Military AI Works

So...I have created some parts and I have done well manipulating them. Here are some questions I have:

How do I get the parts lined up just exactly right together? I keep finding that I am a smidge off in an area that is noticeable. Can I just "snap" them together?

How can I create a triangle with depth? I create a polygon with 3 sides and I get this flat thing....

Try Part\Snap to Scale to get proper alignment. Failing that, you will need to zoom right in on the points you require to line up properly in point mode.

A polygon is flat, that is correct, if you need a three sided polygon with depth, use 'create cone' and use three sides.

Woohoo thanks!

Boolean Operation:

I have done this before but cannot make it happen now :<

I make a part and name it tool.

I select the main part...then select the tool....go to Part...and Boollean Operation can't be selected!

What am I doing wrong?

Progress...............

And no I don't know the answer to your question. I haven't even begun to use that feature. Honestly, I don't have the slightest clue what it does for you. The way I figure I'm probably teaching myself a lot of things, but I'm learning them the hard way most likely. It'll be nice to really start to understand FSDS here in another month or so.

You have to have the part as the current part and have both the part and tool selected at the same time.

Some modelers find FSDS3 Boolean Tool extremly unusable (it generates too much polygons in an automatic way) -> I'm cutting off all the holes manually, I mean I add points by hand and then do polygons using them ...

I agree that doing it manually makes a cleaner model with fewer polygons, but selecting the right points to make the new polygons can take a considerable time when you first start.

And I agree that
Yes, it is handy to use a boolean tool as a first stage and then manualy clean things (delete points and create new polygons on that which left).
My personal experience is that when I used the tool for cutting holes in a fuselage I got it completely messed, with LOTs of unwanted polygons ...

Yes, my preferred method is to use the boolean tool first, that gives me the parts I need correctly sized, shaped and aligned. Then I delete particular points which delete the excess polygons, select remaining points to correctly fill the gaps with a much lower number of polygons. Having said that, sometimes the number of excess polygons makes it very difficult to clean up and it can be a long job. For me the shape and alignment are important and this method does ensure accuracy.

I will have to get it squared away. I have made some basic buildings and even the texturing isn't...terrible

Argh! I figured out what I was doing wrong but now everytime I do a boolean my program hangs and crashes!

This is just way too difficult!

Maybe something with a geometry ... let's try "Snap to scale"?

Guys Im having the same kind of boolean problems, Trying to cut out the cockpit on my Jaguar T4 fuselage. I can do it but when it comes to compliling it tells me there are co-located points in poly.. Ive tried to locate them by the co-ordinates it gave me but I cant. I noticed that Rip didnt actually have a hole on the A-10 but rather the pilot just sat out of the fuselage, is this the way to go?

Nick

To hell with Mr Boolean. I may have more polygons but the brute force method works as well

My next question.

How do I make the dark colored windows reminiscent of air control towers?

You need some dark coloured glass material. Have a look at your materials list and perhaps add one like this:-

56 56 56 128
64 64 64 255
0 0 0 255
0 0 0 255
0

Brilliant, Graham.

Next question (you guys will be happy with the work):

How would I make a pentagram? A box with 6 sides? I made a box and pulled the points out on top to make the control tower windows...but I would like to do this with 6 sides.

A box is a four sided TUBE with only one section and both ends solid:D

Does that help?

Not sure about the pentagram though, that's a five pointed star, you would need a ten sided for that.......LOL

BadPvtDan wrote:Brilliant, Graham.

Next question (you guys will be happy with the work):

How would I make a pentagram? A box with 6 sides? I made a box and pulled the points out on top to make the control tower windows...but I would like to do this with 6 sides.

Box with 6 sides - use a tube with 6 sides
Pentagram - One tube with 10 faces. Goto point mode and select every other point use scale mode to shrink them to the inside.