MAXON Computer Cinema 4D Tutorials: Projector

Project Based Tutorials - Film Strip

Film Strip:
Projector
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XL Requires:
Version 6

A projector is a cool toy! This tutorial will take you through the steps of modeling and texturing your own projector. Similar tutorials can be found on a Film Strip and a Film Reel that can be combined to create a complete scene.

MODELING

Step 1: Create a cube and double click the icon in the Object Manager to change its settings. Input X=740, Y=565, Z=190 and the fillet box checked with 5m. Rename the cube ‘Main Casing’.

Step 2: You’ll now want to adjust your snap settings to prepare for some knifing. Check the Enable Snapping box and under the World Grid tab, set the Dynamic Grid to None and the Grid Spacing to 25.

Step 3: Make the Main Casing object editable (Structure=>Make Editable, C) and then switch to Polygon mode. Select the top polygon and create the knife cuts for the projector handle in the Top View. Make cuts at Z=25, Z= -25, X=75 and X= -75.

Step 4: Select the center top polygon and then switch to the Extrude tool (Structure=>Extrude). In the Active Tool dialog you can input 85m for the Offset and then click Apply to Extrude the polygon 85m.

Step 5: Select the two wider sides of the handle you just created and select the Extrude Inner tool. Enter 15 for the Offset in the Active Tool Dialog and click Apply.

Step 6: You will use the Bridge tool to create a hole in the handle. Select the Bridge tool and click and hold on one of the polygons still selected. Now drag the cursor to the other selected polygon and release the mouse button. You have bridged a hole between the two polygons!

Step 7: Now use the Grow Selection function (Selection=>Grow Selection) to select all of the polygons making up the handle. Save the selection by going to Selection=>Set Selection. You will see a triangle icon appear next to your object in the Object Manager. Double Click on this icon to rename it ‘Black’. This will be used when applying and restricting textures later on.

Step 8: You’ll now create the Back Casing for the projector. Select the back polygon of your Main Casing object and Extrude Inner 50m.

Step 9: Extrude the polygon 200m

Step 10: Switch to the Normal Scale tool (Structure=>Normal Scale) and input 80% in the Active Tool Dialog to scale the polygon down to 80% of its size.

Step 11: Use the Grow Selection function once to select all of the polygons making up the back casing portion of the object. Use the Split function to separate this from the Main Casing object (Structure=>Edit Surface=>Split). Rename the new object ‘Back Casing’, and delete the polygons you have selected on the Main Casing object.

Step 12: Bring in a HyperNURBS object for the Back Casing. You want to round off the edges and create a soft, smooth surface. Drag and drop the Back Casing into the HyperNURBS object.

Step 13: You’ll notice that you definitely get smooth edges, but the casing is way too smooshy and blobbish. You need to give the Back Casing just a bit more definition. You can accomplish this by subdividing the Back Casing. Go to Structure=>Subdivide and enter 2 for Subdivisions. Click OK, and you should see a much better looking Back Casing.

Step 14: You can see that you’ve left quite a gap on the back of your main casing. You need to close it up. First hide the Back Casing object and then run Optimize on the Main Casing object. This will get rid of those points you see floating around where the Back Casing used to be. Switch to Points mode and select the Create Polygon. Click the points where you want the polygon to be created in a clockwise manner. Going clockwise when creating polygons will face the normal towards you, while creating them counter-clockwise points the normal away from you. You can unhide the Back Casing once you’re done.

Step 15: Time to go back and add some more detail on the Main Casing. In polygon mode, select the front face of the Main Casing and Extrude Inner 50m. Use the move tool or the Coordinates Manager to move the polygon down to Y= -50m.

Step 16: Switch to the Extrude tool and Extrude the polygon 40m.

Step 17: Select the Knife tool and switch to the front view. Make a cut at Y=-150.

Step 18: Select the bottom polygon you created from your cut and Extrude it 190m.

Step 19: Bevel the polygon 5m. This will be the faceplate for all the knobs and controls for the projector. Grow the Selection once and then set the selection and name it ‘FacePlate’.

Step 20: Select the side face of your most recent extrusion and Extrude Inner 40m. Change the size of this new polygon by inputting 60m for size Z in the coordinates manager.

Step 21: Extrude this polygon 10m and then Grow the Selection to include the sides of the extrusion. You’re going to add this selection to the selection set of the handle. To do this, double click the ‘Black’ Selection Set in the Object manager and click Select Polygons. You should now have both the handle polygons and the new polygons both selected. Now simply go to Set Selection with the ‘Black’ Selection set highlighted in the object manager, and you will overwrite the set to include all the of these polygons.

Step 22: That takes care of the Main Casing for now. Now you need create the base for the projector. Create a cube of size X=750, Y=50, Z=500, with a Fillet of 5m.

Step 23: Rename the cube ‘Base’, make sure you are using the Object Tool and move it into position beneath the Main Casing. The position is X=0, Y= -300, Z= -150.

