I've been experimenting with the 'loft' tool in the vertex modeler. So far it has only worked properly once out of about a dozen tries with different shapes and such. I know about not mixing closed and open lines. Are there other requirements for a proper loft that aren't mentioned in the manual, or is it just buggy? Thanks for any feedback.

I've not used the loft tool much but in my experience problems in the Vertex Modeler are often caused because a vertex is not exactly where you think it is. So for lofting it probably helps to make sure all vertices for a single cross-section are on the same plane. Using one of the 'plane' views (Front, Top etc.) is a safer bet for moving/adding vertices than the Director's View. Having said that, I'm not sure that the Spline Modeller isn't a quicker and more versitile way of doing anything involving cross-sections. And if you need to use the VM, link the vertices by hand and then fill the polys. HTH Mark

The vertex modeler in C2 was quite buggy but in C3 I have found it to be very stable and have used lofting many times without problems.

Yes. Both polylines are in their own plane, and the planes are parallel to each other. I've been drawing polylines and then trying to loft them. I haven't tried using the 'link' tool to make sure the polyline is solid. I'll give that a shot. Thanks.

I know I can do lofts in the spline modeler but my intent is to learn all the tools in the vertex modeler ;)

Message edited on: 06/07/2004 07:45

I've found that as long as the polylines are reasonably regular C doesn't have a problem connecting things. The problems arise with irregular shapes where it tends to make a bad guess as to how to join the vertices. For the picture I drew a circle, duplicated it and raised the duplicate. Making a regular star shape caused no problems but this is the result of an irregular star. Use the link tool to joining the vertices how you want after cleaning things up. The vertex modeller is worth learning, especially if you want to export models to other apps. It is really very versitile and you have a lot of control. Stick with it!

To work correctly I think all your polylines should have the same number of vertices.

They have; I duplicated the circle then moved the vertices around for the top one.

I stand corrected! :-)

It's OK, you can sit if you want to. ;-)

For great modeling I believe Carrara needs Amapi. For me, the vertex modeler is a clumsy modeler. Sorry if I offended any of you guys that love it. I am sure there is value in it as I have seen the work. For me I need to find a better modeling solution than Carrara. Just my 2 cents.

No modeling app on the planet is worth what they charge for Amapi for my purposes ;)

I can understand that. Amapi Pro's price is outrageous. Good Day

The other thing that bugs Carrara's loft is winding order. If you take the same polyline, duplicate and FLIP, Carrara will flip trying to loft between them. My best luck in lofting has been to loft smaller parts of the polyline. I've been doing a lot of stuff lately, like that space ship I posted, where I duplicated a complex object then lofted the gap to the previous one.