headus 3D tools

[awong]

I currently playing around with the skull that comes with the software.

I've cut up sections, dropped them to UV mode and successfully layed out most pieces.

One piece gave me problems so I wanted to cut it up further. It was too complicated to do in the UV window so I attempted it in the 3d.

I couldn't use the cut function.
I then shift-d the shell in question, but now that shell can't be cut, nor re-dropped into UV space.

What did I do wrong please?

Thanks
AWhang

[moochie]

3D view isn't the same as the Edit (hotkey E) view. In Edit, you're dealing with the unmapped parts of the mesh. You can tell it's Edit view, because the mesh will be white or light grey, and you can start cuts (C) anywhere you like. In 3D view (3) you're just looking at a version of the entire model (not just the parts you've removed from the UV view), and the mesh will be coloured green/blue/red for parts that are currently mapped, and grey for parts that aren't mapped. In 3D view, you can only create cuts in the same way you can in UV view (ie cuts have to start from the edge of the mesh). You can't drop or undrop parts from within 3D view.

The only time you can't cut in 3D view is if you've locked that part of the mesh (you'll get a message to that effect at the bottom of the window), or if that part of the mesh has yet to be dropped.

Ok, perhaps I didn't explain all that very clearly. Basically, 3D view has limited functionality. It's really a view where you can see how the 2D UV template in UV view is looking on your model .. where seams are, whether stretched bits are in obvious places etc. You can cut and weld bits of mesh in 3D view, but it's always one edge at a time. It's for tweaking and checking. Edit view is where you really break your model up before UV mapping it. UV view is where the actual magic flattening happens. Hope that helps.

Note to Phil: actually, not sure about previous versions, but I've found E toggles between Edit and 3D view, and U toggles between UV view and 3D view. It can get a bit confusing. I know the little button on the menu bar moves to show you which view you're in at any given time, and it's usually obvious anyway. But in the case mentioned above, if you load a model without any mapping and hit E thinking you're going into Edit mode (of course you were already in Edit mode), the prog toggles into 3D view .. the model is still all grey so there's no visual clue. But you find the Cut tool doesn't work. Scratching of head ensues. Maybe you need a little icon in one corner of the screen? Or a faint watermark in the b/g or sommat?

[headus]

Thanks for the great explanation! I have nothing to add :-)