Cap Holes issue: capping area outside of hole

[Anonymous]

I have an Editable Spline (imported from Illustrator) that i have applied an Extrude modifier to. It didn't cap the holes so I applied a Cap Holes modifier, however this fills areas outside of the hole (see attached image)

I have tried:

•    Converting to Editable Poly then Cap Holes 
•    Applying Mesh Select then Cap Holes

And I get the same result. 

I have other Splines imported from Illustrator that cap automatically (and correctly) when I Extrude. I have opened both in illustrator and cannot see any difference between the two

I'm on 3DS 2016

Any assistance would be great - thanks 

[rendermaster]

you might need to weld vertices first before extruding it

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

Thank you for detailing the issue you are experiencing.  Occasionally if a poly surface is both convex and concave and has more than 5 edges, max will take a 'shortest route' to polygon drawing, which often leads to results like what you are experiencing.   I'd like to ask a few questions to see if we can resolve this.  

1) If you convert to poly and then put an "inset" on the shape, does the problem 'move' or resolve?

2) If it 'moves', what happens if you put a 'subdivision' or 'tessellate' modifier on it instead?  Does it seem to resolve the issue?  

Thanks for taking the time to try these things.  

Please hit the "Accept as Solution" button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question. This lets me know that I was effective in helping you, and thank you for doing so.

Please keep me posted and best regards,

[Anonymous]

Hi Alfred,

Thanks for answering my issue so quickly. I tried each of your suggestions but unfortunately none worked. I've attached screen shot so you can see what I did and the outcome.

Scott

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Thanks for responding, could you expand on a little further on what you're thinking?

I've attached an image of the vertices pre-extrude and you can see I can't rationalise the number of vertices further without compromising the shape. 

thanks

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

Thank you for the screenshots.  I apologize that none of them worked, but I'd be happy to take a look at your file personally if you attach it.  Would that be possible?  I'll get you sorted out asap!

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Great thanks @Alfred.DeFlaminis! I really appreciate this 

I've attached the .max file, it has 2 layers:

   - Vectors Original: contains original vectors as imported from an .ai file

   - Vectors Extruded: vectors with Extude applied, you'll see the two shapes the Extrude modifier hasn't automatically capped. These are the shapes that have issues when I apply a Cap Holes modifier.

cheers

[Alfred.DeFlaminis · Accepted solution]

Hello @Anonymous

Thanks for attaching the file!  The problem here is that your Xforms are scaled way, way up which is reducing your precision.  I wouldn't have guessed this without the file so thank you again for attaching it!  

First, let me show you how you can tell if you have Xform issues.  If you right click on the scale icon, you get this currently:

You can see that these splines are scaled up 68000%.  What we need these to read is 100% (give or take) in order to maintain proper accuracy with the cap holes and other tools.  But, clearly they are the current size you would like them to stay, so in order to keep their size but remove the scale history, we need to reset the Xform.  

It's easy, I'll show you!

First, you need to select the spline you want to reset the Xform on.  You then go to the Utilities menu (hammer) and click like the following image:

Then make sure that your Xform is just above your editable spline shape by dragging it down under the extrude and "collapse to".  We do this because going down a stack below an Xform can lead to weird results except in specific cases, so it's easier and cleaner to collapse it.  See below image.

Once you've done that, right click on the scale icon again and you should find that they all read 100% now.  If you now add your Cap Holes, you should be good to go!  (Note, you may have to delete your old Cap Holes and add a new one.)

I tested this on all your parts and it did work, if you have trouble let me know!

Please hit the "Accept as Solution" button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question. This lets me know that I was effective in helping you, and thank you for doing so.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Thank you Alfred! That fixed it!
I really appreciate you helping me so quickly and explaining the solution so well. I'm still a novice with Max but I enjoy learning new things when Teachers like yourself are so good. Cheers

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Awww shucks @Anonymous,  that's very nice of you to say!  If you have any other troubles, I'm here all day every day so I'd be glad to help.  Thank you again and good luck on your project, looking cool so far!

Best Regards,