[edible snowman]

i was making a sketch for a dna strand that i wanted to model in a 3d program(3ds 3.1) and i tried but i failed. i could model a strand of dna, or get parts of it to follow a path like that, but not both at the same time. i will figure it out eventually but i want to get it done by friday if possible so any help or explanation would be really appreciated.




its on the left, the things on the right are doodles because i was bored.

[Dude]

earlier message deleted...

[edit] written in my drunken haze..

but something of use may be the fact that it is not just a ladder like that but more of a helix shape...

[This message has been edited by Dude (edited April 03, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Dude (edited April 03, 2001).]

[roundeye]

i havent used max in a while (and even then not much) but couldnt you make a compound object consisting of both sides of the ladder, and then loft that alond a path??

[Dude]

numerous ways, you could loft it by using shapes and pathcurves or use nurbs utilzing sweeps and whatnot using nurbs surfaces...

[sahripper]

I can't think of any better ways than what has been said, but ... If your going for DNA, why do you show us an RNA drawing? ... Not that it matters that much...

[edible snowman]

i know what dna really looks like, but there are many different models and common misconceptions about what it really is. plus this is just a crappy sketch, i was thinking that i would do a twist modifier, but it doesnt work after it goes along the path, and i couldnt do it before and get it to work. i also was thinking nurbs for the side things, but loft doesn't really work for me for some reason, so i will have to look up tutorials. i tried using the spacing tool along a path to get the cylinders, that or arrays, i forget. but now that i think about it, it would probably be better to a helix shape, not that changes my original problem. could i model this as a straight strand, and then bend it? i think that would be a lot easier. i'm sorry if i sound so uneducated, ive thought about this and tried for a while, but im just that bad at using 3d programs right now. i have to work on that..

[Dude]

how can lofting not work for you, draw a path, draw a shape, hit loft button (whilst having path selected) click get shape button pick shape and presto, and this technique should work because i quickly made one two min after reading your post to make sure it worked....




[This message has been edited by Dude (edited April 03, 2001).]

[pixualize]

This is a tutorial for a different software package but it may give you some ideas of how you can go about what you're wanting to do.
http://www.digitalproducer.com/pages/creating_a_helix_in_animation.htm

Pat

[edible snowman]

i dont know, its weird. i know in theory how loft works, and i did it directly from a tutorial, but instead of making the shape it make this weird blobby mass. i dont know how or why, but i'm sure it was my fault. like i said, ill figure out eventually. in fact, i think i'll be able to do it tonight. but then again my next post will probably just be me bitching about how i cant get it to work.

[edible snowman]

well, i finished it. learned nothing besides the fact that i suck in the process. check it out here:
http://www.sijun.com/dhabih/ubb/Forum5/HTML/002021.html