Completing the Façade: Detailing the Roof

The last step in modeling Facade1 is to add the roof.

Set up the lesson:

• Continue working from the previous lesson or open facade_modeling_doors.max.

Begin to model the roof:

1. Click (Zoom Extents Selected) to see the entire façade.
2. On the ViewCube, click Front to return to a Front view.
   
3. On the ribbon, click (Edge) to activate the Edge sub-object level once more.
4. On the ribbon Modify Selection panel, click (Loop Mode) to turn it on.
5. With (Select Object) active, click one of the edges along the top of the façade.

   Loop Mode selects all edges along the top of the façade.

   
6. Drag the left edge of the ViewCube to see the façade in depth once more.
   
7. Activate (Select And Move).
8. +move the top of the façade forward a bit along the Y-axis.
   

   Reminder: Holding down while you move, clones the edges to create new edges.

9. +move the top of the façade upward a bit along the Z-axis, until you can see the ends of the roofing tiles.
   

Before you finish the roof, you will add depth to the entire façade.

Add depth to the entire façade:

1. Click (Select Object) to activate it and deactivate Move.
2. On the ribbon, click (Border) to activate the Border sub-object level.
3. Click an edge along the top of the façade.

   3ds Max selects the entire border.

   
4. Activate (Select And Move).
5. +move the border back about 0.75m along the Y-axis.
   

Now that the façade, including its roof area, has some depth to it, you can complete the roof.

Finish the roof:

1. Click the Front portion of the ViewCube to return to a Front view.
   
2. Drag the top edge of the ViewCube to tilt the view a little, so you can see the rear edge of the roof.
   
3. Zoom to get a better view of the roof area.
4. On the ribbon, click (Edge) to go to the Edge sub-object level, then drag a selection box to select all the edges at the rear of the roof.
   
5. Activate (Select And Move).
6. Move the selected edges up along the Z-axis until you can see the peak of the roof.
   

   If you orbit the view, you can see that raising the rear edge also gives a slope to the roof.

   
7. Return to a Front view.
   
   On the ribbon, click (Vertex) to activate Vertex sub-object mode.
8. One at a time, move vertices at the rear roofline down vertically to match the bitmap of the roof.
   Tip: At the extreme left and right of the roof, you might also want to move the front roofline vertices slightly downward.
   

   After moving all existing vertices, you can see there are two areas on either side of the peak, where the sagging of the medieval roof still shows some sky.

   
9. On the ribbon Edit panel, turn on (Swift Loop), then in the viewport, add two vertical edge loops. Each loop should be near the middle of the sky area, on either side of the peak of the roof.
   
10. Right-click to close Swift Loop.
11. Move the new vertices at the rear roofline down vertically to hide the sky-blue (or cloudy) areas of the façade texture.
    
12. Click (Vertex) to exit the Vertex sub-object level.

Save your work:

• Save the scene as facade1_modeled.max.

Now you’ve completed the modeling of the façade: You have a convincingly three-dimensional house front with a realistic texture.

The only flaw, is that there is a good deal of streaking on those faces that are perpendicular to the projection of fac1.jpg. The next lesson shows how to correct the texture in these portions of the model.

Next

Correcting the Texture

Parent topic: Using Photos to Model Façades