Distance doesn't really matter for me as all points will have to be adjusted and tweaked to create the shape I want anyway.

However your technique is good for getting a even distribution of points if that is required.

Hi Kevjon,
You can also create a "GRID" of lines in both directions, a hatch", then run "network" to create a surface. The surface will have points at the grid intersections. So with Array you can create various shapes with exact pointing very fast. If need a picture I'll post it in a bit.

You can then trim that surface with another shape curve to get more exacting shapes of surfaces with the point structure desired.

You may want tot get the "ShrinkTrimmedSrf" command from the Petr's MoI page on the resources tab to shrink away the points left from a surface trim. Although the point structure remaines "Primitive", the surface will be a shape you wanted originally.

Mucho Controlo!

Hi Kevin,

Probably the easiest way currently to make a plane with a particular number of points is to draw 2 curves at right angles to one another, and then use Extrude with the "set path" option, see here for an example:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=1313.2

The result of Extrude with "set path" will create a surface that has control points that are an exact combination of those 2 input curves. So if you draw the original curves with as many points as you want in that one direction that should do the job.

The circular/radial type equivalent of that is to use Rail revolve - it is similar in the respect that the number of control points in the resulting rail revolve surface will be a direct combination of the 2 input curves. The main difference between it and extrude is that there is a revolve axis specified for rail revolve and the surface is kind of pivoted around that axis.

In the future when there is a "rebuild" command it will probably be the main one to use for this task of reconstructing a plane with a specified number of points to deform, but I don't have that yet.

- Michael

Thanks Burr and Michael.

That is a better solution than what I had and exactly what I was looking for !

I guess the next question is now, is there any techniques to add additional rows of control points to a surface after you create it ?

I've tried splitting a surface in half by trimming and boolean it back together but that wasn't the answer.

Kevin, Just add points, Edit>Add pt, to your curves that you used for the extrude, that should do it.

Cheers

I havnt followed through with Michaels solution yet, but using mine you could create a much larger surface than needed. Then trim out your initial shape, and DONT use "ShrinkTrimmedSrf", then manipulate your points of the new shape. Then when you want more points, "Heal" the surface by drilling down to the edges and deleting them and the original large surface returns with added points!

I know, I know... Hoky. I havnt tried it with multiple "Odd" shapes yet, only one large square cut down to a smaller square, but in theory should give the ability to keep adding back more points tpo the outer edge of the surface.

Thanks Danny,

Thats a handy tip that does work while the surface is still planar and before you started manipulating/moving points on the surface. After you've moved a couple of points on the surface around, adding additional control points to the original curves doesn't have any effect on the number of points on the surface.

I'm now finding that once I start molding my surface to shape I sometimes need additional rows of points to refine the shape a bit more. Is there a technique that could be used to add the additional points ?

Burr

I like your thinking on this but I'm lost.

I've created a surface of 4 points by 4 points and started moving some of the points on the surface around. I've then trimmed the surface with another curve. All good so far. I've then selected all the edges of the trimmed surface and deleted them but all I get is the original surface back before trimming with no additional points.

Are you able to elaborate a bit more on your suggestion, it sounds interesting ?

Hi Kevin, there currently isn't any way to add points to a surface after you have already been messing around with its points.

You have to add enough points to your original curves.

It is on my list of things to make "Add pt" work on surfaces as well as curves though.

- Michael

Kevin,
After thinking about it and reading your reply to Danny, I realized what I was talking about isnt quite what you were asking. My method only adds more rows and columns to the outside of the shape your using. I'll post a vid as it may work for you in another area though.

Burr the video king :)

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Thanks Michael for clearing that up. Being able to Add point on surfaces would be a great addition.

Burr given what Michael has said if I can't add additional points between existing rows then being able to tack some more rows onto the edge of my surface would be a good work around.

The voice Danny...The Voice!

Thanks Burr for putting that together

I now understand exactly what you mean.

It's a very good tip to create a much larger array of points and then just use trim. I should be able to work with that reasonably effectively until the addition of add point to surface gets included in MoI sometime in the future.

I know this thread is sounding a lot like sub'd modelling for nurbs but sometimes that is the best way to create some of the more tricky organic shapes that occur in some subjects rather than trying to patch the shape together with multiple individual surfaces and maintain surface continuity etc

Theres a tute on the resources page of a guy who made water cans out of spheres. I think you could also use a sphere as a base shape, do some pulling around, then trim or bool off the piece you like to add to the model. It only becomes an issue when you go to "add" the pieces together...You want to keep the "Punch through" "boolean together" theory in tact instead of trying to model the surface to "An exact dimension" then try to get a bunch of little patches to join.

perhaps something like that? http://integrityware.com/tutorials/Max/Release20/FaceGrids/FaceGrids.html

Like Sinatra ;)

Is it me or does just looking at that user interface make your head hurt?

Burr

I did consider using a sphere as a starting point for a lot of shapes I want to create but a simple plane is quicker to manipulate. So that is all sorted now how to create this. Thanks for the assistance.

Yep, I've always understood the punch through boolean theory and understand that is the best way to work with nurbs which is great for fantasy objects most people create but unfortunately when trying to accurately model real world objects such as cars and aircraft & keep them looking accurate a panel by panel approach often is the only way you can maintain accuracy of the shapes you need.

From what I've seen of the Rhino guys who have the ability to create very accurate looking cars http://www.cg-cars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1271, they pretty much use the panel by panel approach with lots of point pulling & matchsurfing to maintain continuity. Although don't get me wrong, what they are doing looks extremely tedious and time consuming.

On that note, its time for me to start putting into practice the ideas put forward in this thread and seeing if I can advance my F9F project.

Thanks for the input everyone.

yannada

Yep, powernurbs looks really powerful but as a hobbyist could justify the expense.
I should be able get most of what I need from MoI and the stuff MoI doesn't do well I can use my Poly modellor for that.