Hull Plating Tutorial - Free Hand Cut?

[Mr. Extrude]

hallo,
i was just doing madkoifishs hull plating tutorial, thanks for that, very helpful but i wonder how you "free hand cut" shapes on a hull surface? i tried to do it over "insert vertex" on the faces of a polygon and then constrainting the vertex-movement to "face" so i can slide the vertex on this surface

problem: when i insert vertices i get a mass of lines connecting the new vertex with the all the other vertices on the edge, in the tutorial the vertices seem to be unconnected (or the lines arent displayed), all i can think of is deleting all the lines and then caping the resulting hole again, is there another better method to do this?

[MadKoiFish]

your lucky I saw this.
What you want is to have the mesh as a editable poly.

Scroll down the modifier and youll see a button marked "cut" this will allow you to cut on the faces.



I do my cutting often in vertice mode since its easier to connect the dots in a way. But often Im placing verts from cutting in a free space. Such as on my tut.

Your confusion is a good example of why I need to redo that tut and why my other tuts are not up yet. (addig additional images etc such as app ui and buttons)

[Mr. Extrude]

it works ^^, how could i miss this!? always thought it was just some little enhancement for the slice-tool, lol, I wouldn’t have suspected such a powerful tool in this little sub-button, cool thing!

for the tut: well its rather a guide for people who already know the basics of modeling, you don’t have to turn it into a general “pick things up in the process”-tut for newbies, but if you do – even better, , most of the time its already enough to use exact uncut terms (and maybe flag them as such) so ppl can search for further information in doubt (for example cut for the cut function .. ^^), I already thought about a sticky list where the experienced modellers just list the functions they use very often so the newbies don’t miss anything important

thanks for the detailed answer and the tutorial

[elShoggotho]

Is there something similar for Blender? Many thanks in advance!

[Dallidas]

i dont believe so. the best you can do is using the knife script(not the built in tool)

[whitestar]

is there a tutroial for this?

[Dallidas]

for the knife script?

[-MerlyN-]

Hey there.
I tried the cut tool a bit, after reading this. I never used the cut tool before cause I've never been able to produce some "structured" lines. Til now I've always resolved to using connect edge, inset and bevel modifiers for plating. But now I understand that the easier and more interesting way is the cut tool, right?
So what I dont get is how do I get some cutting done which doesnt look like a pencil drawing done during an earth quake? Do you draw help splines where you want to cut and then snap to them while cutting? do you use background images? Or do you just have such a good brain-eye-mouse coordination, that u produce such accurate results?
I admit, I'm a bit lost here...

[MadKoiFish]

I usualy do it freehand. But as mentioned in the tut I plan my hull so that the polies flow in a way that they tend to follow the hull pl;ating pattern. At least in one direction. (usualy from left to right) Now some of the other tools you mention have merrits I use connect a lot. I rarely use bevel or chamfer edge since they often distort a curve but some places say like on my nacels for the ship Im working on now I used bevel then chamfer(edge) on the seprator between the bussard grill and the retaining ring. The cut tool is but one of the poly editing tools at hand.

Oh as well keep in mind max 8 and 9 have much more advanced connect tool. Max 7 and under its just how many edges 8&9 you get other options.

As for templates a image works or a shaped mesh behind as well. I rarely use snaps unless Im welding a hole closed etc. But more often is just freehand.

[-MerlyN-]

freehand then, huh? Do u use a tablet or something like that? Man I wish, it was possible to place a use coordinate system on a surface i. e. a poly or at least some guide lines as u do have in AutoCad... óò