MAXON Computer Cinema 4D Tutorials: Modeling a Swimming Pool

Project Based Tutorials - Modeling

Modeling:
Modeling a Swimming Pool
Download:
Project Works with:
CE Requires:
Version 6+

Description: This tutorial is a step by step guide on how to create a swimming pool and an animated pool water texture using some of the new features in CINEMA 4D version 6.

Step 1: Start by creating a Cube Object (Objects=>Primitive=>Cube). Double click on the Cube Object icon in the Object Manager to change its parameters. Change the settings so that X=400m, Y=200m, and Z=600m. Then, push the 'C' key on your keyboard to make the cube editable, or go to Structure=>Make Editable.

Click above for a Quicktime Movie

Step 2: Switch to the Polygons Tool (Tools=>Polygons) and activate the Live Selection Tool (Selection=>Live Selection). Push F3 to switch to the Right View and select the polygon facing you. Select the Knife Tool (Structure=>Knife). Go into the Active Tool Manager and uncheck the 'Restrict to Selection' checkbox. Now cut the polygon vertically into two halves by clicking and dragging a line to cut. Hold down the Shift key to make sure the cut is perfectly straight.

Step 3: Select the polygon on the right with the Live Selection Tool and activate the Extrude Tool (Structure=>Extrude). Then, go into the Active Tool Manager and enter 200m into the Offset field. Switch back to your Perspective View by pushing the F1 key. You should have something of an L shape.

Step 4: Select all top faces using the Live Selection Tool. Choose the Extrude Inner Tool (Structure=>Extrude Inner), then go to the Active Tool Manager and set the Offset value to 30m. Click Apply.

Step 5: Next, select the Extrude Tool and in the Active Tool Manager set the Offset to -100m. The outline of the pool will result.

Step 6: To make an area more shallow or more deep, raise and lower the pool bottom points where appropriate.

Step 7: Push F3 to get back to the Right View and make two horizontal cuts as shown. One for a pool rim and one for tile textures later.

Step 8: Go back into your perspective view. Select the inward-facing, uppermost new polygons shown with the Live Selection Tool (Selection=>Live Selection) and Bevel them. Make sure 'Only Select Visible Elements' is unchecked in the Active Tool Manager. Go to Structure=>Bevel to activate the Bevel Tool and in the Active Tool Manager box set the Extrusion to 10m and the Inner Offset to 2m. Click Apply.

Step 9: This corner will look awkward. Try selecting the two corner polygons and Beveling them with the Active Tool Manager set to Extrusion=6m and Inner Offset=2m. Then Bevel again, this time with Extrusion=3m and Inner Offset=2m.

However small, a visible seam is still apparent. Zoom in close to the seam for a better view of it. To remedy this, you will use the Weld Tool to patch up the seam. You will notice the seam is shaped like a streched out diamond. For the moment, do not worry about the "tips", only worry about the 2 points left and right of the center. Now, use the Live Selection Tool and the Points Tool (Tools=>Points) to select the highest point on the left side, then hold down the Shift key and click on the on the point parallel to it on the right. Weld the points together by choosing Structure=>Edit Surface=>Weld. Apply this technique for the bottom left and right points as well.

The results are quite an improvement.

Step 10: For the steps of the pool, you will overlap Instances of a Cube Object. Create a Cube (Objects=>Primitive=>Cube.) Double click on the new Cube icon in the Object Manager. Change the settings so that they are at X=100m, Y=20m, Z=110m. Then, double click on the new Cube's name and rename it 'Stair'. Now go to Functions=>Duplicate. In the Duplicate dialog, set Copies to 2 and check the box for Generate Instances. Then edit the settings so that all Move and Rotation fields are set to 0 and all Scale fields are set to 1. Click OK. You prefer to use Instances here rather than duplicating geometry as it is easier to make changes to all the steps if you need to.

Step 11: Scale and position the steps as desired. In our example, we chose to make corner steps as shown.

Step 12: At almost any swimming pool you will find metallic handrailing close to pool steps or stairs. For our pool we created those objects using Sweep NURBS. To make modeling a bit more comfortable, open a new scene to model the railing (File=>New). Create a B-Spline (Objects=>Create Spline=>B-Spline). Click in the editor window to add points. Feel free to experiment with diferent spline types.

