Back to the more tricky stuff now. You
must create two primary rail curves for
the upper wings.
You may have noticed the stray points at
the ends of these new curves. The following
image shows waht they are and how to attach
them. Make note of points p1 and p2, as
these are important and will be used later.
The two smoothing control points at the
top of the image need not be in a specific
place, so long as they bend the curves
into the correct shapes.
In the two images above and below this
text, two points are identified. This
should help you shape the curve more easily,
and see how the two images correlate.
The objects created in the previous steps
are shown in the background layer.
Notice the control points at the beginning
and end of both of the curves here.
Save your work as WS_Upp_Wing_Splines_1.lwo
It it time to create some profile curves
for the upper wing. Using the image below
as a guide, create six profile curves
between the rails. (In the image, each
oval-shaped profile is made of two curves
which join each other at the rail.)
Once these six curves are created, select
each pair in turn and smooth each pair
using Ctrl+s.
Save your work as WS_Upp_Wing_Splines_2.lwo
Another two profile curves now. These two
are a little more complicated, but the
principles are the same as the previous
profiles. Remember to smooth the two splines
together once they are made.
With all your splines in the same layer,
save your work as WS_Upp_Wing_Splines_3.lwo
A secondary rail now. Part of this curve
will also form part of the profile for
the engine pod which sits at the end of
the upper wing.
This curve is created by joining existing
points in the order shown. From the top
view, this curve roughly follows the main
rear rail.
In case you are wondering, the reason why
we must add so many profile curves and
additional rails, these are necessary
in order to create the complex shape of
the engine pod attached to the wing without
being left with areas which are surrounded
by more than four curves. It is impossible
to patch a shape in Lighwave that is enclosed
by more than four curves. It just can't
be done (yet...)
Back to the curves. Cut the new
curve out and Paste it into a fresh
one. Select the two points where the curve
doubles-back on itself and press Shift+a
to zoom right in to these two points.
Once the display has adjusted, deselect
the points and change to Polygons-select
mode. Select the curve and activate . Add seven
points in the front view, between the
two points which were selected a moment
ago.
Go back to Points-select mode and
select the seven new points. Zoom the
display out several times and activate
the Drag (Ctrl+t) tool. Use the
Drag tool in the front view to
re-shape the new points to look like this:
Note that one of these points should join
with point p1, which we created earlier.
Finally, with the points still selected,
Drag them in the left view to the
new positions indicated in the image below.
(The original shape or the spline is shown
in the background layer.)
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