Modeling the clock

The face of the clock can be made out of a cylinder. As for making the numbers, this will be a perfect opportunity to incorporate text into our modeling workflow. We will also look at one of the most important tools when it comes to precision: snapping. We'll begin by hiding the chair objects so that we can see what we're doing. Then, we will create a cylinder for the clock:

1. Go to the back view.
2. Click on the eyeball icon next to all of the chair objects in the Outliner to hide them. This will give us a clear view of the clock (see the following screenshot).
3. Use the Cursor tool from the Toolbar to place the 3D Cursor right in the center of the clock:

4. Press the Shift + A hotkey to bring up the Add menu.
5. Choose Mesh | Cylinder.
6. Set Vertices to 32.
7. Set Radius to 1 m.
8. Set Depth to 0.2 m.
9. Set Location X to 0 m.
10. Set Location Y to -1.1 m.
11. Set Location Z to 1.58 m.
12. Set Rotation X to -64.
13. Set Rotation Y to 0.
14. Set Rotation Z to 0.
15. Rename the cylinder Clock_Main:

Good – now, we have the base piece of the clock. Using the 3D Cursor helped us get started, but typing in the location and rotation settings let us place the cylinder precisely in alignment with the reference image. Check the cylinder from the side view; you should see that the alignment is well centered.

Now, let's make the numbers for the clock. We're going to use a new type of object: text. Each number will be its own text object. But first, we're going to use a trick to create 12 snapping points for the text objects. As we noticed in the previous step, trying to place the 3D Cursor by hand is a little sloppy, but we can use our Snap pie menu to place it in a precise location instead of using the Cursor tool from the Toolbar:

1. Tab into Edit Mode for the Clock_Main object.
2. Switch to Face Select mode.
3. Select the large face on the near side of the cylinder.
4. Bring up the Snap pie menu with the Shift + S hotkey.
5. Choose Cursor to Selected:

Good – the Snap pie menu is a precise way of positioning the 3D Cursor. You will find the 3D Cursor to be a very useful tool once you take control over it like this. Next, we're going to make our 12 snapping points for the text by temporarily making a circle. Remember that new objects are created at the location of the 3D Cursor, so we're already off to a good start:

1. Tab back into Object Mode.
2. Add a new circle mesh object from the Add menu.
3. Set Vertices to 12 (one vertex for each hour on the clock).
4. Set Radius to 0.7 m.
5. Set Rotation X to -64 (to match the rotation of the clock):

Excellent – we won't need this object for long. It's just here to serve as a set of snapping points for the numbers. Let's move on:

1. Bring up the Add menu again and choose Text.
2. Set Rotation X to 64 (to match the angle of the clock face).
3. Set Rotation Z to 180 (so that the text isn't backward).
4. Rename the text object Clock_Number:

Text objects have their own version of Edit Mode. Instead of editing vertices, edges, and faces, text objects let you type in custom text. This will be perfect for creating the numbers on the clock:

1. Tab into Edit Mode.
2. Backspace four times to clear away the default letters.
3. Type 12 to get the number 12 for our clock.
4. Tab back into Object Mode.

Good. Now, let's give the text some thickness and center it. Text objects have a special set of options that will let us do both of these things in the Properties panel:

1. Go to the green Object Data Properties tab in the Properties panel.
2. Go to the Geometry subsection.
3. Set Extrude to 0.03 m.

4. Go to the Transform subsection within the Font subsection.
5. Set Size to 0.3.
6. Go to the Alignment subsection.
7. Set Horizontal to Center.
8. Set Vertical to Center:

Good – we've got our first number. Now, we just need to snap it in place:

1. Turn on snapping by clicking on the magnet icon at the top of the 3D View.
2. Open the snap settings pop-up menu to the right of the magnet icon.
3. Change the Snap to mode to Vertex:

Remember that circle with 12 vertices that we made a moment ago? Now, we're going to snap our text object to the top vertex of that circle:

1. Select the text object.
2. Grab it and move it upward, toward the number 12, as shown in the following reference image.

3. Confirm the transformation once it's snapped into place:

Excellent! Now, all we need to do is duplicate the text object 11 times and snap it around to the rest of the clock positions. Once we have our duplicates, we can edit the text to display the appropriate numbers:

1. Select the text object if it isn't selected already.
2. Press the Shift + D hotkey to duplicate the object.
3. Duplicating the object automatically puts us into grab mode.
4. Move the mouse over the number 1 shown in the reference image.
5. Confirm the transformation once it's snapped into place.
6. Tab into Edit Mode.
7. Press Backspace enough times to clear out the irrelevant text.
8. Type in the number that matches the position on the clock.
9. Tab back into Object Mode.
10. Repeat this until you have all 12 numbers.
11. Once all 12 numbers are in place, select the circle object (the one with 12 sides).
12. Delete the circle object by selecting it and pressing the Delete key.

