compared to the real thing. Upon extensive viewing of the reference images I came to the conclusion of adding more objects to the rear of the train's body section which currently looked rather bland. As a result the first objects I began to develop were the handrails found on the rear wall of the trains body which allow for access to the coal housing and roof of the Steam Engine. These are also imperative to boosting the level of realism as the small details add to the overall appearance of the model.

Construction of the handrails therefore started with a cylinder object which was positioned on the rear wall of the coal housing. This was accompanied with additional cylinder and sphere objects to build up the main hand rail stretching horizontally across the rear of the Steam Engine. The base of the hand poles were beveled to portray a welded connection with the train wall using the bevel and scale tools on selected edge rings.

 

            Hand Rail Base Pole                                Beveled Hand Rail Base

         

 

Completed Rear Hand Rail

(Click Images for Full-Size)

 

Next another hand hand was produced, however this time an alternate method was used to make the smaller vertical handrails consist of a singular pole with curved ends. These smaller hand rails were made starting with a spline object to produce a 2D line representation of the rail's final shape. This was then used as a path during the inclusion of a "Loft" object command for which another small circular spline was used for the shape parameter.  The result was a curved cylinder following the curve of the original 2D line, however the cylinder was vastly over-sized and required a quick adjustment to fix this scaling issue. This was rectified by accessing the deformations rollout of the Loft object using the included scale tool to adjusted the size of the Loft command using the provided "Scale Deformation Graph" which can be viewed from the screenshot below. The default value was changed from "100" to around "40" which resulted in a much thinner desired result.

 

Loft Scale Deformation Graph

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The ends of the small hand rail were also beveled using the same techniques as used for the main horizontal hand rail. The completed vertical hand rail was then cloned and positioned accordingly on the lower part of the coal housing were the foot plates yet to be modelled will be located. Further rails were added to the door area of the driver's cabin in addition to directly above the ladders on the front sides of the train's body.

 

Completed Rear Hand Rails

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Supplementary detail was added by creating a number of foot plates to accompany the handrails which are present on the real-life LMS Fowler 2-6-4T. Firstly the two larger foot plates were constructed using basic box objects which were given numerous edges and extruded to form a right-angled plate. The additional edges will prevent the Turbo Smooth modifier from over-rounding the angular edges whilst efficiently removing the razor sharp edges present before smoothing. Three nuts/bolts were also copied from the coupler areas and were positioned according to the reference images to simulate the connection of the foot plate to the rear wall of the coal housing. This selection of objects was grouped and cloned for additional foot plates on the front sections of the body trim.

 

Right-Angled Rear Foot plate

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Smaller foot plates were then fashioned using the same techniques as used for the larger right-angular version however these were given rounded corners and made narrower via the introduction of additional edge loops. Similarly a number of bolts were positioned based on the appearance provided by the reference images. A total of three of these smaller foot plates were spread across the bottom of the rear of the coal housing just above the coupler backing plate. An additional small foot plate was positioned at the highest point of the back wall which would allow access to the top of the coal house compartment in real scenario for example.

 

Small Narrow Foot Plate w/ Rounded Corners

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Completed Rear Foot Plates

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Moving back to the main body of the Steam Engine particularly the Driver's Cabin area which currently has no floor exposing the undercarriage and wheels underneath. Consequently this was the next most vital area that needed attention to enhance the overall completeness of the 3D model. Creating the floor was a simplistic task involving the creation of a box object which was altered in dimension to match that of the interior width and length of the driver cabin. Another floor section was placed in the coal housing section at the rear of the train, the remainder of the front section of the train is yet to have a floor made, as the boiler and main frontage of the train created by Steven Harwood will be merged over the coming days.

