9th January 2009, 12:19 PM | #11 | |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Thanks again Lisa, and ya, I had hit that 'd' button. I use 'Alt Z' to delete a lot and must have struck it in my madness....hehe.
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I even tried the Poly and Polyline buttons and it didn't help. I have to admit, I'm not sure what the purpose is of the rest of the steps...are they required everytime I want to make a 2D curve? So to recap, to make my little Ice Cream Cone, I do the above and get it nice and rounded. I can even get it to look ideal in all views. Then I add the bottom part, the V. I select it all and add a surface to it, but no matter how I do that, it's always a point at the top. I cannot see another level or part, it looks like a cone in wireframe, but when it fills in it looks just like the screenshot I posted earlier. Any idea how I can make my little cone? Thanks! Wes |
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11th January 2009, 04:42 PM | #12 | ||
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Anytime!
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But here's how I'd do it: - Draw a 3-point polyline to make the curve at the top of the cone. - Extrude the polyline. - Select the entire object and switch the surface mode from polyline to polygon and delete the extra front or back-facing surfaces. - (Optional) If you want the cone to have a super-sharp point, select Object > Commit Subdivision. This will lock the subdivisions in place as they are, making them uneditable, but will allow the rest of the shape to be non-curved. Otherwise, if you don't want to commit subdivisions, you can still make the cone fairly pointy by adding a second set of vertices near the tip. - In vertex mode, highlight the two vertices at the top edge of the curve and select Vertex > Extrude Edge. Drag the vertices down to make the point of the cone. - Repeat using the bottom two vertices. - (Optional) To weld the point of the cone, highlight the two vertices on the left and click Vertex > Snap Together. If you have a lot of vertices, you can also use "Snap Together by Distance" with an appropriate radius to do several at one time. Repeat for the right side. Then click Object > Optimize Vertices. I also recorded two quick videos to illustrate better. With committing subdivisions (super-sharp point, but non-editable): http://www.independentdeveloper.com/...commitsubd.wmv Without committing subdivisions (editable curves): http://www.independentdeveloper.com/files/nocommit.wmv Note: the closer you move the two points together at the tip, the sharper the curve. Also, it was completely sharp before I welded it, all depends on what you want to achieve. |
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13th January 2009, 11:48 PM | #13 |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Thank you so much Lisa, you're a gem.
Well I'm officially in the club....I bought the program. What you showed me is just amazing, and I think this program has about the right degree of complexity for me. Though I still hardly know how to use it....I just hope I can get to the point where I can do what I want with it, and I think with practice I will be able to. Now your videos are just amazing (and fun to watch!) but perhaps we could go a little slower and not use the extruding feature just yet? You see, the wireframe model I am trying to make...well...I just think it would be easier to solve my problem if we kept that off for now. See, I have made a wireframe model and now I just want to curve one or two lines, and then put a surface on it. Can we do that on each line I want without making them 3D? Let me put it another way perhaps. Below demostrates my confusion, I will tell you how I did it. -I draw a 4 point polyline to create a square shape, then doubleclick on the last point -I highlight the entire drawing and select Subdivide+ 3 times -I then choose "Select-Vertex" -I then select the entire object and go to the Vertex menu and select Create Convex Surface....and this is what I get. So again, my problem is: what do I do when I have a complex drawing and all I want to do is curve a line and fill in the panel? Thanks again! Wes |
15th January 2009, 02:40 PM | #14 |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Ah, got ya! Ok. Finally just clicked what I think you're trying to build.
You've almost got it. Here's what you need to do: - Do as you are presently, and make your four-point polygon - Subdivide three times - Make sure your curve is as you want it, then click Object > Commit Subdivision - Under surface type, click Poly That should give you a tear-drop shape that's filled in... since it was a polyline not a polygon, you don't need to use create convex object because the surface already exists. [EDIT: little clarification since I know we've been talking about creating surfaces all along... if it's just a polyline, not extruded, it's effectively a 2D shape. AC3D allows any number of sides in a surface, so practically any 2D shape can be treated as a surface. If your shape was 3D, you'd like need to use convex shape or ordered surface to fill in the surfaces. I hope that makes sense, I don't think I'm explaining it very well.] Last edited by lisa; 15th January 2009 at 02:43 PM. |
17th January 2009, 01:58 PM | #15 | |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Thank you! That helped immensely!
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Speaking as someone really new to this (like that isn't obvious) it would really be good if the terms used were clearly defined somewhere. To a newcomer we don't even know what the difference is between a "Polygon" and a "Polyline" you know? There are a lot of terms new to me. If you have a link to where they're described feel free to post it. I've printed out the manual but it's not really in there. I am going to work on my model some more and see what I come against next. Right now I'm going through my model to "Snap Together" a bunch of Vertecies I want to act together. So I'll let you know how I come along. Thanks again! Wes |
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18th January 2009, 06:34 PM | #16 |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
You're most welcome!
Unfortunately I don't have a link for a really comprehensive 3D terminology glossary, but here's a couple that aren't bad: http://www.computerarts.co.uk/downlo...world_glossary http://www.avsim.com/fsbench/glossary.htm Looking forward to seeing your model when it's ready. |
25th January 2009, 05:37 PM | #17 |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Thanks for those links Lisa, I was waiting for another question to come along before posting again.
My next question is this: I have an involved line in my drawing, and I would like to add Subdivisions on one segment only. How can I do that? It always subdivides the whole line. For example, if I were to draw an "L" using three vertecies, how could I sudivide say only the vertical line? Thanks! Wes Last edited by Lucky1; 25th January 2009 at 07:39 PM. |
27th January 2009, 05:28 AM | #18 |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Select two vertices, ie, the line.
Command or Control + SHIFT +"I" or under the menus Vertex > Insert Vertex This will create a single vertice at the center of those points. Should do the trick for ya. |
27th January 2009, 10:08 AM | #19 |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Sorry, but not really.
I inserted the vertex you mentioned, but I want to pull that to the left for example, and then curve that line. But if I choose Subdivide then, it will subdivide both the vertical and horizontal lines. I want the horizontal line to stay straight and be unaffected by subdivisions. Wes |
27th January 2009, 05:13 PM | #20 |
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Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....
Create it as a separate object (you can still snap the vertices to keep the placement dead-on)
-OR- make your curve and commit subdivisions first, then add the straight segment. |
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