CompuServe Messages

Since Ralph helped me a little recently, let me jump in here and try to shed a little light on this, Scott. While building a piece for Rebel Assault 2 last year, I had to model a complicated body (the Speeder Bike) and Deform/Fit seemed the only way to approach it, even though I knew I couldn't loft the exact body in one shot. I began to treat the piece as a sort of sculpture, and used Deform/Fit to "block out" the model before "carving" it out with Boolean operations. In other words, using Deform/Fit I lofted a kind of rough piece that had to have pieces drilled out of it and chunks carved out of it. It even had to be hollowed out. I know there has been some "bad press" concerning 3DS's Boolean ops lately, but I had absolutely no problems with this process. Remember that Boolean ops work best with single-element objects with no long, skinny faces and you should do quite well. To make the "template" for Boolean "carving", I used the 3D display in the 2D Shaper to draw outlines that would loft into objects that would then shape the body properly using Boolean subtractions. If there are pieces to be added on to the main piece, loft these seperately and attach them later, if need be. I'm willing to bet that if you took this approach with your truck body, you might find some success. I think both MartinF and RalphF have done animations concerning truck bodies recently. Maybe they can elaborate more. Have fun! -Alan