Gutting meshes

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Gutting meshes // TS6 and Older

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Post by pkburr02 // Sep 14, 2006, 7:24am

pkburr02
Total Posts: 20
OK i've been a way for a while (dear God I hate work), but I'm back now with a new question, I have been trying for a while to create a ship (or anything vehicle would do) where i can create a cockpit to put a person into. I made my mesh and then try to boolean out the area i need and that doesn't seem to want to work correctly, so exactly what would be the best way to remove the highlighted areas in the picture?


Thanks in advance,

Phillip


http://dragon-hunter.net/temp/screenshot_001.jpg

Post by splinters // Sep 14, 2006, 8:04am

splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Not sure why Boolean would cause problems on such a simple mesh. Have you tried polygon bevel then sweep into the main body to create a cockpit?

Perhaps delete a line or two before sweeping.


Ironically, I actually like work but then again a portion of my time is spent using tS as part of my job.

Post by stan // Sep 14, 2006, 8:29am

stan
Total Posts: 1240
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boolean should work..try identity 1

Post by pkburr02 // Sep 14, 2006, 6:21pm

pkburr02
Total Posts: 20
Stan did you use the Shell command? that's how I keep trying it, after playing with all kinds of settings, the picture is the best i could come up wiht as far as cutting out the areas i'm wanting. But as you can see still not what i'm going for.


http://dragon-hunter.net/temp/screenshot_002.jpg

Post by GraySho // Sep 15, 2006, 1:49am

GraySho
Total Posts: 695
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I'm sure stan just used object subtraction. You can see the drill object he created in his image.

Post by stan // Sep 15, 2006, 3:42am

stan
Total Posts: 1240
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Phillip..as GraySho suggested I used boolean subtraction with the drill object shown..using identity 1

the shell tool hollows an object true, but you seemed to want windows..it can be done in one subtraction on simple objects..:)

the shell tool is seperate from the boolean tools, it was once a plugin, I don't think the boolean settings have any effect on it..:D

Gord :cool:

Post by Jack Edwards // Sep 25, 2006, 5:34am

Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Hi Phillip,


You may want to consider modelling the cockpit interior separately then placing it inside and just paint the windows with a transparent material so that the cockpit shows through.


-Jack.

Post by pkburr02 // Sep 25, 2006, 7:47am

pkburr02
Total Posts: 20
well in the long run the plan was actaully to "cut" the top off, so i can have a canopy that can open, but i've tried modling it seperate and can never get it to line up just right.

Post by Jack Edwards // Sep 25, 2006, 12:26pm

Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Hmmm... you may want to look into getting the polytools plugins since those allow you to do edge modelling instead of box modeling.


When using those kinds of tools its easy to create bad geometry that can crash TS or make your model pretty unrecoverable, so you need to be careful and use the object library to save your work at different stages as you go.


The canopy really should be a seperate object too if you need to animate it.


The best way to make sure things line up is to work off a reference images textured to image planes set up in your orthographic views. I usually create a sketch of the object I'm modeling in front and side views so that I know where I need to put the vertexes.


If you want it to align with your ship demensions you could render your ship from the top view, then create a plane the same dimentions as the rendered image (for example: 512x256 would be 5.12x2.56) and add the image as texture to the plane. You can repeat with the side and front views. Then you can model with the image on the plane as a guide, and your work will line up.


Let me know if you need some screen captures to show what I'm talking about.

Post by pkburr02 // Sep 25, 2006, 1:57pm

pkburr02
Total Posts: 20
I already have polytools, picked them up the same day i got tS6 actaully, but don't really use them, because i have had a few problems like you mentioned about tS crashing on me, and not being able to recover the model i've been working on. HOWEVER i do use the Save As... function ALOT so it's not usually that big a deal. And I will look into the referance images you mentioned. Thanks for the advice.


Phillip

Post by Jack Edwards // Sep 26, 2006, 1:46pm

Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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I used the sissor plugin to cut out the mouth in my low poly dog that I'm working on. Thought everything was fine until TS7 Player side started crashing on me. I'd ended up creating a face that was both internal and external -- not a good thing. I tried a bunch of things to fix the prob and nothing worked. Thought for sure the mesh was toast. Then I remembered a nifty little trick that I'd heard someone else mention:


create a cube somewhere in the scene but not touching your model then select your model and boolean subtract the cube.


Sure enough the boolean got rid of the funky face and after recreating the problem face I was back in business. :D


You may want to try using the object library to save your work in stages. If you keep the library open, it's only a right click->"insert" (on the pop up menu) and your model is saved. It's also a lot faster to restore after a crash or screw up. Just double click the model in the library and it's back in your scene. No hunting for save files.


-Jack.

Post by westly // Oct 2, 2006, 6:16am

westly
Total Posts: 12
I do lots of ships and cockpits are a pain, or used to be. I use the boolean subtract tool.


I paint a polygon in the shape I want on the cockpit and then sweep it into a 3d shape and then just boolean subtract it from the main cockpit object. Best thing is to set the boolean subtract tool to keep drill so you have your window for placement. Then select the drill that was left, adjust its thickness to your needs and position back into the hole you just created with it. I do this for each face you want to cutout.


This has worked for many of my ships in the past.


Hope this helps

Post by 3dpdk // Jan 25, 2007, 10:48am

3dpdk
Total Posts: 212
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EDIT [Sorry! I didn't see how old this thread was.]

Simple solution:

In point edit mode use the remove face tool. Your object will go from a solid to a hollow form. Now you will have to model the windows and interior of the cockpit and make sure your render options are not set to single sided.
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