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Extrude edge?

ojdee

ojdee

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17
Country
england
I've used Maya for a few years now and have become used to certain ways of modelling. I tend to use box modelling in editable poly mode mode in gmax and have come across a situation where in Maya I would select an edge and extrude that - something that doesn't seem possible in gmax.

If I have a border edge and want to create polygon a polygon that extends out from the border, what would be the best way to achieve this?

Thanks
Oli
 
Hey Oli,

The part must be in 'Editable Mesh' format, then select an edge, hold down Shift key, and drag the Edge(s) out.

It will not work with Editable Poly Objects for some reason. Only the straight edge will be created instead of an entire polygon.


Sometimes when I drag out an entire row of Edges, some will be flipped. I just go to Polygon mode, and down the the bottom, there is a Flip Polygons button. Select the Poly's to flip, and flip them. Again, this is only available in Editable Mesh Object modes.


So, what new thing are you working on now?


Bill
 
Thanks Bill, does that mean you just stick in mesh mode or jump back and forth as and when you need different features?

I'm starting a Trojan at the moment, typically I picked something with limited plans available, but as a first attempt I'm concerned with being super precise, just want to make an aircraft that I like the look of.
 
Leave it in E-Poly mode, but add an "Edit Mesh" modifier to the stack, then do your "Extrude Edge" bit...

That will save constantly flipping back and forth, and if you don't collapse the stack, you can go back to any previous operation and make adjustments to boot! :D
 
I've never actually looked into how the modifier works - does it behave like the history in photoshop - you can keep adding layers with the only consequence being the size of the saved file?

I know there are implications, in some cirumstances, to making changes in the middle of the stack, but generally I can keep making modifiers over modifiers?
 
You certainly can - that's the 'grown-up' way to use gmax/Max, in fact how the programs were designed to be used. When you export, the program only takes account of the final result however many modifiers you have stacked up on an object.

BTW, I like precise. Precise is good, and gmax can be very precise!
 
Sometimes there is just no substitute for spending a little cash on good drawings. Don't know of a set for your project, but I'm sure something can be found better than that link...
 
hairyspin said:
Sometimes there is just no substitute for spending a little cash on good drawings. Don't know of a set for your project, but I'm sure something can be found better than that link...
Click to expand...

Any recommendations for where I could get plans? Even if not for this project, it would be useful to know.
 
You certainly can - that's the 'grown-up' way to use gmax/Max, in fact how the programs were designed to be used. When you export, the program only takes account of the final result however many modifiers you have stacked up on an object.

Hairy Spin
Click to expand...


Just remember, its 'A LOT' of memory in keeping stacks. Just yesterday, I tried to mirror my mapped Carburetor assemblies in a Clone and it crashed Gmax each time. I then collapsed all stacks and it mirrored fine.

The warning on the crash was that it went over the memory limit and had to close. I couldnt even mirror 'one' part.

I know you guys like to keep your Stacks complete, but there are down sides to it. If you can run the memory and your Gmax doesnt crash, then all the more power to you.



Also, I bounce from E-Mesh to E-Poly, especially when working on 'sculpting' a mesh to shape, like a wingtip assembly (today) getting it all proper. You cannot extrude Edges in E-Poly, but you can Create Edges in EP, as well as delete previous Edges in EP without collapsing the skin (surface) of a Poly in EP. Bouncing between Poly and Mesh works awesome for me.



Bill
 
Bouncing between Poly and Mesh works awesome for me.
Click to expand...

I'm glad it does Bill! Wish I could say the same here. Converting from emesh to epoly usually generates extra vertices for me. Maybe it's a setup thing ...
 
mjahn said:
I'm glad it does Bill! Wish I could say the same here. Converting from emesh to epoly usually generates extra vertices for me. Maybe it's a setup thing ...
Click to expand...

Thats wild. I have never heard of that happening. I know that in Gmax, the shading changes slightly between EM and EP, but I have never had the Vertices change in count, or at least never appeared to have.


