[3DS Max Only!!] Editable Poly

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[3DS Max Only!!] Editable Poly

Post by hppav »

Many of you are familiar with the Editable Mesh or Edit Mesh modifier but there's another modifier that's even easier to use for complex modeling. It's the Editable Poly modifier. We're going to build a small structure in this short tutorial in order to learn the basics of this modifier.

First we are going to create a box the size of one of the walls of the structure.

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Now, right click in the viewport to bring up the quad menu and select Convert To Editable Poly. This will bring up a modifier stack similar to converting it to Editable Mesh but with different sub objects.

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We want to make a window in this wall. So we select the Polygon subobject in the modifier stack and select polygon on both sides of the wall (You may have to select "Ignore backfacing" in order to select the one on the far side).

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Now click on the square next to Inset and judge a proper distance for the window.

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Now hit the delete key and you have a window!.... Not quite. But do hit the delete key.

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Now, you select the Border subobject and select the borders of the window on each side of the wall.

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Now click Bridge and Max will automatically connect them with new polygons. The image below shows the dialogue if you click the square

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But now you want to create a frame around the inside of your window. Inset the polygons again.

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Don't worry about the edge polys there, we're going to use them. Next we need to Extrude the polygons inward. Click the square and set it at a proper depth

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Now we want to make some more walls for this structure so select the polygons around the edge and extrude them the other way

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So now we have verts on the outside that we don't need! Oh no! We must keep the polycount down!

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Here's how you do that. Go to the Vertex Subobject and select "Target Weld" Click on the extra vert and then the one in the corner and it will weld that vert to the other, eliminating some unnecessary polys in the process. Don't forget to do the same to the interior!

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Now we need to make a wall on the far side. Select all of the polygons on the opposite end of the structure:

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And delete them

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Select the 4 outer vertexes.

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And drag them out so that they are pulled forward the depth you want the wall to be.

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Now go back to your Border subobject and select just one of the borders.

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And click Cap

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Repeat on the inside. We're now going to clean a few things up here. We're going to delete the polygon on the bottom of the structure and bring the floor down to the bottom of the structure. Now would also be a good time to use the Vertex Subobject to edit the size of the window.

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We are doing this so we can move on to the next part-The door. I recommend right clicking on the "Perspective" in the Perspective viewport and selecting "Edged Faces" so you can see this more clearly. We need to do this in two stages, outside and inside. First we go into our Edge subobject and select the top and bottom edge.

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Now click the box next to "Connect" and change Segments to 2. Adjust the pinch and slide to position the door where you want it. Then do the same in the inside, adjusting the pinch and slide so that it matches up with the exterior of the structure.

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We all know that doors don't go all the way up so select the two new edges on the outside and click the box next to Connect. Set segments to 1 and use the slide to bring it up. Do the same to the inside and adjust the slide so that it lines up with the outside.

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Now we delete the polygons and bridge, just like we did with the window, only this time we use the Edge subobject and manually select each edge around the door, there should be six. Border will not work due to how we constructed the door.

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Now we want to make one of those pyramid roofs like on the bungalows in the Town. We extrude the top of the structure as high as we want the roof to be.

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Now we want to weld all of these verts together in the peak of the roof. To do this we click the box next to Weld.

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As you can see, we need to adjust a parameter to weld them all together into a singular point. Change the weld threshold to a ridiculous number and it will do what we want here.

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And that's pretty much the basics of using the Editable Poly modifier. Continue practicing with it until you are used to it.
Album 1 http://m.imgur.com/a/cRA26
Album 2 http://imgur.com/a/6tvKV
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Re: [3DS Max Only!!] Editable Poly

Post by Draconisaurus »

Whoa dude.. Totally unfamiliar with Inset... I need to sit down one of these days and just play around with Editable Poly.
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Re: [3DS Max Only!!] Editable Poly

Post by TheRaptorKiller »

to bad this doesn't work for gmax I usually start with a solid square extrude edges and keep on going until I have a building and then at the end I weld all of the excess vertex's together.
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Re: [3DS Max Only!!] Editable Poly

Post by Nick3069 »

Aw man! :( Those features look cool, but I only have Gmax.
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Re: [3DS Max Only!!] Editable Poly

Post by hppav »

Oh, and I guess this is important as well. You MUST convert it to editable mesh or apply an Edit Mesh modifier in order to export it.
Album 1 http://m.imgur.com/a/cRA26
Album 2 http://imgur.com/a/6tvKV
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Re: [3DS Max Only!!] Editable Poly

Post by Draconisaurus »

Ah really? I suspected but was not quite aware of that, thanks..
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