Cineversity

Hi David,

1. I’m not certain what you have in mind with “equalize”, set all triangles to the same size? Fill each triangle with something similar (that would be a plug-in). Or pull a mesh over the whole object. That would be instant mesh. Donovan Keith has discussed this here.
Perhaps you have an example (image) to share.

2. Before you use the bevel, select all polygons and create a Selection> Selection Tag. But of course, to delete now all these, would give the Bevel Nothing to work with. Object Manager> Objects> Current State To Object, and then double click the Selection Tag of the new object, followed by pressing the Delete Key (Mouse must be in the Editor View, other wise the Object might be deleted, or wherever the mouse is. I hope I got your question correctly.

3. The Atom Array can be set to four or three sides. Anyway, in one of the examples, I have had set up one with a MoGraph Cloner. See file …_51.c4d (Post #12). Set the Cylinder to 4 or 3 segments. Keep the Phong Tag setting low (59º or 89º for 3 or four sides).
Typically I would prefer the Extrude with caps on. Alternative to that would be the non beveled star, all edges selected and Mesh>Commands> Edge To Spline.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you need something else or more details. I have not attached any other file, as I guess the …_51.c4d will hold all information (except for Q1)

All the best

Hello Sassi,

Many thanks for your guidance again. Apologies if the first question was not clear. When I mean “equalize” I mean to set all the polygons to the same size over the whole object.

One question on materials and objects. If we take a cube for example, how can we control whether the cube is a solid vs made up of “sheets”. To explain further I want to know how to make a solid glass cube but also a glass cube where each face is a certain thickness, like a glass box. So a solid glass cube and a glass box. How can we control this when we apply a material? Hope that makes sense.

Kind regards,
David

Hi David,

I’m not aware of any function or option (i.e., plug in) that would provide such an equalization.
To get all of that in the way you want, the modeling has to start in that way.
The star object has only triangles with – always – the same size, so I don’t see the problem here.

Cube, its all about the modeling. A normal cube would be a full glass object. (Glass material goes through one polygon, gets refracted based on the settings and any polygon that is hit with that “ray” and has glass on it, will end the refraction cycle, even if it is based on two objects unrelated to each other.)

If you want to have a cube build out of glass panes, you can select all polygons, and use the Extrude with caps on. One time.
The offset will be the glass thickness.

Alternative: A second cube, a little bit smaller, and the Normals reversed, then both, editable (key: c) and Object Manager> Objects> Connected Objects and Delete.

Other options, as discussed earlier, are given by using Explosions (time to zero) or Cloth.

Please go through the files we have discussed so far, and rebuild them from memory. See post #8, the glass has thickness. To just see what I do, transfers only information, but knowledge is not created by just absorbing things.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I’m happy to look into it.

All the best

Thank you again, I will experiment with these ideas so I can learn how to fish

Kind regards,
David

Thanks a lot, David, nice reply!

It makes me always happy to share and to dig into problems, but I’m also deeply interested that the wanted skills are really growing.

I can only speak from my experience, learning applications since over a quarter century, with a new app or a major update per month, how much things work, and what is not really working at all (the illusion of progress, etc).
In the past 15 years I watched around 6,000 tutorials (not including my own 1,200), and I saw what has worked for me or for the people I shared the “virtual class” with.

It is like drawing, first observation, then memorizing, and finally to bring it to paper: Then one owns the “image”.  In-through-and out. There is no shortcut. … and most difficult thongs are just based on basic stuff. There is not really anything complicated, it is mostly a series of simple steps.

Whenever there is a stop, just ask, so the journey stays comfortable.

ENJOY.

P.S.: just a little drill for your imagination. Think of your object, perhaps a more complex one even. In your mind acknowledge that polygons are just based on shared points. Now start with any polygon and set it to your ideal size in your mind. What neighbors shared the same points, how do they look like now? So, go to these neighbors one by one, all in your imagination, and set the size/shape of those polygons to the standard (equalize!) and all those neighbors have to follow. Continue with the next, and it will be an avalanche of changes. Until the “circle of actions” tries to close, i.e., when the latest changes become neighbors of the initial changed polygons perhaps, or if not in circle, are all reminding points can find an situation where they share the same point while going into the same shape.
I was not sure if I should have shared this, but that was my chain of thought while I read your question (the post where you cleared your target). I can make someone dizzy to think this through, right? ENJOY