3ds max Modeling Deforming an object with a modifier In the box parameters, let's increase the number of length segments, set that to a value of 30 and press Enter. And now we have enough detail to resolve the modifiers we're going to apply. Let's also shift the object in space, just position it where it needs to be. Grab the move tool and set the X position to zero, press Tab, set the Y position to 20, and the Z position we can leave at zero. Now we're ready to apply a parametric deformer, and those are found in the modifiers category for parametric deformers, or we can also, of course, apply the deformer from the modifier list over here. With the object selected, I can click on modifier list, and I'm looking for taper. Scroll down, here it is, taper, and we need to change up some parameters. Let's give it some amounts so we can see what it's doing. So, with a positive amount, it's tapering the top of that box outward. Alright, give it a positive value of maybe one or something like that, just so that we can see the effect of changing the axes here.
3ds max Modeling Deforming an object with a modifier We have the primary axis and the effect axis. In this case, we want the primary axis to be Y, and now we can see that we're getting a taper effect in the Y dimension of the world, and the effect over here. We only want to be in one dimension, not two. Right now, we're actually tapering both horizontally in this dimension, and vertically in this dimension. If we look at this in an ortho view, we might be able to see that. Alt + W to go to a four viewport layout. And observe this in the left view, and if you get in really close, maybe with Control + Alt and middle mouse, you can see that the object is thicker over here and thinner on the other side here. Well, we don't want to do that, we only want to taper it in one axis. So let's set the taper axis effect to a value of X, and now we can see that it's the same height throughout. Alright, we can make this even fancier by giving it some curve, so play around with this curve amount and we can get a nice curve taper effect. I've got some values I've experimented with already, so I'll plug those in. I'll give it an amount of 2.2, and a curve amount of negative 1.6. Next, we can position the center, or the gizmo, in order to change the effect here. So, in the taper modifier, we can open that up and there are some sub-object types. There's gizmo and center, and in this case, they'll pretty much do the same thing, so it doesn't really matter, but let's choose gizmo. And I just want to move that gizmo in the Y axis to reposition it, and that will change the effect.
