Cheng K. Lor

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Steinback, Clarke

Ligthwave Modeler Tool: Bevel Tutorial: by Cheng K. Lor

1. How to use the bevel tool in Lightwave to create a simple figure, then converting that figure to look more organic.

2. What is the bevel tool use for? This tool is use for expanding and adding polygons to one or more selected polygon surface.

3. For example, here’s a cube drawn with the box tool. To use the bevel tool on this box, all you have to do is select the surface(s) you want to affect, and then click on the multiply tab and select bevel from under the Extend menu on the left or press the short cut key lower case “b”. In this case, I chose the top of the cube to be affected.

4. Now all you have to do is hold down the left mouse-click, and drag the mouse to expand the surface.

a. Drag up- moves the selected polygon out from its original position

b. Drag down- moves the polygon inward

c. Drag left- decreases the size of the polygon

d. Drag right- increases the size of the polygon

5. If you want to expand it the second time, all you have to do is right click and drag to the expansion you want.

(Here is a simple tutorial I made for creating a simple figure using the bevel tool.)

Creating a Simple Figure, using the bevel tool

1. First, use the box tool and press the keyboard, “n” to bring up the numeric input for creating a box, then enter these values for segments x, y, and z.

x = 3

y = 3

z = 3

(This box will be the body of the figure we’re creating.)

2. Next, turn on both, the polygon and symmetry mode, by clicking on the bottom tabs that said, “Polygon,” & “Symmetry,” or press the shortcut keyboard commands; Control + H for Polygon mode, and Control + Y for symmetry. Turning on Polygon mode will enable us to choose a polygon surface to work with, and Symmetry mode allow us to create a mirror image on both sides of the y-axis.

3. Now, for the arms, select the top centerpiece polygon in the right-view, (notice that both sides on either side of the “y-axis” are selected, because we are in symmetry mode and the symmetry line at default is the “y-axis.”

4. Next, press the shortcut, lowercase “b” for the bevel tool, and then drag the selected polygons out to form the left and right biceps of the figure. (Note: Remember that dragging out a polygon is to drag up, holding down the mouse-left-click button).

5. Next, create the forearms by doing a right-mouse-click to expand it the second time, and then drag.

6. To create the hands, right mouse click again, and expand it the third time.

7. For the legs, start by selecting the two polygons on the center outer edge of the bottom side, and then, repeat the previous process to create the legs and feet using the bevel tool.

The finish body of the figure should look something similar to this:

8. Lastly, to make the neck and head of the figure, select the top center polygon and use the bevel tool again, to expand it. This time, drag up and right to make the neck small at the base and large at the tip, then expand it one more time to create the head.

9. Finally, to make the figure look more organic, we should convert the polygons into SubPatch, by pressing the “tab” key on the keyboard. This conversion rounds off the corners of the polygons, so the polygons would look more rounded.

10. Now, the final step is up to you to modify the figure, by selecting points and moving them to change the form to your

liking. I usually work in the “Points Mode,” but you could either work in “Polygons or Points. (Also, remember to turn on “Symmetry” to keep both sides proportional, or maybe you don’t want proportion, because we humans are not symmetrically divided, but it’s up to you.)

Here’s my final version of the simple figure:

Here are two shots of the figure rendered:

Hopefully this tutorial has helped you to learn more about the bevel tool in Modeler.