[Author: Emrah Yalman]
Hello,
In this tutorial, we'll try to construct two towers. Hopefully, it will look something like this:

Fig.1
This tutorial was prepared as a guide to beginners, new to "
modifiers" in 3D max. Try to repeat what I've done once with the figures I used, and if you have the time, once trying other figures. They'll prove a lot more useful that way.
*****
Construct a box: 30X30X300
Make segments visible by pressing the
F4 key and adjust the height segments as 45, the length and width segments as 6.

Fig.2
Copy the box along
Y axis and from the dialog box that appears, select "
Copy".

Fig.3
Click on the "
Modify" tab and while the newly created box is selected, adjust it's height as
225.

Fig.4
While the box is still selected (click on it if it's not), add the "
Taper" and the "
Twist" modifiers from the "
Modify" section.

Fig.5
Now click on "
Taper" and set the "
Angle" and "
Bias"both to -0,4.

Fig.6
Then select "
Twist" and set it's value to -65

Fig.7
Select both the "
Twist" and "
Taper" (hold down the
CTRL key while one is selected and then click on the other). While they're both selected, right click on them and select "
Copy" from the menu.

Fig.8
Now click the other box to select it. Click on the "
Box" in the "
Modify" segment, right click on it and then select "
Paste Instanced". This applies all the modifiers to the selected objects. By selecting "
Paste Instanced" rather than just "
Paste" makes them associated, so any changes made on one will be applied on the other too.

Fig.9
Click on one of the boxes (I choose the shorter one) and select “
Convert To / Convert to Editable Poly” from the list that comes up.

Fig.10
This box has now become an "
Editable Poly" object and in the "
Modify" section, we will be seeing "
Editable Poly" rather than a "
Box". While this tower is still selected, find the "
Edit Geometry" section in the "b" segment and click on the "
Attach" button, and then click on the other tower. Click on the "
Attach" button once again to end this process. We have now obtained an "
Editable Poly" mesh with two components.

Fig.11
Now click on the plus sign in the "
Editable Poly" heading. This will let us see sub-objects. Click on the "
Polygon". The surfaces will now be selectable. You can simply use the
CTRL+A combo to select all surfaces at once.

Fig.12
Click on the "
Settings" button of "
Inset" in the "
Edit Polygons" heading (the little box beside it). Set the "
Inset Amount" as
0,3 in the window that comes up and select "
By Polygon" as the "
Inset Type". This will apply the inset to all the surfaces separately. Do not forget to hit "
OK".

Fig.13
Click on the "
Settings" button next to the "
Extrude" button and set the "
Extrusion Height" to
0,3. Select "
By Polygon" once again and hit "
OK".

Fig.14
Find a photo of the sky and save it on your computer. You can easily find lots of them from the address: "
images.google.com". Press the "
8" key on your keyboard and then hit the button that reads: "
None". Double-click on "
Bitmap" from the list that comes up.

Fig.15
Find and double-click on the image that you saved on your computer from the window that appears. I'm specifically omitting a screenshot of this step
Try to get an angle that you like and ask for a render simply by pressing
F9.
I know that this has been quite a long article. I wanted to take it really slow for beginners in 3Dmax. Your second try in these features will be ten times as fast as your first try :)
Best regards
Author: Emrah Yalman