cutting a shape from multiple objects

[kevin miller]

I have attached a pdf of a park bench I am trying to model. I started with renderable splines but realized there would be an issue with trying to trim the seat slats to the arc shape on the back. So I then created a sweep of the slat, converted to editable poly, attached all slats as one object, created a separate arc'd object, and tried proboolean to cut the slat object with the arc'd object. It worked but I could not access the individual slats as elements since as as soon as I would collapse to poly or convert these to poly they would disappear from screen. I finally got a fatal exemption and the file was then corrupted.

 

This is an easy chore in any other program such as FormZ(super boolean capabilities) or Sketchup and I am trying my best to try modelling strictly using 3ds max but everything seems more "complicated". The boolean operations seem finicky at best. However, I am a newbie so I am sure one of you max experts has a quick solution when trying cut multiple objects into a shape like this.

 

Any help is much appreciated as I would like to make the switch over to max as my primary modelling, rendering, and animation application.

 

Thanks,

 

K.

[SandmanNinja]

Booleans are a bit twitchy in 3ds.

 

I think I'd tackle the modelling approach in the same way that you did.

hmmmm

Try Boolean instead of ProBoolean...

 

How much memory and what version of windows and 3ds are you using?

[kevin miller]

SandmanNinja,

 

First off, thanks for responding. You are pretty responsive when I post and I thought you should know it is appreciated.

 

Anyway, I solved the problem using the ProCut tool under compound objects. I am currently repeating the process to make sure it works on the real model. If someone is interested I will post how I accomplished this. I am not real fond of Max's boolean tools. This is one area where Max lags far behind other apps. However, I am giving Max a fair shake before making any rash judgements as it does have some real strengths in other areas. It is troubling to think it would have taken me all but 30 minutes to have modeled this bench in another program but I am trying to be open minded.

 

The next challenge will be modelling the hip roof. Again, a pretty accurate hip roof would take me maybe 30 - 45 minutes (actually, if that) to model in another app but it was a real struggle to do this with any accuracy in Max. I am about to try it again. I am thinking of getting the bezel roof plugin I saw somewhere but not sure how it works.

 

Thanks again,

 

K.

[kevin miller]

Oh, and my basic specs were as follows, 4 gigs of ram, (2) 512 video cards, 2.8 g processor, vista w/ service pack 2 and max 2009 design.

[SandmanNinja]

great - glad you sorted it out.

 

I have the Batzal roof plugin and it takes a bit of getting use to but I can do a roof in about a minute now.

 

I find it helps to keep AutoCAD open and do quick DIST commands to get the constraint values for the verts.

 

If you get the plug-in and have problems/questions, feel free to PM me.

[Stephen Thomas]

I just tried it with renderable splines and had no problem doing the boolean. Didn't even have to convert to editable poly first, just attched the splines then did the boolean operation. Nice and clean. What was the issue you were having with it?

[kevin miller]

I did not try it the way you did so that might be another option. I wound up using a sweep modifier to create the slats as I wanted to be able to chamfer the egdes to not have the sharp edges. I converted these sweeps into edit polys and then did the boolean as you show. It worked but then I could not access the individual slats (I had attached them before boolean). BTW, did you attach all of your splines prior to the boolean? I actually had not idea I could boolean different object types but then again I am a newb. As I mentioned, I found another way but thanks for responding.

[kevin miller]

Thanks for the offer of help on the plugin. Can you do a decent slate tile roof with this showing the valleys and hip ridge capping?

[SandmanNinja]

It does ridge capping pretty nicely. I've wrestled with valley edges. You can create a spline from any selected edge and then use a sweep to get the effect. There are a lot of options. The support is good. And it's only US$35, so I think it does well for the price. He also has a New Feature Suggestion area and you can see older posts with ideas that are now built into the plug-in. Pretty snazzy.