Week 2 - Using Reference Planes to make a Tank

For this tutorial we were to create a tank using reference planes. For this to work properly we used the blueprint of the tank provided by importing into our materials section. Next a plane was made for the design to be seen on. The material was then dragged onto the plane. We had to make sure we could see the blueprint so had to change the colour to 100, configure the driver and reload the image. This made a clear viewing of the tank.

To align the tank with our plane we used the modifier uvw mapping, gizmo. This allowed us to move the top view of the tank around. Next we selected the plane and made a copy my using shift and dragging the plane. We had to rotate the plane so it was showing a side on view of the tank. Again using gizmo, we could move the tank to how we wanted it. We selected both planes and froze the panels so they couldn't be touched.

I first decided to make the wheels of the tank and created cylinders for these and copied the wheels multiple times until i was happy. By making sure that all the parts being created were see-through would allow me to edit my shapes accordingly to the tank blueprint and make viewing easier. Next I created a box above the wheels and decided to work upwards.


When I was happy with this stage I went onto the next part of the tank and again made sure that everything was aligned in the top and side views. I used a pen tool for this part of the tank as i found it easier. For this I extruded my drawing. I again used the line tool and extruded the next part, however I used the edit poly modifier and changed the vertex positionings to try and make the shape more realistic.


Next I created the entrance and barrel holder, using the line tool and extruding and again editing the vertex placings. After this the barrel was created using a inverted cone and created more segments to try and make it more rounded.


The actual barrel head was again designed with the line tool and extruded. To finish off my tank I decided to see what it would look like with it being all green and taking of the reference planes. Below is my finished tank. I am happy with my first attempt however I need more practice with trying to make objects more rounded as it is very square like.