re; the pyramid and “peaking” the four sides. well i just did this with another toolset. each side basically scaled up in size while the pyramid predominantly scaled upwards. the base left the ground and scaled out in x and z. the top point kept its original xz co-ordinates but moved up in y. and all sides kept their faces perpendicular to the normal from the original state.
this is really useful when modeling things like the human body, and i expect any other organic subject. it really comes in to be very handy. try the box example with the editSOP i gave above to see what would happen with a peak polyextrude. that is actually quite simple because anything harder than that i simply don't know how to do with the editSOP.
it's actually best to see it in action rather than me trying to explain it….
prophet
have you toyed with magnetSOP much? it does some really cool things that i have seen in demo files, but i haven't really had a good play with it. again this could be made easier to use. not that it is hard to use, but it could be much easier. i instead use the softpeak and turn off the “translate along lead normal”. to take care of rotations, scales etc, i use softxformSOP. these two combined is what “i” know as magnets ( what i mean is this is what i'm use to from previous app ), but the one thing that would be great is this - when doing a softxform and i detach the pivot handle i will pick two points as my orientation axis, which is cool….but i would like the option of my pivot snapping to this axis and keeping the orientation as well. little things like this make a huge difference, i hope i am wrong about this, if so please let me know i really have to investigate this magnetSOP ….. my favourite thing so far is the ability to go back up the chain and rework the sculpture…too damn cool!!! and very handy!!
oh yeah i almost forgot!! regarding the selection tools…now wouldn't it be nice if we had some area limit thing where the point, edge, primitive etc, would just highlight when you are within a certain proximity? at the moment you have to be precise with your selection which slows you down. this is most noticeable when choosing points. when in the editSOP i like to rough my model into shape…quickly. so i pick points with the LMB which enables me to directly move them which is great, but at times have to concentrate on the point to get it. i just want to see the point and just aim my cursor there and i've got it. not having to worry about missing it and going back and making sure my cursor is directly over the point….it's a pain!! actually it aint too bad but it could be better.
edward sorry i only described the peak xform on the pyramid, the peak extrusion was also performed with the same result but of course with the extrusion. basically the four sides still end up in the same position with each poly face still aligned perpendicular to original normal direction. pyramid ends up looking like a sharp end of a spear ….( a very basic looking one of course )…. imagine the xform position of the pyramid but with the base having been bridged from its original position….i hope you get me!
also the other thing is this. when trying to do this with the addition of the editSOP i ran into a problem. * i would choose the sides to extrude. *hit polyextrudeSOP *but then not xform them in any way. *then i would choose an editSOP so could get to the peak handle. *now my polys from my previous polyextrude operation are still highlighted so i don't need to select again. so i RMB to end selection. i then choose peak. *now when i xform with the peak, i would expect the extruded polys to move out, but they come out stuck to neighbouring polys. as if no extrude had occured or i had selected these polys along with their sides. *it doesn't make much sense to me….
prophet the LMB selections in editSOP are quite good, ( maybe i made it sound worse than what it is, because it's not bad at all ), i just think they could be better. if you are refering to the brush picking tool, that doesn't seem as practical as the LMB in box picking to me. for instance i can't simply LMB on a point and have it move instantly like i can with box picking or lasso picking. i'm glad you just made another great discovery in SOPs, …softxform…a nice one!! enjoy!
betty, Yep, I understand what you mean now. It's like an translate AND scale in one operation.
As for the PolyExtrude, to see what is happening turn on point number display. Notice that before you extrude anything, the point numbers have not changed. Now look at the the PolyExtrude's Options tab in its parameters. Notice how Consolidate Points is set to All. I suspect that the option you want here is “Per Face”. And as usual, you can make it the default value for the current session by right-clicking on the parameter and choosing “Make Current Value Default”.
Prophet Well betty, Also, regarding selections. The paint selections tool isnt doing it for ya?
I love the idea of the brush selection except that it doesn't support brushing in primitive interiors or even over edges. You have to brush over points only, which severely limits it's practical use. Also, it would be great to have the radius of the brush constantly visible and have a ladder handle bound to it. (Maybe shift the deselect to RMB?)
Jason, you're right about the lack of options for brush selection. I believe part of the problem lies with its being too literally a brush tool.
In my fantasy land:
Once in “brush selection” mode, the cursor is “live”. When any part of a chosen component type within the bounds of the visible and scalable radius, is passed over by your cursor, that component should turn a color (like a rollover) as indication that it can be selected by a left mouse click. By holding down the left mouse and “brushing” you should be able to gather multiple components into your selection. I feel that this would be more elegant and practical for face and edge selection. Oh, and middle mouse on the tool button to bring up a radius ladder.
edward yeah i suppose it is two in one. actually this is the thing that i find one has to do at times, two ops instead of one. i recall a recent poster, ( it may have been on the mail list ), about dissolving an edge and having a left over point which only shared two edges to be blasted within the one op. he had to ‘dissolve’ the edge and then ‘blast’ point/s which were left over from the dissolved edge. it would be nice if one did dissolve an edge and for any points left over from this operation which only shared two edges to go as well.
also bridging polys, one has to ‘blast’, ‘polyknit’ and then ‘polycap’ when it all could be done with a ‘polybridge’..( if it existed, …maybe v6 ).
now i did try the suggestion of changing the “consolidate points” to ‘per face’ in the polyextrudeSOP but it didn't work, half the sides of the extruded polys vanished…..mmmmmmm….i'll keep experimenting. but even if it did work again it is the one in two scenario. and i guess this is my point, that some cleaning up needs to be done with the poly tools.
PolyExtrude by default, does not output the back polys as that is usually what you want 99% of the cases. You can however, under the Options tab of its Parameters, choose to output the back as well.
What precisely are you trying to do with the edit after the PolyExtrude without doing anything? Note that you can switch between the different PolyExtrude handles via the lowercase e, r, t keys.
Someone here mentioned the Bridge SOP. Have you tried that?
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