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Old 8th November 2006, 08:58 AM   #1
coldby
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Thumbs up Hurrah!

I got the (official) rumor that AC3D 6.1 is on its way and that it will have some brand-new booleans. Does that really mean that it will allow us to drill a hole in an object rather than building the object around the hole?
If it's true I cannot think of anything better under my Christmas tree!!!
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Old 10th November 2006, 02:12 PM   #2
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Default Re: Hurrah!

Well, the current Boolean features allow you to drill holes already... it's usually the confusion with keeping a copy of the original (or not) that confuses the issue for users. The original, if not set to be deleted, overlaps with the new, cut version, and it looks as if nothing's happened.

The real problem with the existing Boolean is that it's messy as all hell. You usually have to do massive amounts of "cleanup" work, merging and welding superfluous vertices before you can move on after doing a Boolean cut, and that often takes so long that it's more time-effective to do the work yourself with Knife and creating vertices.

So, I'm hoping the new, improved Boolean will be better in this regard. Fixing the problems of confusion with copies, originals, etc., are just nomenclature issues and should be much easier fixes to make.
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Old 10th November 2006, 11:20 PM   #3
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The real problem with the existing Boolean is that it's messy as all hell. etc.etc...
Got that right. I hate that Boolean thing. Heck I can't get the knife to work either, but I guess that's just me.
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Old 11th November 2006, 02:10 PM   #4
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Default Re: Hurrah!

Knife works GREAT. You just have to use it properly.

1) Only works with 2D geometrics as the Knife Object (I tend to use rectangles or shapes that are combined into one surface)

2) The Knife Object must overlap the surface area it's going to cut fully. Usually when a cut doesn't work, it's because you didn't overlap one of the edges of the object you're trying to cut.

3) Only works in OBJECT mode. You get a couple of annoying dialog boxes if you try to assign the knife object while in surface mode.

Booleans...we'll see. I have to try the new version and see what improvements have been made. Based on the track record of this AC3D team, I predict success!
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Last edited by Stiglr; 13th November 2006 at 12:47 PM.
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Old 12th November 2006, 04:59 PM   #5
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Default Re: Hurrah!

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Originally Posted by SAT View Post
Got that right. I hate that Boolean thing. Heck I can't get the knife to work either, but I guess that's just me.
i can not get mine to work either
and i was wondering wat is a boolean
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Old 12th November 2006, 05:55 PM   #6
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A boolean operation is when you have two objects, and you use one to cut out a section from the other.

For example: You have a Box and you need a round hole through the center.

You take a Cylinder and place it through the center of the Box. Then you use a boolean operation. The boolean operation will make a Box with a round hole through it, where the Cylinder was.
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Old 12th November 2006, 08:56 PM   #7
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Just a FYI...

I've previewed the new Boolean and it's GREAT, so far. All the previous issues seem to be solved, and it should be a VERY useful tool.
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Old 12th November 2006, 09:12 PM   #8
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Oboy! can't wait
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Old 13th November 2006, 04:34 AM   #9
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Thumbs up Bless you, Stiglr!

Yes Stiglr, you're absolutely right about the current Booleans: most of the times they work, but that's all: after running a Boolean you find yourself wondering where the heck all those extra vertices and surfaces came from and swear to yourself that next time you'll find a better way. The worst of it is that hearing you doing so much talking to yourself your wife sooner or later will suspect that you're calling another woman on an invisible cellular phone
Knife works much better, though it has its inherent limitations (sorry Dennis, not your fault) and it's way less versatile than a proper set of Booleans could be.

That's why I prefer drawing my objects around the holes: it saves plenty of time, labour and nerves.
That's also why I dearly hope you're right about the new Booleans: I like AC3D too much to dispose with it, but when it comes to ANDing, ORing or XORing objects I come dangerously close to cursing it.
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Old 13th November 2006, 12:45 PM   #10
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Well, I predict you're about to change the way you work, based on my very short experience with the new 6.01 Booleans. The commands are now much more intuitive and the results are very pleasing, without all that "cleanup mess" they used to create. I cut a cylinder out of a globe and got a nice clean tunnel all the way through the globe. I haven't yet tried it on highly complex objects, but even the first scenario used to create a lot of "crap" to clean up, so I'm convinced that even for complex items, it should work just fine.

Just hang tight while the beta team works out the last few nits out of the new version and you'll see what I mean.
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