topic Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :( in 3ds Max Modeling Forum

Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Good0guy — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 23:41:21 GMT

I am new to modelling, and I found out about boolean, and got excited about how easy it is to carve holes in objects...
Yeaaaaaahhhhh..... I was SOOOOOOO stupid!

Now there are some faces that go over window holes, and I don't know how to fix them... I zipped it and its in the attachment.
Could someone fix it for me? And tell me how to fix it myself?

Please, I need this model done by tomorrow afternoon. 😕

It's all done, just that overlapping poly needs to be fixed.

Thanks in advance to all the people that are willing to help me!

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Steve_Curley — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 07:44:36 GMT

Select the building. Polygon level, select the single poly which has the problem - that's the whole side with the windows in it (Polygon 319). Detach to a new object.

Select the new object (Object082 if you didn't change its name), Right-click > Hide Unselected. Border level, carefully select all of the borders around each window. I would Ctrl+click them one at a time to make certain you don't pick a "bad" edge.

Extrude (small button next to the Extrude button to get the Caddy). Default of 10mm is fine, but zero out the width. Note - it took my system quite a noticable time to do the extrusion - no doubt because of the problems within the object (that non-removable "poly"). OK the Caddy.

Deselect the object. With 3D Snaps to Vertices, create a new Plane object, 1 segment in both directions, to cover the entire object (snap to diagonally opposite corners of the original). Turn on Relative transforms and move the new Plane 5mm so it intersects with the extruded openings on the other object.

ProBoolean, Subtract and Cookie, then pick the old (extruded) object. You should get a nice, clean version of what was there before. Convert it to Editable Poly, Move it back into position (-5mm).

Right-click > Unhide All. Select the main building > Attach > pick the new object. Right-click > Object Properties > Backface Cull. Make sure the newly attached side is facing the right way (outwards) - if not, select it (polygon) and Flip it. Vertex level, area-select around where the vertices of the new object and the building meet (Left viewport would be best for this) then Weld them.

As you found to your cost, playing fast and loose with booleans is not always the best idea. Use them sparingly, only in situations which have no simple alternative, and you should be OK.

One final point - a building that size is unlikely to be 535 by 352 mm. Unless you have a very good reason for building it at that size, you really should create models at their real world size. Many things in Max such as certain Materials, physics simulations etc all depend on objects being the correct, real, dimensions.

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Good0guy — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:20:27 GMT

Dear Steve,

YOU MISTER are now my No.1 most favorite stranger in the whole world !!!!! 🙂

Thank you a lot!

That side is now beautiful, really THANK YOU. 1000 kudos to you!

Firstly let me explain why I did it so small. This model is supposed to be engraved in a piece of glass, so I will shrink it even more now. It won't have any materials attached to it, so I'm ok. When I start doing animations, and other things, I will be carefull to choose the right system unit. 🙂

Secondly, I noticed these "hidden" edges... http://prntscr.com/7j6wrz , when I export this model to AutoCAD, all these "hidden" lines become visible. Is there any way to bypass this problem, or do all these windows need to be connected to the frame?

Now, how do you recommend that I make these windows? I figured I can just cut the square ones, but how do I make any shape I want?

One last thing, and I am really sorry if I am bothering you 🙂
You said that it took you a long time to extrude those edges... I extruded them in like 2-3 seconds.
Your PC is better than mine... I run Win7HP, on i5-4460 @ 3.2 GHz with 8GB of RAM.

So maybe If you have problems with speed, you should do a clean install?

Oh look, now I give advices... 🙂

Big thanks, once again! I menaged to finish it in time. 🙂

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Steve_Curley — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 14:56:36 GMT

Glad it helped 🙂

As to the size - fair enough. There can be reasons for modeling things very small, but do be aware that the smaller you go, using many decimal places, the less accurate Max will become.

Those hidden edges. You can't avoid them - at least not when using booleans and it's tricky even if you don't. Those long, thin triangles can be a pain, but the only way to avoid them is to manually create Quads over the whole object. You'll reach a stage where the end result doesn't justify the cost (time) required. All depends on what you're going to do with the model. Some things need it, some don't.

My PC - I'm used to simple extrudes being pretty much instantaneous, so a few seconds delay seems like an age 🙂

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Good0guy — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 15:10:55 GMT

Ok, i understand now. 🙂

Could you just answer one more question I have.

"How do you recommend that I make these windows? I figured I can just cut the square ones, but how do I make any shape I want?"

And about that PC... I thought you were talking about minutes 😄 That's what I thought when you said quite some time. 🙂

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Steve_Curley — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 07:11:11 GMT

You might get some ideas from this thread, but it does depend on exactly what you're going to do with the model. Are you going to keep it in Max and render it? Or pass it to a game? Or a 3D printer? Each may have its own requirements, so you'd have to know what is needed, preferably in advance.

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Good0guy — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 09:27:40 GMT

Well I need them as much as possible clean. So, should I just use the 3rd solution you posted there?
It can still be tricky to make rounded windows 😕

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Steve_Curley — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 09:40:06 GMT

I never said it would be easy 😛
Try starting with a Cylinder, delete all of it except one end. Manipulate half the vertices to give the lower half of the window, the upper semi-sircle of vertices will form the top. Select the border and shift+Scale it outwards. Delete the inner polys and you have a window opening in a section of wall. With some careful cloning/attaching/welding you can quite quickly build the rest of the wall. Of course, in your case you have those taller windows getting in the way, but the priciple could prove useful.

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

PROH — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 13:48:44 GMT

Hi Good0guy.

You wrote: "...when I export this model to AutoCAD, all these "hidden" lines become visible.", and "It can still be tricky to make rounded windows."

Just wanted to tell you, that If you got AutoCAD, then using Boolean operations in AutoCAD is much much better + much more precise than in 3dsMax. You can however only use it if your model is an AutoCAD Solid. But if you build your model as a closed "watertight" non-selfintersecting mesh in 3dsMax, then you should be able to convert it to a Solid in AutoCAD. And in this converting process you can get the mesh cleaned up.

Another advantage is, that If you makes "round windows" via Boolean in AutoCAD, then they will be adaptive (like NURBS) and therefor more accurate/round.

Hope it helps

Re: Boolean screwed me up!! Please help!?! :(

Good0guy — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 15:39:32 GMT

Hey PROH!

The only reason I exported it to AutoCAD is in order to use EXPLODE mod.
In max it is grayed out and i can't click it.

Like I said, I'm not building solid object, I just need the shell of it, because it was supposed to be engraved in a piece of glass, therefore I need it to be very thin. 🙂
I did this just by deleting the bottom cover so all is left is a shell.

Now the problem with lines is that they somehow appear when I got the glass engraved, I could see them.
That's why I asked if they could be removed.

Now, if they must be there, I will do it as symmetrically as I can (make this http://prntscr.com/7jz8kr)

And if you guys can tell me how to make that EXPLODE function work in max, it would be very helpfull. 🙂