3ds max: IDDesign Caterpillar Table Lamp
written by: Yossi "gerber5010" Gerber

09-13-2004
info@evermotion.org
In this tutorial we will model the Caterpillar Lamp by IDDesign. The lamp is very simple and is made up of 3 main parts: the metal base, the links (16-20 of them) and the light bulb casing. (I will not build the light bulb which is a subject for a complete tutorial and you may find a couple on the net in 3d-palace. and in Evermotion.) OK , Let's start.




Part 1: Metal Base




To model the metal base, we will create a sphere. Go to the TOP view.
Go to the menu Create>Standard Primitives>Sphere.
In the Keyboard Entry rollout, make sure X,Y & Z are at 0, and the radius is set to 8. Click the Create button.


Go to the modify tab and In the parameters rollout set Segments to 60 and Hemisphere to 0.51 and check the Base to Pivot option.


In the front view you should see this:


Convert the sphere to an editable poly by right clicking and select the convert to Editable Poly:


In the Modify tab under the Selection rollout, Press the Edge button and select an edge in the lower row


and then click the Loop button


You will see that all the edges around the bottom row are now selected:


Click the Select and Uniform Scale icon on the main toolbar:


and scale the edges down as seen in the image:


Uncheck the Edge selection mode in the Selection rollout and scale the whole object to 40 in the Y axis (The green axis in the Gizmo). You should get this:


While the base is still selected, Click the Create New layer icon In the Layers toolbar . This will create a new layer and move the selected base into it.

We have complete the modeling of the base of the lamp
Part 2: Links




First, Hide layer "Layer01" in the layer manager.

Repeat the sphere creation process and set the parameters as seen in the next image. Also, move it in the Move Transform Type-In to X: 0.0cm Y: 0.0cm and Z: 0.0cm.


Type Ctrl-V to clone the sphere and select the Copy option:


Select one of the spheres and In the Pivot tab under the Hierarchy Tab Press the Affect Pivot Only button and then the Center to Object. This will allow us to scale the selected sphere based on its center.
Scale the sphere to 110 (in the transform Type-In). In the Modify tab set the Hemisphere to 0.40. Click the Select and Move Icon in the Main toolbar and press F12 to open the Transform Type-In and in the Absolute World type 6.2 in the Z value. this will move the scaled sphere up so that it is approximately centered around the full sphere.


Copy the lower sphere A upwards.
Select Sphere C and convert it to an editable poly. In the modify tab under the Edit Geometry rollout press the Attach button and click on sphere B. This will make them one object.


Select the lower two faces rows on the upper sphere and the upper row in the lower sphere and press the Delete Key on your keyboard. (Confirm the deletion of isolated vertices).


Under the Selection rollout , change to vertex selection mode (3 red dots). now, select the upper row of vertices


Scale them outwards so that they approx. match the vertices in the lower row of the upper sphere:


and move them up until they are at the same level with the upper row:


Select the vertices of both the lower row A and the upper row B (you should have 64 vertices selected)
Under the Edit Vertices rollout open the settings for the Weld button and set the value to 0.1-0.2. You will immediately see the vertices glued to each other and the number of total vertices will be reduce.


we have now completed the modeling of the link:


Copy the link by holding the shift and move it up until the lower ball is somewhat centered with the upper one and move the pivot so that it is also in the center of the ball. This will force rotation to be done around the center of the ball
We will now clone the link 16 times. While still selected, press the Select and Move icon in the main toolbar and while holding down the Shift key , drag the link up by as much as 7.7 units (look in the Coordinate Display area in the status bar). A dialog will appear , type 17 in Number of copies and Instance the object. We will get something like this:
Part 3: Bulb Housing




The last part to model is the light bulb housing which basically a simple sphere.

So, Create a sphere as you did in part 1. But change the radius to 10 and the Hemisphere to 0.3. Rotate the sphere 180 degrees in the X axis and move the sphere so that is placed (with relation to the links) like in the image:


Convert the sphere to an editable poly. In the main toolbar change selection mode to window.


Select the top faces from the front view. Only the faces looking upward will be selected. Delete the selected faces.


To give our sphere some thickness, we will use the Shell modifier (select it from the modifier list in the modify tab). Set inner and outer amount to 0.3.

This is all there is to model. But we will have to connect the parts so that it is easier to change the way the lamp is posed as its design allows for various rotations and layouts.
Hierarchy Linking




This simple linking will make it possible to rotate each link in the chain with relation to its parent link , or in other words; the link that is located just above it.(in our lamp it is actually below...). Click the Select and Link icon:


and select the uppermost link in our chain and drag the mouse to the next link - you will see a two squares icon when above the next link - release the mouse and continue doing so until you link the lamp parts. (If you double click any of the links - it will highlight all the linked parts below it)


Now, to set the camera position - just select links and rotate it in different axis.


Make the lamp stand as you like.
all rights reserved 2004 @Evermotion Team