3ds Max Shell Modifier

Tags: 3ds Max, beginner, Modifiers

Modifier : Shell
Works on: Splines, Meshes, Polys, Patches, NURBS
3ds Max Description : The Shell modifier “solidifies” or gives thickness to an object by adding an extra set of faces facing the opposite direction of existing faces, plus edges connecting the inner and outer surfaces wherever faces are missing in the original object. You can specify offset distances for the inner and outer surfaces, characteristics for edges, material IDs, and mapping types for the edges.

Also, because the Shell modifier doesn’t have sub-objects, you can use the Select options to specify a face selection for passing up the stack to other modifiers. Please note that the Shell modifier doesn’t recognize existing sub-object selections, nor does it pass such selections up the stack.

My 2 Cents : The Shell modifier was added to 3ds Max in release 6, and a far as I know the Shell modifier was written by Peter Watje. Peter’s written many amazing 3ds Max plug-ins and modifiers, I plan to cover some of the plug-ins not integrated into 3ds Max in a later post “Installing free plug-ins” (in particular the “cross section plug-in”).

In this 3ds Max video tutorial we cover the Shell modifier (one of my favorite 3ds Max Modifiers) . I do the majority of my 3d modeling with splines, and the shell modifier is a perfect compliment. I begin with splines then apply an extrude to build working surfaces that I can then apply modeling operations on such as cutting out windows and doorways. Once the Shell Modifier is applied all the edges clean up well. Another aspect of the Shell Modifier that i use often is the ability to select full areas of the new geometry such as “edged” or “outer faces” this is very useful in conjunction with a modifier like Delete Mesh.




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Autodesk Video from YouTube: