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Old 9th January 2009, 12:19 PM   #11
Lucky1
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Default 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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lisa View Post
- I draw a polyline using the polyline tool
- I subdivide the polyline to 3 division levels using Object > Subdivide +
.
Now this is what I did, and now with the subdivision back on it works right, but no matter what I do, I can't get it to fill in only to the curved line.
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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Old 11th January 2009, 04:42 PM   #12
lisa
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Default Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....

Anytime!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky1 View Post
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?
Nah. I was just fooling around so you could get some ideas for later. Just the line and subdivide are required.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky1 View Post
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'm still not sure what could be causing that, all I can figure is there must be an extra surface in there hiding.

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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Old 13th January 2009, 11:48 PM   #13
Lucky1
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Default 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
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Old 15th January 2009, 02:40 PM   #14
lisa
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Default 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.
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Old 17th January 2009, 01:58 PM   #15
Lucky1
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Default Re: Defining surfaces and other new questions....

Thank you! That helped immensely!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lisa View Post
[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.]
No problem, I understand.

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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Old 18th January 2009, 06:34 PM   #16
lisa
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Default 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.
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Old 25th January 2009, 05:37 PM   #17
Lucky1
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Default 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.
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Old 27th January 2009, 05:28 AM   #18
Ham
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Default 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.
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Old 27th January 2009, 10:08 AM   #19
Lucky1
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Default 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
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Old 27th January 2009, 05:13 PM   #20
lisa
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Default 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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