The Array Tool

 

A tutorial by: Chris Rogers

 

The array tool in lightwave is similar to the clone tool.  The clone tool allows you to create many copies that each get offset and rotated.  It’s useful for creating things like spiral staircases, or any repetition that has a curve to it.  The array tool is useful for creating things that have multiple dimensions to their repetition.  I will show you how to use the array tool to create a few simple objects.  The first will be a picket fence.  Then I will show you how I made the floor grates in my group project.  Finally I will show you how to make a stack of cubes.  Before we get into creating things, let’s find out what the array tool looks like.

 

Location:

 

The array tool is located in the Multiply tab, near the bottom under Duplicate.  When you Click on the button, the array dialog comes up.  This dialog has many fields.  The first filed is the array type.  This allows you to pick from Rectangular or Radial arrays. I will first cover Rectangular arrays.  The fields you see on the screen are only for Rectangular arrays.  X Count will determine how many duplications you want in the x direction.  Y Count will determine the number of duplications in the y direction and so on.  The jitter values will add a random imperfection to the placement of new objects that sometimes will help make objects look not so perfect.  The offset type will allow you to choose how you want to enter the next values.  If you choose Automatic, you will be able to enter the values as percentages.  100% means that the next object will be offset by the same value as its width.  This makes all the objects in the array touch each other.  If you choose Manual, it will allow you to enter the actual numeric offset, like 1mm.  Merging Points will allow you to merge the points of objects whose points overlap.  That’s it for the Rectangular array type, now lets look at the Radial array type.

 

The Radial allows you to enter a value for number. This determines how many copies to make.  You can select the axis that you want to rotate around, and the center of rotation for the object.

 

Now that we covered the basic options of the array tool, lets see how we can use it to make some objects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picket Fence:

 

First we will make the picket fence.  This is a simple object that can be made with the array, or the clone tool.  Basically we just need to model one of the pickets, then duplicate them using the array tool.  To do this, I just made a box that was 6 inches wide, 3 feet tall, and one inch deep.  Then I clicked on the array tool and entered ten in the X Count.  For the X Offset, I chose to use manual mode, and entered 7 inches.  This is because I wanted a one inch space between the objects, and I knew that my boards were 6 inches wide.

 

 

Floor Grates:

 

To make the floor grate for my group project, I made one square of the grate.  Then I used the array tool to duplicate the grate in the x and z directions.  I used 105% offset values, because I wanted a small space between the grates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Box of Cubes:

 

To make the box of cubes, I modeled one cube.  I used a bevel to round the edges a bit.

 

Then I used the array tool to duplicate the boxes 3 times in the y direction, 5 times in the z direction, and 7 times in the x direction.

 

 

 

Conclusion:

 

The array tool is useful for duplications as long as they don’t curve. If you want something that curves and duplicates in a direction, then you must use the clone tool.