Creating a Lantern

In Top View, select the points shown in picture 120.



Use the Move Tool and move these two points 2mm on the X-axis. Once you’ve moved them, use the Mirror Tool across the X-axis at the centre. Like before, select all the points in a clockwise order and press “ctrl+p” to create an open spline (start with the same point as before).

Why did we do the thing we just did then? Well, if we left the two splines exactly the same, the two steel wires would at some point pass through each other, but by moving these two points one of the steel wires will pass just outside the other one. This will be shown better later on when we have extruded the two wires, so lets get on with that.

Switch to Layer 8 and activate the Disc Tool, then use the settings shown in picture 121.



This disc will be created at the exact position where the splines start; so all we need to do before we extrude it is rotate it a bit. Activate the Rotate Tool and bring up the Numeric Panel. We will perform 2 rotate operations, and the following settings are for the first one:

Angle: -20 degrees
Axis: X
Center X: -26mm
Center Y: 59mm
Center Z: -21mm

Click Apply to perform the Rotation, then change the settings in the Numeric Panel to the following:

Angle: -40 degrees
Axis: Z
Center X: -26mm
Center Y: 59mm
Center Z: -21mm

Once again click Apply to perform the Rotation. Close down the Numeric Panel and press Space to deselect the Tool. Keep Layer 8 activated and copy this disc by pressing “c”, then switch to Layer 9 and paste it there. Switch back to Layer 8 and put Layer 6 in the background, then press “ctrl+r” to activate the Extrude Rail Tool. Use the “Uniform Knots” function and set the amount to 40, then click OK.

(Note, if the polygons are facing inwards after you used the Rail Extrude Tool, then simply flip them by pressing “f” on the keyboard).

Apply the “Metal” Surface to this steel wire. Layer 8 should now look something like picture 122.


Now switch to Layer 9 and put Layer 7 in the background, then repeat the Rail Extrude operation to create the second steel wire, use the same settings as before. Apply the “Metal” surface to this wire as well. Working in Layer 9, activate the Rotate Tool and bring up the Numeric Panel. Set the axis to Y and the angle to 180 degrees. Keep all the centre values to 0 and click Apply. Cut the steel wire out of Layer 9 and paste it in Layer 8, then delete the two splines in Layer 6 and 7. Cut the two steel wires out of Layer 8 and paste them into Layer 6.

We only have one more steel wire to create now and then we’re done with the Lantern! This one might be even more tedious to create than the last ones. Switch to Layer 7 of Layer Group 2 which should be free now and activate the Point Tool, then create 19 points in one of the Viewports. It doesn’t matter where you create the points since we will position them with the Point Info panel next. Select all the points once you’ve created them and bring up the Point Info Panel by pressing “i” on your keyboard, then place them one by one using the values shown in picture 123.


The positioned points should look something like picture 124 in the Bottom Left and Right Viewport.


We are going to create a spline like before, but first lets mirror them. Activate the Mirror Tool and just mirror these points across the Z-axis at the centre. We are going to select these points so we can create a spline out of them, and the easiest way to do this is to use the Perspective View. However, right now you’re probably using a Smooth Shaded preview which will make the points not showing, so change the Render Mode to Wireframe for the Perspective View. Picture 125 shows the points in the Perspective View.



In the Bottom Right Viewport, zoom in the lower left area of these points, like in picture 126.


Now working in the Perspective View, start selecting the points starting with the one shown in picture 127.


Work your way around and select all the points. Once you’re done, press “ctrl+p” to create an open spline.

Picture 128 shows the spline at the bottom parts, does yours look the same?


Lets move on to creating the Disc, which we will use for the extrusion. Switch to Layer 8 and activate the Disc Tool, then use the settings shown in picture 129.


Close down the Numeric Panel and press Space to deselect the Tool. Before we can extrude this disc we need to rotate it a bit, to make it follow the spline nicely. Activate the Rotate Tool and use the following settings in the Numeric Panel.

Angle: 32 degrees
Axis: Z
Center X: 500um
Center Y: 183,5mm
Center Z: 0

Click Apply to rotate the disc. Now lets extrude it, activate the Rail Extrude Tool by pressing “ctrl+r”, then select the Uniform Knots function and set the amount to 60.

(Note, if the polygons are facing inwards after you used the Rail Extrude Tool, then simply flip them by pressing “f” on the keyboard).

Cut the steel wire out of Layer 8, then switch to Layer 7 and delete the spline. Paste the steel wire into Layer 7 and apply the “Metal” Surface. Switch to Polygon Mode and make Layer 5, 6 and 7 active now.

Bring up the Polygon Statistics Panel by pressing “w” on the keyboard, then click the “+” next to “>4 Vertices”. This will select all the end polygons that carry more than 4 points (8 in total). We don’t need these polygons; so once they are selected simply delete them by pressing “Delete” on your keyboard. Now activate subpatches on all the steel wires.

Now lets tidy the Layers up a bit. Switch to Layer 4 of Layer Group 2 (the small metal piece), cut it out and paste it in Layer 7 of Layer Group 1 (the Top Section Hat). Go back to Layer Group 2 and activate all the Layers that have an object in them, press “x” to cut all these objects out and then paste them in Layer 9 of Layer Group 1. Save the object now by pressing “s”, and we’re done! Picture 130 shows the Lantern in the Perspective View. (Note, I have applied the Default Surface file to all the parts in the following image to clearly show all the details, this is something you don’t need or want to do)


Well that’s it for the modeling then, if you want to you can start out texturing this lantern on your own, or you can just follow the next parts where I describe how to create a nice metallic surface!