 

 Floor Creation

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The last few details to yet to add included several caps and connecting components. The first of these was a simple cylinder object that was placed on either side of the train's body. This was to represent a bolted down cap/plate which is evident from the reference photos. In order to space out a perfect ring of bolts around the cap I used a new tool called the "Spacing Tool" found under the "Tools" Menu at the top of the 3DS Max interface. The Spacing Tool can also be accessed using Shift + I on the keyboard for rapid access. The Spacing Tool basically allows a selected object to be cloned numerous times similarly to the Array Tool except along a specified path or points. Consequently a circle spline was created slightly smaller than the cap object and was aligned to its centre. With one nut/bolt select the Spacing Tool was then used to create 12 copies and the circle spline was picked as the path. The result was twelve evenly spaced bolts in a perfect circle. This is an extremely useful tool which I recently discovered and will continue to make use of in the future, as it considerably reduced the amount of time needed to carry out this task which would have been exceptionally difficult to do manually.

 

Cap Object & Circular Spline

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

 

Bolt Object After Spacing Tool

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The next and perhaps most complex object produced was a round hatch situated on either side of the steam engine's body on the top surface. Construction initiated with a standard cylinder object which was converted to an editable poly and extruded to produce the appearance of a lid/hatch. Following this a right angled bracket was made from lofting a hand-drawn spline object which was scaled down appropriately using the same method as used for the vertical handrails on the rear of the train.

 

Lofted Right Angled Bracket

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Two upright plates were then produced from standard box primitives, the corners were rounded-off by inserting additional edge loops and then scaling the newly created vertices inward. Between these upright supports and arm was fashioned from a Tube object which was extruded a number of times to alter its shape as needed.

 

Upright Supports & Hatch Arm

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

Two similar supports were created on the opposite side of the hatch were the Arm connects and hinges from. A small U-shaped rail was then produced and positioned on the hatch holding the arm in place,  several connecting bolts were then added to finish the component off. This range of objects was then grouped and cloned for the adjacent side of the train's body.

 

Finished Hatch Component

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The last detail to be created before merging the file with the front parts of the Steam Engine was the connecting rods which fasten the boiler sections to the main body. From studying the reference images it was gathered that these rods were spanner-like gripping onto bolts attached to the boiler and fixed around a pivot point on the body itself. Having determined their characteristics production started with a spline object drawn out as a cross section view of the spanner-shaped end.

 

Connecting Rod Spline

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

This was converted to an editable poly to make it into a 3D surface, the rest of the rod was then extruded out and shaped by inserting additional edges.

 

Extruded Connector Arm Before Smoothing

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

A round base for the pivot point was then constructed from a cylinder which was scaled along its bottom edge rings to simulate a "welded" effect as if it were attached in real-life by a seam of welded metal. Extra edge loops were added to restrict the smoothing result caused by the later applied Turbo Smooth modifier.

 

Welded Effect Pivot Base

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The Connector Rod was then attached to the pivot base via a bolt and nut which was centred to the base. The height and thickness of the bolt was made to represent the same dimensions as interpreted from reference images.

 

Attached Connector Rod to Body

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The final step to conclude the connector rod setup was a small pin locking the pivot bolt in place. This was created from a spline and lofted using the same method as the right-angled brackets for the support plate bases.

 

Spline Pin Object

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The pin was then given additional edge loops to rectify problems caused by the Turbo Smooth modifier and the scale of the loft was reduced to a desired amount.

 

Lofted Pin Object - Scaled Down Loft Result

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

The completed locking pin was centred through the top of the pivot bolt and a Turbo Smooth modifier was reapplied. A small split pin was also made to enhance the authenticity of the 3D model. The pin was made from a Tube primitive which was divided in half and extruded to create two legs. Personally I am immensely pleased with the final outcome, as small details such as these aren't noticed at first but upon further inspection enhance the overall presentation of the Steam Engine.

 

Positioned & Smoothed Locking Pin

(Click for Full-Size Image)

 

 

Split Pin Creation

(Click for Full-Size Image)

Over the course of Week 10 the front Boiler sections of the Steam Engine will be merged with the existing body, then final details and texturing can begin.