♥ PosetteForever ♥

](*,)

In a CAD environment, there is a basic 3D tool: identify three points, make triangle, Zap !! Done !!

This is just right for tidying up ragged edges, filling tiny holes etc etc.

How does Wings do it ?? Well, you can select edges and get a triangle half the size of the gap, then another half the size of that gap, and so ad infinitum...

Yeah, neat !! But I want to make a simple triangle from three selected vertices...

That's not too much to ask, surely ?

---
Um, took me an hour to find how to look *directly* at part I was working on-- Is this a record ??

---- Added several grim hours later...

IMHO, the object I was trying to edit had been chopped about so much that Wings' connect tools would not work on most of the gaps. In fact, it was so munged that Poser refused to re-import it. Worse, 3DOC declined, too...

Yes, I checked P-> W and W-> P using a couple of cubes, and both routes were okay.

I suspect issue is topological, the difference between solid and surface modellers. I met that in CAD, I know how to deal with it-- Basically, find a simpler set of operations...

In this case, I think I can use Poser's own facet & grouping tools...

D'uh, but I miss the *clarity* of TurboCAD...

Still screaming...

Um, I don't think Wings3D is right for me. To be precise, I do not seem able to use its extensive toolset to do what I want.

I'll take a look at anim8tor.
---

--added--

Okay, took me two minutes to find the necessary vertex tools in anim8tor's manual. So I've down-loaded app, tuts and manual, USB'd them across to CAD_PC...

If you want to try it hands on. Try bryce 6.1to build Boolean objects. It seems the fastest way to do what you are trying to do.

Can you post a picture of what you want to do? and screen shot would be great, don't desperate, start step by step (read my signature :mmmh: ) and asking, I'll be pleased to help you :D

I've not understood :redface: :sorry: :redface: :redface: :redface:

Sorry, Wings' workflow and approach did not suit me.

Within a short time of loading Anim8tor, however, I realised it was 'cousin' to Draw3D which originally eased me onto TurboCAD's learning curve.

The 'primitives' are reliable, the bond, tweak, weld and cut etc do as they're told etc etc...

Okay, so Anim8tor is not TC, so this piccy is not to scale, and the proportions are skew: One of my SciFi Convention story-arc's Trojan-class Rock-tugs, with a City/ISO tank. 125x50m, 12 kilotonnes of slurried hydrogen, 150,000 cu metres per bottle. If pushed, that tug can haul a six-pack...

Ah, well, I'll load the washing, write a bit more of that tale, get some sleep then start tweaking those Poser props tomorrow...

Um, first Wings3D then Anim8tor would not edit my OBJ imports precisely, so I loaded up Carrara from 3D World's Feb2008 cover disk, edited the FighterCos2 boots.

Call it beginner's luck because, while I can make and edit primitives, I cannot repeat that Boots edit, cannot edit any other OBJ I've tried to import.

Enough !!

I'm going shopping...

lol :)

As Blender is cheerfully *free*, and has acquired a GUI interface to supplement those infamous hot-keys, I thought I'd give it a go...

FWIW, here's CGI Society's comparison of major 3D programs' tools, support and I/O file formats.
http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/Comparison_of_3d_tools

D'uh, this is serious stuff: they're checking support for half-Gb vertex counts !!

Bkender is PF #1 choice :thumb: (I've to add a banner and a link in the list :mmmh: )

Okay, I've just learned the hard way that I was *very* lucky to hack those boots' OBJ and live...

Something simple, I thought. I need a long tunic or galabria for my JoeD that is more flared than the hip / thigh morphs allow. Should be easy enough to copy the base OBJ and push some vertices about...

I got as far in Blender as opening multiple windows and arranging them by splitting / merging, then gave my headache a rest...

I converted Daz' old arabmrobe OBJ to 3DS with 3DOC, tweaked it in Draw3D, changed it back and modded a copy of CR2. After a while, I realised that the OBJ grouping had vanished, so I copy-pasted that into OBJ from original. Now it loaded, but vanished into cyberspace...

Took some experimenting to discover 3DOC cruelly simplifies OBJ files. Though great for exporting to 3DS or DXF, it is not suitable for 'frankensteining' Poser OBJs...

So, back to Wings3D. This time, I found where the EDIT tools hid, and the GUI suddenly makes sense. Problem is I cannot make Wings re-export an OBJ 'as found'. There are some more import / export options and defaults to try before I scream...

Apparently the Spanki (!?) STOMP utility can re-arrange an OBJ into Poser's preferred groupings, so that's next, um, tomorrow...

Seems a bit silly that almost any editing of OBJ requires full re-import, re-grouping etc etc in Poser! D'uh, I was *very* careful to conserve vertices !!

it looks like you're having a lot of fun :D !

Hmm... That's odd, my post from an hour or so ago didn't register. Never mind, it was probably incoherent. What did I say ??
---

Okay, between the worst of my 'flu-like symptoms, I've investigated why I could not tweak an OBJ with eg Wings3D then plug it back into CR2 or PP2 and have a model appear...

First thing, the original OBJ was last seen by UVUnWrapper, which arranges things in a different order to Wings. Easily fixed: I'd never used UVUnWrap (Classic), but it was among my many downloads. Unzipped, installed, it put original OBJ back in the same format, as good as new.

Bad news, nudging even one vertex changed everything. The OBJ file grew in size, the v/vt/vn etc counts changed, the model vanished.

Did I miss something about quads vs triangles ?? Could I have left an option somewhere along the way that converted the mesh ??

I really, really hoped that I could tweak OBJ files, rather than learn to build and re-build each conforming model's JPs and Hierarchy after every little vertex nudge...

D'uh, my head hurts...

](*,) 8) (<- I love this one)
Have you read rayera's tutorial http://www.posetteforever.com/discussion2870.html ?
The passages about using the tool Composer in conjunction to UV Mapper might be interesting for you, too O:) :D

Oh a web page.