Favorite method to model walls?

[Antisthenes]

VisualARQ is still free and does ADT walls doors and windows.

 

but i prefer to do my own NURBS Solids and Booleans

if i have to detach some surfaces to give the interior walls a different finish i will, but as one of the last steps.

[archkre]

Did you see the little tutorial that Smoke3d has in the Resources section here? That is worth looking at if you haven't.

 

If you have a screen shot of a typical situation where you get into that kind of trouble, then post it and I'm sure there is a solution. Some things to remember when working in max:

 

- snap modes will override the transform gizmo directional constraints. Find the Ortho constraint button in the Customize UI dialog and pin it to your main toolbar.

 

- in subobject mode, enable Ignore backfacing if you are accidentally picking hidden points, edges, or polys. Hold down Ctrl while picking to add and Alt to subtract from your selection.

 

- sometimes vertex mode is the best for moving things around, sometimes it is better to use the other modes. With some experience you will quickly learn which mode is best for a particular task.

 

- learn Extrude, Chamfer, Inset, Quickslice, Connect, and why welding vertices is important.

 

- when you select an edge, find out what Ctrl-L does.

 

Why welding vertices is important??

I am trying to use this poly-editing method but when I do the negative extrusion to the openings and/or walls edges, strange things happen ( you can see them in the pic!)

What in the world am i doing wrong?

Thank you

[Derek Forreal]

Why welding vertices is important??

 

as you model you might get into a situation where you have 2 or more verts that seem to be a single vert. the faces that connect to these verts won't be connected properly and so when you apply an inset/extrude etc, it does weird and unexpected things. to get around this you need to model carefully and check that everything is welded so that your model remains 'valid'.

 

in the picture that you show, try to move one of the verts that gets distorted after you inset. is there another vert in the same position? if so you need to weld or collapse all the verts that are in the same place and then check the others too. once you are sure that everything is connected properly, try the inset again and see if it works.

 

sorry, not the best explanation but i hope it helps.