Lamp wip

[Wiggles]

D'oh!

I'm working on modeling my lamp, I was pretty much done with the model, I just needed to add some kind of material or texture to it, was about to save it, and some popup came up saying the program had to terminate.

I'll post a picture when I can get it back up.

Anybody know what those popups are? I've gotten a few of them during my trial. I think it said something about an access violation.

[Wiggles]

Here's my lamp.




Having trouble though. I thought the knife function was supposed to be able to make a hole regardless if the 2nd object is connected, because its telling me it can't do that.

I'm trying to make a whole where that switch sticks out. its actually more of a slot.

Also, there are these silver bands that section off the shaft. I was wondering how i could include those in there.

There is a bumpy type texture on the switch to allow for grip. If you guys have turn style switches on any of your lights, you'll know what i'm talking about. How can I incorporate this on the switch?

[Wiggles]

I'm trying to make a hole where the switch is and it's not cooperating

I modeled the shape of the hole, then put where I need it.




This is what happens when I try to cut the hole out




I also have a problem with AC3D crashing on me

[lisa]

Originally Posted by Wiggles

Having trouble though. I thought the knife function was supposed to be able to make a hole regardless if the 2nd object is connected, because its telling me it can't do that.

Looking very good, Wiggles!

For the knife function, it doesn't need to be connected, it needs to be "closed". ie. convex. Try temporarily closing off any openings and see if that works better for 'ya.

For the kind of hole you're trying to make, though, you're probably better to delete the faces around the hole, then select the vertices and create two ordered surfaces, one on each side of the hole. The boolean routines are handy, but they don't always leave a clean mesh... especially when the cut-out is close to the edge of a poly.

For the silver bands, there are a number of ways to accomplish it. The best answer depends on what you're planning to use the model for. Since I know you're learning--and hopefully this will be useful to other people, too--I'll outline several methods and the pros and cons of each:

1) Create another cylinder that overlaps the first. This is by far the easiest method. If you plan to raytrace your model with a high-precision tracer, this works fine but don't use this for real-time or polygon rendered model. It will nearly always result in z-fighting\flimmering. If you create a second cylinder and don't overlap the first, you won't get z-fighting, but you will get sparkling along the seam. Sparkling will happen regardless of whether it's real-time or raytraced in this circumstance. For distance shots, you likely won't notice, but for close-ups it could be a problem.

2) Using the built-in tools, select the faces adjoining where you want the band. Select Vertex > Insert Vertex to create a new row of vertices. Select the vertices you just created. Next, click Vertex > Slice Surface to create the band. This method will create clean geometry that's good for both high-poly and real-time models, but it's a time-consuming way to do it if you have a lot of faces.

3) Go to Dennis's site at http://www.supercoldmilk.com and download the "Divide Loop" plug-in. Select the faces adjoining where you want the band, and click Tools > Divide Loop. Select the newly created vertices, and move them down to narrow the band to the desired thickness. Optionally, you can select Surface > Cut Away Object to make the band it's own object. This is an extremely fast and easy way to do this, and creates clean geometry.

4) Dennis also offers an alternate version of the Knife tool that operates a little differently than the built-in knife. Most importantly, it does not require convex shapes, so it works extremely well as a slicing plane. To use this method: download the alternate knife tool. Create a plane in the top view, and move it down to wherever you want the band to be cut. From the Tools menu, select Knife. Set the plane as the knife, and your cylinder as the object to cut, then cut the shape. This is also a very fast and easy way to do this, that creates very clean geometry.

5) Don't model it at all, just texture it in. This method is extremely common on real-time models for video games. If your engine supports normal or bump mapping as well as specular mapping, you won't be able to tell it's not geometry. Seriously.

6) This is the most complex method, but will create the most detailed result. If your cylinder is not capped already, cap it by selecting the vertices along the end and clicking Vertex > Create 2D Mesh > Plan. Select the surfaces of the end cap. Switch to extrude mode, and extrude the surfaces. You can stop here if you just want a simple band, but if you want more detail, do the following: With the surfaces still highlighted, hold the control key and uniform scale them down slightly. Switch to vertex mode, and highlight both the new vertices and the original vertices along the edge. Scale on the y axis to flatten them. You should now have a ring with a smaller circle of faces inside. Switch back to surface mode, and select the circle in the center. Extrude again. Extrude a third time. Unform scale the vertices to the original diameter. Delete the surfaces, leaving just the vertices. You should have a cone-shaped thing on the end of your cylinder. Switch back to vertex mode, and flatten the third set of vertices to the top of the narrow extrusion, again by scaling on the y axis. Switch back to surface mode. Now, select the outer ring of surfaces and extrude again. You should now have a band with a small lip dividing it from the main cylinder. I know this explanation is long, but with practice this can be accomplished in only a few seconds.

So what's the "best" answer? Again, a lot of it depends on personal preference and what you're planning to use the model for, but of the methods I listed here are my favorites:

For real-time models that support normal and specular mapping, method #5 is unquestionably the way to go.

For real-time models that do not support normal and specular mapping, but do allow different materials per object, I would use method #3.

For high-poly models, especially those in close-up shots, method #6 has the most detail.

[Wiggles]

oh wow, thanks

I'll probably try a few of those. I may model them in and do a textured version just so I can learn how to do it.

The bands are shiny silver pieces that are where parts of the pole screw together.


This is what happened when I tried to select the vertices and create and ordered surface.




I found a problem with my model The edges don't match on these two pieces, is there any way to fix this?

[lisa]

Ah. You need to select your vertices in either clockwise or counter-clockwise order when you are choosing them to make an ordered surface. Which order you select them in will determine which way the surface normal faces. If you don't select them in a circular fashion, you'll get a face like the one in your screen shot.

As far as fixing the t-junction, select the two vertices along the edge of the lower face, then click Vertex > Insert Vertex. Then snap the new vertex and the one at the end of the t-junction together and optimize vertices. That should fix it.

[Wiggles]

I tried the insert vertex thing, but it said that it couldn't find any edges. The problem is I didn't create the same amount of segments as the pole. Can I fix this, or am I going to have to redo it?




I also want to thank you, you've been a lot of help



Edit: Thanks, that ordered surface thing, worked
Why are the surfaces shaded different than the rest of the object though.