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Maybe some of you know these already...
I have been using several modifiers to make my ground polys. But I've been recently experimenting with few modifiers in max.
1-To make taxi-lines I used to use loft. But now I've discovered that the modifier called sweep is much much better:
--> It allows you to sweep some custom sections (a segment in this case) along a spline. The benefits is that now you can make several disconnected splines (using create lines button) into one spline and still sweep a segment along them. Loft cannot do that.
But to be able to use the sweep modifiers as ground polys you have to make sure the normal are oriented upward by either using the mirror parameter in the sweep modifiers or adding an edit spline modifier and flip all the polygons.
The sweep has good point in a way you can always change the template and it will change the shape (if you choose instance of course).
2-I used to manually add vertices in my splines to make the segments even. You need the segments to be almost even for the texture to properly distribute on the surface. Now I use the modifier called normalize spline. try it out.
3-Using Arno's great Model Converter X you can import x files directly and set up the default lat lon in the options to help you quickly export your ground polys. You have to make sure the filter non ground polys in uncheck though if you use the sweep modifier.
4-Cap hole modifier is not good. Use the extrude or bevel modifier instead. It will allow you to make several splines into one and make surface for all of them. Sometime you may want to add tessellate (tension to 0) if your surface is to big
5-Another nice tool is the spacing tool. More useful for placing several objects. Try it out!
6-UVW xform is also a great tool to further control your texture along these complex taxiline curves!
Hope it helps
I have been using several modifiers to make my ground polys. But I've been recently experimenting with few modifiers in max.
1-To make taxi-lines I used to use loft. But now I've discovered that the modifier called sweep is much much better:
--> It allows you to sweep some custom sections (a segment in this case) along a spline. The benefits is that now you can make several disconnected splines (using create lines button) into one spline and still sweep a segment along them. Loft cannot do that.
But to be able to use the sweep modifiers as ground polys you have to make sure the normal are oriented upward by either using the mirror parameter in the sweep modifiers or adding an edit spline modifier and flip all the polygons.
The sweep has good point in a way you can always change the template and it will change the shape (if you choose instance of course).
2-I used to manually add vertices in my splines to make the segments even. You need the segments to be almost even for the texture to properly distribute on the surface. Now I use the modifier called normalize spline. try it out.
3-Using Arno's great Model Converter X you can import x files directly and set up the default lat lon in the options to help you quickly export your ground polys. You have to make sure the filter non ground polys in uncheck though if you use the sweep modifier.
4-Cap hole modifier is not good. Use the extrude or bevel modifier instead. It will allow you to make several splines into one and make surface for all of them. Sometime you may want to add tessellate (tension to 0) if your surface is to big
5-Another nice tool is the spacing tool. More useful for placing several objects. Try it out!
6-UVW xform is also a great tool to further control your texture along these complex taxiline curves!
Hope it helps
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