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Old 1st April 2007, 04:49 PM   #1
WazmotheWort
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Default How to use the poly line tool

Hi,

can anyone explain what the polyline tool can be used for ? Say, If I draw a square
and snap the fourth vertice to the first, how do I make them one vertice to share the same edge so that I can surface it ?

Thanx. Wazmo
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Old 5th April 2007, 03:40 PM   #2
Echo
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

Hi, I'm really new at using AC3D but I have made a sword using it. I drew 1 edge of the sword, copied it, placed them so that they were almost perpendicular, mirrored them, added a handle and handguard. There tutorial for it is somewhere on these forums.
Here is a link to the tutorial.
http://www.ac3d.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2653 (Nice work and tutorial bill)

I'm not sure but i think it is used for drawing a 2d shape to extrude it into a 3d shape. If I'm wrong, can someone please tell me what it is for as well.

Echo.

Last edited by Echo; 5th April 2007 at 03:44 PM.
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Old 11th April 2007, 09:43 AM   #3
Stiglr
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

The Poly Line tool is very simple and straightforward. I'd be very surprised it isn't detailed completely in the User Guide. However, onward....

Hold your cursor over the Poly Line icon, and a small dialog will appear, telling you how to use it and how to "finish" a shape: click the Poly Line icon, then in one of the viewports click at consecutive points which describe the shape you want to draw; after you click to draw the last point, (not ON the last point) click with the center or right mousebutton and that completes the shape. (Even if you do end up with two vertices at the "end" of the shape, you can later select both vertices in Vertice mode, then do a Snap Together, followed by Weld, to be sure that they become one, single vertice)

After you draw your shape, it should be a simple matter to make a surface of it: in Vertice Mode, select all the vertices and either create an Ordered Surface or create Convex Object/Hull. Which one you use probably depends on whether you selected all the vertices in consecutive order, such that the surfaces will draw correctly. Also, if the vertices describe a shape with 3 dimensions instead of 2 (and thus has depth) you may have to use Convex Object/Hull, otherwise you'll get some really problematic surfaces, "black" surfaces, etc.

After you make the surface, you can do anything else you want: extrude, indent, bevel, etc.
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Last edited by Stiglr; 11th April 2007 at 02:46 PM.
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Old 6th February 2012, 08:46 PM   #4
jleslie
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

ok, I can draw a line, but how can I get it to draw on top of the current surface or at least control where in the depth it draws it? for example I'm in the "left" view of a vehicle, and I want to draw some lines on the surfaces I see. I use the polyfill to draw some vertices, (I ~think~ I'm tracing the frame of the door...) but when I right click, my poly line, is somewhere far away, I have to go find it in the 3d view.
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Old 6th February 2012, 09:41 PM   #5
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

If you're talking about "cutting a door in the side of a car", then you're trying to cut an existiing shape, not draw a new one.

But, to answer your question anyway:
The poly tool will create the shape at the 0 line of the axis perpendicular to the viewport you draw it in. That's the "depth" if you will. You can then select it and move it wherever you want to put it.

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do, but you may want to get more familiar with the basic 3D concepts before you get too far into it. Frustrating answer, I know... I was exactly where you are now, once. But most of my problems were stemming from trying to build something before I had the basic concepts down.
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Old 6th February 2012, 10:52 PM   #6
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

I don't want to cut the door, I want to have a polygon "melt" onto the outside surface of the existing model. The current surface is a mish-mosh of all kinds of polygons, I want to frame a new polygon, not fill it, and just paint the lines on the polygon black and have it just sit on the outside of the existing objects. If the melt analogy doesn't work for you, try this one. I want the polyline tool to put down a bead of toothpaste on the outside of the car. it sticks to the outside surface.

For that matter, is their a way to make the polyline thicker/wider? In lieu of these options what is the best way to to get lines onto the vehicle? I mean look at this car:

http://military.discovery.com/techno...er-625x450.jpg

the edge of the door is black, and the body is almost uniform. I'd like to be able to also "paint" the support X's on the door. but the model I have (a conversion from sketchup--> DAE--->FBX-->3DS--> ac3d) it really good, but the polygons that make up the door aren't even close to framing the door. As a result the texture with the texture mapper is all over the place. I can get a nice sand colored texture, but there is no way I'm gonna get the edges for the door.

TIA

- jleslie
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Old 7th February 2012, 12:22 PM   #7
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

You could get the visual effect of the x-supports on the door in a couple of ways...

1) You could do it all by texture (including bump mapping to enhance the 3D effect and shading)

2) You can do it in 3D in the model itself. This would involve indenting the door panels in the areas around the "X" shapes, as it actually is on the Hummer. I'd think that would be the way to go on this vehicle. Or for any passenger vehicle, no matter how "organic" and flowing the shape, you can create it faithfully in 3D, given enough visual sources and knowledge of the basic tools.

As for a "raised bead around the door", that's probably best done by having the door properly outlined in 3D, then "chamfering" that outer edge (using some combination of indent and bevel techniques) to achieve the effect. Well, not just the effect, you'd simply create the shape itself. The texture method would be an "effect"

The door outlines themselves are not very complicated shapes, and should be achievable using standard basic modeling principles. And as I said earlier, if you have an established 3D object for the body of that Hummer, you would CUT OUT, rather than DRAW ON, the doors. You simply isolate the doors from the body (even adding hinges, latches, sliding windows, whatever) and make them separate parts, just as they are in real life.

Are you working from a set of 4-views for the Hummer? A side view, a top view, a front view and a back view? For any vehicular object, these kinds of reference drawings should be readily available.

PM me if you'd like to learn more, especially if you have Skype. It's easier to share a screen in Skype and demonstrate these concepts rather than try to describe them.
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Old 7th February 2012, 12:44 PM   #8
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

Also said another way, the Poly Line tool is used to create its own discrete objects, not to modify other objects. And it creates flat objects, not contoured ones, so keep that in mind when determining whether to try to use it to create complex 3D objects.

As an example, I create aircraft mainly, and I will use the poly line tool to create a control panel for the cockpit, if I can find a picture of the panel photographed or drawn from a straight-on angle. I would NOT use it for an irregular object like a moulding or a switch with a specific shape. For such objects I'd use a modified primitive (box, circle, sphere, rectangle, disc, etc.) and then use the Knife tool and adding and positioning vertices to "isolate" areas I need to modify further. For example, I'd use those kinds of techniques to "cut" landing gear panels and wells out of the wings, leaving the "doors" separate to display on the landing gear when it's deployed.
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Old 12th November 2012, 07:21 PM   #9
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

Let's create a simple fuselage shape by adding a line, making sure the beginning and ending vertexes are at X=0.
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Old 12th November 2012, 07:23 PM   #10
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Default Re: How to use the poly line tool

Then we'll switch to vertex mode, select all the vertexes and extrude them (ctrl+e)
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