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-_tom_
Junior Member

3 years ago

Hi, new here and looking for some advice on 3Dsmax. I'm having problems with boolean objects. I've only been doing this for a couple of months so it may just be something basic that I'm missing. I'm modelling a phone for a uni project, which has indents where the brand name and some objects (labels for buttons) are. I've tried making the objects to "punch" into the phones body but when I create a boolean object, then subtract b-a or a-b, it doesnt subtract properly, sometimes not at all. I've tried searching and found this thread here but I dont really understand it, if anyone could explain that'd be great

[Link to www.3dsmaxforum.com]

Is there any way I can make indents into the surface other than boolean and if so, how? The main phone bodies are made from chamfer boxes which have been manipulated by converting to an editable poly then shaped with vertex selection and move/scale. This is in 3DSmax version 9, btw.

Thanks a lot guys.

-cdballew
Moderator

3 years ago

Can you show us the wire frame of your objects?

Chris

+Steve Martin
Moderator

3 years ago

What Tozzy is saying in that thread is that you need a bit of detail in your geometry for booleans to work well. Eg if a using a boolean to cut into a plane with 40 segments will work better than one into a plane with 1 segment. Another method you can try is displacement mapping. All you need is a topdown greyscale image of the logo. With the labels for buttons I wouldn't bother using booleans just use extruded max text and place it on the buttons.

[Link to www.3dprevis.com]
2nd Place: Absurd Plants Challenge

+isaac
Moderator

3 years ago

x2

What Gustave says is better than this idea i have, but here it is anyway.
Type out your text.
Convert to editable poly
Then drag+shift your edges and bridge your gaps.
Once your button is formed you'll have good control using the extrude and bevel tool on your text.

-_tom_
Junior Member

3 years ago

Ohh I see, my boxes I'm trying to cut into have around 8 segments on each surface, I guess thats not enough for what I want to do?

I'll look into this displacement mapping, thanks.

+Steve Martin
Moderator

3 years ago

8 segments sounds like enough. It depends on how detailed your logo is.

[Link to www.3dprevis.com]
2nd Place: Absurd Plants Challenge

-_tom_
Junior Member

3 years ago

Well, one other thing I need to do is make a headphone jack, I guess the simplest way to do that is to make a cylinder, then place that where I want it in the phones body, then create the boolean object and subtract one from the other.

However, when I try to do that, it just doesnt indent properly. Any ideas?

btw, I've attached my model as it is now, with some basic materials on (I still need to figure out sub object stuff so I can apply a rubbery finish to just the sides of the body etc). How do you guys think it looks? Anything I can do to improve it and make it more realistic? I'm not amazing with the lighting just yet so any tips on that would be great.

+Steve Martin
Moderator

3 years ago

For your jack, create the cylinder and place it where you want the hole. Select the phone and boolean subtraction (A-

. Click pick operand B and select the cylinder. There should be a hole in the phone where the cylinder was now.

As for the lighitng, what renderer are you using and do you know how to use GI?

[Link to www.3dprevis.com]
2nd Place: Absurd Plants Challenge

-_tom_
Junior Member

3 years ago

That's what I've been doing, but it just wont work. I'll have to screencap you an example. My friend who was having the same problem said that Pro Boolean works so I'll give that a go.

As for the rendering, I'm just doing that within 3DSmaxes own render feature. I dont even know what GI is haha, very new to this as you can tell.

+Steve Martin
Moderator

3 years ago

That's fine, it's good to learn the basics first anyway. Because I'm lazy, I'm going to point you to this thread:
[Link to www.3dsmaxforum.com]
There's some good discussion there and a nice little tute by Jamie about half way down.

[Link to www.3dprevis.com]
2nd Place: Absurd Plants Challenge

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