Tips/Tricks-3dsmax: The Shell modifier is better than Extrude

Yes, you can use the Shell modifier on splines.

Many normally don’t think of using the Shell Modifier with splines… usually the Shell Modifier is added to a series of faces to add “thickness” to already established polygons.

When it comes to splines most people go for the Extrude Modifier first. Few realize the Shell Modifier will also serve the same purpose but with added functionality.

Like the Extrude Modifier, the Shell Modifier also converts the spline into a 3D solid object and extrudes a series of faces up. But unlike the Extrude modifier, you can extrude faces in both directions simultaneously (up and down).

What’s more, you can add material ID settings to the top, bottom, and edge polygons directly from the modifier.

And finally, what may be the coups de grâce, you can control the edge profile with another spline– just like the Bevel Modifier. So the Shell Modifier is really a combination of Extrude and Bevel Profile.

3DGuru’s note: This passage is excerpted from my forthcoming book “The 3dsmax Production Handbook” coming out in late 2006. Used by the author with permission copyright Chris Murray (c) 2006. Did this help? Please make a donation here. Keep the love alive.

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~ by learn3dsmax on June 5, 2006.