3DS MAX 2018: Create a loop a constant distance from another loop

kbrueck

Is there a way to create a loop that's a constant distance, say 3cm, from another loop? 

Typically when I've tried to do this, things are either:
1. Treated as a percentage (halfway between two loops), which makes the distance inconsistent if the distance between two existing loops changes at all.
2. Limited by a loop that's closer than the intended distance. If I want a loop to be 3cm from loop A, but there's another loop at 1cm, then the furthest I can go is 1cm.

Words are hard, so here's a picture! The red line is the existing loop, and the black line is the hoped-for loop.


Any help would be much appreciated! 

Axi5

Your best bet is to use a measuring tool.

These software packages aren't really designed to do this type of thing so easily

kbrueck

Thanks Axi5. Do you mean place the loop roughly where I want it and then manually measure each vertex's distance?

Axi5

kbrueck said:

Thanks Axi5. Do you mean place the loop roughly where I want it and then manually measure each vertex's distance?

Yeah essentially. You could probably just work out the plane that the edge is along and move the whole edge loop to the new distance but yeah that's not really something Max is designed to do.

Why do you need to insert an edge loop precisely 3cm away from that one?

kbrueck

Kind of a long story, but the short of it is I'm experimenting using techniques like Star Citizen's, where you use a little bit of geometry, some different UV sets, and some detail textures to add fine details without having 4-8k textures.

In my specific case I'm working on furniture and need stitches/seams all along certain edges. 3cm was just an example number but it's not too far off from what I need.

Axi5

I don't think people are going to start measuring their screens to see if your stitches are in the correct place. Don't you think you're over thinking it a bit?

kbrueck

The exact distance is important to make sure the strip of stitching stays 3cm wide (or whatever width it needs to be), regardless of whatever curved topology exists on the mesh. It would look quite odd if your stitches went from .5cm to 6cm as it followed the contours of the model.

I appreciate you being a voice of reason but I don't believe I'm overthinking it. This is for a product where my client's objective is to sell high-end seating based on what people can see in VR. This isn't a background detail—the seats are the hero piece, and people will be looking extremely close at these types of details.

Axi5

Ahhh, the moment you mentioned star citizen I figured it was for a game not a physical product!

Unless someone else has a better idea I honestly do think you might have to just measure it around.

poopipe

Chamfer is done in world space.  If you duplicate geometry and remove edges that are in the way you should be able to get an edge in the right place 

SebastianBielecki

I would say - create a box 3x3x3cm, snap it to the top loop, and then insert loop in your model and snap it to the bottom of that box.

Eric Chadwick

You could convert the loop near the black line into a Shape, then set the shape to render. If you use opacity mapping you can easily make it look like stitching.