Modeling : Merging Polygons

[Dave Black]

Need a pic. Sorry, but i'm slow.

-3DZ

[Xilica]

Don't worry I just figured it out

[ages]

How i need to know, vertices are creating smoothing errors i need to merge them.

[ages]

How do u merge polys?

[Bizzaro]

I am exploring different modeling techniques, and some questions came up.

I converted an editable mesh object to an edit poly object, and found out that you can't extrude edges, or weld vertices. Which made me wonder exactly how one would model in that mode. Or if people convert it after they are done modeling in editable mesh mode for the options it gives, or model one poly at a time....:shrug:

[mouj]

Howdy !

That's not quite true, i'd say; you can extrude edges in Epolys, just the edges you'll be extruding must be 'openned', in fact you might extrude borders rather than actual edges.

As for welding vertices, well i don't quite know indeed how we could model anything without welding a couple vertices here and there, probably you were trying to weld vertices that had geometry in between them (some people explain this better than me), say you're trying to weld two opposite vertices in the middst of a mesh, you might need to delete the polygon that stands between them to be able to weld them.

There are many "techniques" to model with epolys, i would suggest that you look around to see how people use them, maybe you could start here:
http://maxrovat.sns.hu/subdiv/

mouj

[Bizzaro]

this is what im seeing. If that isnt open then i am not sure what you are saying :D

[Bizzaro]

and the welding problem

[Aros]

Originally posted by Bizzaro
this is what im seeing. If that isnt open then i am not sure what you are saying :D

Hold shift, then drag the edge. This will duplicate the edge and so it will extrude :)


Originally posted by Bizzaro
and the welding problem

You have to increase the Threshold number, set it to 1000 or so and try again :)

[Bizzaro]

oops, I forgot to say that that doesn't work, it just moves the edge.:sad:

[Rivendale]

Hey Bizzaro, try collapsing the verts instead. It's what I always do. Then you don't have to worry about thresholds. It's good to have that binded to a key on the keyboard for fast editing. Use weld only when you have to weld vertices within threshholds, like the two halves of a mesh.

It looks like you're using MAX4, and if I'm not mistaken the extrude edge doesn't work in Editable poly mode in MAX4. In MAX5 it works good though.

[mouj]

Hey Bizzaro, this is quite strange.
May i ask what version of Max yoju're using ? i don't know, might be a versions problem..

works pretty fine here to extrude open edges, check this out:
extrudedges (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mouj/tuts/xtrud.htm)
(warning: flash mx file 500k approx)

as for the welding problem, it's either a threshold problem, or just selecting one vertex and moving it away, you might find an extra unwanted polygon somewhere to delete prior to weld those vertices ?

mouj

[Bizzaro]

Yep, im using max 4 :sad: oh well, I think ill just stick to editable mesh for now, I like being able to just shift+drag edges to extrude:D Thanks for the help:bounce:

[Smay]

You don´t have to. Download the modified epoly.dlo which can be found here (http://www.trinisica.com/download/mirror_epoly.asp).
Replace your old epoly.dlo et voila, you have shift+drag edges in poly mode.

[Bizzaro]

YAY! :applause: :applause: :bounce: :bounce:

thanks:D

[Ryan Bassette]

One quick addition...I'm using MAX 4.2 and shift drag edges works in EPoly mode just fine...though it seems there is a dearth of documentation of this...there is a tutorial out there that states likewise that you cannot weld vertices in EPoly mode as a built in intuitive safeguard though this is also false; as a previous post states, use collapse instead as it ALWAYS works whereas weld sometimes will NOT even given a HUGE threshold setting...something to do with illegal faces and such with epoly. Obviously don't use collapse in lieu of weld if working with multiple verts (ie welding two meshes etc) as you will end up with a neat abstract shape rather than your hard earned model...I have been using epoly over emesh for a few weeks now and it is MUCH better overall...though there are some subtle annoying arbitrary little quirks here and there...

another tip, when creating polys from verts you will often get an illegal face error that is easily overriden by simply shift extruding the edge then target welding the new poly(s)...in fact I have come to use this method all but exclusively rather than using the create poly option...less frustrating I find...


Ryan
UMMS '05

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