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3DIrishman's Sci-fi Blender Thread

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  • McCMcC373 Posts: 704Member
    A couple of tricks you can use here to avoid that problem:
    • Try triangulating it first.
    • Try detaching and isolating *just* the pieces you want to boolean.
    • Make sure both objects are closed meshes. Open-ended meshes/meshes with holes in them almost always leave behind garbage polygons.
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    Thanks for that, McC. I learned the other day about the closed meshes restriction, after having bashed my head against the wall for an hour.

    Here's my progress, having applied the boolean successfully, and just having cleaned up the mess:

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/TOStest15.png.html?sort=3&o=0

    The hull does have a subsurf applied of 3 view & 6 render.
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    It's coming along nicely. Shuttlebay cuts (and other cuts of this variety) are definitely a huge pill with all of the cleanup involved, but it is worth it in the end. Plus, the more you do, the easier it gets. :)
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    Evil Genius, that's sure what I'm hoping!!

    So, I just finished filling in the bottom of the undercut with geometry using your suggestion. One question though: I notice that you only applied the extrude/scale to 3d cursor at 0 method for all but the lowermost area. Why? Would there be anything wrong with edge selecting opposing sides you want to fill in and just adding a face there? Other than it's arguably slower than your method?

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/TOStest16.png.html?sort=3&o=0
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    Looking good. :thumb:
    [Irishman] wrote: »
    Would there be anything wrong with edge selecting opposing sides you want to fill in and just adding a face there? Other than it's arguably slower than your method?

    Nope, nothing wrong with that at all. That's how I used to do it in Lightwave because Lightwave can't extrude edges, as far as I know. Just make sure you apply your mirror modifier first so that you can select the other side, unless you're not using a mirror modifier, in which case ignore that part. ;) I just find the extrusion method to be faster, but how you do it all comes down to your own personal taste. You'll often find tutorials that show you one way and you wind up finding a way you like to do it better. :)
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    While I'm thinking about it, and before I leave for work, I've heard other Blender artists (SciFiEric on the 3dscifi forum most recently) talk about using the spin tool to create their saucers. I'm more than passingly familiar with the spin tool, but whenever I use it in that way, it leaves an ugly line along the height of the geometry that I can't figure out how to get rid of.

    I would LOVE to be able to use the spin tool without that ugliness.

    Any insight?
  • McCMcC373 Posts: 704Member
    Can you post a screenshot? Not sure I understand what you're describing from the description alone.

    Side note, spin tool only really works for saucers that are perfectly round, and only as base geometry. IMO, you're better off with a subsurf cage that gets mirrored (or Arrayed with a rotated Empty as the object offset!).
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    I think I know what you're talking about from using the spin tool in that way in the past. It may be caused by double vertices. To get rid of it, select all of your verts in Edit mode and hit "Remove Doubles." If it says anything other than "Removed 0 Vertices," you had doubles. Then go back to Object mode and see if you still have the line. If you do, then you'll have to post that sceenshot McC was talking about. ;)
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    Tried remove doubles first thing. No change.

    Here is the screenshot on the object I first noticed it on.

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/Screen%20Shot%202015-10-27%20at%206.14.21%20PM.png.html?sort=3&o=0
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Maybe you have a row of faces on the inside of the mesh, connecting the inner and outer surfaces? That's what it looks like. Let's see a transparent screenshot of the line. Or you could sen me a blender file with the artifact in it and i could look at it for you.
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Yes, it looks like you might have a row of faces connecting the inside and outside surfaces. Make sure there are no faces inside the "glass" itself.

    You should be able to see the faces, if you look at the object in transparent mode.
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    Yeah, that can happen when you spin a face. Personally, I avoid this issue by deleting the face (but not the verts and edges) before I spin.
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    If it helps, I learned it this way:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQUT9sbTX44

    ETA: I don't think this tutorial above shows how to spin faces. Just verts. At least that's what I did.

    Should I draw the lines I want, hit x and choose to delete faces? Even though there are no faces visible?

    Then spin?
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    You know how, when you're looking for just the right resource to base parts of your model, and they all seem to vary just enough to make you discard them for more than just basic sizing?

    And then, you get all OCD and start scouring the web for photos of the original series models to get a definitive answer to it?

    Yes, ladies and genitals, I'm looking for nacelle pylons!
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    Ok. I've gotten the nacelle pylons in place in rough form (no vent details yet).

