Max Auto-Welding / Spacing Tool?

Kovac

Hey guys,

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what tools could be used to solve a rather frequent problem I have (Max 2010). I'd like to duplicate a mesh along a spline (ala Spacing Tool), but have it weld it's closest object automatically (similar to how the symmetry modifier does a quasi boolean on it's cloned counterpart).

This is primarily for something like a long winding cliff ledge. There would be one primary chunk of the asset that is duplicated and intersects properly along the spline, so you don't have to go through and weld the pieces together like crazy at the end.

Any thoughts / direction is greatly appreciated!

sprunghunt

I'd normally make an object like that as one piece to start with then use a spline deformer to make it follow the edge

Kovac

Ya for sure. Path deforms work quite well in most cases but the really winding areas make for judging a very long spline a pain the arse of how many segments are necessary. I guess it's not terribly bad through trial and error though. Thanks for the reassurance.

Ghostscape

I'm sure you could write a script to do this faster, but with the open edges like that, you could use border select (sub-object mode 3) to grab two borders, hit the bridge button, then grab the new edges and collapse. This will weld the open edges together but not adjust any other verts, which will get what you described but may not be ideal.

Mark Dygert

It's a pain to adjust it after its been path deformed BUT you could path deform an instance of your long mesh, that way you can add or take away from the original which is stretched out flat and easy to edit. I do this all the time with vines and roots.

sprunghunt

Vig wrote: »

It's a pain to adjust it after its been path deformed BUT you could path deform an instance of your long mesh, that way you can add or take away from the original which is stretched out flat and easy to edit. I do this all the time with vines and roots.

^^good stuff here^^^

Another approach I use a lot is that I have "show end result" bound to a key. So I can quickly toggle between deformed and straight to edit the mesh.