Building a Mansion

In this chapter, you'll learn how to use some additional N-Geometry tools to build a building.

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In this Chapter

• Scale XYZ
• Flatten
• Cut
• Mirror
• Plane Cut>Truncate
• Axis Move
• Extrude Region

Before You Begin

• (CLICK-L) on GeoMenus>Camera>Modes>Labeled Axes.

Note the orientation of the Z-axis; we'll build the mansion so that it's facing forward (along the Z axis)

If you get lost while working on this tutorial, try re-starting it from the beginning. Eventually you'll make your way to the end and you'll have practiced everything many more times than if you'd done it perfectly the first time.

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The Main Floor

2. (CLICK-L) on cube.

A cube appears in your N-Geometry window.

3. (CLICK-L) on bodies on the element sensitivity menu.

4. (SHIFT-L) on the cube.

The modification menu for bodies appears.

This operation scales axes independently around the midpoint of the object. Move your mouse to the left and right or up and down to scale the cube in the x and y directions. If you (HOLD-M) the cube also scales in z.

Scale the object so that it is wider than it is deep, and not quite as tall as it was when you started; something like this:

6. (CLICK-R) on segments on the element sensitivity bar.

Select the top and bottom segments of the front face.

Remember, (CLICK-R) or wave off the N-Geometry window to finish a collection and before performing any operation on the collection.

7. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CTRL-M) on Cut.

We used (CTRL-M) instead of (CLICK-L) because we want to specify additional parameters for the operation.

Enter 9 for the target number of segments:

9. (CLICK-L) on Cut.

You have now divided both of the selected segments into 9 segments.

11. (SHIFT-L) on the front face, then (CLICK-L) on Cut.

When you move the cursor over the face, different vertices on the face are highlighted. N-Geometry is waiting for you to select a pair of vertices between which it should make a cut.

(CLICK-L) on one vertex along the top edge, then its corresponding vertex on the bottom edge.

Repeat this procedure, cutting between each pair of vertices on the top and bottom edges of the front face. You may want to use the repeat key which will save you from having to select Cut from the menu 8 more times. Your object should look like this when you've made all the cuts:

12. Collect these nine front faces.

Figure 3.7 Collected faces

13. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CLICK-L) on Inset.

Use the default value of 2.0, then (CLICK-L) on the green Inset button.

Figure 3.9 Inset the windows on the main floor

Notice that the Inset command creates a new face inside each of the collected faces. The new faces are now the ones currently selected.

14. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CLICK-L) on Edge Subdivide.

15. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CLICK-L) on Inset.

This time change the Inset Width value from 2.0 to .5

We can now use this "floor" as a building block to create the entire mansion.

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Save your Work

Note. It's a good idea to save your work periodically, after you complete each logical step in a model.

16. (CLICK-L) on GeoMenus>File>Save.

17. (CLICK-L) on "Cube".

In the Object Name box replace "Cube" with
"mansion-floor-module".

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Creating a Second Story

19. (CLICK-L) on bodies on the element sensitivity menu.

20. (SHIFT-L) on the mansion, then (CLICK-L) on Mirror.

N-Geometry goes into face select mode. As you move the cursor over the object, the face under the cursor is highlighted. N-Geometry is waiting for you to tell it which object it should mirror the object around.

This doubles the geometry of the object, mirroring it from the selected face. The resulting object is still a single object:

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Pulling Down the Foundation

22. (CLICK-L) on faces on the element sensitivity menu.

23. (SHIFT-L) on the face at the bottom of the mansion.

24. (CLICK-L) on Extrude and pull the ground floor down so it looks something like Figure 3.12:

Figure 3.12 Pulling down the ground floor

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The Roof

Move your camera (CLICK-M) so that you are looking down at the top of the building:

Figure 3.13 Modify your view so you're looking down at the mansion

25. (CLICK-L) on segments on the element sensitivity menu.

26. (SHIFT-L) on the back segment along the back of the roof.

Figure 3.14 Selecting the element to cut

27. (CLICK-M) on Cut.

Now we`ll use the Flatten command to align one point with another in a selected plane.

28. (SHIFT-L) on the new point shown in Figure 3.15.

Figure 3.15 Select the element you want to move into a common plane with another element

29. (CLICK-L) on Flatten.

30. (CLICK-L) on X.

31. (CLICK-L) on the first point from the left along the front segment of the roof:

Figure 3.16 Select the element with which you want to align the first element

The two points are now aligned in the x axis-if you move the mouse over the back edge of the roof, you'll see that the point has been moved, or "flattened" into the same plane as the vertex on the front edge of the roof:

Now do the same thing on the other side of the mansion:

32. (SHIFT-L) on the second new point along the back edge of the roof.

33. (CLICK-L) on Flatten.

A list of axes appears.

35. (CLICK-L) on the second point from the right along the front edge of the mansion.

Like the other pair of points, these two points are now "flattened" in the x axis.

36. (CLICK-L) on faces on the element sensitivity menu.

37. (SHIFT-L) on the top face.

38. (CLICK-L) on cut.

39. (CLICK-L) on the two points shown in Figure 3.17.

Your roof should look like this:

Now repeat steps 36 through 38 for the two points on the right side of the roof:

Figure 3.19 Make a similar cut on the other side

Now we'll extrude these new faces.

40. (CLICK-R) on faces on the element sensitivity menu.

41. (CLICK-L) on the two faces.

Remember that if you are in collect mode you must (CLICK-R) or wave off the N-Geometry window to end an element collection before performing any operation. If you don't end the collection N-Geometry assumes you are still collecting.

