Starting point : Complete noob in 3dsmax
I have been turning around the 3dsmax software for ages, mainly for getting nice renders out of my simple models, with Vray lights and materials. Often turned into crappy renders anyway.
What I didn’t know for a very long time is how both powerful and accessible the 3D modeling was on that software when it comes to draw complexe shapes. I always struggled with those in regular modeling, and hopefully enough it didn’t come as indispensable in my architecture cursus.
I could make a teapot in 3dsmax, but only because it was right on the toolbar.
As long as you didn’t want to go full on Zaha Hadid or Frank Gehry, you were fine with Autocad and Sketchup. And those software also seemed more appropriate for me for accurately scaling my project in details, with straight lines anyway.
Turning point : Arrimus 3D, the light from above
However, I came recently upon a tutorial video amongst the million videos of that category you’d find on youtube, but this one was gamechanging to me.
It explained how you would be able to model the kinds of volumes and shapes commonly found on video games, animation movies and so on, with 3dsmax, by focusing on the user interface and some basic tools.
This came from the great Arrimus 3D, to whom I will always be grateful, by far the best youtube tutorial channel on 3d modeling I’ve ever seen, to learn how to model basically any shape with 3dsmax.
Being able to follow that tutorial and watching the result unfolding, a precise 3d helmet with reference images for the front and the profile, was a revelation.
If you want to learn 3D modeling, this is the moneypot of knowledge for 3dsmax (as for some other software like Zbrush) :
Unfortunately, it seems that his former videos have in large number disappeared from his channel, but there is an archive channel being rebuilt with some of his previous work, fortunately.
Arrimus Archive channel of tutorials
By the way, Arrimus, if you ever read this, thanks a lot for everything you have been teaching for so long and so extremely efficiently. I’m sure there is a large community of learning modelers who owe you a great deal.
Current point : Yeah, I can probably model this
That first video changed everything for me and helped me bridge the gap of how I could make one of these complexe shapes by myself with a clever use of those 3 tools :
- Edit poly modifier, used in stacks just as photoshop layers
- Turbosmooth
- The show result toggle shortcut : the one thing that blew my noob mind
To go deeper on those principles that need a lot more explanation, I’ll dedicate a separate post here :
>My 3 basic principles of 3d modeling in 3dsmax
Edit poly with Gaudi
With those 3dsmax principles in mind, I went along and started modeling some things out of basic geometrical shapes, into more complexe ones.
My principal source of inspiration for those complexe shapes came from one of my all time favourite architect, Antoni Gaudi. All of his buildings are very close to high end sculptural works, coming from a very vivid imagination, especially the Casa Batllo, my favourite of his.
I then began modeling some of the shapes I saw in that house, using the same principle, and refining my workflow little by little.
The idea was : if you have to exercise your modeling skills, might as well do it on shapes that inspire you, and also that present some new kinds of difficulty, that’s important. If you can model complexe “complexe shapes”, then you can model average “complexe shapes”.
Here are a few illustrations of the results I got from a few items in la Casa Batllo, one of Gaudi’s greatest works of architecture. The modeling of the entire house is still just a dream at this point, given its inner complexity.
The understanding of the ‘logic’ of some of its shapes is a good start if you wish to recreate them in 3D on the software. For instance, the base is a cylinder, or a box, it’s symmetrical here and there, those parts are extruded from here, etc.
However, it is not enough. This also requires to know in advance the kind of tools 3dsmax can offer (here again thanks to Arrimus 3D tutorials), and how those tools help you achieve certains free form results.
How you get to the end result is a combination of those two parts.
Making of : 3dsmax tools recap
As an illustration of the point above, here is a very quick summary of the tools I used for each one of those 3D model projects (in chronological order of creation).
The point is that I always started from a very simple geometry (cylinder, box), then added layers of edit poly or other modifiers, to finally turbosmmoth the whole and get the result wanted. It’s a very step-by-step based method, which is what I wanted to detail here to demystify the process of 3d modeling.
I’ll also leave some links to pages where you can get these models and see for yourself (some are free, others are cheap).
