Creating a road

[xrk]

Simple road model

 

(15/10/2014)

I will be updating this tutorial a bit over the next couple of weeks well... eventually Creating slightly higher detail roads than in the last version and adding some other bits and pieces later on..

 

Using 3DS Max 2012

 

In the perspective viewpoint (P), create a plane

Length 6

Width 12

Length Segs 1

Width Segs 2

 

convert to editable poly (right click menu)

In Polygon (4), select a face and extrude 0.2. Delete the extra polygons.

 

 

At this stage it might be easier to apply some materials to the object while it's at its most basic level

At the moment, I won't be doing this for the tutorial

 

 

Then in Edge (2) select the following two edges and using the connect settings, Slide by about -86.

Also add an extra edge through the middle of the road face, using connect.

 

 

 

To add the camber, select the edge that will be in the center of the road and raise it by about the same as the curb, 0.2, then do the same to the next edge along except raise it by about 0.15

 

 

Create a copy, (Ctrl+V or hold left shift and move or rotate) then using the Snap tools (S for snap and A for angle snap) move and rotate the copy to create a basic strip of road.

 

 

 

Using snap, hold left shift and drag a new copy to the position it will need to be placed and an options box will appear, make sure its set to Copy and click OK. The number of copies spinner can be useful to create longer pieces of road quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using 3DS Max 7
Click any image to see it full size.


In the perspective viewpoint, Press Alt+W and then create a plane

Length - 10
Width - 20

(press F4 to turn edged faces on)
This will end up the correct size in-game for a road piece with a lane each way

Length - 2
Width - 4



Convert to editible poly and select ploygon sub-object level or press 4
then select half of the plane and extrude -0.12



You will get some unwanted faces from the extrude, delete those.



Get your textures and put them in a folder on your desktop or something, Im using two from Sa,

• vegaspavement2_256
• vegasroad1_256

Now select the pavement and kerb faces and drag the relevent texture from the folder onto the selected faces
and go to the modifier list and choose UVW MAp.
then in the new parameters panel click Face



...but the textures are wrong and needs to be fliped so check the U Tile flip box.

Convert to editible poly, then select the kerb faces and go back to the modifier list and select Unwrap UVW.
Now in the parameters panel click on the Edit button to open the edit UVW's window
then just move and rotate till it looks right
(To see your texture in the background select it from the list in the top right corner of the edit uvw window)



for mine I had to rotate 90 degrees clockwise,
select the two verts on the right and move them closer lining them up with the kerb on the texture, then flip horizontal and vertical



convert to editible poly again and texture the road the same way as the pavement

Now select and clone the object,
(Ctrl+V or hold left shift and click once on any axis on the move gizmo)
then mirror on Y axis and line it up with your original object




Attach both objects together using the attach button in the edit geometry menu
then go to vertex sub object (press 1), select the center verts and wield



Now
turn off vertex sub object mode and Go to the top viewpoint (prees T), hold left shift and move on the X axis to create a clone lining it up with the original
(as close as possible for when you wield together)
and in the box that appears set it to about 50 copies.
The amount will depend on the length of road you are making.




select any one of the road objects convert to edit poly again the go to edit geometry and click the little box beside Attach
select all and attach all the road objects

now go to Border sub object (press 3) and press Ctrl+A to select all borders.
Right click in the viewpoint and in the menu go to convert to vertex and then wield from the edit vertices panel


you now have a long road piece ready and textured

Edited October 14, 2014 by xrk

[xrk]

Corners

 

 

Create a Cylinder

 

Radius; 6

Height; 0.2 (or the height you used for the curb.)

Height Segments; 1

Cap Segments; 2

Sides; 6

 

Check the Slice On box

Slice From; 90

 

 

Convert to poly, select then delete the extra faces.

 

 

 

In the edge mode select the edges in the picture..

 

 

now use connect settings again to slide this time (if following the same numbers in this tutorial) -72.

 

 

Now the edge left by the cap can be removed (select the edges, hold Ctrl and press backspace, this will delete the vertices at the same time as the edges)

 

Select the top facing polygons for the curb, holding left shift move the faces with the gizmo and in the options box choose to Clone to Object to create a copy of the selection

 

 

In vertex mode on the new object, use snap to match the each pair of vertices up with the relevant vertex on the lower part of the curb drop. picture should explain this better.

