Tutorials

 

Using the PolyTools plug-ins

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On this page:

Draw Face     Edge Extrude     Bridge Edges     Bridge Faces     Weld Edges     Weld Faces  

 


 

The PolyTools plug-in pack by CK Game Factory (Chikara Kojima) is a collection of 17 plug-ins for trueSpace 5+. These tools are very useful, but it takes a little experimenting to figure out exactly how to use some of them. If you look at the html document titled "manual", which is included in the download, you can click on the icons of the individual tools and this will take you to their instructions with screenshots. I'll try not to repeat those, and I'll just point out some of the things I have found while experimenting with the tools. 

 

  Draw Face

This tool is for adding polygons to an already existing object. If you have nothing in your scene, the tool won't work. The new polygon that you draw with this tool can be drawn right next to the original object or it can be drawn a distance away from it. In all instances the new polygon will be unioned with your original object: If you check your Scene Editor/Keyframe Editor, you'll see that there is no hierarchy, it's all treated as one object. 

As the instructions included in the pack explain, if the Quad Face checkbox is enabled, then you'll get a 4-sided polygon after putting in 4 vertices. Or you'll get a triangle if you put the 4th vertex over the 1st vertex. If you uncheck the Quad Face checkbox, then you can draw a polygon with more than 4 sides; to finish the polygon, position the last vertex over the first one. Right-click to get out of the tool. 

I have found two ways to use the Draw Face tool to draw a new polygon attached to an existing object (other than a plane):

Method I:

1. Right-click on your object to enter point edit mode and select the Delete Face tool.

2. Click on the face at the edge of which you want to attach a new polygon. This will delete that face.

3. Click on the Object Tool to get out of point edit mode, then click on the Draw Face tool.

4. Draw your new face, starting at one corner and ending at another. 

 

 

As the manual shows, you can also hold down the Shift key and automatically put in a new vertex if you want to draw your new face starting on an edge and not at an existing vertex. 

 

The drawback of this method is that now you have a hole in your object. To fix that, select the same edge where you added the new polygon, then click on the Scissors tool to split the vertices. Now you can add a face with the Add Face tool. 

 

Now you don't have a hole, but if you want to move things around, you'll have to carefully select all the vertices that you want to move, otherwise the faces will separate. 

 

Method II:

1. Select the edge where you want to attach the new polygon.

2. Click on the Scissors tool which is included in the pack. This will split the vertices. 

3. Get out of point edit mode by clicking on the Object Tool.

4.Click on the Draw Face tool and position your vertices. 

 

 

Again, if you want to move faces, edges, or vertices around the newly added area, you'll have to select all the vertices that are to be moved to prevent separaration.

If you are adding polygons to a plane, then use Method II: Select the edge where you want to add the polygon, use the Scissors tool, then draw your new polygon. Again, if you want to move things afterwards, you'll have to select all the vertices that have to move together. 

 

Edge Extrude

With this tool you can select edges on a polygon and extrude them. The same two methods I described above work here, too. 

 

Bridge Edges

Here you can select edges on two objects and connect them by adding new faces. However, before you can do that, first you have to Boolean union your two objects, otherwise you won't be able to select the edges on both your objects at the same time. Method I (see Draw Face) works well: Boolean union your two objects, delete the faces on both objects where you want to bridge the edges, select the edges, then click on the Bridge Edges tool.  To get rid of the holes, do the same thing as above: select the same edges that you connected with the bridge, use the Scissors tool on them, and then fill in the holes with the Add Face tool.  Again, if you want to move things, you'll have to be sure to select all vertices that need to move together. 

 

Weld Edges

Similar to the Bridge Edges tool, except the selected edges will get welded together instead of putting in a bridge between them. The same instructions apply as with the Bridge Edges tool.

Bridge Faces

No big problems here; just select two faces and build a bridge between them with this tool. The two faces have to have the same number of vertices. Again, if you want to connect two faces on two separate objects, you have to Boolean union those objects first. If you want to connect two faces on the same object, they cannot share any edges or vertices. 

Weld Faces

Same as Bridge Faces, except here you connect the faces without putting in a bridge between them. (So you actually move those two faces to each other and weld them.)

 

 

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Copyright ©  2002-2012 by Susan Lee.