Pipes?

Weiser_Cain

Things are busy at the old fort as I move to a new one, but I thought I had time to throw together a nice motorcycle model before I packed my machines. Thing is I always seem to have problems with the pipes, I'm stuck between making them look good(or making them at all) and making them not take up the whole budget on a complex bend. Is there and easier way to make shaped pipes? I'm just extruding them for primitives and trying to get them to match my reffrence(not easy when it's just line work).

Toomas

Extrude along spline

Weiser_Cain

Thanks I think...

KDR_11k

Small pipes can be done as alpha-tested planes. That's used in many games and you rarely notice.

Eric Chadwick

Alpha-test is a good one, along with a normal map for good shading.

Another trick I've seen is to subdivide the circumference differently at the ends vs. the middle. The ends are where you notice the silhouette more, so you typically need more facets there, like say 8 sides or more where the pipe terminates in the engine block. Then for the rest of the pipe you can get away with very few sides, for example 4, and let the normal map handle the curvature.

Mojo2k

i would personaly loft, it slike extrude along spline but with much better control

Ryno

If the pipes are don't need to be contiguos with other pieces, I'd suggest just making the spline renderable, then increase its diameter. If necessary, once you've got the shape and curve going how you want, convert to EPoly, and do any other adjustments that you might need.

Delaney King

Well in 3dsmax the easiest way is to just turn renderable on on a spline and set the width and uv mapping. You can cut the polys down dynamically by altering the interpolation of the spline. Very good for doing knots and crazy wiring too.