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eyeclick

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How might one pull these two faces together equally?  In my other program, I would use the scale tool and pull in along the corresponding axis.  I tried moving one and using the Last Transformation tool, but that moves the second one away.  2mg2idc.png

 I love the clean geometry, but keep getting stuck on these simple things.

 

I'm also having difficulty assigning shortcuts to a few items such as an installed Extension and reassigning 'Set View-Rotate Angle' to Alt+middle mouse drag.  I was able to get the middle mouse to work with Control, but not Alt as it doesn't seem to be a default option.

 

I will add most of my other beginner questions here.  Thank you for any help.

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From Post #1,   You can do the same in fZ.  it is just a different tool and with a specific snap point.

 

Using the "Independent Scale" tool   and the "Snap to Center" (face Center)

Click on the center of the face that is between the two selected faces. and have at it.

 

A Primary difference between fZ and Modo are the action centers.  fZ really doesn't have them auto picked for you.  so where you click to evoke the tool becomes the action center.

 

 

Regarding Post #2,  what tool were you trying to use at the time?  I suspect, that it is a tool specific message.

 

¢£

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Chris,  Thank you!  I did it a couple of times and it just snapped back, but it worked the third one.  I just have to wait for the busy spin wheel to stop.  I also bent the bottom because I keep forgetting FZ doesn't let you select through geometry unless you are in wire frame mode.  Since it doesn't have a local action center option, is there a way to select a group of items and scale them in place without moving them all towards the base point?

 

What I wish FZ had most was modo's selection memory.  Click away and the selection disappears, undo and it all comes back.

 

The problem with post two was bad geometry.  It took me a couple hours until I figured out how to repair it.  I didn't want to start over because I learn more that way.

 

Any thoughts on adding a keyboard shortcut under extensions? 

2zg4we9.jpg

 

Thanks for the help.

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I too am a modo user, and too love it's action centers.

They really are different in their approaches.  And in my opinion, each excels at different things.

 

I think we will also have to wait for scripting to do what you wish regarding local action centers.

Something like that should be very easy to do, at least if you don't expect a live preview of it.

 

fZ does have a selection memory of 1.   Which I agree, it would be nice to have some depth to that.  Though, I have to admit, I absolutely hate the fact that Modo's

selection memory is tied to the Undo.  it would be so much more useful if it were independent.

 

regarding the shortcuts, you should be able to go to:   Menu item::  Edit/Key Shortcuts…    then under ::Category/Tools/Extensions   Select the extension you want and edit it there.

I don't have the Lab Plugins currently active so can't test the one you brought up.

 

Hope this helps.

 

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I didn't realize Extensions was under tools.  Thank you!

This experiment to see if I could rebuild this in FormZ was more difficult than I thought, but it worked well.  I exported back to modo and the flat parts looked very flat in reflection mode.  I was able to manually delete a few hundred superfluous lines in the flat areas, but the beveled areas just take too long.  I was also surprised that my poly count wasn't going down.  My modo drawn was was about 7500 polys and the formz imported one was about 30 thousand, but nice.

20rpmd1.jpg

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That is because in formZ, all the rounding is controlled (Smooth), i.e.  not polygons.  when you exported it, it converted it to polygons, which to maintain the relative smoothness, a high poly count was interpreted. 

 

formZ can do both Polygonal modeling and smooth modeling.  however, care has to be taken to make it polygonal, as it's default mode is controlled.

There is a tool called "Convert" that is in the "Manage" tool category  (if your UX is standard, it is in the Modeling tools palette,  on the right side, second from bottom)

with this tool, you can covert it to a poly model manually.
 

old versions of fZ did allow you to choose controlled rounding or Poly in the rounding tool.   Don't see the option any more.

You can however, control how it will be faceted by telling what to use for it's "Display Resolution"  which you can find in the options Palette of the rounding tool.

You will probably need to play with some custom values that will suit your needs.

 

e.i.  the default low resolution still rounds with 8 polys when converted.    the standard high, converts to 32 polys per curve

 

Honestly, however, this conversion between smooth and faceted (poly) completely devaluates what formZ can do.

Most notably when machine output is the final outcome.  Assuming your CAM machine understands controlled objects of course.  (to my knowledge 3D printing does not as an STL file is all faceted)

 

Too, all the extraneous vectors on your flat surfaces are from the same thing, and has to do with how the model is constructed in the DataStructure.

 

((((nerd alert)))).  the DataStructure in this case is essentially a linked list  where it has the point ID  (point index or pindex)  3D coordinates (x,y,z) and the pindex of the next point it is connected to in the Data structure (this is the link in the linked list data structure).  a line segment of an object is essentially that link.  (btw,  there may be more info in the DS than I noted)

 

if you got through the above then understanding how everything comes together gets interesting.  as when two polygons that adjacent to each other (and part of the same object) that share a common segment, there are actually 2 segments there not one.  when your app draws the object, including fZ, it just does not need to draw it twice.

 

if your model is smooth, then the DataStructure gets more sophisticated.    formZ also has the ability to mix model types... which gets messy.

 

Most or at least many of the programs will need this many lines, where Modo is a little better than most of those.  however, fZ not converting directly to the .lxo format, fZ doesn't know to do this.

 

If you get into scripting or plugin-coding, you may delve into the details of the Data Structure, depending on what you are trying to do.  Even with it ADS/FZ provide a lot of tools for you to deal with stuff at this level.

