Hey model-people: I'm using Amapi 6. I'm trying to model a gray metal shelf, similar to what you would see in a warehouse or file room. The holes are for the bolts that attach the shelfs at different heights. I included a pic to better explain what I'm looking for. I would like to make a hole in a cube (1" on X plane; 1" on Y plane; 1/8" on Z plane. I would then copy/paste/connect each "holed" section together up to the height I need. Is there a way to do this without using booleans, which seem to add mega-size to a file? Thanks for any help you can provide. garblesnix

Attached Link: http://www.wings3d.com/index.orig.php

Not sure how to do it in Amapi but you can do it in Wings 3d. It a free download so yo might want to try it at least for this part of your project.

Cybermonk: Thanks for the help. I've been thinking of trying Wings. Now appears to be the time. g'x

Is there a way to do this without using booleans, which seem >to add mega-size to a file? Cybermonk gave you a nifty answer to creating the holes without booleans but it still adds polygons and that will increase you file size. I don't see any advantage, file size wise, that is :)

As far as the poly count goes I cold have smoothed just once or added the edges manualy to reduce the poly count. But the thing is if you dont have enough your models going to look faceted especially in rounded areas.

Oh yeah in wings smooth is a smooth subdivide. I forgot in other progs smooth can be just that... smoothing of the existing verts.

To keep the poly count **really** low you could use an alpha map to create the holes - the model above only uses 8 polys on the perforated supports. As long as they're at a reasonable distance it could work quite well.

Not sure how to set up alpha maps in Amapi but if you look in the manual or ask in the Amapi forum I'm sure they'll help you out.

Wings is definitely work a look however you decide to handle this. Good luck.

swishy :)

swishy: Thanks for the information. By Alpha Map, I assume you mean the Transmap thingee in Poser (which is where this will be used). Black color to cause "hole" and white to......well, not cause "hole". Thanks again. Your model is exactly what I've made in Amapi. Now that the "hole" issue is resolved, I can move on to create the scene. garblesnix

Good to hear that you've managed to make your model. :) I wasn't familiar with Poser's Transmap term but yes, that will be the way to do this.

swishy

Message edited on: 06/27/2005 13:54

swishy: Arrrgghhh and Aiiieeee! I'm stumped when it come to making the Alpha Maps (trans maps). When I make a black circle, using PSP, to "create" the hole, it shows up as an oval in Poser Pro Pack. How did you get those round holes in your model? Should I consider importing my Amapi model (after changing to a usable format, of course) into Wings? Any pics you have would be wonderful. Thanks. Hope you're having a good 4th.....if you're in the States, that is. 8^}

Use an alpha map that is square, or allow for the height / width ratio by drawing ellipses.

Here's how I made mine. It seems low-poly enough.

hmm, with my preffered apps there are two options, create a tube the size of the holes you want, and cut it out of the uprights. or select the actual vertices and delete them. ( rhino and max in order of posting the solution ) the problem in rhino it then you have a gap between the front and back of the upright. as the nurb is not solid, it's a hollow shape. the solution to that is to copy the tube into each hole and leave it there, sized to fit perfectly. then hole in upright, no gap appearing in what is supposed to be a solid object., and with nurbs, you mesh before exporting and control the density of the polygons. the problem with max is selecting and getting a round hole, not an odd shaped hole.

If this object were the main subject of a render, I'd go full-on NURBS.

nruddock: Thanks for the tip. Is there any kind of ratio I should use to determine the height of elipse vs the height of round hole desired? g'x

Shouldn't be too difficult.
There's two things to watch out for, one is the shape of the texture map, the other is the shape of the faces on the texture map.

Examples :
If your texture map is (say) 600 wide by 300 high, then you need to make your ellipses twice as wide as they are high.

If a square face in a model is a rectangle on a square texture map, you have to match the height to width ratio of the ellipse to that of the rectangle on the texture map.

The most awkward situation to get things right in, is when the above two situations happen at the same time.

Sorry for the slow response, garblesnix. One way to get the alpha/trans map to fit would be to have the image share the proportions of the support sides (I'm assuming your support has the same width on each side) and use a cubic projection. The example above was done in C4D but it should adapt to Amapi.

The way that I approached this in Wings was to UV map the support. That gave me a template to use so I knew exactly where the edges of the supports were when it came to adding the line of holes and the model contains the information about how to apply the image. That way there would be no distortion when the alpha/trans map was applied and I could use the template as the base for a texture/colour/diffuse map where I could have rust wrapping around the edges of the support or something similar.

I really like SHONNER's NURBS solution and if Amapi can produce similar results I'd definitely look into it - if not for this project then for the future.

Alpha/Trans maps can provide a quick and easy solution but aren't suitable for all situations. For mid-distance/background work they'll usually work OK but even then their effectiveness will diminish as the size of the finished image increases. Still a useful shortcut though.

swishy

Did the transmap thing. After some fiddling, it worked out well. Thanks to all of you who provided assistance.