Awesome – we've got numbers on a clock! Our result should look like this:

Let's add a little more detail to the clock before we move on. We need to add the rim and the arrows. The rim is pretty easy:

1. Select the Clock_Main object.
2. Tab into Edit Mode.
3. Select the large face on the near side of the cylinder.
4. Either use the Inset Faces tool from the Toolbar or press the I hotkey.
5. Drag the mouse until the thickness is 0.08 and the face aligns with the inner circle of the reference image:

There we go! Insetting is a lot like extruding, but instead of pulling outward, we pull inward. In this case, it has given us a loop of faces around the rim that we can now extrude to create the rim of the clock face:

1. Hold down the Alt key and click to select the face loop around the clock.
2. Use the Extrude Region tool or press the E hotkey to extrude.
3. Pull the extrusion out to 0.03 m so that it matches the thickness of the numbers.

Perfect! Now, let's add the clock hands:

1. Select the center face.
2. Bring up the Snap pie menu with the Shift + S hotkey.
3. Choose Cursor to Selected.
4. Tab back into Object Mode.
5. Add a new circle mesh object from the Add menu.
6. Set Vertices to 16.
7. Set Radius to 0.12 m.
8. Set Rotation X to -64 (to match the rotation of the clock).
9. Set Fill Type to Triangle Fan.
10. Name this new object Hand_Minute.

Perfect! Now that we have the circle, we can model the arrow:

1. Tab into Edit Mode.
2. Press 2 to switch to Edge Select mode.
3. Select the four edges on the right-hand side of the perimeter of the circle.
4. Extrude the edges and move them along the x-axis so that they align with the base of the arrow in the reference image (see the following screenshot).

5. Extrude and move again, this time out to the tip of the arrow:

So far, so good. This next bit is going to get a tiny bit weird. Did you notice how the operation we just performed was called Extrude Region and Move? That's because pressing the E hotkey is actually a macro of operations; it begins by creating the extrusion, and then it takes us into grab mode to move the extrusion. What this means is we can extrude without moving if we right-click to cancel immediately after pressing the E hotkey. This isn't useful very often, but in this case, it will help us make the pointy sides of the arrow by following as few steps as possible:

1. Select the top and bottom edges between the base and tip of the arrow.
2. Press the E hotkey to extrude.
3. Right-click to cancel the movement but keep the extrusion.
4. Press the S hotkey to start scaling the extruded edges away from each other.
5. Press Y twice to lock the scale to the local y-axis.
6. Pull the mouse outward until the edges line up with the corners of the arrow.

7. Left-click to confirm:

Good! Now, let's finish off the point of the arrow by merging all the vertices together:

1. Press 1 to switch to Vertex Select mode.
2. Select all seven vertices along the right-hand side. Remember to select the centermost vertex last.
3. Go to the Vertex menu at the top of the 3D View.
4. Choose Merge Vertices | At Last:

Awesome! The last thing we need is some thickness, and then we're done with the first arrow! And guess what? We already know how to add thickness – by extruding!

1. Press 3 to switch to Face Select mode.
2. Press the A hotkey to select all of the faces.
3. Press the E hotkey to extrude.
4. Type 0.015 to extrude to half the thickness of the numbers on the clock.

That wasn't so hard. The other clock hand is the same but smaller, so we can just duplicate the minute hand and transform it into place. Duplicating is another macro, so when we press the duplicate hotkey, it will create the duplicate, and then we will immediately be put into grab mode so that we can move the object into a more appropriate place. We will use that to snap the new arrow on top of the original arrow:

1. Tab into Object Mode.
2. Press the Shift + D hotkey to duplicate the arrow.
3. Move it up slightly to snap it on top of the minute hand.
4. Rename the new arrow Hand_Hour.
5. Rotate it by 130 degrees along its local z-axis (press R, Z, Z, type 130, and then press Enter or left-click to confirm).
6. Scale down along the local x and y-axes to 0.75 (press S, Shift + Z, Shift + Z, type .75, and then press Enter or left-click to confirm).
7. Click the magnet at the top of the 3D View to turn snapping back off:

And there we have it – a clock for our time machine with a couple of beautiful arrows! Well done. Next, we will tackle a much simpler piece: the side rails.