How would I use the intersect plugin to join two cylinders, as in say, a cylindrical gas tank and a fuel cap?
If someone could either explain it or point me to a resource on the web I would be forever grateful. The examples I’ve found so far are a little too esoteric and don’t really suggest a workflow.
Thanks in advance. I will be posting this in the Official Wings Development forums as well so if you come across both, please don’t feel obliged to respond to both.
I thought I should give an example of what I’m talking about. I can get this far, but now what do I do? The examples I mentioned involved bridging one face to another to create the seam at points of intersection. In this example one face spans several faces of the other object.
I was going to explain how to do the intersect but I see you’ve got that all sorted.
What you could try is to cut the 3 top edges on the main cylinder into three and
perform the same intersect in reverse. You could then create enough extra vertices
to match the number in the joining cylider, creating a “circle” on the side of the main
cylinder. You could align the new vertices in 2 steps by using intersect->stay on line
first using a line parallel to the length of the cylinder and then again perpendicular
(ie. around the cylinder loop).
Now the completed circle should match the cross-section of the joining cylinder. Dissolve the internal faces and bridge the circle to the cylinder in one hit.
I think that should work
I was able to achive exactly as you described in the image as per my method. However I found it is FAR easier to relocate the extra vertices you create in the main cylinder by using intersect-> stay on PLANE, select the plane that the vertex is in and just select the line on the joining cylider - it only takes one intersect, and is much more foolproof. As my two cylinders were of different scales than in your image, i did have to create one extra pair of verts in the joining cylinder, where the main cylinder edge doesn’t match up with the joining cylinder.
Lastly, if you get it right you only have to select both parts and weld, no bridging required.
I hope this makes sense, otherwise I’ll see if I can do some screenshots. I can’t direct link images so if you want I’ll try and make up a page for it. I’m sure someone else will find an easier way to do it anyway…
It’s worth noting now that I’ve done it, the result doesn’t smooth very nicely. I’ll have to have another look at that paraglider mesh from a few weeks back and see how he filleted his “welds”.
EDIT: Ok so here’s a pic after all. The extra loop on the main cylinder seems to fix the smoothing problems. http://s7u7z.tripod.com/pipe-T.htm
here’s the approach i used before i got a chance to read your post. basically i manually lined up the newly created edge loops with the verts on the vertical cylinder. not a perfect method because it involves a lot of eyeballing, but i was able to stay all quads. maybe i can use the intersect command to ‘snap’ the edge loop the respective vert? not sure though how to execute this command.
i will have a look at your method. hopefully it will cut down on the manual labour a great deal. i got carpal tunnel from my method.
For moving the edge loops,what about doing something like this?
pick the closest vert on the loop,scale to a point,select the point on the intersecting geometry,scale 0%.
Then select the edge loop,MMB on scale axis,use an edge running along the cylinder for the axis,
and the point you just moved,and scale to 0% again…
Should flatten out the loop at the desired location…I think 
[EDIT]
Quickie thing to show what I mean,since I suck at explaining stuff.
Cut in the edge.
Select the vert you want to move,MMB on scale axis,select an axis running along the cylinder,select the closest point on the intersecting geometry and scale 0%.
Then just select the whole loop,MMB on scale axis again,use the same axis,but this time select the point you just moved to scale to,and scale 0% again.
And just keep going
[EDIT]
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