Devo Tutorials: Star Wars Lightsaber – Maya Modeling Tutorial << Part 3 >>

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART

PART 8

PART 3: HAND GRIP

The hand grip will be a little different in construction and can be a bit tricky. Basically, we will create section 1 and then duplicate it multiple times to insure standard sized sections

When you draw the initial curve, make sure the lower vertex on the curve is placed just below the lower black line of the first section.

First we will move the manipulator to the top edge of hand grip section 1, press <W> to activate the Move Tool, press the <Insert> key. This will allow you to move the manipulator tool without the geometry. Select the green handle (Y-axis) of the manipulator, this will limit the movement to only the Y-direction. Here is the tricky part, we want the manipulator to be at exactly the top edge of Section 1, so with the green handle (Y-axis) of the manipulator still selected, move the your mouse on the top edge of the Section 1 while depressing the middle mouse button and the <C> key. The <C> key activates snap to edge.

Now we are going to duplicate Section 1. Select Section 1 and press <Control + D> this is the short cut to duplicate a selected object. Move it down a bit to get it out of the way, then snap the duplicated section to the bottom edge of Section 1.

Look in the Channel Box find the distance it was displaced in the Y-Direction. Mine moved –0.769, yours will be different, but close. Zoom in really close to make sure it was completely aligned.

Select the new piece and using the Duplicate Special  change the following settings:

Translate Y: {your displaced value here.}

Number of Copies: 7

If done right the section should line up fairly close to the blueprint. Mine was just a little bit off, but manageable. If it does not line up, we will adjust it below.

If it does not line up, combine all sections of the handle. Mesh > Combine Switch to vertex mode, select all vertices, and then merge them – Edit Mesh > Merge. Then scale the handle in the Y-Direction until it fits the blueprint. You might have to move it a bit and then rescale it a few times until it fits. * I ended up moving it up in the Y-Direction 0.036 units and scaling it in the Y-Direction by 0.995. Yours should be a bit different.

Repeat revolve for Section 2. After revolving Section 2, the top edge did not line up for me, I snapped it to the bottom edge of the last duplicated Section 1 or the bottom section of the handle.

Repeat for the Focusing Chamber, if needed. Mine was not really aligned, so I selected the edges of the outside ring and adjusted them until they were lined up the the top of the handle. To do so, select the connecting edge of the Focusing Chamber, double click on the edge to select, then scale it until it lines up with the handle.

Combined all sections of the handle and the focusing chamber. Mesh > Combine Switch to vertex mode, select all vertices, and then merge them – Edit Mesh > Merge.

Beveling the handle:

When beveling the handle or anything for that matter, always check your reference image to see what it actually looks like. With that said, majority of the edges are micro bevels (small) except for the edges between each section. Those bevels are much larger.

I selected the edges that need to be a bit larger here.

The Nubs:

The nubs can be a bit tricky so read them carefully.

In the side view select six center most faces and then extract them. Mesh > Extract .

Select the lower handgrip minus the newly extracted piece and switch to Face Mode. Delete them.

Select the center 4 faces and then Extrude them out. C

Switch the Front View and pull the manipulator out to fit the image below.

Scale them in the Y-Direction to fit the image below.

Select the top 4 faces and switch to the Scale Tool. Scale the faces only in the Z-Direction until it creates a tapered nub, making it a bit more narrow. And slightly in the X direction to soften the curve. Essentially, you are flattening the nub a bit, but not completely.

Now we are going to Duplicate the nub a few times. In Object mode, select the nub. Choose Duplicate Special  and change the following.

Rotate Y: 60
Number of copies: 5

Select all the parts in the Lower Hand Grip and combined them. Mesh > Combined

Switch to Vertex Mode and Merge.

For the nub, we have to bevel all the main edges at the same time. First we have to select the two main perimeter edges. Since the main the edge is not an obvious loop, you can’t select it by double clicking on it. But if you select 1 edge you can select the edge loop by choosing Select > Select Contiguous Edges. Then while depressing the <shift> key repeat for the lower edge. And then while still depressing the <shift> key, select all the main corner edges for all the nubs.

Bevel all the rest of the Horizontal edges.

It should look something like this . . .

The Control Box:

Align Image Planes: To align correctly and efficiently, I first make a reference cube. Create a cube and line it up with the control box as shown. *Note that I made it to fit the largest part. We will use this to line up the rest of the image planes.

In the Top View, duplicate the last cube and scale it to fit image as shown below.

In the Top View on the last cube, insert 2 edge loops as shown below. Edit Mesh > Insert Edge Loop.

In the Top View, select the 2 top faces and extrude them out.

In the Top View, select the 2 top side faces and extrude them out.

In the Top View, scale to fit image as shown below.

Create a cube and line it up with the first ridge in the Side View.

In the Top View, scale the cube to fit the image. Then Bevel the edges of the cube. We will do this before we duplicate it. It is just easier that way.

We will repeat what we did earlier with the handle. Select the cube, duplicate it, move it to the second spot and then look in the Channel Box to find the distance it was displaced in the Y-Direction. Mine moved down –0.336, yours will be different, but close. Zoom in really close to make sure it was completely aligned. Then select the new piece and using the Duplicate Special  change the following settings:

Translate Y: {your displaced value here.}

Number of Copies: 9

They should all line up as shown below.

In the Front View, make a cube and place it as shown below. Select the 2 lower edges and collapse them. Edit Mesh > Collapse It should look something like this. Now Bevel it appropriately. For the second indicator, Duplicate and then move and rotate.

In my reference images there is a cover plate. Create a cube, place it and then Bevel it.

The last part are the screws. In the Front View, create a cylinder, scale, rotate and line it up with the image. Make sure you look in the Top View and line it up there as well.

In the Front View, create a cube, scale and position it as shown below.

In the Top View, scale and position the cube as shown below. Once that is done, apply a Boolean operation. Select the Cylinder then the Cube and the apply a Boolean difference. Mesh > Boolean > Difference This will subtract the cube from the cylinder.