Twisting Prims
When you began this module, you may never have dreamed you could make these kinds of shapes. But wait – there’s more! You can twist prims, too.
Instruction
In this last section on shapes, you will learn to twist different shapes in different ways. Much like twisting a towel or crumpling a piece of paper, twisting prims will lead to some very interesting shapes. Take your time and fully explore how the “twisting” controls affect each different shape. For some shapes, you will have additional twist controls, which will be explained along the way.
Practice
Step 1: Simple Twist
Some shapes, such as cubes and cylinders, have only a simple Twist Begin and End control. To really twist these shapes, choose a large beginning number and a large negative ending number.
[image – intro2build.09.a]
Rez both a cube and a cylinder and experiment with twisting them using the Twist Begin and End control. To really see the twists, you may want to stretch them into columns first. Other shapes that are based on the cube and cylinder shape will act much the same way. Try twisting pyramids, triangles and cones.
Step 2: Twisting Spheres
Like cubes and cylinders, spheres have only the Twist Begin and End control. However the results of using that one control are really neat!
[image – intro2build.09.b]
Rez a sphere. Change the numbers on the Twist Begin and End control to see what happens. Pretty fascinating!
Tip:
Combining the control with hollow and dimple can make amazing flower petal-like shapes.
Step 3: Toruses, Tubes and Rings
As you’ve seen all along, these shapes always seem to do unexpected and surprising things. Twisting them is no exception. You can easily make springs and curl shapes. In fact, these shapes have additional “twist” controls you can change. In addition to Twist Begin and End, you can control the:
- Hole Size – The size of the hole in the middle of the spring.
- Radius Delta – The extent to which each individual coil becomes smaller or larger.
- Revolutions – How many coils are in a spring shape.
- Skew – How flat or rounded each coil appears.
Play with these and you will end up with some amazingly complex shapes. This is one reason that many plant-like and hair prims begin with toruses or tubes – they can be changed in radical ways.
[image – intro2build.09.c]
Rez a torus. Begin by changing the Twist Begin and End controls. Now, experiment with the Hole Size. Do you see the size of the hole in the middle of the spring changing? Finally, change the Radius Delta and Revolutions controls to see what they will do. As you change the Radius Delta, each individual coil in
your spring will get smaller and smaller, like a pyramid of coils. The higher the Revolutions, the more coils in your spring!
Tip:
Expert builders spend a lot of time learning how to make exactly the “right” shape. There is just no shortcut to figuring these shapes out. If you find you’ve made something unique and beautiful, name and save it!
Learning about shapes never ends. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you learn something new. The best builders never stop learning! What would happen if you were to combine “twists” with all the other techniques you’ve learned in this module?
If you are using the PRIMLAND Tutorial game, stop here and continue on the path!