Modeling A Fork

A moment ago, I wrote a tutorial for modeling a spoon. Several people asked me how to create a fork. That's why, this time I will explain how to model a fork. It's an easy tutorial and detailed with a lot of images.

1. Start or reset your 3dsmax. Begin by creating a box in Top viewport. Go to Modify tab and change its parameter to: Length=50, Width=10, Height=5, and Length segs=7. Using Select And Move Tool, hold Shift and move this box to the right (X axis) to create a copy. Use Copy as clone method. As a Copy, we can change parameter for new box without changing original box. Use same size but with different Length Size, use 2.

2. Select original box. Right click and choose Convert>Convert to Editable Poly. In Command Panel go to Modify tab. In Selection rollout, activate Vertex Selection. In Top viewport, select several vertices in the middle like image below. Then, using Select And Non-Uniform Scale tool click and drag along Y axis to scale down vertices. You will get more height segments in top and bottom part of the box.

3. Change selection to Polygon. Select several polygons like image below. Don't forget, hold Ctrl to select multiple polygons. In Edit Polygons rollout, click Settings button right of Bevel. Small window will appear. In this window, fill Height=40 and Outline Amount=-0.5. Then, click Apply button once and finally click OK button. You will get object like image below. A little bit looks like a fork, I guess.

4. Now, look at Front viewport. You will notice our for is to sharp or pointy. We will fix this. First, we need to combine 2 boxes into one object. De-activate any sub-object selection. Make sure first box is still selected. In Edit Geometry rollout, click Attach button and then click second box to combine.

Next, activate Vertex selection. Go to Front viewport. Zoom, so you can see all vertices clearly. Select all vertices in upper part. In Edit Vertices rollout, click Z button on the right of Make Planar. Selected vertices will be adjusted in horizontal position. Do the same with vertices in bottom part.

5. In this step you will connect the gap. Activate Polygon selection. Select all polygons between the gap. In total, you will select 9 polygons. Remember to hold Ctrl to select multiple polygons. After that, click Bridge button in Edit Polygons rollout. Voila, the gap is gone!

6. Let's continue. Activate Polygon selection. Select two polygons like image below. In Edit Polygons rollout, click Settings button on right of Extrude. A window will appear. Fill Extrusion Height=300. Then click OK.

7. Change selection to Edge. Select edges in newly extruded part of your fork (look at image below). After that, click Settings button on right of Connect. In Connect Edges window, fill Segments=3, then click OK.

8. Change selection to Vertex. Using Select And Move Tool and Select And Non-Uniform Scale change position of vertices like image below. Tips: move vertices in Top vewport only. When finished, your object is now looks more like a fork.

9. Change selection to Edge again. In Top viewport, select edges like image below. Apply Connect again with 3 segments.

10. Change selection to Vertex. In Top viewport, select vertices like image below. Then, in Soft Selection rollout, activate Use Soft Selection. Don't change any parameters. Default setting will do just fine. Next, with Select And Non-Uniform Scale tool active, click and drag along Y axis a little bit. You will get more smooth and rounded shape. When finished, de-activate Soft Selection.

11. Change selection to Edge again. Select edges like image below using region selection. The area which you should select is marked with white rectangle. Remember, hold Ctrl for multiple selection. Then, in Selection rollout click Loop. More edges will be selected. But, it's not enough. Select couple of edge manually. Use three small images below as reference (edges should be selected marked with red line). When all edges is already selected, use Name Selection Sets on top of your screen to name this selection. For example I named it 'edges'. Remember to press Enter after you name it.

12. Now, we leave edges selection for a while. Change selection to Vertex. In Top viewport, select vertices like image below. Activate Soft Selection. Use Falloff value=70. Next, in Front viewport, using Select And Rotate tool rotate selected vertices clockwise a little bit, until you get like image below.

13. Basic shape of a fork is finished. Now, we go on detailing. Change selection to Edges. You will go to your already selected edges. If accidentally you deselect it, you can always select again using Named Selection Set. Zoom any part your fork. In Edit Edges rollout, click Chamfer button. In viewport, click and drag to give your fork a little chamfering. For final touch, apply TurboSmooth modifier if you want.