CONFORMING
LEFT PANEL TO TAIL
Begin to attach the left panel to the fuselage by moving the vertices at the
tail end up to align with the side view. At this time, constrain all movement to
the Z-axis (SCREENSHOT).
You can narrow the space between the lines of vertices to keep it smooth.
However, since we will be curving this piece later, keep all the polygons
intact (do not delete vertices or faces).
Once the side panel matches the profile of the fuselage and tail, switch over to
the top view and begin to move the vertices over to the edge of the wooden frame
(SCREENSHOT).
Ideally, the "fabric" should be a tiny distance away from the wooden frame
members, so that they do not "poke" through. Go along the length of the
fuselage, moving the vertices until the fabric bends smoothly along its complete
length (SCREENSHOT).
CONFORMING LEFT PANEL TO RIBS
The front part of the fuselage, with its rounded bulkheads and support ribs, is
done in a similar fashion. Using Vertex editing, and constraining all
movement to the X-axis, reshape the "fabric" until it just covers the ribs.
Having one viewport display set on Perspective: Smooth + Highlights with
Edged Faces makes this easy to see. I used a combination of vertex
editing and edge editing (SCREENSHOT).
ADDING EXTRA POLYGONS
Depending on the distance you keep the "fabric" away from the ribs, you may need
more polygons to keep the bulkheads from poking through. Use the Cut tool to add
new edges and vertices along the midpoints of the faces between the ribs (SCREENSHOT).
APPLYING A TEST TEXTURE
Let's take a quick side track and apply a test texture to this side panel, just
to see if this is going to work for us. Apply a planar UVW map modifier to the
side panel plane, and set it to Fit. Create a simple Architectural material with
a slight (15%)translucency to it (the bitmap texture can be found in the zip file at the end
of this tutorial) (SCREENSHOT).
Drag it onto the side panel to apply it.
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