Wire mesh or perforated surface modeling

[Charles Freeborn]

Can anyone give me a push on how to model wire mesh or perforated sheet?

Thanks.

[Tech]

Draw a long thin rectangle or cube, multi-copy it in one direction, Group them together, Rotate a Copy, and Union the two together?

[DennisA]

Here are some options:

Model wire mesh:

Option 1)  Make wires cylinder to size vertical & horizontal and mult-copy and repeat you need.

Option 2) Make rectangle surface object. Create a mesh to grid. Use Frame tool to create wires on mesh.

Model Perforated Sheet:

Start with 3D object to solid sheet size.

Create perforation hole (cylinder deeper then solid sheet) mult-copy and repeat hole in rows/then rows in columns

Join all cylinders and Boolean Difference joined cylinders from sheet.

or

If you do not want to model just use transparent texture map or polka dots procedural transparency material.

[FZnoob]

I usually use the polka dot method to model pegboard. More or less the same thing. If you really want to control the accuracy, method 2 from Dennis is a good way to go.

[Charles Freeborn]

Many thanks. Will try all these options and share the results.

[setz]

I don't union all the wires together unless it's absolutely required.  Holes, lots of holes, are slow geometry.

[Tech]

Hi Robert,

 

Yes, if you just need it to look like a perf panel and don't actually need it to be Unioned, leaving these separate (and perhaps just Grouping all the "bars" together) can perform better in some cases.

[Charles Freeborn]

I'm finding the union method or "drilling" of holes far too memory intensive for my getting elderly (2009) iMac with 256 MB graphics card.

Will continue my search of alternate methods, or go with a rendering based solution.

Thx

[etroxel]

The other option if it doesn't require being modeled is to use a transparency/clip texture map. Something to consider is how close to the camera the object in question is. Farther objects can get away with a clip map. Here's an example:

 

 

[Charles Freeborn]

I ended up putting a piece of Stainless Steel wire mesh I had on hand on the scanner and brought it in as a texture. Then adjusted the opacity to 50%. Will try some other photoshop methods in future, but for this purpose the outcome is acceptable.

Thanks for all of your help.

-C

 

[Tech]

Hi Charles,

 

Yes, for something like that, a Map is going to be a lot quicker and easier than modeling it...

[setz]

From your scan, in photoshop it should be quick to make a clip mask ("magic wand" or "color range" the holes) and then use it as a transparency map rather than using 50 simple transparency.

[Charles Freeborn]

From your scan, in photoshop it should be quick to make a clip mask ("magic wand" or "color range" the holes) and then use it as a transparency map rather than using 50 simple transparency.

Yes, with more time and patience in Photoshop I could drop out the background and make a more realistic texture. I could experiment with different color backgrounds to make the "clip" easier and cleaner.

For this project the result was adequate, but in future I do see the potential for a better result.

Thanks again.