merging shapes

[mhoyle]

i know there is a simple answer and mrsteves given me some great tutes on my urban scenes but i've got one more question and then i think i'll be good:

i just want to merge shapes. polygons like a cube and a sphere, or even just flat shapes like polyline shapes and elipses, into one large combined shape.

i guess what i'm wanting to know is, is there a way to position a couple or few shapes together the way i want and then combine them together with the extraneous bits that are no longer revealed or needed deleted.

i know there's merge and snap vertices and optimize but i'm talking about random shapes where the vertices aren't perfectly matched to each shape.

thanks for any help.

[MrSteve]

Guess whos back, if you mean what i think you mean then try over lapping the two object you have and select both, then in object menu >boolean>union. this will merge the two object and remove what can't be seen anymore!

[MrSteve]

Maybe these will help explain, look at the corner of the cube where the sphere overlaps

BEFORE
861

AFTER
862

[mhoyle]

hey there!
sounds like just what i want. thanks again.

[mhoyle]

i manage to do that with spheres and cubes and 3d shapes-

but when i try to create an odd shape with a polyline tool and then draw an elipse which is also flat and then maybe a square plane, each time i try to select any two of these flat objects and boolean union them one of them disappears completely.

is it not possible to do on flat objects?

the reason i'm wanting to do this is because sometimes i'll want to create a defined flat shape with perfect curves and other shapes and then extrude them into a 3d object.

so i thought using the perfect circles of the elipse and squares of the plane along with the polyline tool i could combine some more perfect shapes before i then extrude them.

hope this makes sense.

[MrSteve]

if you are doing it on flat object its usually easy enought you do it yourself with the vertex mode, it works by removing surfaces so try making them 3d first then using the union tool!

[mhoyle]

thanx again! very logical answer. i'm ready to take my first steps. will let you know how i go with my scenes.

[MrSteve]

groovy, good luck!