Spline Confusion...

[SandmanNinja]

I am using 3DS Max version 9 SP2.

 

I have a floor plan of a house, with a nice detailed dimension layer (printout, not electronic copy).

 

I made a cube the exact dimensions of each room, closet, etc for that house.

 

I aligned the cubes so that they all lined up perfectly (aligned with x/y and min/max).

 

I picked a cube, then attached the other cubes to it.

 

Pressing "H" shows only a single object.

 

I then converted them to poly, selected the OUTER edges, and hit MAKE SHAPE FROM SELECTION.

 

I named this new shape "OUTER_WALLS".

 

Pressing "H" confirms I have only 2 objects - the attached collection of cubes into a single mass, and the new shape.

 

I switch to SPLINE select mode (not VERT and not SEGMENT), but when I select any part of the new shape, it has many segments. There are multiple Yellow "First" verts (roughly one for each cube).

 

Is there a way to 'combine' these into a single shape?

I've recently purchased the arch tutorials from 3D-Quakers and I want to use a particular floorplan that I have to work through the tutorial.

 

I'm trying to bypass the AutoCAD phase and just use a 'simple' way to get the floorplan into 3DS.

 

Thanks all...

[Chad Warner]

Go to vertex subobject mode, select all of the vertices and click on the "weld" button. If all of the "first" vertices line up, it'll join them together and make one spline.

[SandmanNinja]

Hi Chad,

 

Thanks for the quick reply!!

 

I did as you described.

I went to vert mode, I lasso'd all the verts, I clicked weld (default distance is 0.03m), and I actually got 2 new "First" verts!

 

I've attached the max file (ZIP'd with eval copy of WinZip 11) - it's driving me nuts. I guess I can trace the outline and get a single, solid shape, but I'm sure I'm missing something here.

[hughie]

it is not welding because the end points are not hooking up, to get this to work you will have to detach the interior lines, and do what Chad suggested, even that might not work, you could end up with double segments, which can be a pain to find.

the easiest way of creating a single spline would be to redraw the line with the snap tool.

[SandmanNinja]

From a knowledgable friend:

If you have only attached the objects then the edges will end on an edge not a vert (if that makes sense). You need to weld all the objects together before making the shape selection.

 

Think that's the problem. I'll try it when I get off work tonight.

[SandmanNinja]

I tried welding the cubes together, but it didn't really work out. Was in a hurry, as I was walking out the door.

 

I might either:

a) simply draw a new spline OVER the existing shape with snap to vert

or

b) re-think how I'm doing it

 

I am trying to re-create a floorplan from paper and I figured if I made a cube for each room, with the dimensions of those rooms, then the walls would sort of take care of themselves. It may not be that easy.

 

I liked the cubes being the exact dimensions of the room as specified on the floor plan, as that would be 1:1 ratio and I would not have to re-scale later. From Ted Boardman's tutorials, scaling shapes and what-not can be bad, so I want to avoid it. I want the accurate scale, as I want to have proper lighting when I'm through modeling. I thought going the 1-cube-per-room would solve those problems nicely.

 

On the way to work, I thought about maybe turning the cubes into a compound boolean object. It would definately be a single object then. (Union or join or whatever - I'm not in front of Max at the moment)

 

But then I'd lose my internal lines...

 

I might do the cube thing, then trace a new (single) spline along the outer edge to form the outer walls, and the trace a 2nd line to form a single, inner set of walls.

 

If anyone can suggest another method, I'm wide open to ideas.

 

Thanks gang...

[redzuan3828]

hai sandmanNinja

 

First of all you need to understand the spline you want to extrude or shell

must :-

 

1) weld properly

- if you hit spline in editable spline the line turn red all, if not it doesn't work

2) the best way detach the spline into a few wall.

3)don't forget to use outline in editable spline. I'm always use 150mm for thick of wall

4) then finally using proboolean to get window and door opening

 

if this rule you follow it going to be no problem..

[redzuan3828]

I am trying to re-create a floorplan from paper and I figured if I made a cube for each room, with the dimensions of those rooms, then the walls would sort of take care of themselves. It may not be that easy.

 

Firstly I thought it may not be that easy but after I'm trying it not bad.

this is the idea.

 

1) know the dimension of image.

- say 3307x2339 (this is 200 pixels/inch for A3 size)

- Until now it work well for me up to A1 but not so good for A1

- the reason I'm use this dimension is easy to me to match with others

library file: tree, human, etc.

- refer to adobe photoshop about the dimension

 

2) create plane with similar size of dimension at 3ds Max

3) create material + map with similar image size then assign to that plane

4) resize the plane with door size, or others on the image as reference.

5) done.

6) if you want the work easier freeze that plane but before freeze it

select>display properties

uncheck = show frozen in grey

 

then ok

 

I hope it help