Move the mouse until your towers look like this:

Now we'll create some windows in the towers by repeating what we did earlier using Inset and Edge Subdivide.

43. (CLICK-L) on none to clear your current face collection.

Collect the two front faces shown in Figure 3.21:

44. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CLICK-L) on Inset.

The Inset menu appears.

Notice that Inset creates a new face inside the borders of the original face. You may want to scale the faces to match with the other windows.

Move the mouse to shrink and/or enlarge the selected faces so that they look "correct" for the building.

48. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CLICK-L) on Inset.

Change the Inset Width from 2.0 to .5.

Figure 3.22 Windows added to the towers

Now let's create some peaks for the towers.

50. (CLICK-L) on none to deselect the faces.

51. (CLICK-R) on faces.

52. (CLICK-L) on the two tower roof tops, then (CLICK-R) to end your collection.

53. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CLICK-L) on Vertex Subdivide.

The top of your towers should look like this:

54. (CLICK-R) on points on the element sensitivity menu.

55. (CLICK-L) on the two new points in the center of each tower roof, then (CLICK-R) to end the collection.

56. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CLICK-M) on Axis Move.

Choose the Y axis from the menu, then move your mouse so that the towers look something like this:

Now we will work on the roof top.

57. (SHIFT-L) on the face between the two towers.

Figure 3.25 Select the face between the two towers

58. (CLICK-L) on Vertex Subdivide.

Don't worry that there are more segments attached to the center from the front than from the back; we'll fix that in a minute.

60. (CLICK-M) on Axis Move.

61. (CLICK-L) on Y.

Raise the center point over the towers.

Now let's move the center point of our roof back along the z-axis

62. (CLICK-L) on the "y" hot key.

This aligns the camera along the Y axis so that you're looking at the mansion from above:

63. (SHIFT-L) on the point, then (CLICK-M) on Axis Move and choose the Z axis.

Move the mouse so that the point is over the global origin:

64. Press the "z" hot key to view your building from the front.

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The Portico

65. (CLICK-L) on segments on the element sensitivity menu.

66. (SHIFT-L) on the segment shown in Figure 3.29:

Figure 3.29 Front view of the mansion

67. (CLICK-L) on Dissolve.

The Dissolve command removes segments from the object, while attempting to retain the object's geometric integrity.

68. (SHIFT-L) on this face:

Figure 3.30 Choose the larger face created by the Dissolve operation

69. (CLICK-L) on Cut.

Choose the bottom left and upper right vertices of the face to make a diagonal cut.

71. (SHIFT-L) on the new segment.

Figure 3.31 Choose the new segment

72. (CTRL-M) on Cut.

Cut this segment into 21 smaller segments in the dialog box that appears.

Figure 3.32 Cut the face over the door horizontally

Now you are going to collect a group of faces and extrude them the same distance. Up until now you've been collecting small collections.

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Using the 2D Lasso

74. Press the "z" hot key.

You should now be looking straight at the front of the building.

76. Hold down the ALT key and (CLICK-L) on the N-Geometry window.

77. (HOLD-L) and drag a lasso around the faces shown in Figure 3.33:

You'll notice that when you release the mouse button, you've been put automatically into collect mode.

Next we'll Extrude the region of these faces.

78. (SHIFT-L) on the collection, then (CLICK-L) on Extrude Region.

Extrude the collected faces out from the building, then reposition your camera for a better view:

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Creating Stairs

79. Collect every other segment running along the z axis on the future staircase face.

Figure 3.35 Select every other segment along the stairs

80. Press the "z" hot key.

This aligns the camera along the Z axis.

This pulls the stairs up.

This pulls the stairs out.

Figure 3.36 Stairs nearly complete

Notice that the bottom step still needs a little work.

84. (CLICK-L) on faces on the element sensitivity menu.

Figure 3.37 Select the face at the bottom of the stairs

85. (SHIFT-L) on the face at the bottom of the stairs, then (CLICK-L) on Flatten.

86. (CLICK-L) on X, then (CLICK-L) on the point at the bottom of the stairs.

The face is flattened on the X axis:

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Create a Front Door

88. (CLICK-L) on faces on the element sensitivity menu.

89. (SHIFT-L) on the face shown in Figure 3.39.

Figure 3.39 Building a door

90. (CLICK-L) on Inset.

Use an Inset width of .5.

Figure 3.40 Scaling the inset door

92. (SHIFT-L) on the face, then (CLICK-M) on Axis Move.

93. (CLICK-L) on Y.

Move the mouse to lower the door down to the ground.

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Finishing the Mansion

Note. It's a good idea to save your work before making a major modification like a plane cut.

94. Select bodies on the element sensitivity menu.

95. (SHIFT-L) on the mansion, then (CLICK-M) on Plane Cut.

96. (CLICK-L) in the data entry box for Plane Normal.

97. (CLICK-L) on X to plane cut the object along the X axis.

98. (CLICK-L) on Negative to keep the side of the Mansion containing the finished staircase.

99. (CLICK-L) on the green Truncate button.

You should see something like this:

100. (SHIFT-L) on the body, then (CLICK-L) on Mirror.

101. (CLICK-L) on the face created by the plane cut.

Figure 3.43 Completed mansion

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Congratulations!

You've learned how to:

• create a primitive
• extrude faces
• scale and rotate faces
• move faces along axes
• mirror an object around a face
• plane cut and truncate an object

If you'd like, go ahead and add some more detail to your mansion before saving it off a final time.

Copyright © 1996, Nichimen Graphics Corporation. All rights reserved.