I'm starting to feel much more comfortable modeling in the 3D environment (I think this says great things about MoI since I'm only about 8 hours or so into learning how to model in 3D with zero experience beforehand).

I've now got two questions, and I've tried a few different ways thus far - both labor intensive and I'm sure there is probably a better way to do this.

I want to create recessed areas similiar to the windows on front of this ship.



Here's my object thus far, with the highlighted area where I'm trying to create recessed and or raised panels. What is the best method for trying to do this on a surface? I feel like I've complicated the matter a bit by also dealing with a rounded surface as well?



My second question, is there a good/simpler way to create panel lines like you'd see in an aircraft model? Right now I'm creating a number of different long rectangular shapes and using a boolean command to effectively cut out lines out of my shapes. The problem comes in when I'm starting to deal with rounded or non-flat type shapes like what I've highlighted in my drawing? Not to mention this is very labor intensive, and I might not be thinking of the best way to do this? The space ship above seems to do this along the wing and tail, I'm looking to achieve a similiar affect.

I'm attaching my 3d file as well, as this helped in my first post.

Thanks.

Hi Ryan, it looks like you are making some great progress!

> I've now got two questions, and I've tried a few different ways thus
> far - both labor intensive and I'm sure there is probably a better way
> to do this.
>
> I want to create recessed areas similiar to the windows on front of this ship.

A good technique to do that is to use Trim to cut out a small piece of the main surface, then use Extrude to punch that little face out into a solid which is then used as the recessed part.

See this previous post for some illustrations and steps:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=3024.4

To make a raised panel instead of a recessed one, you just extrude in the outwards direction instead.



> I feel like I've complicated the matter a bit by also dealing with a rounded
> surface as well?

Somewhat, but it just means you will probably need to rotate some of your 2d profile curves to adjust how they are projecting on to that surface.

For example if you draw a circle to use as the cutout shape, when you trim using it, the circle will be projected on to the surface perpendicular to the circle. So you may need to rotate the circle around (most likely in the Top view) to make it project on to your curved surface in a more regular way.

So for example say I have this circle drawn in the Front view and want to cut this surface:



But because the surface is curved, it kind of projects on to it in an angled fashion like this:



But if I rotate the circles so that it is oriented more straight down on that local area of the surface:




Then you will get a less angled projection as well:




Rotation of objects is a lot easier in version 2 because there is a new edit frame that goes around the outside of selected objects that gives you some quick grips you can grab on to for scaling and rotation. For v1 you use the Transform > Rotate command to do it.


> My second question, is there a good/simpler way to create panel lines
> like you'd see in an aircraft model?

You'll probably want to model a tubular surface by doing a sweep and then use Boolean Difference to cut your main object with that tube.

Check out this previous post for some illustrations:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=817.8

- Michael

OK, definately helps - also found a mistake I made upon embarking on this process. Apparently my shape that I had highlighted in my drawing isn't solid inside? When I went to extrude a shape onto it, I could then see inside the shape, leading me to believe that it is not a solid. Guess I have to go rework my shape to ensure it is a solid first and not a shell type object, then try overlaying a shape and extruding it.

I'll give it a few more tries and see what I can come up with.

Thanks again Michael.

Hi Ryan,

> Apparently my shape that I had highlighted in my drawing isn't
> solid inside?

Well, the way solids are defined is by a completely connected outside skin.

If you put the camera point inside of one it won't actually be literally filled with solid color inside of it, it just behaves that way as you cut it or work on it.


> When I went to extrude a shape onto it, I could then see inside
> the shape, leading me to believe that it is not a solid.

Well, those instructions that I posted about using Trim will temporarily break the solid into a non-solid, because Trim works by slicing the outer skin of the solid.

At the end of those steps you need to select the pieces and use the Join command to glue things back into a connected skin and then you will have a solid again after that.

So if you follow those steps it is actually normal that you will temporarily have a non-solid until the final join.


In v2 it is a lot easier to know if you are working on a solid or not because there is a new indicator that shows up in the upper-right corner of the screen that tells you what type of object is currently selected like is it a solid or a closed curve, etc...

- Michael

Micheal,

I figured out what I was doing wrong. When I was selecting the "face" of the extruded piece, I think I was clicking on the whole piece and deleting it, which left me with the big hole and not the extruded face I wanted. I realized if I click on it, then click on it again, it selects just that face, then only deletes that top piece and gives me the effect I'm after.

Chalk it up to still learning the software I guess?

I have some more playing around to do to really get comfortable with this aspect of the process.

Thanks again for the help, it really is invaluable as without it I'd spend hours of frustration trying to figure out what I'm doing!

Hi Ryan,

> I realized if I click on it, then click on it again, it selects
> just that face, then only deletes that top piece and gives
> me the effect I'm after.

Yeah it will take a little bit to get comfortable selecting sub objects on the second click like that.

You also can select edges for some kinds of operations in the same way, by a second click after the near an edge after the "whole object" has been selected by the first click.

But it does sound like you are figuring things out and making some rapid progress!

It gets easier as you spend more time on it.

- Michael