Step 24: Make the Base editable, switch to polygon mode, and select the knife tool. In the side view make a knife cut at Z= -300.

Step 25: Switch to points mode and then use the side view and the rectangle selection tool (with ‘Select only visible elements’ unchecked in the Active Tool Dialog) to select the end points as shown. Now use the coordinates manager to set the size X for those points to 650m.

Step 26: Switch back to the knife tool and make two more knife cuts in the front view at X=200 and X= -200.

Step 27: From the top view, use the Rectangle Selection tool (still selecting invisible elements) to select the middle points and then move them to Z= -235 using the coordinates manager.

Step 28: Switch to polygon mode, select the middle polygon and Extrude Inner 5m. This part of the base will be somewhat hollowed out to give the model a bit more detail.

Step 29: Switch to the Extrude tool and Extrude the polygon –200m. That does it for the Base.

Step 30: Your next couple tasks consist of creating the actual projector piece as well as a connector piece to connect it to the Main Casing. Start off with the connector. Create a cube of size X=200 Y=100 Z=180 with 4 segments for X and a Fillet of 5m.

Step 31: Rename the cube ‘Projector Connector’ and position it at X= -110, Y= -100, Z= -205.

Step 32: Make the Projector Connector editable and switch to polygon mode. Select the second polygon from the back and Extrude it 30m. This is just to add some detail to the model.

Step 33: Time to create the main projector piece that the actual film travels through. Create a cube of size X=300 Y=280 Z=175 with 4 segments for each face.

Step 34: Rename the cube ‘Projector Casing’ and position it on the Projector Connector. The position is X= -85, Y=52, Z= -235.

Step 35: This piece should be somewhat rounded with a slight taper at the bottom. Make the Projector Casing editable. Switch to points mode and use the rectangle selection in the side view to select the entire bottom row of points. Select the scale tool and input X=215 and Z=125 in the coordinates manager to shrink down the bottom portion of the Projector Casing.

Step 36: Bring in a HyperNURBS object and drag and drop the Projector Casing in. You should get a smooth looking casing as a result.

Step 37: Use a Cylinder to create the Lens. Create a cylinder and change the Orientation to +X. Rename the cylinder ‘Lens’ and position it at X=75, Y=60, Z= -235.

Step 38: You need to pull the lens out more and change the size a bit to resemble an actual projector lens. Make the Lens editable and select the polygons making up the outer cap of the lens. Extrude Inner 5m.

Step 39: Extrude these polygons 75m and then Extrude them again another 5m.

Step 40: Use the Normal Scale tool to scale the polygons 150%.

Step 41: Switch back to the Extrude tool and Extrude 50m.

Step 42: You can now hollow out the end here to recreate the covering over the lens. Extrude Inner 3m and then Extrude –50m to finish off the lens. Save out a ‘Silver’ Selection set for the slightly smaller middle polygons along the lens. Save a ‘Black’ Selection set for all of the end polygons making up the protective lens covering.

Step 43: Projectors have rollers to guide and move the film through the machine. You can add these rollers without too much precision or exactness and still achieve the desired effect. The four pins here are cylinders with a Height of 330, a fillet of 5m, and radii of 45, 25, 30, and 20 all with +Z orientation. Their positions are (X= -200 Y= -105 Z= -160), (X=175 Y=130 Z= -90), (X=125 Y=145 Z= -115), (X=80 Y=125 Z=-115), respectively. Group the cylinders together and name the group ‘Rollers’.

Step 44: The next task is creating the control knobs that will be placed on the FacePlate. Bring in an Oil Tank Object with a radius of 15, a Height of 60 and orientation +Z.

Step 45: Rename the Oil Tank ‘Small Knob’ and position it at X=100, Y= -205, Z= -330.

Step 46: Run the Duplicate function (Functions=>Duplicate) with the Small Knob selected, and in the dialog that appears input ‘2’ for copies, check the box for ‘Generate Instances’, and input –100 for X under ‘Offset’. Click Ok, you should now have three knobs lined up nice and neat on the face plate.

Step 47: Make a copy of the Small Knob object and rename it Large Knob. Change the radius in the parametric settings to 30m. Position the Large Knob at X= -95 Y= -205 Z= -320.

Step 48: Make a copy of the Large Knob object and rename it Large Switch. Position the Large Switch object at X= -195 Y= -205 Z= -315. This will serve as the base for the switch.

Step 49: To create the switch handle, bring in a cube and change its size to X=15, Y=55, Z=55 with a fillet of 5m. Rename the cube ‘Switch’ and position it at X= -195 Y= -205 Z= -340.

Step 50: Make Switch editable and go to points mode. Select the top outer points and move them to Z= -10 using the coordinates manager. Drop the Switch object into the Large Switch object.

