Sijun Forums :: View topic - 3DS MAX Gurus please help with boolean subtraction!!!

The Dude · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 5:55 am

Here is my dilema...
I am trying to subtract this shape

from this sphere

and I end up with this

How can I get this to end up with a clean
cut all the way through the sphere in the
shape of the shape with no jagged edges?
I tried increasing the polygon count on the
sphere, but this is the result of that.
Same as before.
Any thoughts?

| The.Dude |
My Hobby: www.WorthlessFacts.com
My Art: burden

Sedone · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 6:27 am

I'll just offer some suggestions off the top of my head. You may have already tried them...

First, if you extruded that shape, have you tried collapsing it into a mesh? The same goes for the sphere. Is it an editable mesh or is it still a parametric sphere? This shouldn't matter, but you might try select the "glyph" first, then go to Boolean and select Subtraction(B-A), then pick the sphere as Operand B.

I tried doing what you're doing (w/o the exact same symbol, of course) and it worked fine.

Hopefully this helps?

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sedone's artfolio

Snake Grunger · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 7:48 am

Mine turned out OK. I heard tho the boolean functions in 3DSMax 3.x are much much better than in 3DSMax 2.x, my guess this is why you are having alot of trouble.

The Dude · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 7:52 am

Thanks Sedone, but still no go.

The shape was extruded. I tried converting
both the shape and the sphere to editable
meshes as well as the B-A method to no avail.

Any other suggestions?

Here is the file I am working with if anyone
wants to try...

http://www.worthlessfacts.com/images/eyewood.max

Thanks...

| The.Dude |
My Hobby: www.WorthlessFacts.com
My Art: burden

The Dude · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 7:53 am

I am using 3.1

I must be doing something wrong...no idea
what.

Guy · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:13 am

do you have a lot of segments on your sphere? try making them higher.. if not try making them lower just for the hell of it, see if it helps. personaly i stay away from booleans. never really liked them or needed them

Sedone · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:39 am

Well, I downloaded your MAX file and messed around w/ it for a while, and I'm having the same problems your having. I went ahead and did the whole thing over and it works for me. I guess somewhere along the way you did something to it, I'm not sure. Maybe you didn't convert all the shapes into editable splines before extruding it?

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sedone's artfolio

Snake Grunger · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:42 am

I think it's because of your initial 3i logo, you should start it over and try not to have any ambiguous shapes or connections, such as the I touching the 3.

The Dude · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 8:44 am

I start over then. Hey thanks for the help
fellas!

Snake: I can't. It is for a client and that
is part of their logo which is set in stone.

| The.Dude |
My Hobby: www.WorthlessFacts.com
My Art: burden

waylon · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2000 12:49 pm

Well, I don't know exactly what caused the problem, but there's something funky with your sphere. I deleted your old one, created a new one in its place (same parameters), then converted your logo object to an editible mesh.... re-applied the boolean, and it works fine.

As to what caused this problem... I'm not sure, but I'm guessing you had multiple boolean operators applied to the sphere, and max just wasn't handling it correctly.

Danny · Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2000 5:01 am

The Dude,

it's VERY important your splines are flawless before you etrude them into a mesh. Make sure you've got no double unmerged vertices, or clutter like that.
Boolean's are hideous tools really.
If you created the spline from an AI import, I suggest you just start over by using Max's spline modelling tools instead.

Good luck, shouldn't be difficult..

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