headus 3D tools

mokosan · Posts: 150 Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Location: NZ

Here are a few examples of edges that I'm having trouble welding using the weld gaps button/option.

Example A is of overlapping edges that will not weld with a threshold of 99.
I tried to weld the other examples with the same threshold. Sometimes relaxing them and welding again works but not to 100%.

Would it be possible to allow welding of overlapping edges as in example A?

M

headus · Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 8:12 pm Post subject:

Can you send me an OBJ for this piece of geometry? Weld gaps may not be the answer because I can see its messing up your end caps ... smarter segmenting/welding so start with would be better in the long run.

Phil

mokosan · Posts: 150 Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Location: NZ

Its the bolts that dont segment that well, which is suprising, I tried 60 and 90 degrees.

M

headus · Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:36 pm Post subject:

Thanks, got the file! Actually, a bunch of things in there don't segment at all well, but they're quite simple and should in theory cut up nicely. I'll have a play to see if I can improve things.

Phil

headus · Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:18 pm Post subject:

I've been playing, and am getting fairly clean results by dropping the "Threshold" down. At 20 degrees you get a few shells for each bolt, but they're perfectly flat. And remember, you can always do just the one, weld the shells by hand and get its just right, then copy those UVs to *all* the other bolts with a single click.

The more complex pipe joiners also work much better with a low threshold setting.

mokosan · Posts: 150 Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Location: NZ

Yeah Im aware that I could copy the UVs however the scene and models I am working on have hundreds of bolts in varing sizes too. Navigating to tag edges on say 50 bolts would take too long.

Have you thought of or is there another way to copy uvs to similar shapes, rather than tagging particular edges.

Using the segments option is definately the way forward for what Im working on right now, which is a massive rig with thousands of pipes. Whats killing me is going around and closing basic seams that it has missed.

Also I have been meaning to talk to you about the possibility of enhancing the way pipes get solved. I can send you examples, possibly even a video showing you how I am going about solving them.

For example imagine a pipe that changes directions a few times:
I split it up one edge then drop it, then I would either optermize it or shift-T (pelt style, but not much good for this example).
After a few seconds I see that its going to relax, but not to a rectangle...at least not for a long while...
What I somethimes do is pull a vert out on either side, pin them then relax till it pulls flat-ish, then use tab to align vert or horiz lines.

Another way is pinning (red pin) the verts at either side, then S,S to pin all verts between them. Then again with the tab vert and horizontal lines to get it to be a rectangle.

I'll see if I can send you screen grabs and samples tomorrow. Maybe a quick vid.

M

headus · Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:06 am Post subject: Re: copy UVs - and pipes

"is there another way to copy uvs to similar shapes,"

Yep. They have to be the same topology (i.e same number and arrangement of polys), but as long as they're within a certain size range, it'll pick the matching edges automatically. Like I said, a single click :-) I think its the UVLayout-Copy-UVs-3 movie on the "Advanced" videos page that shows you how its done.

"I'll see if I can send you screen grabs and samples tomorrow. "

No problems.

Phil