BetterSpace: Whitestar Tutorial

Lesson 3:
Building the Upper Hull Fuselage

You have now built two sections of the White Star using spline cage patching techniques and this will be the third. It will also be the last of the relatively easy sections to model. The lesson after this one will start to deal with some of the more complicated sections.

Drag out the left view in Modeler until only the top view and left view are visible. The front view and preview window are not important at the moment, so maximise the space available for the other two views.

In the front view, create the following rail curve. In this image, the grid size is 5 meters.

the first rail

The X value of all the points on this curve is 0. Notice the reference control point at the end of the rail on the right. Be careful to include all the points shown on the image above, as this section has a lot of profile curves

Another rail must be created at this point.

the second rail in place

Place the points in the top view and worry about their vertical position later. Notice that the point on the left end of the new rail uses the point at the left end of the first rail as a control point. To achieve this, simply include this point when you select the points to make the curve, and then use Tools \ (Curves) \ Start CP (Ctrl+b) or Tools \ (Curves) \ End CP (Ctrl+n) to toggle the control point.

control points shown

Once the lateral positioning of the points is correct, select the curve and enter Drag mode (Crtl+t) to position the points in the Y axis.

Save your work now as WS_Upphull_Splines_1.lwo

We must still create two more rails, but before we can create these we must put in some profile curves.

Firstly, reset your view to a regular quad view so that you can see the front view and the preview again.

first three profile curves

This image shows a close-up of the three new profiles and also shows the arrangement of the control points. You may be thinking that the choice of when to use a control point and when not to is a little erratic, but in order to do justice to the complex shapes of the White Star, these measures are necessary. Once you have created the profiles in the left view, turn your attention to the front view and use the Drag tool to shape the profile curves into the shapes shown below.

profile curves in front view

Where these curves meet the X axis, they must be smoothed as you did with the second rail of the lower-nose. (Click here for a reminder of how to do this.)

Now save your work as WS_Upphull_Splines_2.lwo

"You have learned much, young one, but you are not a Jedi yet..."

The section you are building at the moment would be the easiest part of the model to build, were it not for the twin gun ports which sit like eyes on the nose of the ship. We will now begin to insert these.

There are two ways in which this task could be achieved. The first option is massively more simple, and would remove the need for the large numbers of profile curves, and also two of the rail curves. It involves making the spline cage as if there are no gun ports, and then inserting them into the patched mesh later using a boolean cut. This was the method I used on my first version of the White Star (which was never released to the public). Unfortunately, the results were rather horrible, and there were nasty rendering glitches around the area of the cut, so I adopted the following method instead, which is far more complex, but produces a far better result.

two new gun port splines (left view)

Create two new curves between profile curves 1 and 2 in the left view.

gun port splines showing smoothing (top view)

Select these two new curves in the top view and smooth them together using Tools \ (Curves) \ Smooth or by pressing Ctrl+s. Next use the Drag tool to drag the points to their correct positions in the top view.

The third rail must now be created and it's one of the easiest of all the splines in the model to make. You do not need to create any new points at all. Simply select these points in the top view in the following order, then press Ctrl+p to make the curve.

the third rail showing point selection order

When the curve is made, select it and toggle the Start CP (Ctrl+b). This will create the curve as seen here.

The next curve is alost as easy. Zoom in to the left-hand end of the two main rail curves and select the point numbered 2 in the image below. Mirror this point in the X axis to form the point numbered 4.

point selection order for this curve

Select the points shown in the order indicated above, then make the curve with Ctrl+p. Select the new curve and toggle the End CP with Ctrl+n. You should have a curve which looks similar to the curve in the image.

