Complete Noob!! :)

Post by **DaveG** » 06 Jul 2006, 20:00

I prefer shapemerge to boolean for some operations, particularly on curved surfaces, as it usually makes a cleaner job of it.

steve p · Post by **steve p** » 06 Jul 2006, 20:31

That's too advanced for me. :redface:

Best wishes
Steve P

TomNocturnal · Post by **TomNocturnal** » 08 Aug 2006, 09:46

Just a quick update.

Although I havn't spent half as much time on the Whirlwind, as I would have like to. I feel it is coming along quite well.

After multiple methods & attempts I have discovered the "best" ways of doing things like the Fuselage and Wings (although still having some trouble getting the curvature of the wing right) with as little effort as possible.
:dance:

Still annoyed at the quality of that model!??
Mine is sh*te compared to that!?

I have now sorted this problem!!!

And the parts i have done are looking sweet.

So, I have:
Fuselage (Without Canopy)
Wings
Engines & Spinners
so far...

Just a couple of on going questioins:

1: As I mentioned earlier -
The 2 ways of doing wings that I have been experimenting with are:
a) Using the "Create Line" tool, drawing round the cross section of the wing and "extruding". Which works well, untill i come to try and taper the wing...
I just cant get it to match my plans - probably because the Whirlwind doesn't have the "conventional" wing shape - as such. Any hints?

b) Using the "create box" (??) tool draw around the top-view of the wing, then converting to editable poly and shaping from there. This is good for the overall shape of the wing - but I then find it difficult to get the curvature correct. Up till now, I have been shifting the "top-edged" verteces inside of the wing, so that it extends down to the leading edge diagonally. Then the same with the trailing edge but on less of an angle.

Obviously that gives "unreliable" results and the wing becomes very unnaturally shaped...

So again, any tips.

I guess method A would be best, but then I need to play about with the taper settings.... :think: Need to get the right axes so that I can "squash" the extruded line at the ends.

(Then I guess I just pepeat it all for the horizontal tail plane.)

Question 2:

I found it easier to model the fuselage using a cylinder for everything behind the nose cone, then adding the nose-cone afterwards as a "hemisphere" and stretching it out

It al works fine and it looks pretty sweet, but I cant get the radius' of each to match - just right. "Fine", I thought. "Ill just set the parameters to match..."
Problem is; once you have converted to editable poly, you get all that other gubbins instead of the "radius" editor and other stuff.

How do I get back to that so I can edit the radius in the "keyboard parameters" drop down again?

Cheers again...

Just 1 last thing.

Its it possible to export screenshot style .JPGs of my model? Just so I can post them on a few forums I visit?

Thanks guys!

TomNocturnal · Post by **TomNocturnal** » 09 Aug 2006, 11:20

Well, after a few hours of playing about with different taper settings and different centre points - I managed to create a wing that I though was about 90% good. Good enough for my "first" attemp.

I made it in two parts and did an align afterwards.
Then I duplicated and mirrored it.
So, its looking quite good.

I also started again with the fuselage and noted the radius this time, so that when I created the hemisphere, I could just stick the correct value in.
Seemed to work quite well.

Watch this space!

Callum · Post by **Callum** » 09 Aug 2006, 11:31

Screenshots por favor

TomNocturnal · Post by **TomNocturnal** » 09 Aug 2006, 11:54

"Be patien, young padawan! Much to learn have you!"...

They are on the way!

steve p · Post by **steve p** » 10 Aug 2006, 01:55

Here's how I learned about wings:

http://www.airexotica.com/downloads/gma ... torial.pdf

The lofting technique is also great for canopies.

Best wishes
Steve P

TomNocturnal · Post by **TomNocturnal** » 12 Aug 2006, 01:44

One thing after another.

Ive now lost the ability to be able to edit on each individual plane.

I.e.

If I wanted to move an object, befor I had a Red, Yellow & Green Line (I think - or maybe blue) , with an arrow and a small box at each end. ISo f I selected any of these planes, it would let me move the object along that plane only.
Now, I just have 3 very thin arrows - 1 for each plane. And when I try and move an object, it is in "freemove" and moves across all 3 planes?

Just typical too. I almost have the main sections of the plane completed, and was just about to start adding detail....

Any quick fixes fr this?

Callum · Post by **Callum** » 12 Aug 2006, 08:51

Press X

TomNocturnal · Post by **TomNocturnal** » 12 Aug 2006, 13:30

Ok, I pressed "X". Which did noting.

However, I selected an object and opened the Modify tab.

I then clicked the "taper" modifier that I had on the object I had selected, and clicked gizmo.

The arrows and boxes reappeared.

On pressing "X", it turns them off and on now!???

But cheers though!