Bicycle Fork - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial

Bicycle Fork - 3DS Max Modeling Tutorial
This is the first part of a 3d modeling tutorial series that will cover the process of 3d modeling a bicycle using 3ds Max 2015. I will post a new 3d modeling tutorial in a few days that will cover the modeling process of the bicycle frame. So stay tuned. Now, let's start this 3d modeling tutorial.



Part 1 - Bicycle Fork - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial
Part 2 - Bicycle Frame - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial
Part 3 - Bicycle Crankset - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial
Part 4 - Bicycle Pedals - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial
Part 5 - Bicycle Handlebar - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial
Part 6 - Bicycle Seat - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial
Part 7 - Bicycle Wheels - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial
Part 8 - Assembling the Bicycle - 3ds Max Modeling Tutorial


Step 1: To start this 3d modeling tutorial Open or Reset 3ds Max. Click on 3ds Max icon in the top left corner and click Reset, Save or Don't Save your work and click YES for "Do you really want to reset?".
 
Step 2: Now lets change the Units Setup so that we all work with the same type. From Customize, click on Units Setup, select Generic Units and International, click OK. I've use to work with the metric system, but I've found out the with generic it's easier for everyone.
Step 3: From Create, Geometry make a new Plane with the length of 120 and the Width of 52.1(this is the actual image proportion that we will be using for reference).
Step 4:Select the Select and Move tool and reset the coordinates(x,y,z to 0) so that the plane will be on the center of the grid.
Step 5: Now press "M" on your keyboard to open the Material Editor. Click on Modes and chose Compact Material Editor. I've changed to this because I'm use to it.
Step 6:Select the first slot, click on the square next to Diffuse and chose Bitmap (click to open). <- Download this file and use it.
Step 7: With the plane selected click on "Show Shaded Material in Viewport" first, and second click on "Assign Material to Selection". Press "M" to close the Material Editor.
Step 8: From Create, Geometry, create a new Cylinder with the Radius of 2.5, the Height of 7, Height Segments: 4, Cap Segments: 1, Slides: 12 and position it using the Select and Move tool like you see in the next image(you can see the coordinates at the bottom of the image).
Tip: Press "Alt+W" on your keyboard to navigate between 1 and 4 viewports. Also, to navigate in viewports use the tools from the bottom right corner.
Step 9: Right click on the Cylinder and click on Convert to: Convert to Editable Poly.