 

 

 

Using copy, snap, and transform use the pieces created to form something like in the next picture...

 

 

 

 

..using the same object now in edge mode select the outside edges, hold left shift and move to create some new faces. go back to vertex mode and use snap and move to arrange the vertices as in the picture.

 

 

 

 

Its really just a case of patching things together now

To create the object in the next picture I positioned the objects and used attach to make them one object. then used left shift and move in edge mode to create the new faces for the road

 

 

 

This vertex circled in blue is raised 0.05

The vertices circled in green are raised 0.15

The vertices circled in red are raised 0.2

 

 

 

 

Now these two basic objects will be able to be manipulated with the same methods used to create them to make basic jigsaw type road layouts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go create\shapes\line and draw out your path



Clean it up a bit by converting to editible spline, going to vertex mode and using tools like fillet to round of the sharp corners




now select the road model again, go to the modifier list and choose path deform
pick the spline as your path and deform on the Y axis




if you find it doesnt do anything, you may need to right click on the road in the menu select gizmo



then rotate the gizmo (the road will move to fit the path as you rotate) and use the percentage spinner in the pathdeform menu to pull an push the road along the set path.

You can also give it different levels by moving the spline's verts on the Z axis and using the twist spinner on the pathdeform modifiers controls to do things like...

Edited June 25, 2014 by xrk

[xrk]

Creating a T-junction

 

See above.

 

 

Line up a road piece with another in the place you want the T-junction
If it cant line up with the edges already in your road you could create more by selecting edges and using connect




Select and delete the 6 faces shown in the picture below



Now select the remaining pavement face and detach it.
select the pavement face you just detached and clone it (Ctrl+V).
move it -0.12 on Z axis
Detach the kerb face and attach it to the top detached pavement face, goto edge sub-object level and select the edges shown in the picture



Click the little box beside the connect button and set "connect edge segments" to 3, click ok.
come out of edge mode, go to Kam's max scripts (if installed will be in the utilities panel) and run the modeling helper, clicking the Size/Alignment solver button to reset the pivot point.
Go back to create and select the Bend modifier from the modifier list
set the bend axis to Y and the angle to 75, convert the new corner piece to editible poly.

Zoom into it from the top viewpoint, go to vertex sub-object level and select the vertices shown in the picture below and wield them with a threshold of 1.0



While still in top viewpoint, press E to use the rotate gizmo and in the Z axis box at the bottom type -46, you then need to move and scale it to line up with the other pavement sizes.
Move the joining road piece lining it up as well.



Go to perspective viewpoint
Attach the road face below to the corner pave/kerb then clone and mirror it for the opposite side (see pic)
Attach the two new corner pieces to the two road pieces, go to border sub-object level, press Ctrl+A to select all borders,
right click on the model and select "convert to vertex" from the menu

Wield with theshold of 0.1
then go to edge sub-object level selecting the edges shown in the picture



Hold left shift and move the edges a bit on the x axis to create two new faces
click taget wield from the same place you used wield, click one of the new edges then its opposite edge
repeat with other side



Stick some textures on the new road faces and there a T-junction




Once you've made one corner you can just detach copy, move and re-texture if need be to save making any more
also if you want cross roads or extra lanes, it's just a case of detaching, attaching, mirroring and moveing what you already have

 

Edited October 14, 2014 by xrk

[Blackadder.]

Very Nice Tut xrk Clean and Simple, just the way I like it. Have a cookie, and don't forget to put it in the fridge

[jarjar]

Nice tutorial, very easy to follow .

 

I wonder what happened to updating the Tutorial Archive. It hasn't been updated since June sometime.

[uNi]

Nice job xrk, pretty easy way for doing roads.

[-/TNT\-]

This is way better than mine. Forgive the n00b, I even made 5 topics for it . Good job xrk and hope you make more of these

[dertyjerzian]

Go back to create and select the Bend modifier from the modifier list

set the bend axis to Y and the angle to 75, convert the new corner piece to editible poly.

 

Zoom into it from the top viewpoint, go to vertex sub-object level and select the vertices shown in the picture below and wield them with a threshold of 1.0

 

xrk, I'm having problems with this tutorial at this step.

 

Instead of bending my curb, it does this:

 

 

What's going on here and how do I fix this? I've followed this tutorial word for word, trying to learn this better technique, I've done everything exactly as you have.

