The Boolean Method to cut cockpit windows

[Guest]

Hi,This method works........but it is way too messy and my fusalage ends up looking as if I have bashed it in with a hammer.I have done every tutorial I can find on this subject and have had no luck thus far.Is there a better way to cut in the cockpit windows? I see all these beautiful gmax jets with great looking, smooth fusalages around the cockpit windows, so I know there is a better way, I just don't know what is is yet.I have tried adding new edges and deleting the polygons. But the problem I run into is that I can only add edges from vertice to vertice and I don't have enough of those on my fusalge mesh to create the shape that I need for the windows.I would greatly appreciate any help I can get on this subject,Craigccrawley@cox-internet.com

[Guest]

Craig,If you use the boolean method to cut them, you have to go back and retouch by hand to smooth things out. Move vertices around...etc.Another way is to use the slice plane instead of cut, the way you want to use cut above. Select the polygons you want to "slice", and position the slice plane, then hit slice. This effectively "cuts" without the cut having to be between vertices.A third method is simply to add vertices by breaking edges, and use these vertices for your cuts.The boolean method might still be the easiest in the end; you just have to go back and move the newly-created vertices a bit to make things look smooth.Matt

[Guest odog]

Just my 2 cents,I sometimes refer to a model with a CLEAN mesh...Its something thats not easy to do, but makes Boolean opeations much smoother and easier.If youve got a jagged mesh and you try to Boolean a hole in it, the operation will make random cuts and add verts to the mesh, thereby creating the dented fender look. Have a look at this mesh...It was booleaned to death, but still remained smooth. You can always remove polys but its much harder to create them and maintain a clean mesh.As I make more and more projects with gmax, the more I try to get nice, square, equal size polys, and avoid rectangular or odd shaped polys. This is an old mesh with many errors, but I think youll get the jist.odog

[Guest]

Thanks for your replies,My problem is that I am trying to create poly-few framerate friendly AI aircraft. Therefore my fusalage(s) are much simpler with fewer vertices. This is why when I cut a boolean, the polygons that are added have a much longer distance to connect to the nearest vertices. Therefore the bent-in fusalage around that area......I wonder if the slicing method mentioned above will work better??

[Guest odog]

Yeah probably,You can get smooth cuts with boolean, Ive seen instances where a guy was trying to boolean with a 30 sided cylinder where 8 or 10 wouldve done the trick. I always get confused with that tool because you have so many choices...union intersection subtraction cut...I always end up trying difrnt combinations just to see what works best. The only advice I can offer up now is just make sure to contain the operand inside one poly, then start pushing verts :-)goodluckodog

[Guest Firestriker]

Just a thought, are you guys doing your boolens on smoothed objects? You might try removing the smoothing for the two objects before.

[Guest CX001]

Odog, is that a Stranraer? If you want/need help I will gladly provide it. Looking forward to it when/if you release it!BTW, here is my Emailcahill01@charter.net

[Guest Milton]

Not THAT IS the best idea I've heard in a long time. Thank you Lou. :-)I usually convert to editable poly before a boolean and sometimes it helps, sometimes not. I think you have the answer. :-)Milton

[Guest Milton]

My experiences with slicing is the same with boolean. It will leave a mess to clean up as well.I think Lou has the right idea.In my Dash 7 works (first project) I saw no FPS hit on my 350 mhz with 60,000 polys until textures were applied. Makemdl does a great job optimizing and unless you go really high I would not expect an FPS hit. Textures are the true FPS killer IMHO. :-)Milton

[Guest Firestriker]

I cut all my windows and doors out after removing the smoothing from both parts before doing the boolen with cut and refine. Then converted to an edible mesh. Welded any uncommon points to ones that were proper for my cutter then detached the window polys from the fuselage. Granted, it is not perfect but there was very little cleanup work afterwards. Also I cut each opening one at a time. rather than creating one large part as a cutter. My poly count for the exterior right now is at 26393 and 10029 for the interior model which are modeled in 2 completely separate gWax files then combined at compile time. It compiles to a file size just under 2 megs. I still am getting decent frame rates.