Booleans Mini Tutor: Impression

[maker]

Thanks to Dimitri for the inspiration (prev post)

Some situations in which mlab's Boolean tools may be used. Of course, there are many more - as you can see by looking at the videos linked from the mlab site (www.wings3d.net).

1. Using Boolean>Impression: Creating a road over the mountains


Some observations:

• Better to make a copy of the "base objects" in case of problems or changes.
  
• And also because the 2nd object (object used for creating the "stamp") is deleted.
  
• Materials are lost. (I was hoping that the "impressed" road would get the "road" material automatically )
  
• In case it does not come out alright, subdivide the "1st object" ("Landscape," here) and try again
  

I hope this will be useful to somebody. Good luck.

[Edit: I forgot to add. After selecting your 1st object, mlab automatically goes into sub-object (face / vertex / edge) mode. Don't let it bother you. Just select f / v / e belonging to your 2nd object. Mlab will do the needful.

Edit 2: Also forgot to mention: my other source of "inspiration." But, of course, any Wings3d regular will recognise it - puzzledpaul's quite wonderful how-to's & (not-so-comic) strips. Just the right thing if you're stuck, and have got your basics right with fonte boa's video tutors.]

[Dimitri]

Using booleans-impression for making a road in a terrain: nice idea...

[maker]

Thanks
Hope to see more of your work.

[puzzledpaul]

Presumably I'm missing something here ... how do you keep the 'road surface' flat?

pp

[ggaliens]

Keeping road flat.

Good question PP.

On approach would be to make sure that the bottom of the "Wall" is a close match to the
terrian ... but flat bottom of wall. Then subtract wall from terriain. I can imagine enough ways to do that ... but is definately not as simple as impression.

IDEA : Leave a "color" impression ... rather than an edge impression. (NEW TOOL IDEA) and then use a smooth brush to smooth the colored road plus some slack about the road. Then do the impression operation.

Do we have a "SMOOTH" brush ?

[maker]

Presumably I'm missing something here ...
pp

You aren't. I am - in my top storey You got to the bub of the problem. I should have realised that, while it 'looks' okay, the contour levels at the two sides of the road are not necessarily the same.

How to flatten it for corresponding points on the curve? Extrude one side-face? Or make the impression from one side only, and work from that? Or some variation of ggaliens' suggestion?

Or leave it to PP as an idea for another of his brilliant how-to's? Yes, I think that would be the best idea

[Actually, that's an interesting problem. It should keep me busy in my spare time. IF I do find answer I doubt it will be a mini-tutorial though.]

[puzzledpaul]

Trying to get the bottom of the 'wall' a close (exact) fit to the geom underneath is essentially (imo) a somewhat different ball game that's been discussed before ... projection ... or, with ref to existing tools ... 'It's Intersect, Jim - but not as we know it'

Intersect works fine (imo) when there's a single target plane / destination - which is what this isn't.

Returning to the original scenario, not only has the road to be flat (level/horizontal) but it also has to take into account which side of the 'road' is to be used as a height reference,since this can change as it goes over / cuts thro' differently sloping 'hills'.

This is easily (but tediously) achievable using Flatten rmb (+ contrl D), since it's easy for us to decide which side is lower.

For a tool, I'd suggest that could also be one approach - determine which end of every edge sequence across the path / road is lower ... and flatten Y to that ref point / value.

I am,of course, ignoring camber

Btw, I would personally refer to the edges created by Impression as the line of Intersection ... but I accept that this is going back to the days when dinosaurs were browsing and ppl used things called 'drawing boards' ... made from bits of wood.
pp


Ahhhh the joys of x posting

[maker]

'Flatten' sounds nice. Except, as you pointed out, it could be tedious when there are hundreds of points, as in this road.

But you (and ggaliens) have given me some vague ideas. I'll try them out - even if (as likely) you or ggaliens come up with a solution.

Thanks, again.

[ggaliens]

Put another tool in your pipeline. Try 3DCoat.

A road has lumps in it. Pot-holes. You only need to be flatter ... not perfect.

[maker]

Put another tool in your pipeline. Try 3DCoat.

Thanks. But I wouldn't say it really fits in my normal pipeline.

A road has lumps in it. Pot-holes. You only need to be flatter ... not perfect.

I agree. It should be an interesting, though, trying both approaches. Just as exercises