[xrk]

With the the bend modifier applyed (like it is in your pic ) right click in the viewpoint and you should see "gizmo" in the menu select that and rotate 90 on the z axis

 

that should fix it

[dertyjerzian]

With the the bend modifier applyed (like it is in your pic ) right click in the viewpoint and you should see "gizmo" in the menu select that and rotate 90 on the z axis

 

that should fix it

Thank you xrk

 

I did it manually (moved 4 verts together, welded, shaped the rounded part by hand, and followed from there), but I also saved it before the manual edits for when you replied and I'll be going back to that file now to learn this new thing

 

I tried something similar, and what was probably the problem: I used affect pivot only I'll try gizmo next

[MChanna03]

great job XRK, I love how it's easy to go through... I'm going to try this later but thankz for this...

[JostVice]

Xrk, what is wrong if you get a Illegal patch messages when trying to pick the new path for the patchmodifier? Nice tutorial btw

[xrk]

 

patchmodifier

 

You need to be using path deform not patch deform

Edited December 6, 2006 by xrk

[-/TNT\-]

I have really got into using this method and my roads look so much better and natural. Again thanks for this tutorial. Roads that took me hours to make are built in minutes now.

[-/TNT\-]

Bumping this tutorial right up. It's one of the most useful tutorials here, in my opinion. I have some skeletons in my closet and I don't know if noone knows it questions to ask about making roads and I wonder if you could help me out.

 

A]How can I make smooth alititude chanes to my roads? I want them to curve upwards, not to abruptly angle up. I don't think soft selection works with splines either, so I can't use that to my advantage.

 

B]Which is the best method to attach the surrounding scene to the road?

Which is the easiest way to do it?

[Dansov]

Thanks you xrk. It is easy way for doing roads.

[xrk]

 

 

A]How can I make smooth alititude chanes to my roads? I want them to curve upwards, not to abruptly angle up. I don't think soft selection works with splines either, so I can't use that to my advantage.

 

 

 

Use fillet, go to vertex sub-oject mode, click fillet, select your vertices then click on one, hold and drag

 

 

 

 

 

 

B]Which is the best method to attach the surrounding scene to the road?

 

Target wield?!?

I think this all depends on what your doing .

 

[-/TNT\-]

Ok, man thanks for helping out, I'll try that method.

[Dem57]

excuse the bump, but can anyone upload the pavement image again?

[-/TNT\-]

Loads fine for me. Anyways:

[platomav]

Where can I download 3DS Max 7 or a newer version/???

[Bad~Boy#17]

Where can I download 3DS Max 7 or a newer version/???

You buy it

[xrk]

 

Where can I download 3DS Max 7 or a newer version/???

       

You can download a (30 day) trial version of 2009 from autodesk LINK

[BrigetteMora]

Thanks for creating this tutorial, xrk, I used it in my homework. I'd like to credit you for both the tutorial and the road/pavement textures, but you don't seem to have much of a profile. Is there a certain way you'd like me to credit you, beyond your username and a link to the tutorial?

[xrk]

I pinched the textures from san andreas btw

 

 

Is there a certain way you'd like me to credit you, beyond your username and a link to the tutorial?

 

What else would you need, thats fine as far as Im concerned?!?

[E_vilestro]

Can this work in GMAX too?

[RSHAXUR]

Hmm... I don't seem to be able to correctly apply the textures to the road segment. Would there be some easier way to explain it?

 

The part with the curbs never really works out for me. The pictured helped a little, but I'm still a little confused. Do you have some type of msn, aim or something where you can help me? (Or if not then thats fine)

 

Nice tutorial. Really explained a lot of things. Have a cookie

 

@e_vilestro: from what I've heard Gmax is almost the same as 3ds, so it should work there too i suppose. Just try and see what happens

 

 

[E_vilestro]

The interface is somewhat different so it is kind of hard to figure it out.

[cj360]

how do you select multiple polys it only lets me slect one I can't figure out how to get past this step: http://img131.imageshack.us/my.php?image=r2fixvg8.jpg (http://img131.imageshack.us/my.php?image=r2fixvg8.jpg)

Edited September 30, 2008 by cj360

[Threepwood]

Hold CTRL while clicking on multiple polies (and others).