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griff · 14th September 2005, 06:15 PM

For the wire holding the chandelier, Dennis makes some useful suggestions. If it is not going to be examined in detail, I would make a tube ... using a single triangle as the cross-section. In the overhead view, create a single roughly equi-lateral triangle. Switch to front view, place it at one end of line, extrude it to the other end (1 section). Make it single-sided (inside surfaces not drawn), Remove caps from each end and scale it to get the right thickness. You now have a *wire* that is just 6 triangles with no inside surface. In vrml. you can set the smoothness to max ... helps *round it*

For the chandelier arms, in the front view, draw an ellipse (even number of points ... try 14 or 18 which gives you a surface parallel to X axis), set surface type to poly. Select the ellipse, then Surface--> Make hole (setting 80-90%).

Now, in vertex mode, hilite vertices in bottom half of the donut shape you have, then Surface --->Cut away object, and delete this new object.

Now, in top view, select the arch shape you have created, and extrude a suitable distance (Cap end, don't remove original). In Object mode, select it set to one sided surfaces.

In front view, distort shape as desired by scaling in X and Y direction , and by selecting groups or pairs of individual vertices. and moving them. Get into the vetex dragging business ;-)

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Note, for any object that will be a solid shape (you only see outside surfaces) get into the habit of setting surfaces to single-sided ... the outside. I don't know about your Java viewer, but in VRML this reduces triangles being drawn by viewer substantially.

Second note, if you have a solid object (eg a cylinder that you use for a column) and have set surfaces to one sided, you can delete the bottom surface that will be on the floor as it will never be seen. Another simple way to reduce triangles that are being drawn in your viewer.

griff

14th September 2005, 06:15 PM	#13
griff Senior Member Professional user Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 116	For the wire holding the chandelier, Dennis makes some useful suggestions. If it is not going to be examined in detail, I would make a tube ... using a single triangle as the cross-section. In the overhead view, create a single roughly equi-lateral triangle. Switch to front view, place it at one end of line, extrude it to the other end (1 section). Make it single-sided (inside surfaces not drawn), Remove caps from each end and scale it to get the right thickness. You now have a wire that is just 6 triangles with no inside surface. In vrml. you can set the smoothness to max ... helps round it For the chandelier arms, in the front view, draw an ellipse (even number of points ... try 14 or 18 which gives you a surface parallel to X axis), set surface type to poly. Select the ellipse, then Surface--> Make hole (setting 80-90%). Now, in vertex mode, hilite vertices in bottom half of the donut shape you have, then Surface --->Cut away object, and delete this new object. Now, in top view, select the arch shape you have created, and extrude a suitable distance (Cap end, don't remove original). In Object mode, select it set to one sided surfaces. In front view, distort shape as desired by scaling in X and Y direction , and by selecting groups or pairs of individual vertices. and moving them. Get into the vetex dragging business ;-) Hope that gives you some ideas. Note, for any object that will be a solid shape (you only see outside surfaces) get into the habit of setting surfaces to single-sided ... the outside. I don't know about your Java viewer, but in VRML this reduces triangles being drawn by viewer substantially. Second note, if you have a solid object (eg a cylinder that you use for a column) and have set surfaces to one sided, you can delete the bottom surface that will be on the floor as it will never be seen. Another simple way to reduce triangles that are being drawn in your viewer. griff