creating a simple phone 3DSMAX

I found this my favourite tutorial, but that may have been more up to my mindset and the simplicity of the tutorial rather than anything else.

This tutorial seems very basic but shows many useful techniques ill likely use during the creation of my cutlery on 3DSMAX.
such as the boolean and chamferbox. basic but extremely useful.

I began setting up the units as you do, mm for handyness (basic steps missed like unit set up, can really come back and haunt you, and by haunt you, i mean have fun starting from scratch) i then created a chamfer box, which would be the basic layout of the phone. i changed the size etc in the parametres drop down.
at this point im catching on (slowly) and getting more famliar with words such as segments and vertexes.

free form defimation ffd3x3x3 was an option which came in alot of use thorugh out this tutorial, for both the form of the phone, and later with the screen. in simple terms it bends the lines and allows you to raise the surface in a slight curve.
demonstrated below...

After working on the shell/wall thickness, after that i moved onto bolean. which was difficult looking but rather simple once explained, i created a rectangluar shape half the thickness and slightly larger than the phones chamferbox, i then checked the boolean and picked the operand b, which basically made both the rectangle and anything attached, disapear, i could control which half stayed and which half didnt by selecting the x or y xis, at this stage i now had half a hallow phone case, to create the botom half i simply used the handle mirroring tool which was on the top bar, i selected if i wanted it copied extactly or flipped etc, once hat was created i simply hid that object for now.

i then began to create the buttons. or the holes for them at least.
I created a circle, sorted the spec, went into extras and selected the array tool. followed the instructions and diameters, the circle then got copied into four rows of three, with equal space between them all.

Once assembled and set in position it was time to create the screen, which was basically a thin rectangle, it also got set in position and attached to the buttons, using the same technique.

At this point they are all shapes, so needed converted to edible splines, from here i could modify  and extrude them.
This is where the boolean tool comes in, its found in compound objects and not to be mistaken with proboolean, which is yes similar but incorrect for what the tutorial is doing.
By once again using the boolean tool i could create holes where all the features will be, at this point its actually starting to look like something, and not just a bunch of random shapes.

its time to get down to the fiddely bits, right click and unhide the lower case. click 3dsnap tool found on the top tool bar, a tool i will find extremely sueful later, during both other tutorials and the making of my cutlery.
right click the snap tool, and the dialog box comes up (thats a tricky bit to remember) click vertex to vertex, i used the move tool, selected the middle vertexes and connected them successfully, i knew this was correct by the red line turning green.
From there i could manually create a small distance between the upper and lower case by dragging on the y axis.

At this point the basic object is complete but no time to stop and amire it,  moving on ....

The surface is paper thin because it was extruded a couple of steps back, this can easily be fixed. Whilst holding ctrl i selected boarders and extruded them by -2 mm.
However first time round i messed up and didnt notice the width was some random number, giving me an odd shape of an extrusion, as you can see below. so i back tracked slightly and made sure all the other options were correct. reminding me how improtant it is to watch all the little options and sure all the correct measurements are there and boxes are or arent ticked, otherwise, it could impact the entire final design.

Its now time to create a screen using the rectangle tool adding segements so object will bend. i created a slight curviture using the same technique as before, giving the LCD screen that more realistic appearence.

The buttons surprising were made from oiltank shapes, like the buttons i created one, sorted the spec, in this case they were sligtly smaller than button holes so it would all slot together nicely.
Did as before, set to  0y 0x axis, then manually moved it. rfom there i could disassemble  the buttons etc if i wanted the middle rows raised higher than the others, but in my phones case, i think it suited where it was originally.

Now, finally, as you can see below.....DONE.
quickly learning time keeping to be honest, what could take ten minutes in a tutorial could take several hours, pausing, playing, sorting, rewinding, repeating the process three four times for each step of the way.

though 3DSMAX is extremely useful and i love the effects and final designs more skilled users can create, im unsure at this stage if ill pursue it next year.

The final outcome....