Need help with basic lofting

[stayinwonderland]

 

I always run into this when lofting. The path will have a sharp turn and the shape/cross section starts to pass through the loft and look tangled.

 

Is the solution to add another instance of the shape along the loft and rotate it a touch?

 

Thanks

[Ismael]

"Acute angles can cause problems when the cross sections formed by the path steps intersect at the corners. You can mitigate this by avoiding acute angles or by reducing the path steps."

 

Model half and mirror?

[stayinwonderland]

reducing path steps isn't an option as it becomes very jagged. If I delete half then the point where they meet in the top/middle isn't flat.

 

If I add another shape at the end of the path, the whole loft buckles and warps between the two ends.

 

Surely there's a better way to do this?

[Nicolai Bongard]

What ismael said is correct. The symmetry modifier is your friend.

[Ismael]

Loft/Sweep half the spline from ground to point top. Slice polygons vertically at the mirror point, mirror and weld.

[stayinwonderland]

Thanks. I had to take some of the contour out of the general design of that shape or it would have meant butchering the path/loft to get what I wanted. So I just stuck with an arch. Shame it's so fiddly.

[jasonstewart]

You can use the path of the inside of the shape vs. the outside but then you end up with a straight section on the ends. Its miserable how bad it is in Max. Another thing on the list that will never get fixed.

[marius e]

You can use the path of the inside of the shape vs. the outside but then you end up with a straight section on the ends. Its miserable how bad it is in Max. Another thing on the list that will never get fixed.

 

Have to agree, some features are so needed and changing to max design one would think autodesk would fix tools for the industry.

[nileshbhagwat]

i don't think so you have to work with the path it will solve the problem