Max cut tool quirk
Occasionally when i'm doing cuts in 3ds max, it will only let me cut from one vertex to another and not vice versa. It seems to be very picky regarding which vertex I initiate the cut from.
Is there any reason for this or is it just a bug in max? Does it happen in other modeling programs?
Is there any reason for this or is it just a bug in max? Does it happen in other modeling programs?
Replies
Basically you're working on a sub pixel level and it's having to guess.
You can also toggle on 3D snap, and turn on Mid Point, if you want to cut to a mid point.
In general, cut makes a mess of your UV's and its cleaner to use connect.
The scale of your scene has nothing to do with pixels, which only come into account with rasterization.
Max's problem is much worse because it deals with scale in a very bad way, especially very small scales. Floating point numbers are only accurate to 6 digits, I think, so at very large or small scales there are inaccuracies- but like everything in Max, if it were programmed with the future in mind, there are many workarounds (including using doubles, and scaling better with internal units). The cut tool's erratic behaviour, I think is just some bug with it (fixed in 2k8 and newer)- but many things in Max have problems at scales which is a more nefarious problem.
The cut tool in max is one of the most powerful tools I know of. Unfortunately it has one drwback - it is very picky if used ... in perspective. If you switch to a ortho view or user 'flat' perspective, it should work.
Connecting verts to verts can be a clean solution for simple shapes, but it is extremely slow compared to freeform cuts.
Breakneck : my cut experience is limited to Maya, Silo and Max (was running some tests just yesterday). Both Silo and Maya are okay if you go from vert to vert or edge to edge. However Silo messes up the Uvs extremely fast, and Maya gets confused as soon as you try to hit somewhere in the middle of a face. It will show you the correct 'path preview, but once you reach the end of your cut and hit enter most of it will disappear. Basically :
Silo, okay if no need to preserve UV info. Mostly edge to edge cuts.
Maya, very picky even if preview seems fine. Seems confused if the resulting cut is more than quad sided. (needs simple cut 'anchors')
Max, works freeform but better in user mode. (in perspective verts are sometimes impossible to hit). Respects UV info.
As a general rule, if you are cutting from vert to vert and the path is clear inbetween, connect will do a great job and you will be sure you don't get double vertices. Ideally there should be a kb shortcut for that (I use the "." key for all connects, both connect verts or connect edges by the middle). But for freeform cuts... solutions are limited and frustrating, if performed with other apps than Max.
I didn't know max had problems with scaling, is this relative to the units your using? The display unit scale and system unit scale have many orders of magnitude so would you only get scaling problems if you say had display units set in km but you were trying to make cuts at the scale of millimeters?
try these tools http://www.illusioncatalyst.com/ they are really good.
Anchoring the first and last point to an existing edge, I don't think I've EVER had a cut disappear in Maya. That said, sometimes you forget and sometimes you miss the edge...
Why would free-form cutting with the uv's preserved screw up the uv's?