I need smart people to tell me which program I should use to materialize low res polygon models.
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I
am working on a way to materialize Low resolution 3d poly-models and i
need programs that can possibly take a 3d model, fill it up with
triangles or other straight lines (or show the ones already in it), and
calculate the corners in these triangles. I'd would like to adjust the resolution or something, so I can kinda make polygon art.
I know stl. files are already constructed out of geometric shapes and i need to get the information above out of them.
I don't have a lot of experience on 3d modeling programs (only solidworks), so feel free to educate me on existing programs.
Feel free to ask more questions if I am unclear, because I don't know shit about this yet XD
Replies
It would help to embed reference image(s) of what you want the models to look like.
Where are the models from? Are you making them yourself, purchasing them, ripping them, what?
Now there might not be a program available that can already do this, but something might come close.
As I said, the models can be everything.
And thanks for the quick reaction XD
Houdini is free, spend a few days learning about poly reduction with it and you'll be able to get what you want in terms of the model.
the dimensions/corner stuff I'm confused about. any 3d app must know where the vertices are or it won't work.
can you be more specific about that part?
This way i can produce the connection points and build the model as a puzzle.
Thanks for the advice, i will check houdini out :-)
Eg. It's not difficult to work out the angle between two triangles and output it to a list but making the list human readable is a problem - not least because tris and vertices aren't necessarily stored in a sensible order.
This is quite an interesting problem, I'll be curious to see how you deal with it
"but I still need to retrieve the angles of the folding lines leaving all the vertices."
Now I think I kind of understand what you are getting at ... but still, start by explaining your needs to the absolute best of your ability - even if that means taking the time to make diagrams.
Break the model into individual triangles
UV map the entire model with zero distortion, there are ways to do this in every 3d package
Pack the UVs but give yourself some space between them
You can cut each triangle out of the UV map and it should have the exact surface area
Print your UV map onto whatever thin material you want, cut out tris, glue them together
Also need to number the triangle edges so you know where they go
This was just off the top of my head, some scripts in whatever 3D package could easily automate the whole process.
Houdini verts
Blender verts
Max and Maya are similar, you just use a bit of scripting to print them out to whatever file you want.
I've been trying to dive into this, but my experience with modelling programs does not go further then Solidworks atm. However Houdini and blender look promising.
For now, getting the data, even if i have to read and transfer it by hand will make the concept possible. I can work on refining it later. I just need to know where the holes in the balls need to be, and what the length of the sticks need to be.
But to sum up the idea: Take a 3d model, turn it into a real life wire-frame structure, that is build with balls and sticks kinda. Ill find solutions for finding a way to puzzle a box of balls and sticks into Ollie here for instance.
Write a script:
Place a sphere at each vert.
For each edge of the model, place a stick (extrude a circle along the edge).
Chop off an amount from the end of each extruded stick so it intersects the spheres by 1 cm or 3/8 inch (this amount will have to be experimented with to find right amount).
Do a boolean operation to cut out the holes from the spheres where the sticks intersect.
Assign vertex colours or some other identifier to each sphere and stick end. This would create a weird rainbow pattern over the model.
Could be vertex number instead. You could also put a unique identifier on the end of each stick and the hole it goes into. For example, 21-B would identify vert 21 and stick B. Then stamp 21-B next to the hole and at the end of the stick.
Print a 3D prototype.
PHASE 2:
?
PHASE 3:
Profit
Vertex/Edge/Face ID: an index number assigned to each component.
Vertex location: A XYZ value that defines each points location in space.
Faces are constructed by listing the vertex IDs that make it up, clockwise. (I believe all programs will start the numbering with the lowest number in the vertex id index.)
So if you selected that vertex, you may have something like 13:12.011, 7.560, 130.113. (vertex id: x, y, z). Selecting a face would return something like 13,52,176,192.
Do you plan on building these by hand like with wood, or on a 3d printer? The 3d printed route would make this easy, it's just a matter of doing what RyanB suggests, a bit of automation and making sure everything is physically sound. If by hand or something, my suggestion would be to write a script that:
*Takes an input for the size of the spheres and the hole depth.
*Measures the angles at the vertex of each face.
*Does the math to calculate the coordinates where holes should be placed, and the length of each stick.
*Print this into a text file in a way that makes sense as instructions: The ID for each sphere, the coordinates for holes (and their IDs), and what sticks go in which holes.
Marking the spheres for drilling sounds fun
For the vertices... I'm sure there is no such thing as the angle between vertex and edge out of the box in any application. you would have to create some relation using normal or global space for each vertex and then figure out the angle for two axis. Not sure how you get the holes in tge balls with information though.
RyanB made a good suggestion, I would probably approach it that way too.