Hi,
I was wanting some different rock shapes for use in a Vue project and decided to try it in MoI.
It's certainly possible to do it with curves and revolve and so on, but what I ended up doing was creating a sphere solid. I hit show points and then did a bunch of select dragging to get interesting shapes.
Show Points doesn't work on cones or cylinders though, both other options for base shape I considered.
Is there a script out there that makes those visible?
If not that would be nice for a future build. It would also be nice to create a cube or other shape and add a point to it.
This porbably depends on how the solids are coded, but it would be a nice additional feature.

Hi Timspfd,

Nope, this is nurbs geometry. If you are creating a cone it is a polysurface ???

Try exploding the geometry then turn on points ;-)

Hi Timspfd, unfortunately the way that NURBS objects are structured makes it difficult to show points in situations where the solid is made up of trimmed surfaces.

When 2 surfaces are joined along a trimmed edge, there are not necessarily any control points from the "underlying surface" running along that same direction.

Please see this FAQ answer for a more detailed explanation and some illustrations that try to explain this issue.

One method you can use is to select the solid and run Edit/Separate on it to break it apart into individual surfaces. You can always turn on control points for individual surfaces. But it is also pretty easy to pull the surfaces apart so that they don't touch along what used to be shared edges - that's why MoI does not let you turn on points for a solid like that normally.

- Michael

It's actually a great way for the organic, artistic modeler to get the surfaces they want. Go ahead and seperate them, then utilize the surfaces and forget about trying to keep the original solid. Then when you get the sufaces you want, do some booleans to acheive your solid.

Sometimes trying to create networks and sweeps can ruin the creative process (too technical). Organic guy can just mash and mold like a poly modeler. Just remember BOOLEAN IS good in the end!

Good luck,
Burr

Doing all the hard work, easily, in MoI.

Then, taking the .obj files into Carrara or 3D Coat for Displacement and/or 3D Painting.
Happy is me!

Brian

I've been down this road before, I found the best way (for me anyway) to create weird organic shapes in one piece and easy to do is first create a flat grid pattern then do a network on it after that turn on the control points and go for it, tug, pull, push and scale is all you need.

.

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI

This thread may help also.
Brian

That's about as organic as it gets Danny.

Stinky Hanalei hippy organic!

:)
Burr

Thanks for all the comments. I will give the grid - network - points method a shot. That's sounding like it would fit that work style.