Column Part 3: Setting up Lathe.
Now that we have completed our Spline it is time to add the Lathe modifier. Go into the Modify tab and locate Lathe in the Modifier List.
If your mesh turns out black it might be inside out. Use the Flip Normals checkbox to invert the polygons. Now is a good time to rotate the viewport and get a good look at your model. Take a close look at the ends. You may see some flickering or discoloring. Hitting the Weld Core checkbox will fix this. Even if the ends look fine, you should still check Weld Core. Your mesh should look like the example in the top right of the image below.
You may notice that our column looks very blocky or faceted. This is because it currently only has 16 segments around. Increase this to 21. We could go much higher until it is perfectly round, however we will be using Subdivision later in this tutorial to smooth everything out. You may also want to raise your mesh up a bit so it doesn't intersect the reference plane.
Now we have Lathe completely setup. At this point you may want to go back and edit your spline to change the look of the column. To do this all you have to do it click Line in the Modifier Stack. You need to be careful when doing this, however, and pay close attention to what is happening inside Max. When you click Line you are viewing the base object. Lathe will not appear by default since it is a modifier at the top of the stack. You can easily make changes to your spline and then click back to Lathe to see the results. However, if you wish to view the full model while you make changes you will have to use the Show End Result toggle. Make sure you do your editing the Top View.
At this point you should have the top half of your column completed with 21 segments going around. In Part 4 we will do the bottom half of the column as well as the bases.