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shell tool.
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shell tool. // Archive: Tech Forum
Post by rjeff // Jan 8, 2007, 4:31pm
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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Ok what I have is a canopy for my fighter. What I am trying to do it "shell" out the interior of it so I can then cut out my windows. However I seem to be having issues with it working. Am I using this tool right? Or can it not be used to hollow out the center of a object? |
Post by Bobbins // Jan 8, 2007, 11:09pm
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Bobbins
Total Posts: 506
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The shell tool does exactly what it says - it does hollow out an object leaving a shell. What you might be talking about is strutting an object which replaces the vertices of an object with a strut - think of a steelwork frame for a building to get the idea. The shell tool can do this too which avoids you having to cut out windows.
Enter point edit mode on your object and select the vertices you want to strut, then apply the shell tool. The whole object will be shelled but the selected vertices will get strutted. The shell tool parameters will determine the width and depth of the struts and I strongly recommend copying and saving the mesh before trying this so you have a reference to return in case of problems.
To get the hang of how it works it would be a good idea to start with a simple cube primitive and try the above, then add a few vertices to the cube and try again to see what's happening. |
Post by rjeff // Jan 9, 2007, 4:42am
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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yeah you nailed it man. Thanks I will give that a whirl. |
Post by rjeff // Jan 9, 2007, 6:15pm
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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well I tell you that shell tool is not so easy to use. I make a cube to try this on. I select a face the click on the shell tool and the "inner cube" appears and I can adjust the thickness and all, but then what do I do. There is no apply or anything. It is just there. |
Post by Bobbins // Jan 9, 2007, 11:10pm
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Bobbins
Total Posts: 506
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Well, I tell you that the shell tool is extremely easy to use :)
The parameters for the shell operation should be set up front before applying the tool. That's the reason I said to copy and save the mesh before trying to shell - so that if you get a problem you can always return to the original mesh.
By default selecting faces and shelling will shell the object and cut out the selected faces. In order to strut all or part of the object check the 'Apply Offset' box in the shell properties, select the faces to be strutted between and apply the shell tool. The strutting takes place along the vertices between the selected faces, it cannot strut a face. |
Post by rjeff // Jan 10, 2007, 5:11am
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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Ok here is a screen cap of what I have to this point. I first went and selected the shell tool. Then I created a cube and selected all the faces. I also made sure the apply offset is checked and once all that was done I hit the shell tool icon and this is what I get. when I render the scene all I see is a cube. |
Post by Bobbins // Jan 10, 2007, 5:33am
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Bobbins
Total Posts: 506
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That's because you have "Keep shelled volume" enabled in the shell properties - it's the middle icon of the three. Take that off and try again or just repeat what you've done and move one of the resulting objects to see what you've got. |
Post by rjeff // Jan 10, 2007, 4:10pm
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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Well bobbins I guess I must be stupid. I turn things on and off and nothing works. No matter what I do nothing gets shelled. Basically all I get is a box in a box. Not sure what to do now. |
Post by jamesmc // Jan 10, 2007, 6:15pm
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Shelling the video...
Shows the effects of shelling, which is basically a hollowing out of the original object by the shape introduced. Obviously different shapes give different results. |
Post by Bobbins // Jan 10, 2007, 11:47pm
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Bobbins
Total Posts: 506
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If you're getting a box in a box then you are probably simply shelling and not strutting. Take the outer box and boolean it in half - if it's hollow then you are shelling it alright.
Try the following:
- Start a new scene
- Open the Shell properties dialogue and set as shown in first image below
- Create a primitive cube
- Right click the cube to enter point edit mode
- Select all faces of the cube (I use 'select using rectangle' with backside enabled)
- Shell the cube
- Right click in workspace to exit point edit mode
I get second image shown below
By selecting only certain faces I can selectively strut as shown in 3rd image below. Note the cube has had extra vertices added to show the effect. |
Post by Burisman // Jan 11, 2007, 3:00am
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Burisman
Total Posts: 128
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:banana:
Hi there,
I (beginner) had the same issue as rjeff, and couldn't figure it out, until the image posted by bobbins made it clear to me that I consistently forgot to look at the buttons halfway the parameters panel. Just copying everything made it work in no time.
This will be very useful for the kind of visualizations that I hope to make when I master TS7 a little better.
Thanks guys. I'm learning a tremendous lot by following your discussions!
Eelco (Burisman):) |
Post by Chester Desmond // Jan 11, 2007, 4:22am
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Chester Desmond
Total Posts: 323
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Bobbins, you rule! I've always loved to play with strutting and had no idea this function existed. Thank you very much for pointing it out!
whheeeeeeeee
Incidentally for rjeff, on my display it looked like nothing happened until I slightly shifted the strutted object and\or rendered it a couple times before the faces disappeared and the object looked strutted. |
Post by Chester Desmond // Jan 11, 2007, 4:31am
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Chester Desmond
Total Posts: 323
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yeehaw, even more fun with SDS turned on! |
Post by rjeff // Jan 11, 2007, 5:23am
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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well I am glad all of you are having sooo much fun with this.. and I am glad some of you are figuring it out..I will give it a whirl after work...don't be suprised if I still whine that I can't get it...for some reason this is giving me fits. |
Post by rjeff // Jan 11, 2007, 5:06pm
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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ok got it figured out. Thanks for the help. Now look at what happens when I strut my canopy for my ship... I could not strut the top due to the many faces on top so I will just have to boolean that out. However the sides and front are one large face, but they got really messed up. any ideas? |
Post by rjeff // Jan 11, 2007, 5:07pm
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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here is the image.... |
Post by Bobbins // Jan 12, 2007, 12:20am
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Bobbins
Total Posts: 506
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Would help to see the original mesh before you used the shell tool on it and also a wireframe of the result. It's not possible to tell from the render if the stray faces show up only at render time or in the realtime displays as well. It's either a case of poor geometry to start with or you've hit some of the limits of the shell tool. Have you tried point editing the mesh to remove those faces at all? |
Post by rjeff // Jan 12, 2007, 2:46am
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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ok here is the messed up mesh as well as the good mesh |
Post by Bobbins // Jan 12, 2007, 9:16am
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Bobbins
Total Posts: 506
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I'm afraid it's not a very good mesh - the sides are n-gons and the top and bottom faces have diferent number of vertices. In any transparent or solid view you can see artifacts in the sides which is a giveaway that something is probably amiss.
I'd start with a scaled cube then sweep one face several times. After that, go to a side view and position the top and bottom edges into the required shape - that will give you much better geometry to start with and the ability to add extra edges where you want the struts to appear. The image below shows what I mean - it's just a crude representation of your canopy mesh I made in a couple of minutes but you should get the idea. |
Post by rjeff // Jan 12, 2007, 10:26am
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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well the way I got my canopy mesh is with the 2d draw plane and sweeping it to match the cuves of the body of the ship. Without doing it the very hard way what would be the easiest way to match my curves? |
Post by Bobbins // Jan 13, 2007, 1:04am
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Bobbins
Total Posts: 506
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You've already used the ship as a reference for the 2D draw plane so you can use the exact same method for aligning the vertices. Alternatively if you are using a drawing as a reference you can load the drawing as a background to the window and use that to align the vertices to. |
Post by rjeff // Jan 13, 2007, 5:53pm
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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one thing I have noticed bobbins is that when I do strut this object that it struts all the faces along the top.. I can't delete these faces so I guess I will have to do this the hard way. |
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