    Now I'm trying to make Eric's E-Nil deflector dish using his method from this thread http://www.3dscifi.com/forums/showthread.php?2590-Eric-s-Blenderprise/page118 posts 1179 and 1180.

    I'm to the spot where I've got the spline in place, but want to add vertices to it. I've tried selecting one vertex and CTRL-left clicking like I would if I were freehand drawing in edit mode, but no good. That method wants to add edges as well. I want to add vertices to the existing edge. Is there something simple I'm missing? (there usually is when it comes to me) :)
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    Did you change the selection button under User Preferences (Input tab) to use the left mouse button? If not, you either need to shift and select with the right mouse button, or change that. Though, if you are already using the right mouse button to select, you may not want to change that. ;)

    Also, I don't know if you know this, but you can batch select with a rectangle by hitting "B" in Edit mode and then holding down your selection mouse button and "drawing" a rectangle around what you want to select. It's a time saver. So is Edge Loop selection.
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    Did you change the selection button under User Preferences (Input tab) to use the left mouse button? If not, you either need to shift and select with the right mouse button, or change that. Though, if you are already using the right mouse button to select, you may not want to change that. ;)

    Also, I don't know if you know this, but you can batch select with a rectangle by hitting "B" in Edit mode and then holding down your selection mouse button and "drawing" a rectangle around what you want to select. It's a time saver. So is Edge Loop selection.

    All of the Blender tutorials seem to use the default left click/right click settings, so I didn't change that. It helps keep me from confusing myself.

    Yep, Box select is a life saver. :) So is Paint select.

    Any thoughts on my problem duplicating Eric's method for adding vertices to an existing edge without adding new edges? I know extruding can do that, too, but I'm saving that for adding to it per Eric's method.
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    I don't know, I've never looked at Eric's method. I can take a look at it tonight, I'm currently on a bus. ;)
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    I don't know, I've never looked at Eric's method. I can take a look at it tonight, I'm currently on a bus. ;)

    Yeah, don't....don't try that on the bus.
  • MaxxRushMaxxRush180 Posts: 168Member
    [Irishman] wrote: »
    Any thoughts on my problem duplicating Eric's method for adding vertices to an existing edge without adding new edges? I know extruding can do that, too, but I'm saving that for adding to it per Eric's method.

    In Mesh Edit mode, select the edge you want to add the vertex to, Ctrl-E, Subdivide. Then switch to vertex selection and your vert should be there. You can also use Ctrl-V, then Slide to slide the vert along the edge once it's selected.

    Edit: These commands are also under the Mesh pulldown in Mesh edit mode.
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    [Irishman] wrote: »
    Yeah, don't....don't try that on the bus.

    Yeah, they don't make Blender for Android.... yet. ;)
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    MaxxRush wrote: »
    In Mesh Edit mode, select the edge you want to add the vertex to, Ctrl-E, Subdivide. Then switch to vertex selection and your vert should be there. You can also use Ctrl-V, then Slide to slide the vert along the edge once it's selected.

    Edit: These commands are also under the Mesh pulldown in Mesh edit mode.

    Subdividing the edge works for me! Thanks so much for that. :) I used the W hotkey to bring up the specials menu for subdividing, BTW.
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    Now, on to the part where Eric adds a circle primitive to the existing spline...

    More when I have it. :)
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    None of the tutorials I'm finding are of any help...

    hm....
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    Taking a bit of a Enterprise break. What with the new Star Wars movie coming in a few weeks, I thought I'd play around with Blender and one of the OTHER most iconic spacecraft in film:

    Please to enjoy:

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/Falcon1.png.html?sort=3&o=2

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/Falcon2.png.html?sort=3&o=1

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/Falcon3.png.html?sort=3&o=0

    Just blocking out the basic forms, using Robert Brown's data for the scaling.
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    Things are moving along nicely. I've added a temp diffuse shader to the hull, with a hull color sampled from the OT's 32" studio model. I've added the full cockpit corridor, placeholder for the gunwells, the central radiating structure that will house the ramp.

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/Falcon4.png.html?sort=3&o=2

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/Falcon5.png.html?sort=3&o=1

    http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Irishman/media/Falcon6.png.html?sort=3&o=0

    Thoughts?
  • Vortex5972Vortex5972321 Posts: 1,202Member
    It's shaping up nice.
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    It's looking good so far. :)
  • [Irishman][Irishman]177 Posts: 117Member
    The million dollar question seems to be which dish I should do.

    Any opinion one way or the other?
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