Catapult Final Design

This next post is going to be commenting on my next final design which is Leonardo Da Vinci's Catapult. For this model I went for the same approach I took for the giant crossbow, which was to create a basic outline for the model and then tweak it later on. Firstly I started with the base of the catapult, which where just simple boxes placed out in a square shape, however I was satisfied and wanted to go a step further and decided to make a sort of jigsaw shape for the 'connecting supports' to slip in like a jigsaw. That wasn't to difficult just had to change the verticies of the boxes and then copied the other three'connecting supports' as 'instances' to make it eaiser for later, and also had to rotate two of the 'connecting supports' so that they faced the right way. To add a finishing touch to the base I decided to add a 'connecting base' which was a box and changing the verticies at each end so that the ends matched the jigsaw shape created on the other objects. Next was to do the supports, which were fairly simple, just a box rotated at the right angle and aligned up with the other boxes so that it all fitted into place. Then I copied the other boxes as 'copies' as I needed to change each box individully for example rotate the boxes the other side 180 degress. Next was the support for the arch which was the simplest object to create just a simple box across. Then came the 'half moon arch' this I thought was going to be difficult however I took the same method I used for the giant crossbow and 'extruded' a box, then used the bend modifier (but made sure the pivot point was in the middle) and bent the object on the Z axis. The turning wheel was again a method I used for the giant crossbow, a cyclinder with some cap segments deleted, then using the 'create' tool filling in the gaps in the object. From there I 'beveled' out some of the objects sides to make them pointed, so that the object became more of a turning wheel than a standard wheel. Then handle was simply just a box 'extruded' then I used the 'turbo smooth' modifier so that the box was a rounded handle than a boxed handle. Next came the 'turning cylinder' which was just simply a cylinder made to fit inside the 'turning wheel', the supports for the 'turning cylinder' where the same cylinders just reducded in size. The arm for the catapult was also a cylinder, I had to change the verticies on the arm at the end where 'ball holder' would go which was quite simple. The ball holder was a simple sphere with soft selection used to turn the sphere in on itself to make a bowl shape. The ball was a very simple sphere. Lastly was the rope, which I believe was the most difficult object to manipulate. The rope coming from the arch was just a tube turned at an angle to attach to the 'turning cylinder'. The rope that goes around the 'turning cylinder' is the same tubes, but they have been bent using the 'bend' modifier and changing the rotation angle to make it look like the rope is tied around the object.

Once I was satisfied with the model that I had created, I needed to add materials to that model so it seemed more life like. I used different online resources to find images of textures and then used those images in the material editor built into 3D's Max. Once I added the textures that I wanted onto my model I felt like they needed extra detail. So I decided to add some bump texture to some of the materials, however some of the materials did not match up with some of the objects, so I had to use the UVW Mapping modifier and change for the example the catapult arm material to a cylinder mapping option.

This screenshot is of the Catapults final design with added materials.

This is a screenshot of some of the materials that I used for my model.

This is a screenshot of the final render of the Catapult that I have modeled.