Cineversity

So simple but I’m struggling.

I want to take shape 1, put it into shape 2 and create lines in shape 1 where they intersect. Boole doesn’t seem to do this.

Any help would be appreciated,

Jeff G.

Can you clarify what you mean by “lines”?

And to confirm, when you are using the boole you should have:

Boole
  obj a
  obj b

By default this would be obj a - obj b.

Hi Jeff Goin,

Something like this? Perhaps the axis is set not to your advantage. Try the attached file, click on the Spline Mask and in the Attribute Manager you will find the settings Object> Axis.
Switch among the three and see what happens—is that similar to your problem?

It might work faster in some cases to use Illustrator.

All the best

Sassi

Interesting. Although it’s not what I had in mind, it did gave me idea for another approach. I didn’t realize you could project splines onto a surface. THAT should do what I want and is what I’ll now try using the help. Thanks guys!

Hey Jeff G.,

You’re welcome. Great that we got a “brainstorming chain reaction” at least ;o)

(BTW: Project or via Surface Deformer, each time the density of the available points are key)

It sounds like the step before the “problem” could have been interesting to know, to share even more (just a guess)

Good Luck with the project

Sassi

OK, I learned about projecting splines and that’s not what thought it was—good for getting the spline into a certain shape, but not good for cutting the object touched by the spline (as far as I can tell). If I COULD cut the object touched by the spline, according to the spline, to become the new geometry of that object, that would be GREAT.

Here’s my mission. Take some terrain that I created then lower a shaped piece of that terrain by an equal amount like what I’ve shown.

What *DID* work was to use an open ended shape using a boole, C it, erase the unwanted leftovers, do an extrude, cut out the center and lower it. Definitely a kluge.

If you (or anyone) has a better way to do this I would LOVE to hear it.

Thanks so much.

Jeff G.

Hi Jeff,

The first step to get this fast established would be:

First get the terrain, perhaps a tiny little bit larger than needed.

Then use the Splines to get a flat shape that has already the “cut” inside. Outside spline, then cut spline, placed into a loft. One Cap is disabled!

The Loft [NURBS] will allow for adjustments of the mesh density, for the main part and the cap. Do this carefully!

Use the Connect Object, to connect Main part of the Loft and cap, otherwise the cap will be projected as the main part of the Loft.

Place this under a Null and use a Surface Deformer. The Surface Deformer needs to be initialized and then set to UV Projection.

IF that works to your liking, use the CSTO (Current State to Object) function in the Object Manager>Objects.

You get for the cap a single Selection Tag, double click it to activate the polygons. (The rest of the scene should be set to invisible for now)

Use the M~T (Extrude) option, and extrude -0.01 or less, just to get a new edge.

With the selection active, use the Move Tool and move the selection down in P.Y. to get your “flat sink hole”.

I guess the mesh looks better—if done carefully—than the Boole. At least you have a lot of options to adjust the mesh prior to that.

I have attached the scene file. As usual I do these things each time newly, to see if it works as before. A scene file is a clear feedback.

BTW, a projected Spline on a standard Landscape-mesh works great as Knife-Guide.

All the best

Sassi

P.S.: Perhaps I said that before, but the Spline as Knife is something people like to have, there more people suggest this to MAXON, the better.

P.S.: Perhaps a little bit tricky to set up, but maybe useful for your needs. Just based on the thread and that you take one step from suggestion and expand on it. So here we go :o)
It uses two objects and Surface deformer, and keeps things active. I haven’t check how it would work with Point selections, but I hope the scene file explains it all ;o)

The selection here is rough, but follows the “flat sink hole” idea as used above.

Man you rock. I just loaded your file and, although it might take me a while to really understand what you did, it looks like it does exactly what I want. Thanks!

Jeff G.

Thank you, Jeff G.. :o)

I hope it works, if not let me know, perhaps we find something else.

My best wishes

Sassi

Hi Jeff G.

I was thinking about it, how to get this done without the “CSTO” conversion.

I have attached a scene file that leaves the whole set up “procedural”. I hope that enables an more interactive process. (All things stay “hot” and adjustable.)

The key was here to use “Caps with Fillets”, you might explore that a little bit deeper for your your needs.

The Plain Effector is set to Deform>Points with an Parameter>Transform> P.Z “value as you need it”.

My best wishes for the project

Sassi

P.S.: please note that the radius of the circle in this example needs to be roughly in sync with the “mesh”, I would call it interference to see the sweet spots. Adjust the radius and you see what I mean. This short exploration will help you to set up more complex situations.  The Fillet radius can be used to counteract that phenomenon :o) Fingers crossed.

I could only wish for the depth of understanding that allows such nuanced applications of this software! I did figure it out but, unfortunately, no amount of tweaking could solve artifacts that showed up on my weirdly shaped cutouts. I’m gonna try your new file/description for future segments.

What I wound up doing was primitive by comparison but worked. I selected the appropriate geometry, saved the selections, combined it, pulled up the terrain with the magnet, then moved the formerly selected parts back down into position. I did have some hand tweaking but the results are pretty good. A still doesn’t do it justice—the magic happens when the camera moves from an overhead view to an angle shot shot as the green airspace is pulled over the chart.

Nothing earth shattering but it’s perfect for understanding how the airspace looks. There is simply no tool that can do this better than 3d animation.

Thanks again!

Jeff G.

Thank you very much for sharing the project as image, Jeff G.

Thanks as well for the nice feedback each time, very much appreciated. :o)

I think C4D is a strong application, but the main power sits in the option to combine single parts. Those combinations show up after a lot of playing and exploring the basics.

My best wishes for the project, so that you can communicate your material in the best way for other pilots.

Have a great weekend

Sassi