CompuServe Messages

Yes, the hints G sent were valuable in understanding just how 3DS does its thing, and what the limitations are. Apparently, I assume, the problem with long, skinny faces is running into the mathematical tolerances… certainly, precision can never be infinite 😉 You hit the nail on the head when you said that what needs to be done is not a matter of reqwriting the manual and otherwise giving people more information to overcome 3DS' modeling shortcomings, but a re-tooling of the package and plug-ins to eliminate those problems for the users. Even if such limitations can be overcome by work and ingenuity, it creates inordinate amounts of work at the LEAST that needs not be. I would think the particular problem with booleans wouldn't require any major overhauls of 3DS' modeling engine at ALL. The basic engine is very powerful and quite apt on the machine level – as far as mathematical operations go. What is needed are some tools to manipulate shapes and modeling procedures. This could be part of the next release of 3DS, but could just as easily be done in an IPAS package (which would also save us the wait until 5 comes out). For example, IPAS routines that would, at the very LEAST, automatically adjust faces and edges to allow smoother booleans. How about an IPAS routine that forms a mathematical solid from a closed 3D set of faces for each object, performs the operation, and then outputs the result as faces, which is the language of 3DS? This would allow the user the option of performing a solid operation on an object that's just too difficult to calculate in faces, or would be to much work to adjust. You say you're not a programmer… neither am I much of one. nonetheless, I've seen the power of a simply written solid modeler that came from only 2 programmers. You say there's no better single alternative? You may be right, that no one has commerically wrapped decent features into a packag. However, if you use the power of the program I used in college for solids manipulation, and give it some easily created features, it would blow the doors off the modeling in 3DS without even trying. 3DS could *EASILY* integrate such a system with great improvements. I wonder, however, why it does not. I suppose 3DS has surrendered the modeling aspect to other packages, and thus doesn't even try to become a good modeler. However, even if you create your cad-accurate models in other packages, the abaility to perform booleans and freehand artistic enhancments on these models directly in 3DS would be a wonderful thing. As you mentioned, the limits in 3ds' modeling power has another element entirely aside from buggy booleans. And that's the inability to create shapes of any accuracy, even to the extent of a 100K shareware drafting program. You can't just key in a movement of a certain numeric amount for an object, you must rely on snaps and the display. You can't pick a point and draw a line at a certain angle for a certain distance, etc. Also, once objects and/or 2D shapes are created, you must manipulate the verticies themselves, instead of having geometries like spheres, cylinders, circles and lines existing as objects. Even if thiss ability were only present in the 2D shaper, it would mean a lot. As it stands, you *MUST* use a CAD package to generate shapes of any complex accuracy, and import them in… Ahh, well, enough ragging on 3ds' modeler. I just hope that the powers that be decide to be competetive with 3ds as a modeling package with a few simple enhancements, or a good IPAS routine or two. Heck, even a sharp programmer with some time on his/her hands could create an IPAS which would revolutionize 3ds' modeling. I speak from experience… 😉 Now, on to trying to find out how the things I learned about boolean manipulations in 3DS can be used to overcome the problems I've encountered…. That's the one missing part. Dividing edges coudl take days in itself for a simple rounded object…