Alternative to max's Boolean?

[Dave Black]

Yes, it's called Power Booleans, and you can get it here:

www.digimation.com

There is also a thread I started awhile back discussing this in more depth.

You can read it here:

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28572&highlight=masterful+booleans

Hope that's of some help.

Good luck to you, dude!

-3DZ

:D

[ToddD]

Hey Guys, 3DZealot, I was just wondering if you have used Power Booleans, and if so, how did you like it? I see they have a demo, just curious to hear an unbiased opinion before I DL it. Thanks for any info my friend!:beer:

[Dave Black]

It's a big improvement over max's default booleans. Makes a cleaner mesh, and it's alot less time consuming if you have alot of operations to deal with. It also does'nt flake-out the way max's does.

One thing that bothers me...

Booleans are a mathematical function. They get better over time, and are available to the public...I don't understand why discreet is not updating them.

I mean, all the hot modeling tools out right now still can't fill the need for a good boolean operation sometimes...

Sorry...ranting.

Anyway, if you do alot of boolean work, i'd say Power Booleans is a must. Give it a try. It takes some of the headache away.

Hope that's of some help.

-3DZ

:D

[setik]

I used to have alot of problems with max's booleans, mainly the fact that it would make a lot of extra edges, but i found that using the turn to poly modifier on top of of the boolean got rid of 90% of the extra edges. I have also found that you have to make sure that the objects you are connecting are not riddled with extra edges or unwelded verts. bad mesh in = bad mesh out.
I did try power booleans demo, and quite frankly did not see much of an improvement over my own method with the built in booleans. of course i am a low poly level monkey, so your mileage may vary with higher poly stuff.

[Dave Black]

One problem with what you just said.

Those problems are still there in edit poly, you just can't see them. If you go into the "Edit Triangulation" mode, you will see that all those problem edges are still there.

It's sort of like sweeping them under the rug. All the shading, deformation, and smoothing errors will still be a problem.

Power booleans is a MAJOR improvement to Max's default boolean system, and with further study, I'm sure you will reach the same opinion.

It is the underlying mesh topology that suffers the most with max's default system, and at higher levels of detail, the boolean operations simply fail.

PowerBooleans has corrected this, as well as leaving behind a simpler mesh and less triangulation in lower poly situations.

Just to clarify.

-3DZ

:D

[setik]

*shrug*
Its probably only helpfull on really low poly non-complicated stuff, allthough I allways have hidden edges on, since every triangle counts, and never end up with the extra edges. I almost never use booleans myself, but some times if i need to stich up some buildings to my sidewalks, or something simple like that than i get good results. sometimes it doesnt work, thats for sure, and it just gives you crap, but for those without power booleans it might be helpfull.

[Dave Black]

Not to be too overbearing, but you are not seeing th whole picture of what is going on in editable poly.

I don't mean "Edge Mode", I mean "Edit Triangulation". Editable poly ignores the edges when rendering them in the viewport, but they are still there. Try bending or otherwise changing the geometry, and you will see what I'm talking about.

Sorry, but I just don't want that to bite you in the butt later.

-3DZ

:D

[setik]

Hey I'm glad that somebody is looking out for all of us ;)

I am pretty sure that what I'm doing is not creating more edges than are needed make a clean cut and leave no T-verts.
Correct me if i'm wrong but if you get properties on your object and uncheck "edges only", editable poly will show you all edges, even the hidden ones, in the viewpoint. if you use the "Edit Triangulation" it will show you the same "hidden edges". If I use the collapse utility I end up with the same amount of edges in my editable mesh that I had in the editable poly object. changeing the geometry is a great smoke test, and the STL check modifer is sorta helpfull, since sometimes max will hide a edge or ten on you, and you wont notice it until you get the level into the game, or go to bake the vertex lighting.

as for getting bit in the butt, its seems to happen with less and less frequency as time passes. :)

[Anton Andriesh]

Thank you for help! I'll try it! :)

By the way, I heared they released a beta of the newest version of Power Booleans...

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