Ceramic tile from the stairway
- Draw a simple box
- Edit poly
- Symmetry by angle
- Edit poly on top
- Symmetry x2
- Turbosmooth
First off, use a reference image in the face viewport 
This is what the base geometry ends up like once turbosmoothed 
Final shape with multiple symmetries 
Base geometry, a custom shape that will be repeated 8 times around the center 
This first shape is made of only 98 polygons 
First symmetry along Y axis 
2nd symmetry of 45 degrees rotation 
3rd symmetry of 135 degrees, the shape is now complete 
Turbosmooth applied with isolign display (less messy) 
Without isolign display, now at 97792 polygons 
Final shape without the edges showing 
Final result textured and rendered with Vray
Stairway spiral
- Draw a circle
- Edit poly
- Draw spiral spline
- Deform along spline
- Scaling curve to make the tip smaller
- Edit poly on top to mend everything
- Turbosmooth
Reference image, simple jpg texture in material applied on plane 
Modeling the outside ring, starting with a cylinder 
1st edit poly : insert the cap, and keep the outline and shrink it a little on the borders 
Shell modifier to give it thickness 
Shrink the sides more to make it more curvy 
Turbosmooth modifier on top 
Done 
Starting the spiral 
First off, draw a spline with bézier 
The solid spline is just a simple cylinder in the beginning 
Stretched with edit poly 
And adding inside edges to facilitate the deformation 
Path deform with picking spline modifier 
Without the scale component in play 
With scale component allowing to ajust how pointy the spiral gets along the spline 
After path deform 
Edit poly on top to mend the colliding polygons on the right 
Turbosmooth on top of everything 
We went from 24 polys to 34528 for the spiral 
Verifying the match with the reference image 
Final result 
Wireframe render in Vray 
Simple white material render with vray
Link to download the model for free
Stairway ‘Shark triangle’
- Draw a circle
- Edit poly to keep the perimeter
- Twist the outer ring
- Edit poly for the inside shape
- Deform along spline
- Edit poly on top to mend everything
- Turbosmooth
Link to download the model for free
Stairway ramps
- Import the previous models
- Edit poly for the stairs
- Deform along spline for the ramps
- Curve scale to make it wider at the bottom
- Turbosmooth
Ramp object : first a box 
Edit poly on top to change its profile and add inside edges 
Path deform modifier picking the spline drawn for the ramp 
Edit poly on top to mend the ends 
Turbosmooth on top 
Final result 
Zooming in the geometry 
After turbosmooth, without edges showing 
The small spear component : first a cylinder 
Edit poly to make de pointy end and make variations on the diameter 
Symmetry at the center 
Turbosmooth on top 
Bend modifier to give it its curved result, no need to edit poly to get there 
Final result 
Sharky ribbon component : we’ll need a spline and a shape to follow it 
The shape is a plane with edit poly to create small indentations 
Shell modifier to give the thickness 
Soft selection of edges to bend 
Bend modifier only on those edges selected 
Path deform by picking the spline drawn in the first place 
Edit poly on top to mend the polygon collisions 
Final turbosmooth on top 
With and without edges, from 1000 to 100000 polys 
Final result 
In scene 
3dsmax scene 
Wireframe render in Vray 
3D printer material render 
Side render
Gaudi column in Casa Batllo’s main room
- Import the previous models
- Edit poly for the stairs
- Deform along spline for the ramps
- Curve scale to make it wider at the bottom
- Turbosmooth
Image reference : texture in material on a simple plan 
Adjusting the perspective camera to match the photo 
Starting with a cylinder 
Edit poly on top, stretching it 
Rotating groups of vertices to twist the overall shape 
Turbosmooth on top 
Final result 
Center ring : starting with a cylinder as well 
Edit poly on top 
Another edit poly to stretch the column part 
Turbosmooth on top 
Then a symmetry modifier to get the final result 
Center piece : another cylinder (pretty expectable for a column model) 
Edit poly, symmetry, to twist and stretch 
Turbosmooth on top 
Final result 
Stone material and some nice lights for the vray render 
Playing with the columns once it’s modeled
Conclusion
With those models behind me, I feel more confident about having to integrate particular complete shapes in any future projects, since I know now how they can be made, even if it’s not necessarily easy every time, in the rediscovered 3dsmax.
Add in a simple material and nice lights in Vray, and you can appreciate the result, all of it coming out of stacks of 3D modifiers and tweaking one simple geometric shape in 3dsmax.
That just about covered my first steps, necessary steps, into ‘harder’ 3d modeling, just opening the door to a whole new world, building new skills built little by little.
Hope it will come in handy soon, along the journey and hope it might help you as well to get started. For nice video tutorials of 3dsmax modeling in general, I advise you to check Arrimus’ channels.
Until next time, take care.