CS22/122: Intro to 3D Modeling

CS 22/122 Room Tutorial 2

Modeling a couch and rug

Now that the room architecture is done, let's put some furniture into the room. In this case,we'll put a simple couch and rug, but you can put in more if you want to, as shown above.

Layer Editor

The layer editor allows you to group objects and make them visible but not selecable. It is a great tool for the room. Be sure to use it!

Make sure your room is saved and history is deleted and the transformations are frozen. Also make sure you've grouped similar objects, like the window sills, the steps, etc.

Select all the room elements you've made so far (walls, window sills, fireplace, steps, floor, ceiling)

In the Layer Editor menu, go Layers>Create Layer from Selected. This does just what it sounds like--puts the selected objects into a layer.

Double click on the name layer1 to open the Layer Editor. Name the layer something like roomArchitecture and save.

Now you can make the architecture visible but you won't select it by accident when making the furniture. To do that, click on the third little square from the right (it starts empty)

It is a three-way toggle.

• Click once and a T appears in the square. This puts the objects in the layer into wireframe mode and makes them un-selectable. This is template mode.
• Click a second time and an R appears in the square. This puts the objects in the layer into shaded mode and makes them un-selectable. This is reference mode.
• Click a third time and it goes back to empty and normal mode. The objects are selectable again. This is normal mode.

Working with the architecture in T or R makes it great to do modeling on the rest of the room. You can still see the room for spacial reference, but you cannot select it by accident.

If you need to check to see which objects are in each layer, you can find that by RMB clicking on the layer and going to Membership (or choose Membership from the Layers Menu at the top of the Layers Window).

##Making a rug

It is a square rug. Start with a plane.

Scale it up a bit so it fits nicely in the room and is to proportion.

Rename it to Rug

We want a small amount of thickness, depending on the kind of rug it is, of course. In this case it is a wool rug.

Extrude all the faces up in Z just a small amount to add a tiny bit of thickness.

Move out of the extrude tool by choosing the select tool (q) and go into Object Mode. When you hit the 3 key, the corners get too smooth.

You should know how to fix that by now....

--add resolution!

Insert edge loops around the four edges.

Plus one in the middle of the face that is the thickness for the rug to allow you to shape the edge of the rug.

To do that, With the select tool, Double Click on the edge you just made and Move it closer to the bottom so the bottom edge holds its shape but the top edge is more rounded.

As you model, keep thinking of the shape you want and add resolution and details to create that.

As you did with the fireplace, select a few vertices along the top and sides of the rug and pull them up or move them to create some shaping and make the rug seem more real (rugs wear unevenly when used and they don't always lay completely flat on the floor.

Adding these kinds of touches can make the difference between a totally CG looking room and one that seems more real and lived in.

Slide it into place in the room, in front of the fireplace, and scale as needed.

How would you do this if it was a round rug? Think through the challenges you might have in your own rooms.

Save

Freeze the transformations to bring all the channel box values back to 0 and 1 (for scale). To do that, right click on Channels in the Channel box for the rug. Go to Freeze>All

Freeze Transformations. Delete the history. Save

Making a couch

This is a pretty simple couch, three seat cushions, three back cushions, four small wooden legs, and some decorative pillows.

First we'll make the base.

Start with a cube.

Scale it out to the shape of a couch base. Probably you want the couch to be a bit bigger than the rug, but depending on the room and the rug, it could be smaller, too.

Make sure it is the length and width you'd like your couch to be. You can use real world dimensions to get the scaling correct (look up couch sizes on an online furniture seller site, such as Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn).

Next make the arms and back.

Use the Insert Edge Loop Tool to add some divisions to create the arms and back of the couch. In the Insert Edge Loop Settings, change it to Multiple and 2 to insert 2 edge loops evenly along the base as shown below.

Scale them out so they are at the spot where the arms of the couch would be.

Reset the Insert Edge Loop tool using the Reset Tool at the top of the Tool settings window.

Insert an edge loop along the back of the couch bottom where the back of the couch will come up.

Select those faces

And extrude them upward in World y.

If you look at couch photos, you will notice that a couch back can be as high as the back cushions, or slightly lower than them. Up to you.

Note: You could also make the arms lower than the back by extruding all the faces part way up (to the height of the arms), and then extruding just the back face up a bit farther. In this case, let's keep them all the same height.

Hit 3. The couch loses its shape. To make a more interesting shape, we'll add detail through extruding faces.

Go back to 1 mode (poly)

Select the faces around the front of the arms

Extrude them forward.

Extrude again (hit the g key to repeat the command), Add a small Offset of around 2. 5

Select the faces around the front of the couch arms where the offset is

Extrude those out a bit in world space.

This creates a bit of a rim around each arm.

Hit the 3 key

Notice the ridge around the arms and how bad the couch looks, in general. More resolution will help.

Hit the 1 key again.

Select all the faces around the seat of the couch (you may need to hide the rug and floor) and extract them (Mesh>Extract).

This separates out the underside of the couch from the back and arms.

Insert edge loops around the base. Add a couple at the top front.

One at the bottom front and one along the top edge in the front

And one on top of the seat towards the back of the couch.

One along each side

Add another edge in the middle of the ones at the top front.

With that edge selected still, push it inward.

Hit the 3 key and see what it looks like now

The base looks good. The arms and back still need work.

Go back to 1 key mode (poly view).

Insert and edge loop along the outer edge of each arm

Insert an edge along the back

Hit the 3 key and you can start to see what a difference just those few edges make

Hit 1 again.

Add another two edges along the back using the Multiple option on the Insert Edge Loop Tool.