 

Hope this helped instead of confused.

 

¢£

 

 

 

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"There is a tool called "Convert" that is in the "Manage" tool category  (if your UX is standard, it is in the Modeling tools palette,  on the right side, second from bottom)

with this tool, you can covert it to a poly model manually."   

- Yeah, I tried that with Convert to Quads.  The cursor just shows a no symbol (crossed out circle) with no other information, no dialog box, just no.  Funny how those never show up in any of the videos where they make everything look so easy!  I even tried making a square box and converting it wouldn't let me.  Any how to video should include a "watch out for this" section, otherwise I consider it a sales video.  I've never found a video explaining the Display Resolution options on certain tools.  

 

I have a relative who does CAM work, so I'm barely familiar with the terminology and I do appreciate the information.  I think you mentioned pindex in your unfolding post, which I found interesting because I kept thinking, paint the numbers (or colors) at the vertex points and use the UV tool for unwrapping and labeling, but that won't help in a CAM application.  Sometimes I feel like a Labrador retriever listening in on a physics lecture.  Fascinated, but confused.

 

 

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Hi eyeclick, 

 

As Chris notes, the error message you received in the second post on this thread is associated with a particular tool, and this tool needs to work within certain parameters to function.  A "single planar surface" is a surface object (as opposed to a line or solid object) that is flat (planar) and is only considered one object (single).  If you can post the file in this screenshot and tell us which tool you were using, we can help explain further, if necessary.

 

Along with the convert tool, you can also use the Polygon Mesh tool to convert your smooth models into facetted geometry.  This tool will provide you with more options than the Convert tool.

 

The Display Resolution is an attribute that is assigned to all smooth geometry.  This can by found by Picking an object then going to the Tool Options > Attributes (click in the drop down menu) > Display Resolution.  By default, when you draw any smooth object the Display Resolution is set to 50%.  On larger files we recommend using a smaller percentage (even 0% in a few cases) to help decrease file size and increase modeling performance.  This Display Resolution affects the facetted representation of a smooth model.

 

You can see how this affects your geometry with a simple test:  Draw a Sphere, Pick it and access the display options.  Adjust the slider to see the number of facets and edge/iso line points increase and decrease between 0% and 100%.  Furthermore, if you Triangulate the object at 0%, make note of the facetting, undo, change the resolution to 100%, and Triangulate again, you can see how these representations change.

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Hi eyeclick, 

 

As Chris notes, the error message you received in the second post on this thread is associated with a particular tool, and this tool needs to work within certain parameters to function.  A "single planar surface" is a surface object (as opposed to a line or solid object) that is flat (planar) and is only considered one object (single).  If you can post the file in this screenshot and tell us which tool you were using, we can help explain further, if necessary.

-- In post 4 I mentioned I figured out what was wrong, but I appreciate the offer here.

 

Along with the convert tool, you can also use the Polygon Mesh tool to convert your smooth models into facetted geometry.  This tool will provide you with more options than the Convert tool.

--The Polygon Mesh tool did convert to Facetted.  Thank you!  This conversion and export didn't seem to work as well, so it may take more experimentation.  Still not sure why the Convert button doesn't work.

 

The Display Resolution is an attribute that is assigned to all smooth geometry.  This can by found by Picking an object then going to the Tool Options > Attributes (click in the drop down menu) > Display Resolution.  By default, when you draw any smooth object the Display Resolution is set to 50%.  On larger files we recommend using a smaller percentage (even 0% in a few cases) to help decrease file size and increase modeling performance.  This Display Resolution affects the facetted representation of a smooth model.

-- So this is just an on-screen display setting?  That is good to know.  I'll keep it very low.

 

You can see how this affects your geometry with a simple test:  Draw a Sphere, Pick it and access the display options.  Adjust the slider to see the number of facets and edge/iso line points increase and decrease between 0% and 100%.  Furthermore, if you Triangulate the object at 0%, make note of the facetting, undo, change the resolution to 100%, and Triangulate again, you can see how these representations change.

-- Is this triangulation important when using other rendering engines?

 

Thank you.

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I have a relative who does CAM work, so I'm barely familiar with the terminology and I do appreciate the information.  I think you mentioned pindex in your unfolding post, which I found interesting because I kept thinking, paint the numbers (or colors) at the vertex points and use the UV tool for unwrapping and labeling, but that won't help in a CAM application.  Sometimes I feel like a Labrador retriever listening in on a physics lecture.  Fascinated, but confused.

 

It will come!

 

Problem with the UV suggestion is fZ doesn't have the best UV tools.  Something I would love to see remedied.  But alas, I do have Modo for that.

The other problem is, I would end up having to paint every seam, which would be about as tedious as manually finding them.  Especially since the UV's only count for rendering,  I would have to render it, then translate that manually any way.   Would much rather cod it.

 

cheers!

 

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eyeclick, 

 

In regards to the file that is not working with the Convert tool, please send it to support@formz.com so we can further investigate this issue.

 

The Display Resolution / Triangulation / Facetted representation will NOT affect the rendering if...

1.  You are rendering in RenderZone

2.  You export the model in a format that will allow smooth geometry.

 

The Display Resolution / Triangulation / Facetted representation WILL affect the rendering if...

1.  You export your model as facetted geometry... therefore you will want a higher display resolution when exporting/importing facetted geometry into other rendering engines.  

 

Does that help clarify?

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