In this tutorial:
1) you will create an empty 3D canvas.
2) create the outline of an apple in the 2D Views.
3) fill the body of the apple.
4) add a stem.
5) paint the apple.
After finishing this tutorial, you should familiar with the basic functions of
Voxel3D. You will know how to create a 3D canvas, the adding, removing, and
painting operation. You will also know how to navigate in the 3D View and the
2D View.
You need a 3D canvas to build your model. In this tutorial, we build an apple
in a small size empty canvas.
To create a 3D canvas, select "Create Empty Cubic 3D Canvas..." from the
"Create" menu. Enter 20 in the "Size X", "Size Y", and "Size Z" fields. This
will create a 3D canvas with size 20 x 20 x 20, which can store 8000 voxels
(volume elements).
You will see the 3D canvas and the 3D axes on the 3D View. To rotate the view,
press the Alt key and drag with your left mouse button. To zoom the view, press
the Alt key and drag with both your left and middle mouse button. To pan the
view, press the Alt key and drag with your middle mouse button. If you do not
have a three buttons mouse, use the right mouse button instead of the middle
mouse button.
In this tutorial, we first create three outlines of an apple in three different
2D Views.
Click the "Front View" tab to go to the Front 2D View. In a 2D View, the 3D
canvas displays as layers. The number of layers in the "Front View" equals the
number of "Size Y" of the 3D canvas. The right most field of the statusbar
shows the current layer and the number of layers in 2D View.
In this tutorial, the first layer is "0", the last layer is "19", and the total
number of layers is 20 in the "Front View".
We want to draw the outline near the center of the 3D canvas. To do this, we go
to the layer which cut through the middle of the 3D canvas. Press the "Page Up"
key to go to the next layer until you reach the layer "10", you can see the
change in the statusbar (i.e. layer : 10/20).
To create a outline, select the "Add Voxel" tool from the "Edit" menu or from
the toolbar. Then you can draw a outline by dragging with your left mouse
button. Never mind if it is not symmetrical. You can also fill the interior of
this layer.
After creating the first outline, go to the "Right View" to repeat the same
process above.
The third outline will be created on the "Top View". The top view of an apple
should be difference than the front and right view.
When you finish the outlines, go back to the "3D View", you should see
something like the image below.
We are now ready to fill the body of the apple. In this tutorial we make use of
the "Add Neighbor Tool" to model the body of the apple. However you can also
model it layer by layer using the "Add Tool" if you want.
To change the color of the newly added voxel, you can change the current color
by using the Truecolor dialog. The current color is shown on current color
button on the right hand side of the screen. To open the Truecolor dialog,
click on the current color button. Select your color and close the dialog with
the Okay button.
Click on a face of a voxel to add a new one in this direction. The image below
shows some steps after this operation.
It's time to add a stem to our apple, it can be done easily in a "2D View".
Choose any one of the "2D View" you like, go to the central layer, choose your
color and then add a stem using the "Add Tool".
If you want a 3D twist of the stem, go to the "3D View" and add your twist
here.
