Creating and rigging a wing in 3DS Max
Author: Luima
Software used: 3DS Max
Introduction
In this tutorial we will be creating and rigging an animatable bird wing. This technique has been used in production as you can see in this video. All scene files provided are made using 3DS Max 2012.
Subjects covered: rigging a wing and populating it with feathers.
The tutorial
Download the files available for this tutorial:
You can download the starting scene that contains the base mesh and wing shape guide.
Download basemesh_and_guides.zip.
Luis Manuel Morillo (Luima) is a self-taught modeler/animator from the Dominican Republic. He decided to learn animation back in 1993, when he watched Jurassic Park for the first time on the big screen, and has been inspired by the work of Industrial Light and Magic ever since. Despite the animation industry in his country being almost non-existent, he opened a small animation studio in 1999 (RaycastDR.com) with his brother and a friend. Most commercial opportunities available in his country are small projects, so he tries to challenge himself to keep learning new things, and every time he sees a movie that makes him wonder “how did they do that”, he tries to answer it by finding a way to do it despite all possible limitations. You can find more about his work at Luima.com.
Thank you very much, I appreciate the tutorial, and while looking for one, try it.
nice work thanks
when I put the attachment controller on the point helper and pick the plane01 then set position I can’t move the point helper to the bone,,Why??
I’m pretty new to Max but was able to follow your tutorial until you starting adding feathers after the initial three. Is there a way to copy feathers for a section of the wing without having to do each feather? If so, how did you do it? Thanks.
Hello, i got the same problem like Richard.
how do you do that? or every single one?
RE:by RICHARD – October 27, 2013 1:54 pm
I’m pretty new to Max but was able to follow your tutorial until you starting adding feathers after the initial three. Is there a way to copy feathers for a section of the wing without having to do each feather? If so, how did you do it? Thanks.
Hi, what woild be the best way to mirror the wings?
When using the mirror tool the wing feathers and bone get twisted around. .
Thanks for any help…
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thank you so much
Hello very nice tutorial but how do you make a miror symetry of the wing when you have finished ? 😀
Hi, nice tutorial. But I have two questions, How can I attach the wing to the bird? and how did u put the feather texture on the Fur? When I tried it the texture was put on the wing but not on the fur.
Thanks :3
Hello,
If you don’t get a response then email me directly, and I’ll give you the step by step procedure that he did as I have written them down word for word, and it works perfectly for me.
Hello Mr. Scott,
If you don’t mind,I would like to get the step by step procedure. I think I did everithing like in the tutorial, but at the end, the feathers are not moving properly (going moving too much or getting a bad angle).
Thank you.
i have problem with the texture, it was applied on the wing but not on the fur, what’s the problem can you help for that i try i try to contact Mr.luima but he don’t anwser me
Hello Mr. Scott,
It would be very helpful and grateful to get your script of the step-by-step procedure for this tutorial as I am new to 3D Max..
Greetings from Berlin/Germany,
Oli
Hello,
My name is Mr. Scott, and I’m a movie actor, and director. I’m working on a short movie of my own, and trying my hardest to create a pair of working angel wings. I have watched your video tutorial on the above mentioned website. I have gotten all the way to where I have all the feathers attached point helpers with attachment constraints, and the feathers with look at constraints. When I open the wings, the feathers work perfectly, but I can’t figure out how to get them to work correctly when animated to flap up, and down. The feathers are locked to the position at the beginning, and distort when flapping. Could you please tell me how you got your wing to flap up, and down without being locked to the beginning position? I could really use some expert help to get this to work correctly.
Thank you for your time, and help.
Mr. Scott
luima can you do a full tutorial of modeling and rigging the bird Hornbill ? even texturing