Thank you Peer, that was very helpful!
Gunter

Fabulous Pilou, thank you for this!
Gunter

Hey Gunter

“””””” how would I create this surface exactly into a plane:””””””

That is a tough one. I can give some tips with a note…

I have done this by copy and past that surface, then use the edit frame to “flatten” it to use as a base… just have to watch our for any parts of the surface that would flatten badly. Lile fold over onto itself because of it….

BUT…….

You should probably not really be going this route. “Unwrapping” is really more complex. The flatten method still doesnt give you a proper result because it is not really the size it should be. Objects will still stretch and distort (which is what i think you are trying to avoid.)

Manually you can copy the longest curves in the surface in the u and v directions and use “unwrapcurve” command to generate a rectangle to create a surface out of, then manually count points and add the same amount to the surface.

But i have really avoided this sunce doing it a couple times and feeling like i was not really achieving anything.

If flow doesnt get you what you need with more simple base shapes to hit the target, then it may be best to go with placing things in a different way.

Barry has shown a very cool way and with minimal effort you could do quite a few little gems properly……

Hey Burrman, thank you, yes I understand now that it would complicate the workflow without any advantage.

Many thanks for your advice!
Gunter

Hi Barry,

I tried your method and am getting some odd results - please disregard the shape change of the objects.
When selecting all objects to arraygem:



When selecting the top right object, it seems to go upside down:



Also, I noticed that the 'gem' stays rigid and so if it were to be recessed into the ring, the amount of recess will be different:



Sorry to be a pain but I like your method and would like to work it out.

Many thanks,
Gunter

Normally you must have a circle around your object
when you make an Array Gem !
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=11471.28
And the object will be just normal to the surface and not "deformed" !




And
http://moi3d.com/4.0/docs/moi_command_reference10.htm#arraygem

Thank you Pilou, yes I see that now. This would work well for an actual gemstone as it can't be deformed. In my case, I plan on using enamel to fill the recesses in the ring so actually, Flow works better.
I'm learning every day, thanks to all of you!

Hi Gunter,
you do not need to select all your objects only one (the red one) as shown the in my illustration.
I have attached my drawing to help.
I have shown the centres as circles just for reference.
1) run ArrayGem
2) select in browser Gem and in ArrayGem done.
3) select in browser Points then Ring and in ArrayGem done.
This will place the gems on the points orientated to the ring surface.
You can adjust the depth by moving the circle position.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Barry

If you use Vclone you can have different sizes in the same time! ;)

That's brilliant Barry, thank you very much!
Gunter

Thank you Pilou, very helpful as always!
Gunter

Michael has repaired the _VSeed shown above!
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=11471.23

https://moi3d.com/download/scripts/max/vSeed.v.1.3.2024.07.16.zip
Put the 2 files unzipped on the Moi commands folder

No more error message!

Brilliant, thank you so much Pilou!
Gunter