How to create a column out of edges?

crozer · Oct 2009

hello, i use 3ds max.
so, to what i need help with.. i had an extruded wall [a box] and wanted to make windows on 3 sides [the front, the left and the right]. to achieve this, i extruded the window-area on each side.

because i extruded areas on the 3 sides, these areas are now connected.. i know it sounds strange, so i hope i kind of explained it clearly.

this is what i mean. there is the box, which i extruded on 3 sides, and these extruded areas "touch each other". (ofc the left with the right one don't)

anyway, so a zoom-in:

green respresents the extruded area on the front, and orange represents the one on the right.

and if you haven't understoof any of it, i'd really appreciate if you'd just explain to me, how to bridge or make columns out of 4 edges..
thank you once again.

crozer · Oct 2009

i know it's the most annoying thing to do, but please, could anyone answer me? i am running short on time and i've been working on other areas of the house - but many are dependant of the one i've mentioned.

thank you.

Slum · Oct 2009

I read your post three times, and I'm still not sure what you're trying to do.

Mark Dygert · Oct 2009

Same here... So you want to turn the corners into round pillars?

Acumen · Oct 2009

so judging from the images you have 3 intersecting polygons/edges/whatever and you don't want that, i guess.
maybe you should use an "Inset" Command first, like shown here - before you do the "Extrude"Command. maybe that could solute your problem ?

crozer · Oct 2009

thank you for your replies.
i think the example i provided above isn't really clear. so, just imagine you have 4 edges, which are not connected to each other in any way, and you want to make a body (an edged column, with 4 polygons) with them.
it'd be like creating a polygon from/with 4 verts, but i want to do this with edges because i think i will need it for some special areas of the house..

Acumen wrote:

so judging from the images you have 3 intersecting polygons/edges/whatever and you don't want that, i guess.
maybe you should use an "Inset" Command first, like shown here - before you do the "Extrude"Command. maybe that could solute your problem ?

i know, the inset command is really useful, but it's not my solution. i just want to do, or at least know if what i explained above is possible.

StJoris · Oct 2009

it seems the mighty Bridge could be of assistance, however, in that situation the most your going to get out of 4 edges is a tube!

Tho you could use cap, to then get the top and bottom connected.

Also there is create, which lets you create a polygon, can be useful in combination with vertex snap.

BHJ · Oct 2009

From your post it seems like you could achieve that by either:

a. using the create poly tool and connecting each set of 4 verts to create each side.

b. use the bridge tool to connect each edge to one another.

However I'm still not sure that's what your looking for, I can't think of a scenario where that would crop up. From your first post, you could always just go in and delete the sides you don't need and clean the mesh up with a few welds/cuts (atleast as far as I'm understanding what you need to do).

EDIT:

is this what your trying to achieve?

crozer · Oct 2009

StJoris wrote:

Tho you could use cap, to then get the top and bottom connected.

"cap"?

BHJ: yes, that is what i am trying to achieve, although with the columns being thiner then the parts above and below.
i have used the 'mighty' bridge tool, and it is indeed useful, but sometimes i find myself unable to use it - i kind of know what might be happening, not sure though.

===
and once again, thank you, really.

renderhjs · Oct 2009

this is not logical,- you need at least 1 face in order to have at least an edge. With edges and faces as a base you can do that with a snap. With just the verts (very odd modeling style) it would require a special maxscript that would sort the verts in space and create face ID`s based on their locations.

with 1 edge selected you can extend them with a following face by holding shift down and dragging the edge to the target extend of the face creation. With a face of course you can extrude or bevel the face (shift + e for extrude, shift + b for bevel).

divi · Oct 2009

you could use the create tool in polygon mode, if you are set on doing it from 4 edges/8 vertices for whatever reason but efficiency is something else.

Yozora · Oct 2009

Bridge will work fine for this situation.
But if bridge did fail that means both edges aren't actually open edges (or they share the same vertex, which is highly unlikely with this particular model).
If they aren't open edges then just select the polygons that are there and bridge the polys instead of edge.

crozer · Oct 2009

hey, thanks once again.
from what i've read here, you cannot create a box with only 4 edges which don't have a face. i thought it could be possible, although when comparing this to maths, it's exactly the same. [don't wanna get into it, but i know what i mean]

renderhjs wrote:

with 1 edge selected you can extend them with a following face by holding shift down and dragging the edge

that is actually what i've been looking for all the time, but since i couldn't clone an edge inside an editable poly, i started this thread.

i see now, that 3dsmax can't work like that [i mean making a box out of 4 edges] because it's ilogic, as stated by renderhjs.
so thank you all, and i guess i'll have to start modeling carefully and clean, so that commands as bridge work. thanks

How to create a column out of edges?

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