editable mesh back to individual shapes?

[halo]

select the editable mesh, on the right hand side in the modifier stack, open edtiable mesh so you can see the sub object...select element, then select the bit you wanna detach and go to the rollout on the right hand side, find "detach" and hit it :)

[MFreywald]

Habware has a really good plugin/script (cant remember which). Called Mesh Detacher. It does and EXTREAMLY good job of detaching meshes into components. and also recolors the wireframe so you can see easily where it split it up at. You should be able to find it at

www.scriptspot.com

[lockard666]

first of all, i have a 72 spoke wheel, all of the spokes have six sides... i want to make them twelve sided to give them a rounder appearance... ok, i'm half way there... i got it partially broken up... two problems... first, they are still editable mesh, & as far as i can tell, they have to be converted back into tubes (as they were originally created) to change the number of sides... i really don't want individually select them, then detach them, then turn them back into tubes, and then change sides from 6 to 12... 72 TIMES! ... that would be a real PITA... is there an easier way to do this?

[lockard666]

can i post the wheel as a max file so you can try it... the browse box for attachments says "Valid file extensions: jpg jpeg gif"... is that the bottom line or am i missing something?

[3dsmax5]

You cant convert them back to original primitives...you should try a smooth/subdivide to make them smoother.

[MFreywald]

Or as much of a pain in the ass this might be (god knows I've done it more times than I wanted to). You could scrap the spokes you have now, make a new tube with how you want it then just instance it 72 times. This way if you ever DO need to modify em. You only need to modify one and the rest will automaticly match.

[lockard666]

that sounds great... now how do i do it... "instance?"... where's that at?

[MFreywald]

You make one, then hold shift while moving it and it'll bring up a dialog to either copy it or instance it. In all honesty, basic UI familiarity is pretty much essential to using Max efficiently. You really should go through the tutorials in the manual before trying to create you own stuff.

[lockard666]

thanx man... i'll do that... if you know of any really basic tuitorials, lemme know... ones that start form day one on max for someone with VERY limited computer skills to begin with... this pic is the kind of stuff i wanna learn to make on max... absolute realism isn't my main concern... i just want to design lowrider bike concepts on max... if i don't like a design, i can delete it... if i build a real bike & it sux, well then, that would suck!

BTW, this is a photo, not cg.

[lockard666]

thanx man... i'll do that... if you know of any really basic tuitorials, lemme know... ones that start form day one on max for someone with VERY limited computer skills to begin with... this pic is the kind of stuff i wanna learn to make on max... absolute realism isn't my main concern... i just want to design lowrider bike concepts on max... if i don't like a design, i can delete it... if i build a real bike & it sux, well, then that would suck!

BTW, this is a photo, not cg.

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