Note, you do not have to worry about this now with FS2004 models with the new export system. ;)

EDIT: On a side note, I remember Paul talking once on FSX models and Vertice counts. Did you know that smoothing something like a cube (6 sided box), that totally smoothed would yield 8 total Vertices. But if you 'un-smoothed' it, you would have 4 vertices per Poly side, thus 24 total Vertices on an unsmoothed Cube. So if you take sections of a sophisticated object that has flat sides here and smooth sides there, the join zones that border each smoothing group will have extra/double Vertices in those rows. Now this is in a conversation about modelling in FSX, not FS2004. I do not know if the game engine of FS9 does this also, but FSX does.


Bill
 
Last edited:
Bill & anybody else, as I say I suspect there is something wrong with my setup, anyway here is a test for you -

a. Make a box.
b. Convert to emesh.
c. Select all vertices and check number, should be eight (as you know well enough).
d. Edge mode: select one edge
e. Extrude button: extrude a bit. (nicely conforms to the subject of this thread BTW.)
f. Vertex mode, check number, should be ten.
g. Convert to epoly.
h. Vertex mode, select all, check number. Is fourteen on my setup.

Confirm please?

And yes I have read those notes on smoothing, materials, and vertices; I believe these pointers are somewhere in this site's Wiki, too. And they are precisely the point why I don't want more vertices than necessary. I don't want any colocated ones either. Welding may or may not do the trick and there's always the danger of welding what you don't want welded. I know you can tell the compiler to not bother, but I am a firm believer in the principle Junk in Junk out ...
 
[chirp]love the sound of a cricket during an awkward silence[/chirp]
 
I believe you and respect your directions in modeling. For me, if I worry about every Vertice, I'll lose tons of time on modelling and time is money.

For me, it is inevitable to bounce between the two versions of mesh if I want to work at 'swift' speed and use the tools I need. But for you, those extra Vertices are priority and I respect that.

I might test that some day. For now, so long as the model exports and looks exactly the way I want it, all animations working, then I am happy.

:D
 
mjahn said:
Bill & anybody else, as I say I suspect there is something wrong with my setup, anyway here is a test for you -

a. Make a box.
b. Convert to emesh.
c. Select all vertices and check number, should be eight (as you know well enough).
d. Edge mode: select one edge
e. Extrude button: extrude a bit. (nicely conforms to the subject of this thread BTW.)
f. Vertex mode, check number, should be ten.
g. Convert to epoly.
h. Vertex mode, select all, check number. Is fourteen on my setup.

Confirm please?

And yes I have read those notes on smoothing, materials, and vertices; I believe these pointers are somewhere in this site's Wiki, too. And they are precisely the point why I don't want more vertices than necessary. I don't want any colocated ones either. Welding may or may not do the trick and there's always the danger of welding what you don't want welded. I know you can tell the compiler to not bother, but I am a firm believer in the principle Junk in Junk out ...
Click to expand...


mjahn,

I can confirm your experience. Following your steps exactly, I get the same results. I also notice that coverting a slightly more complex object I am working on from epoly to emesh reduces the vertex count from 73 to 59.

I suspect this is due to some way gmax handles faces, since welding all 14 vertices in epoly only reduces the number to 12 (not 10) ?!? For me, altough the conversion adds vertices, it only happens once. So it is unlikely the vertex count will grow out of control, regardless of how many times I switch modes.

I examined the _0.asm file after exporting the object as an emesh with 10 vertices, and an epoly with 14 vertices. In the emesh .asm, 26 vertices are defined. In the epoly .asm there are 28 vertices defined. Again, that makes me suspect that epoly is doing something with the two 'missing' faces on the back side of the extruded line.

In any case, you are not alone. Though I have never noticed much performance impact from vertices or polys, only textures.

cheers,
Z
 
In any event, it hardly matters as the export module will automatically re-triangulate e-poly to e-mesh anyway...

The sim only supports "triangles..." :D
 
n4gix said:
In any event, it hardly matters as the export module will automatically re-triangulate e-poly to e-mesh anyway...

The sim only supports "triangles..." :D
Click to expand...

Do you mean blgcomp will further optimize the vertex definintions?

Both of my test files had the correct number of triangles defined (14), but had different numbers of vertices defined depending on how the object was exported.

I got curious..... now back to work for me :cool:
 
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