Any tips on how to create a 'cut-away' look?

[PiXeL_MoNKeY]

Actually its pretty simple. For a basic cut away:
1) Select all your meshes for the cutaway.
2) Adjust the slice plane as needed.
3) Use a slice modifier with it set to remove top or bottom.
4) Apply a Cap Holes modifier.

This works best if your mesh is a solid mesh, i.e. no open polies as the cap holes may cap them unwantedly.

Hope this helps,
-Eric

[Hazdaz]

Thats some damn good thinking right there... Im gonna give it a try and post up any results if it looks good.

Thanks.

[DerPapa]

Don't expect too much from that technique. I tried to cut a solid, but organic model this way, but the capholes modifier freaked out completely. It's the same old boolean story. Since Max was released we are waiting for a working solution here. I dunno why this is still ignored at discreet.
Anyway, have fun with cleaning the mesh after capping :)

cheers
Michael

[RockinAkin]

It's the same old boolean story. Since Max was released we are waiting for a working solution here. I dunno why this is still ignored at discreet.
It isn't just max, it's every 3d program I've ever encountered that deals with booleans.
It's just the nature of the beast. Booleans = Terrible Geometry

[jabbermacy]

I think Cebas has a plug to do this? 'Scalpel' or something...

Yeah, here it is:

http://www.cebas.com/products/products.php?UD=10-7888-33-788&PID=6

[Hazdaz]

Well I just tried a few tests on a simple box and the Slice and Cap Holes mods works great - up until a point. I rendered out a very small AVI and you can see it slicing through the box very nicely - until it hits about 1/2 way and then it sjust messes up and caps the entire object at the slicing plane.

I am going to mess with it on the model that I actually want to slice through and see if it messes on that one too. Too bad, cuz it had potential.

About Cebas' plug-in, it looks to be exactly what I want to achieve, but not at the cost of $150. That might be reasonable if I do it alot more, but for a one time thing I will have to find some other work around.

[Hazdaz]

I just tried it on the actual model, and it worked surprisingly well. I figured it would come out worse than the test box (from the above post), but it worked way better on this model even though it was way higher poly.

This is just a test to see how it would slice it, and I think its pretty clean. I'll eventually be slicing the entire model right through. This test AVI is about 400K:

LINK (http://www.radiantcad.com/images/Norelco-cut-away-01.avi)

Post up any comments.

[WoiKiCK]

Thank you. I first read your post and thought it wasn't what I was after (man, how did I manage that??). Now I see everything... :applause:

Thanks a lot!

[FreakyDude]

There's yet another way to do this, Under the creation tab, go to shapes, and pick section. It's designed for these cutout views.

[Hazdaz]

That Section tool is pretty cool, but I don't see any way to actually slice the model and remove that section like the way that PIXEL MONKEY suggested. Good command none the less to get that cross-section shape, but I don't think I would be able use it to make the simple animation that I posted above.

Good command to know about though - thanks.

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