Quick & Easy Pillars in 3ds Max

by Uriel Deveaud

What You'll Be Creating

Oormi Creations has developed a great script for 3ds Max. With it you can create awesome looking pillars in a matter of seconds.

1. Downloading the Script

Step 1

This script is totally free to use. To download the it go to Scriptspot.com. 

Here you will find the link to the script. Just Right Click on it and save it to your hard drive. Now we will see how we can use this script in 3ds Max.

2. Creating Pillars

Step 1

To open the script, go to Max Script > Run Script.

Step 2

Browse to the folder where you have saved the script. With the Pillars-010.ms script selected, click on Open.

Step 3

This opens the script parameters and shows the default pillar object in the viewport.

Step 4

This script mainly consists of three parts: Base, Column and Top. The pillar object also has three parts, a Base, a Column and a Top.

Step 5

As you can see, each parameter has several different values. Base will affect the base of the pillar, Column will affect the column of the pillar and Top will affect the top part of the pillar.

Step 6

Now let’s see how each of these parameters affects that particular part of the pillar. First, select the Top parameter.

Step 7

Increase the number of Steps. As you can see, this adds additional steps to the top of the pillar.

Step 8

Increase the number of Sides. This will increases the number of the faces created around the top and make it round and smooth.

Step 9

Next, increase the Chamfer value. As you can see, this value controls the amount of chamfer applied to top edges.

Step 10

Try increasing or decreasing the Min Step Size value one by one, to achieve different types of results.

Step 11

You can also get different types of results by playing with the Max Step Size, Min Outline, and Max Outline parameters. 

Step 12

The Fluting option will create grooves in the top of the pillar.

Step 13

Just like the Top parameter, the Base parameter affects the base of the pillar in the same manner.

Step 14

And the Column parameter affects the middle part (or column) of the pillar. Play with the values and you can get very different, fantastic results.

Step 15

Once you are satisfied with the result, click on the Commit button to bake the model into an Editable Poly object.

Step 16

The script also has several built in presets. For example, the Fountain preset creates a fountain like structure automatically.

Step 17

Now let’s see how we can create cracks or broken parts in our pillar. First, create a pillar and then open the Break roll-out option.

Step 18

Now click on the Pick Pillar option.

And select the Column part of the pillar.

Step 19

With the default values selected, click on the Break button. As you will see, this breaks the pillar’s column in the middle. 

Step 20

This doesn’t look practical, so let’s change the values a bit. First click on the Revertbutton to revert the break operation.

Step 21

Decrease the Size value and increase the Detail value. Now click on Break and you will see that the pillar is only partially broken this time. Now it looks more practical. 

Step 22

This script not only works on pillars, it can break or create cracks in any object in 3ds Max. To test this, create a Sphere in the viewport and select it by clicking on the Pick Pillar option. 

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Step 23

Click on the Break button and it will create cracks or breaks in the sphere. As with the pillar object, the results will vary depending on the values you have set in the parameters.

Conclusion

Although simple, this script is extremely powerful and can yield great looking results that would take an enormous amount of time to create manually. 

source:http://cgi.tutsplus.com/