Step 51: You can now go back and save out selections for the knobs to texture them differently. Make the Large Knob editable and switch to polygon mode. Select all the polygons making up the face of the knob and Extrude Inner 5m.

Step 52: Set this selection and name it ‘Silver’.

Step 53: The process is very similar with the Small Knob. Make the object editable, select the face polygons and Extrude Inner 3m. Set this selection and name it ‘Silver’ also.

Step 54: Clean up your workspace a bit by grouping together the Null Object, Small Knob, Large Knob, and Large Switch Objects. Call the group ‘Knobs’.

Step 55: Group all of the objects together and rename the group ‘Projector’. Your hierarchy should look like this.

Step 56: Your last bit of modeling will focus on creating the connectors for the film reels. You’ll learn how to make the actual film reels in a separate tutorial. Hide the Projector and create a rectangle spline with Height=100, width=530. Check the box for Rounding with 50m & make sure the rectangle is on the XY plane.

Step 57: Make the rectangle spline editable. Switch to points mode and go to Structure=>Optimize to get rid of overlapping points. Select the three points on the left side of the object (towards -X). Input X=30, Y=60 for Size in the Coordinates Manager.

Step 58: Create an ExtrudeNURBS object and drag and drop in the rectangle spline.

Step 59: Rename the ExtrudeNURBS object ‘Reel Connector’ and double click on the icon to change its settings. Set Z=30 with Cap & Rounding for Start and End capping. In the Details page set the rounding to Convex with 5 for Start Steps and Radius and End Steps and Radius.

Step 60: Select the Object Axis tool and move the axis for the Reel Connector to X=225.

Step 61: Unhide the projector, switch to the Object tool, and move the Reel Connector to X= -320, Y=230, Z= -130. Now rotate the Reel Connector by inputting 35 for B under Rotation in the Coordinates Manager.

Step 62: Make a copy of the Reel Connector object and move it to X=320, Y=235, Z= -130. Rotate it 130 degrees on B. Drop both Reel Connector objects into the Projector group.

MATERIALS

Step 1: There will be five materials used to texture this projector. The first and main material is the body color. A bluish-gray color will be fine here. Create a New Material, name it Body, and double click it to set it up. Check the boxes for Color, Reflection, Environment, Bump, and Specular. In the color channel, set the color to R=45 G=50 B=55 Br=100. Set the reflection Br=20%. In the Environment channel you will use the Zincplate1.jpg image in the ‘even more’ folder on the Cinema CD at 75% in Subtract Mode. For Bump, use the Linol 7.jpg image, also in the ‘even more’ folder, at 25%. Set the specular for Width=20% Height=75%.

Step 2: The next material is a dark plastic that will be used for the Back Casing. Create a New Material, name it Black Plastic, and check the boxes for Color, Bump, and Specular. For color, simply set the Br to 15%. In the Bump channel use the Starfield at 5%, and for specular set Height=75% Width=-75%.

Step 3: Create another material and name it Black Metal. This will be used on a lot of the selection sets and roller pins. Check the boxes for Color, Reflection, Environment, and Specular for this material. In the color channel set the Br to 15%. Set the Reflection Br to 30%. Use the Zincplate1.jpg image for the environment, you should be able to find it in the Triangle drop down menu. Set the strength to 30% in Subtract mode. The specular has a Width of 10% and a Height of 100%.

Step 4: Now create a material for the shiny metal on the FacePlate and other small pieces. Name the new material ‘Silver Metal’ and check the boxes for Color, Reflection, Environment, and Specular. In the color channel set Br=80%. For Reflection Br=30%, Environment is the same as the Black Metal, and the Specular is Width=10%, Height=100%.

Step 5: The final material is just a logo for the projector. The MAXON Logo is used here, naturally. Check the boxes for Color, Reflection, Environment, Bump and Specular. Use the maxonlogo.gif image in the Color channel. The Environment and Bump have the same settings as the Body material. Reflection Br=20%, and Specular Width=60% Height=70%.

Step 6: Now you’ve got to apply all these materials to the objects in the Object Manager. Apply the Body material with the default projection settings to the Lens, Projector Casing, Projector Connector, Base, and Main Casing. Apply this material with Cubic Projection to the two Reel Connector objects.

Step 7: Apply the Black Plastic material to the Back Casing using the default projection settings.

Step 8: Apply the Black Metal material with the default projection settings to Small Knob, Large Knob, Large Switch, and any two of the rollers. Apply the material with a restriction to ‘Black’ to the Lens object and the Main Casing Object.

Step 9: Apply the Silver Metal material to the other rollers with the default projection settings and also to the Small Knob, Large Knob, and Lens objects, restricting the texture to the ‘Silver’ selection. Apply the material to the Main Casing, restricting the texture to ‘FacePlate’.

Step 10: Finally, apply the Logo material to the Projector Casing. Set the Projection to ‘Flat’ and set Side to ‘Front’. Set the length to 75% for X and Y and uncheck ‘Tile’.