Spline Modelling?

[Guest Matthew Murray]

Dear Sirs, I have started to use a new technique, for me, in spline modelling a fuselage. I am in one of those situations that I am sure many have been in, that there is one small thing preventing you from moving forward. I am really fond of this technique, and if you could help me solve my problem, I would be most grateful. Onto my problem, in gMax (1.2) I have various cross-sections made from splines, all nicely shaped. However, due to one reason or the other I have not made the cross-sections in sequence e.g. from nose to tail or vice versa. The knock-on effect being that when I apply the Cross-section Modifier to my splines -- which have all been attached in sequence -- the mesh that it creates is rather erratic in that it doesn't flow smoothly from one resection to the next. Each cross-section/spline comprises the same number of vertices. My question is to all you gurus; how do I reorder the sequence in which the mesh is made up? Or how to I fix my problem? I hope this is something really simple, because if it involves recreating each cross-section/spline in order, then the project will not get finished -- it's took me long enough to get to this point and a lot of work/research in studying the exacting cross-sections of the airliner. If you gents would kindly help me out, I would be most grateful for your time and help!Kind Regards,

[P CLASS=style1] Matthew Murray [/P][P][sPAN CLASS=style1]-|www.precisionmanuals.com|-[bR][/sPAN]

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[Guest Valid_Andy]

Hey Matt - what I would do is...-Clone your 'object' of splines.-Turn on Vertex Snap-turn one of the 'objects if splines' into edit mesh.-With that object selected, recreate ALL the polys as triangles (faces) - does not have to be done in face mode.-Because of the cloned object, you still have your splines to follow, so you know which verticies belong to where (ie you will get them overlapping with different cross sections from weird view angles).I also recommend starting at the top of the fuselage for each cross section. Ie for 2 cross sections, you join them with say 64faces (for a 32 sided fuselage), so for each one start at the top and work DOWN the cross sections. I would start in the middle of the fuselage, or aft of the final curve towards the nose!Don't know if that helped but it's what I do, works fine for me:)

[Guest Matthew Murray]

Thanks Andy, still hasn't totally solved my main problem -- ordering the splines so the Crossection Modifier makes a smooth mesh out of them?

[P CLASS=style1] Matthew Murray [/P][P][sPAN CLASS=style1]-|www.precisionmanuals.com|-[bR][/sPAN]

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[Guest Valid_Andy]

What I meant in my post was that you don't need the crossection modifier, just do it manually! Then you can also be sure the mesh is create properly, and there are duplicated polys etc. If you are wanting to use the Crossection Modifier all I can think of is to make sure you attach them from 1 end to the other - ie start at the nose and work your way down the fuselage adding the cross sections.