Step 13: Once you have the desired profile shape, create a Circle Spline by choosing Objects=>Spline Primitive=>Circle. Then, create a Sweep NURBS Object (Objects=>NURBS=>Sweep NURBS) and drop the rail profile spline followed by the Circle Spline into the Sweep NURBS Object. You will probably experience results that are less than desirable. However, with a little tweaking, you can fix the problems in no time. Your rail will probably be far too thick, or perhaps, not thick enough depending on what scaling you used. Either way, you can change the thickness by scaling the circle. Or you can change the length, height, etc. of the handrail by editing the rail spline. Once you have completed the rail to your satifaction, Copy and Paste it into your pool scene and position it by the steps as shown.

Step 14: In the next few steps, you will begin to work on the water inside the pool. However, before you do, Select the face shown and extrude it 200m using the Active Tool Manager.

Step 15: For the water, create a Cube Object (Objects=>Primitive=>Cube.) Double click on the Cube icon in the Object Manager and edit the settings in the dialog so that X=570m, Y=140m, and Z=570m. Click OK. Position the Cube so that it rests completely inside the pool model.

Additional details you may wish to add can include a diving board, a water slide, or a ladder out of the deep end. In our example, we created a ladder using the same techniques we used to make the pool steps and rails and we created a crude diving board using two primitives.

Texturing

Step 16: Create a New Material in the Material Manager (File=>New Material). Double click on the text of your New Material and change its name to 'Water'. Then, in the Material Manager, double click on the Water material.

Step 17: Keep in mind that there are many aspects that come into play when working to create realistic looking water including how the water is lit and what the water reflects. To create your pool water, begin in the Color Channel. Click on the small black arrow in the Color pane and select RGB mode. For the water, the color was set to R=13%, G=35%, B=45%, and Brightness=75% for a darker aqua color.

Step 18: Check the boxes for the Transperancy and Reflection Channels and go into the the Transparency Channel settings. For effective Transparency, use a similar color as was used in the Color Channel. Set the RGB values as follows: R=0%, G=27%, B=43%, Brightness=100%. For the Reflection Channel, leave RGB at 100% and Brightness at 20%.

Step 19: Now, check the box for Bump and go to the Bump Channel settings. In the Texture pane, click on the black arrow next to the Image field. From the drop-down list, select the Water shader. Then, click on the Edit button on the bottom of the Texture pane. A dialog box will appear, with several Frequency fields. For our water, we chose: U Frequency=0.2, V Frequency=0.2, T Frequency=1.2, Wind=2.5. These fields determine how the water will look and animate. Click OK. Then, change the Bump Strength to 10%. This combination of settings will result in relatively calm water with small waves. For the Specular Channel, change the Width to 5% and the Height to 30%.

Step 20: Apply the Water material to the Cube. Then, go into the main window and Render in editor (Render=>Render View). The water is off to a good start, but as mentioned before, there are other factors besides the Water material itself to consider. A Sky Object with a sky texture can help, also the color of the pool walls and bottom will also affect the appearance. At this point, the basic shape of the pool is complete, as well as the Water texture. Now, you are left with the task of texturing the pool.

In this example pool, you will notice that there are several textures applied to the pool. The pool sides, the tiled rims, the concrete, ect. This was accomplished using the following method.

First, we selected the polygons we wished to apply a particular texture to. On the left, you can see the polygons the tile texture was used on. After you select a polygon set that you wish to texture, choose Selection=>Set Selection. A new Tag will appear to the right of the pool object in the Object Manager. Double click on the Tag and name it something short and easily recognizable (eg. tiles, rim, etc).

Step 21: Now, when you apply a texture to the pool object, you can restrict it to a specific area by specifying one of the Selection Tags in the Texture dialog. To do this, type the given name of the Selection Tag into the 'Restrict to Selection' field. This technique was used several times to achieve the appearance of the pool.

All textures besides the Water texture are fairly straight-forward and can be examined in the project file. Most textures used are contained on the CINEMA 4D XL CD, however some textures were used courtesy of www.stormvision.net's free texture library.