Step 10: Go to Modify, expend the Editable Poly, select Polygon and select the left half of the cylinder plus to top and bottom polygons and Delete them by pressing Delete on your keyboard.
Step 11: Navigate to the Right viewport. From Create, Shapes make an NGon with the Radius of 2.1 and 8 Sides. This will me like a blueprint, helping us to create a circle from the cylinder.
Step 12: Go to Modify, enter Polygon Selection Mode, select the 4 highlighted polygons and press Delete.
Step 13: Maximize the Right viewport(Alt+"W" to maximize "V" to select). Go in Vertex selection mode and change the Constraints to Edge(we do this so we wont deform the shape of the object). Now using the Select and Move tool position the Vertices like you see below. It will be a little tricky at first because it's seams hard to position to it's actually not. When you are finish change the Constraints to None. Also Delete the NGon since we don't need it anymore.
Step 14: Change the Viewport to Front. Go in Border selection mode, select the border(the edge of the hole), hold down Shift and using the Select and Move tool Copy it to the right.
Step 15: Now make the Border planer to X axis.
Step 16: Change the viewport to Right, with the border still selected, use the Select and Scale tool and scale it down to 70 in the Y axis.
Step 17: Back to Front viewport, using the Select and Rotate tool with Angle Snap Toggle activated, rotate the border to -30 in the Z axis.
Step 18: Still in Front viewport, repeat the last steps and make 2 more copies of the border. Remember hold down Shift and use the Select and Scale tool to move, and the Select and Rotate to, of course, rotate, both times with the same amount of -30 in the Z axis. Use the Select and Move tool to position the borders like you see bellow. 
Step 19: Make to more copies but this time use only the Select and Move tool straight down.
Step 20: Go in Perspective viewport,  and in Edge selection mode, select the 4 edges you see highlighted bellow. Using the Select and Move tool and holding down Shift, copy them down in the Z axis to -1.876.
Step 21: Use the Select and Scale tool with Use Selection Center and scale down the edges from previous step in the X axis to 50.
Step 22: First make the edges planer to X. Select 2 at a time, am click on X next to Make Planer. Then, select all the 4 edges and click on the little square next to Bridge and bridge the edges together with 2 Segments. Click OK.
Step 23: Now Bridge the 2 top edges with the bottom 2 edge, but this time only 1 Segment. Do the same thing with the edges from the back.  If you can't see the back because of the plane, select it, right click on it and chose hide selection. When you're finished, right click and Unhide All.
Step 24: In Polygon selection mode, select the bottom 4 polygons, and Extrude them, by clicking on the square next to Extrude, with the Type Group and the Amount: 7.
Step 25: In Edge selection mode, make a Ring selection of the edges you see bellow, by selecting one and clicking on Ring.
Step 26: Connect the selected Edges with 4 Segments.
Step 27: Change the viewport to the Right one and select the Vertices I've selected, both of the from both sides. Click and Drag over.
Step 28: Chamfer the vertices with an amount of 1.3. Click OK.
Step 29: Now in Polygon selection mode, select both polygons(front and back) and Delete them.
Step 30: In Border selection mode, select both borders resulted from the deletion of polygons, and Bridge them together with one segment.
Step 31: In Edge selection mode, make a Loop selection like you see bellow by selecting one Edge and clicking on Loop.
Step 32: We are almost at the middle of this 3d modeling tutorial. So, Chamfer the previously selected Edges with an amount of 1 and 1 Segment.
Step 33: In Polygon selection mode select the 4 polygons I've selected and Delete them.
Tip: Press F3 to view Wireframe.
Step 34: In Border selection mode, select the two resulting borders and Cap them.
Step 35: This step I've should have made it when I've used the Bridge tool, but better late then never :). So, select the edges you see selected and connect them with 1 Segment.
Step 36: In Vertex selection mode, select two vertices at a time from the total of 4 highlighted and click on Connect. Do the same for the remaining two.
Step 37: In Edge selection mode, select the 4 edges I've selected and holding down CTRL press on Backspace, this will remove the Edges and also the remaining vertices.
Note: If you are wondering why you don't see the plane with the image of the fork it's because I've hide it. As  i said before, select it, right click on it and chose Hide Selection, or Unhide all to see it.
Step 38: We now have some 5 edges polygons so we need to make the 4 edged polygons.
To do this go in Vertex selection mode, and Target Weld the highlighted vertices together. Activate Target Weld, and the click on one vertex and then on the second one. Use the image bellow as a reference.
Step 39: Make an Edge selection like bellow, don't forget to select also the back edges and Chamfer them with an amount of 0.05. Click OK.
Step 40: We now have some 3 edged polygons so we need to weld some vertices.  So, in Vertex selection mode select the vertices selected bellow(remember, both site). You must have a selection of 8 vertices. Weld them together with an amount of 1.
Step 41: Change the viewport to Right("V" on your keyboard to selected it and ALT+W to maximize it), go in Vertex selection mode and using the Select and Move tool position the vertices like you see bellow.
Step 42: In Edge selection mode make a Loop selection of the edges you see bellow(select one edge and click on Loop to select them all). Click on the square next to Chamfer and chamfer them with an amount of 0.5 and 2 Segments. Click OK.
Step 43: This time go to the top of the fork, make a Ring selection of the Edges(remember, select one and click on Ring) and Connect them with 1 Segment, 0 Pinch and -95 Slide.
Step 44: Change the Viewport to Front, exit any selection mode by clicking on Editable Poly, click on Mirror, mirror on X axis, for Clone Selection chose Copy and click OK.
Step 45: Now click activate Attach and click on the right side of the fork to attach them together.
Step 46: Now let's weld the middle vertices together. You can see but when we attached the fork together, we've created double vertices on the middle. So, select all the middle vertices, 20 in total, and weld them together so that we are left with only 10.
Step 47: In Border selection mode, select the bottom border from the middle of the fork, using the Select and Move tool, move it a little bit up(i assume that by now you can do this step without any instructions). Now, using the Select and Scale tool scale the border down in all Axis to 87 holding down Shift to Copy it.
Step 48: Using the Select and Move tool and holding down Shift, Copy the border up in the Z axis for about an amount of 1.5.
Step 49: Make a loop selection of the edges using the Loop button and Chamfer the edges with an amount of 0.02 and 1 Segment. Click OK.
Step 50: Now let's move to the top. If you want you can Unhide the plane with the image. Select the Top Border and Cap it.
Step 51: In Polygon selection mode, select the top polygon and Bevel it with by Group, the Height of 0.3 and the Outline of 0.4. Click OK.
Step 52: Extrude the same polygon with an amount of 0.8.
Step 53:OK, so now don't get confused, but now we will make multiple steps in one. So, with the same polygon from before still selected first Inset it with an amount of 0.4, then Extrude it with an amount of 0.4 and finally Inset it again with an amount of 0.2.
Step 54: Make a final Extrusion to the polygon with an amount of 31 and press Delete on your keyboard to delete it.
Step 55: Now let's do for the top part like we did at the bottom in steps 47, 48, 49. Select the Border, Scale it down holding Shift to scale it down, use the Select and Move tool to copy it down and finally Chamfer the edges with an amount of 0.2. You must have something like bellow.
Step 56: Go back in Edge selection mode, select on edge from each row and make a Loop selection. Chamfer the edges with an amount of 0.02.
Step 57: For the final step of this 3d modeling tutorial exit any selection mode by clicking on Editable Poly and from the Modifier List add a Turbosmooth modifier, changer the Iterations to 2 and click on Isolate Display.
3D Modeling Tutorial Result:

If you have any problems following this 3d modeling tutorial feel free to ask any question you like, i will answer it as soon as possible. Best of luck to you!

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