dorf Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 I having some difficulty creating moulding around the exterior of a house I am trying to model. I have created a shape using the side profile of the moulding I want to use and my intention was to rail extrude it around the exterior of the house. The problem is Modeler doesn't allow this. The only other way I can think of doing this is by extruding my shape. When I get to a corner of the house I then slice the extruded moulding at a 45 degree angle and copy, rotate, and flip that shape to line it up with the other piece of the moulding. I am left with 2 pieces of moulding then which I don't think is ideal. I then continue these steps until I've gone around the exterior of the house. I am also not sure how to fuse these two pieces together to make for easier selection and texturing. This seems harder than it needs to be. Does anyone know a better technique for creating architectural details like these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl zacharias Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 what software and version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorf Posted June 10, 2005 Author Share Posted June 10, 2005 I'm using Lightwave 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl zacharias Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Use max only...but look for a modifier like loft, sweep, or a CAD extrude along a path...for these you would set up a line and a profile...sorry couldn't be of more help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorf Posted June 10, 2005 Author Share Posted June 10, 2005 Thanks for the suggestions but I've looked for tools like that. The rail extrude in lightwave only works with curved paths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vpii@vpii.com Posted June 11, 2005 Share Posted June 11, 2005 Go to flay.com and plugins like multibevel or vertibevel will work with your molding profile. Instead of a rail function of going around you model, it will go up beveling your profile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IC Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 It's probably not the best way but I tend to use Point Extender to create new geometry at the end of one extrusion run. Then I use Shear to stretch the points in the direction they need to go next. Then extrude again. Repeat those steps until done and you have perfectly aligned, merged geometry. edit:- Just seen this on Flay........http://www.flay.com/GetDetail.CFM?ID=2175 Might be just what you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorf Posted June 13, 2005 Author Share Posted June 13, 2005 Thanks VPII, I'll give those beveling plugins a try. I hope they work better than the default one for doing bevels on multiple polygons at once. I was attempting to use bevel to do the mouldings before but the bevels would either overlap each other or seperate depending on the shape of my object. It seemed like a long and tedious process to go and correct each bevel so the point lined up correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorf Posted June 13, 2005 Author Share Posted June 13, 2005 Hey IC, thanks for letting me know about those plugins too. I'm not sure what you mean about your point extender technique but I'll definitely give it a try and let you know how it turns out. Just checked out the link to the Fake Realtime Rail Extrude plugin; not sure if it will do what I need it to. I will take a look at it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorf Posted June 13, 2005 Author Share Posted June 13, 2005 It's probably not the best way but I tend to use Point Extender to create new geometry at the end of one extrusion run. Then I use Shear to stretch the points in the direction they need to go next. Then extrude again. Repeat those steps until done and you have perfectly aligned, merged geometry. Hey IC, what settings do you have when you use the shear tool to create bevels? I was playing around with after using point extender but I don't understand what I am trying to do with the shear tool. Am I trying to push the points outwards? or push them up vertically? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IC Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 The shear tool is used to take a group of points and 'stretch' them in one axis so they're ready to be extruded in another direction. Not easy to explain so here's a quick example: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 Sounds silly, but I usually put the molding in a background layer, and use the bevel tool to match the molding. Works really well in most circumstances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IC Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 The reason I use the technique I've described above is it's the only way I know to get the joints right at corners. Bevelling is much quicker but I just can't ever get great results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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