Hey all!
This is another one of those topics where I’m surprised I haven’t covered it yet. I’ll be showing you how to cut perfectly circular holes (or perfectly ‘any-shaped’ holes) into a turbosmoothed mesh. It’s less focused on keeping tight geometry, and more focused on the basic idea.
We start by taking a spline shape (in this case a circle) and using the cut tool and snaps toggle (with ‘vertex’ enabled) and we cut the circular hole into the target polygon. Once that’s done, it’s up to you what you want to do with the shape!
P.S. I’m stoked by all the comments people are leaving! Thanks for letting me know what you think, and I’m open to more ideas for Monday Movies!
By Silverdust August 24, 2009 - 11:28 am
Nice technique! Way better thentrying to fit a form in by hand.
( wich i’ve done many times ^^ ) So this is another MM wich speed up my work and make it look even better. Thanks.
By MrTom August 24, 2009 - 11:43 am
Nice technique MrBluesummers, and one which is used often. As you seem to suggest in your foreword this can get terribly complicated especially when dealing with curved surfaces so anything to make life easier is always welcome.
One thing I did notice though is your use of a ‘circle’ spline……it may be worth pointing out that the circle ‘interpolation’ value has been reduced to 1 from the default 6. This will then give you your 8 sided circle. For this reason I tend to use ‘NGon’ for the template which allows me to define how many ‘edges’ the hole will have….and it’s usually a good idea to make this number a multiple of the number of sides of the polygon that is to be cut.
On the cutting front, another technique that can be used is the ‘Shape Merge’….found under ‘Compound Objects’. using this allows you to not only position the template to exactly the right place and orientation you need but also ‘projects’ the circle directly onto the surface….this eliminates the need to then ‘cut’ the shape onto the surface manually. Only a small amount of cutting is then required to complete the correct topology.
This method is extremely handy when cutting into curved or irregular shaped surfaces or when the hole has to be at an oblique angle.
See…it’s getting complicated already! LOL.
Thanks for another fine tutorial.
Regards.
By ArYeS August 24, 2009 - 1:35 pm
Hey, nice tip!
What about creating circular hole which spreads over that single polygon. For instance… if you created that spline circle 3 times bigger. I’m having lots of problems with meshes like that lately.
Thanks
By Silverdust August 25, 2009 - 5:39 am
Hi ArYes,
Incases like that i always tent to use the ShapeMerge boolean. ( Also been in a Monday Movie #24 😉 )
http://www.mrbluesummers.com/?cat=14&paged=5
Maybe that helps. Happy Modeling. =)
By Tim Scobey August 26, 2009 - 6:13 am
Nice Video!
Thanks!
By jonstone August 26, 2009 - 6:51 am
shapmerge is quicker?
discuss
By RobJ August 30, 2009 - 1:28 pm
I am happy now.:)
By Will September 1, 2009 - 4:39 pm
Such a great, simple idea that I haven’t thought of before. This would definitely have come in handy about two weeks ago!
Thanks!
By Monday Movie #45: Circular Holes in 3dsMax | MrBluesummers.com (holes the movie) | Today's Hot Stories September 19, 2009 - 7:42 am
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By Eric October 1, 2009 - 4:31 am
thanks so much for these tutorials. what a great survice, please keep up the great work!
By Mehdi Shay October 12, 2010 - 11:53 am
Thanks a loooooooooooooooooooooot !
By Moobert April 21, 2011 - 3:48 am
thank you so much! this helped emensly!
By Mykhel July 3, 2011 - 3:04 pm
Thank you Mr. B,
Nice technique. I have always been a shape-merge type myself but like this one too . Special thanks to Mr. Tom for pointing out that the interpolation must be reduced to 1 from 6. Was driving me crazy as to why I could not reproduce the effect. Without Mr. Toms comment I would have been hopelessly lost and would have abandoned this technique.
By Reo September 7, 2011 - 1:00 pm
Hi Mr. Bluesummers! thanks the tutorial. What about the topology if we work on a complex geometry.