Automating Hole Filling in 3ds Max for Triangulation Reduction

[venkatesan.sQPF3T]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on a project in 3ds Max where I need to fill specific types of holes (like nut types or bolt-fitting mesh) in order to reduce the triangles in the model. I'm looking for a fully automated process to achieve this, as it would significantly speed up the workflow and ensure consistency across the project.

I've been experimenting with manual methods, but they are time-consuming and prone to inconsistencies. I believe that automating the process would not only save time but also improve the overall quality of the models.

If anyone has experience or knowledge about automating hole filling in 3ds Max, especially for nut-like holes or bolt-fitting mesh, I would greatly appreciate your insights and suggestions. Any tips, scripts, or plugins that could help achieve this automation would be invaluable to me.

I Look forward to hearing from the community and learning from your expertise!

Notes: Please check the attached images for the hind of the hole we mentioned and our expected results. 

Thanks in advance!

[denisT.MaxDoctor]

When I look at the above example, the first thing that comes to mind is the convex hull.
We start with a high resolution to cover the holes and align (flatten) the elevations, and then optimize with a given value...

[istan]

As you asked about opinions..

Many Years ago, together with another user from here, we wrote a "bore" remover. We analyzed the part, located all bores (by min/max diameters and bore depth) and simply deleted all attached faces. But all depends on the resolution of the mesh. As this process might get complicated on complex parts (when the relationship between "flat" and "hole" gets too small), we gave up finally.

Also, most current CAD Systems (like Inventor) are now also able to create simplified models for presentation reasons.

The convex hull method works only for simple parts, but will fail on e.g. a bended pipe with two flanges. i.e. you again would need some preprocessing.

IMHO, analyzing something like this on the mesh level will always have many restrictions and a more convenient way is doing it direclty in the CAD system (or maybe on breps).