Use the scale tool to move the edges closer to the arms.

Now hit 3 and see how it looks.

With the 3 key still active, pull those edge loops out toward the arms to make the corners tighter a little tighter. Don't move them too far. You'll add more edges to get the crease you are trying for.

Go back to poly view (1 key)

Insert another edge loop to make the one at the back more effective. Then add one along each arm as shown below:

Hit 3. It is starting to get more shape.

Go back to 1.

Insert an edge loop along the bottom

Hit 3 Looks good.

Make sure you have saved.

Delete History.

Make sure everything is named properly.

Now you can add some feet to the couch.

Make the floor and rug visible again. Move the two pieces of the couch up off the floor.

Create a cube and move it under the couch where a leg would be.

Scale it up.

Taper the legby selecting the verts at the bottom and scaling in.

You may want to hide the rug again if it gets in your way of selecting the verts.

Add edge loops so it keeps some of its shape when smoothed. (along vertical edges and at the bottom---be sure to get the sides, too).

You may want a second edge along the bottom, very close to the tip of the leg.

Rename leg. Duplicate and move all the legs into place.

Next couch cushions

There are three seat cushions and three back cushions. You could make one and copy it, or make one large one and cut it up.

Making one that is big enough and then dividing it up will ensure the cushions are the right size for the sofa frame. Let's do that.

Start with a cube.

Scale it up to fit on the seat bottom as shown.

Freeze Transformations. Save. Delete History. Rename.

In the Insert Edge Loop Tool Settings, Increase the number of edges to 2 and insert them so they are evenly spaced on the seat cushion.

Now that you have three cushions that are the exact right size for the couch frame, you can delete two of the cushions and shape the first one to get it right.

Because you worked this way, the right face of the cushion is missing. Select the border edge at the top and select Mesh>Fill Hole

It fills in the face perfectly!

Center the pivot (select the seat cushion in object mode and go to Modify>Center Pivot).

We want a seam along the front and top and want more shaping to make it look less like a big block.

Hide the couch--Select the horizontal edges and bevel them.

Lower the fraction value so it looks like this (offset of about .1)

Select the new faces you created around the top and bottom edge

Extrude those out in local Z space just a bit to create a bit of an edge to the pillow.

Reset the Insert Edge Loop Tool if you haven't already.

Add edge loops horizontally around the cushion

...Plus one at the top and bottom side near the edges you just extruded

Set the Insert Edge Loop to Multiple again and make it a value of 3 and add resolution across the top.

in both directions

Go to *Object Mode and hit 3 key. It is still rounded, but starting to get some nice shaping and detail. If you want to add more of a lip around the cushion, you can go back to the polyExtrudeFace1 and/or 2 nodes and increase the Local Translate Z value.

Reset the Insert Edge Loop Tool again so you are inserting single edges, go back to 1 mode and insert edges at all the corners.

All the way around (four in total).

Then grab a horizontal edge in the middle of the seat cushion around the outer egde and scale it out to make a bit of a bulge.

Duplicate the cushion and move two more into place.

Move them into place so they fit well.

Group them, Center the pivot and rename the group seatCushionGroup

Move some verts around (using soft select) to give some shaping and a lived in feel to each cushion.

A couch's seat cushions will be saggier in the middle where people sit than on the sides. You can also move one cushion forward a bit. Once you start moving verts around you will see that you really want to move a bunch so it looks natural and like someone has used the couch.

For the back seat cushions, create a new cube, rotate it and scale it up a bit.

These will be a bit softer. In the INPUTS node increase Subdivisions Width to 2, Depth and Height to 4.

Using soft select, select the verts around the sides and scale them in a bit to create some general poofy shaping.

Make sure your soft select brush is big (hold the b key and drag left and right to change the brush size.

Go to Object Mode, select the cushion and hit 3. Scale the cushion up to

Duplicate this to use it as one of the accent pillows later on.

With the original one selected, you want to tighten the corners using the Insert Edge Loop Tool as you have in the past.

Then start grabbing verts and shaping the pillow to make it look organic and used.

Scale the sides and corner down a bit more in some places.

You can create a seam around the outer edge of the pillow by selecting the edge and beveling it.

Lower the fraction but make the segments 2 so you have three edges along the outer edge of the pillow.

And with the middle edge that you selected before selected, scale it down a bit to create an indent.

When you hit the 3 key you get a cool seam

Rotate the pillow a bit

and move the vertices where the cushion intersects with the couch and shape it so it looks like someone sat there and pushed the cushions back over the couch frame.

Duplicate and scale the back cushions.

Adjust so the cushions look settled and so they look realistic. Make sure the geometry isn't intersecting (pull the vertices as needed).

Move the extra pillow into place along the arm. Scale it down. See the image above of the completed couch for ideas on throw pillows.

You could use the same geometry as the couch to make a chair by deleted the faces in the middle of the couch.

SAVE. DELETE HISTORY. MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS WELL NAMED AND ORGANIZED.

Turn in your scene file to folder A2 (see button below)

I also recommend you make a back up of all your work (on google drive or thumb drive or both).

What's Next?

Now that you have completed these tutorials, you have a good idea of how you go about creating a room with a window, a fireplace, stairs, and some simple furniture.

You can keep working with this room, use parts of this room, or start over for your own custom room.

Just don't forget to add detail and make things look lived in as you go. Look at photos. Think about scale --how does the furniture fit with each other and with the size of the room itself.

Have fun modeling. We will add color and texture and lights in the next part of the assignment. Don't worry about that part for now.

Also, remember to name things well, use layers to keep parts of the room together, and groups as needed.