Step 4: Rockets

1. NAME your OBJECTS

Use OBJECT | NEW to create a blank screen for your ROCKET
(multiple objects can be stored in the same AN8 file - just keep them named appropriately!)

Choose the SIDE view (Key-4)
Set the OPTIONS | GRID | SNAP to GRID (Spacing) option to ENABLE
Use a CURVED PATH tool and draw as follows
- Starting left side right on the Z-Axis, click and drag to draw the "nose" of the rocket
- Continue dragging the little red square to establish the next points; try to draw the rough outline shown here using just six points

This curved path is called a "SPLINE"

Perfect the End Points
- Click on an end point and you can move it so it lands PRECISELY on the Z-Axis
Make some corners
- Choose a point like the tip of the tail and double click it
- The "Knot Editor" lets you make it a CORNER rather than smooth point - Click OK
- Make all the other points corner points EXCEPT the one on the "back" to give your object a more classic rocket like profile
Tighten the curve
- Click on the curved point on the back of the rocket spline, and adjust the green "handles" to shorten the curve. Less curve can reduce the polycount

Use BUILD | LATHE and select the Z-Axis
Both the START and END should be closed
Click OK
- If it looks like a mess, you probably didn't draw your rocket from the SIDE view. You can adapt by hitting UNDO
- Try the LATHE command again, this time set the axis for the one that DOESN'T appear in the legend in the lower left of the screen
DELETE the SPLINE
- The thin black line that you used to sculpt your lathe can now be deleted - it serves no purpose at this point

- Lathed objects always start out "inside out" for some reason. You can correct them with these steps
  - Select your rocket object
  - Use EDIT - FLIP NORMALS

- Does the very tip of your rocket oddly coloured or transparent? There seems to be a glitch that we can fix:
  - View the rocket from the FRONT view
  - MOVE the rocket to the left or right of the Y axis
  - Use BUILD | MIRROR IMAGE and choose X Axis to create a duplicate of your original translated along the X Axis
  - If the "hollow tip" glitch is fixed, use this duplicate and delete the old glitchy object

Use OBJECT EDIT to paint the entire rocket a uniform colour
BE SURE to NAME your materials appropriately, or they can be lost when you add the rocket to the saucer.
To colour individual faces of the rocket you can use POINT EDIT mode, but first you'll find you need to flip the normals

HAVING PROBLEMS SELECTING FACES?

If you have problems selecting faces after lathing, your model may have been lathed INSIDE OUT.

Choose the WIREFRAME view - can you see the faces being selected now? Are they yellow on the INSIDE?
Here's how to "FLIP the NORMALS" to turn your object right-way out.
- Go back to OBJECT EDIT mode
- Select the object
- Use EDIT - FLIP NORMALS

Use "QUAD" view by tapping the DEL key in the lower right corner of your keyboard
COPY (CTRL-C) the rocket object, and PASTE it (CTRL-V) into the Saucer Object window
MOVE and SCALE the rocket to fit properly
Is the rocket facing the wrong way?
- View the model from the TOP view
- Use the ROTATE TOOL, but do it using only the RIGHT mousebutton - it rotates it more intuitively on only ONE axis on your screen.

Select the rocket and use BUILD | MIRROR IMAGE (X-Axis Mirror) to create a symmetrical duplicate on the other side of the saucer.