Save your work now as WS_Upphull_Splines_3.lwo

Time for some more profile curves now after that brief indulgence in easy tasks. Four new profile curves must be created in the positions shown in the image below. As these curves meet the X axis, they need to have control points added as usual.

four new profile curves

Create the curves in the top view and then use the Drag tool in the front view to form the shapes shown in the next image.

dragging the points of the new profiles in the front view

The spline cage now looks rather a tangled mess, and you will need to do most of your editing while zoomed-in to specific areas. While the model is in this state, experiment to find your own way of manipulating individual curves. You will need to sort out a method for doing this, as I'm afraid that you will have to get used to looking at a tangled mess, as this image of the completed spline cage shows...

the almost indecipherable mess that is the completed White Star spline cage

Sorry!

Save your work now as WS_Upphull_Splines_4.lwo

You have almost completed the spline-based part of modelling this section of the White Star. We must now complete the cage by adding the fourth rail curve. This curve does not require many new points, and is fairly easy to create.

point selection order for fourth rail

Using the image above for reference, select the points indicated in the order specified. When all seven points are selected, create the curve by choosing Tools \ (Curves) \ Make or by pressing Ctrl+p. When the curve is made, change to Polygons-select mode and select the curve. Toggle the Start CP (Crtl+b) so that the curve does not run over the gun port.

points to add to the new curve

Return to Points-select mode and make sure that all points are deselected. This is important for the next step. If all points are deselected, go back to Polygons-select mode and select the new rail that you just created. We will now add three more points to the curve. Select Polygon \ (Revise) \ Add Points. Click on the curve in the positions that the new points are to be created. The curve's shape will change slightly as you add the points, so once they are added you will need to Drag them into their correct positions.

Save your work now as WS_Upphull_Splines_5.lwo

Your spline cage should now look like this. The cage must now be patched so that we can add detail to the polygonal mesh. Each area of red on the image needs to be a separate patch. Remember to use a sensible amount of polyons in each patch to avoid huge numbers of polygons. My Upper Hull has around 550 polygons, and you should aim for about this number.

the completed Upper Hull Fuselage spline cage

After making each patch, ensure that the polygons are facing in the right direction, and ensure that the points are merged. When all the patches are made, cut them out and place them in a new layer, then merge all points to connect the patches.

the patched Upper Hull

Save your work now as WS_Upphull_Polys.lwo

The gun port must now be completed. Zoom in to the hole in the mesh where the gun port will be.

making the first polygon of the gun port

Select the points shown in the image. You should trace around the points in a clockwise direction. When all the points are selected, make a polygon by selecting Polygon \ (Create) \ Make or by pressing p. Press space, and the new polygon will be selected for you. We will now use the Bevel tool to inset the polygon slightly. Select Multiply \ (Sweep) \ Bevel or press b and enter the following values into the requestor.

values for the Bevel requestor

A new polygon is selected, and you should Cut out the polygon and Paste it into a fresh layer. Flip the polygon's orientation (f) and start the Extrude tool from Multiply \ Extrude or by pressing Shift+e. Click on the polygon in the top view, and then in the left or front view, drag the T-bar down to well below the original polygon. When the T-bar is in the correct position, press Enter to finish the extrude operation.

using the Extrude tool (result shown in background layer)

When the extrude is made, the polygon which was selected has been deselected. You must reselect this polygon (and only this polygon) and remove it by pressing z. You must now select the polygon at the bottom or the current object.

select the bottom polygon...

With this polygon selected, click Tools \ (Points) \ Set Value or press Ctrl+v. In the requestor, choose a value of 0 in the Y axis. Once this is done, Move (t) the now flattened polygon up until it resembles the next image.

set Y value, then move up

Select all the polygons making up this shape, and check that they all face inwards, towards the center of the shape. Next, Cut out the entire shape and Paste it back into the layer with the upper-hull polygons in it. Merge all points in this layer and assign all the polygons a new surface with the following values:

Finally, mirror the shape across the X axis and merge all points again.

the completed section

That should be it. Check your shaded preview for any glaring errors, and correct them if needed.

Now save the completed section as WS Upper Hull.lwo.

Do you have any comments of questions regarding this lesson?