topic Re: Incremental spacing increase in array in 3ds Max Modeling Forum

Incremental spacing increase in array

VictorvdBrink — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 16:33:10 GMT

Hi there fellow modellers.

I have a question regarding incremental increases in spacing between objects in an array. I'm modelling an electric guitar, and I have to create the frets on the fretboard (the little metal strips running across the neck of the guitar).

I need to have them starting out close together and ending further apart, as that is how frets work. I can't seem to find an easy way to do this in an array. I think Maya has this feature implemented in the array modfier but I can't seem to find it in Max.

I was hoping any of you could give me some advice how to easily approach this. Perhaps I'm just being a bit noobish and can't find the right function, but I'm sort of struggling here.

Here's a picture of a fretboard as reference:

Re: Incremental spacing increase in array

10DSpace — Sat, 31 Oct 2020 18:19:53 GMT

@VictorvdBrink

I don't know an easy way to integrate the relatively complex math of how distance varies between frets of a guitar fretboard into the array or spacing tools in Max. But I think a far simpler and quicker solution would be to create a reference image plane of the guitar fretboard you show and use that to guide the placement of the frets. I am pretty sure that could be done in under 20 minutes via clone drag of the frets.

I am sure that you could write a script based on the fretboard spacing formula, but I am pretty sure that would take a lot more time. So if you just want to get the job done, my suggestion would be to use the visual guide plane of the fretboard image to place the frets. If however, you are not just after the quickest way to get a good visual result, but are interested in a more mathematical solution, then I will defer to others on this forum.

Re: Incremental spacing increase in array

leeminardi — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 20:11:45 GMT

I like @10DSpace 's answer but if you want to be more precise (not that it would be visibly noticeable) you can use the equation noted here where Dn is the distance to the next fret. Once a value is determined use it to calculate the location of the next fret, etc.