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Creating Polygons from lines


BK

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I am having difficulty creating a surface on top of a polygon made from scratch. Essentially, I'm building a stage that has a custom fit and no one side is the same. So I drew it from a plan view (using the line tool), extruded it, and selected Convert to polygons. When I go to render it with the texture I've assigned to it, only the perimeters show up with the textures. How do I create the top and bottom surfaces to this crazy stage? Can anyone offer any suggestions?

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The reason it has no top and bottom is because you extruded lines only - this creates a 'pipe' type object. ie sides only.

You should either draw your base shape using the polygon tool, or use the Compose Command to convert your lines into a polygon.

Like Katie I am also curious as to why you then want to convert it into polygons. If you are trying to achieve assymetrical sloped sides use 2 polygons and Multiple Extrude. If the 3D shape is sculpted use Solid Subtraction or Solid Addition to achieve what you want.

I have just realised why you may want to convert it to polygons - is it because you are trying to apply different colours or textures to the different surfaces? If so can I suggest that you leave it grouped so it is still one object. This will lessen the likelihood of you accidentally displacing one element.

You can then enter the group and apply your different colours or textures. You won't be able to render inside the group to see what you are doing though. However if you apply your finishes using classes you will then have a quick and easy way of fine tuning the appearance without having to re-enter the goup..

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Hey Barry, try it like this: use you original lines as guides. Make sure you are TOP PLAN view. Use the POLYGON tool and trace over the lines exactly (then if you want you can delete the lines). Now select the POLYGON, and look in the Object Info Palette (OIP) and make sure it is a "closed" shape. With it still selected go to the menu MODEL>EXTRUDE (or "command e" as a shortcut), fill in the "extrusion" value (the thickness) and click OK.

If you are fairly new to VW's (and it sounds like you might be) there are a couple things you should know: 1) An extruded object, like the one you just created) will always be created with its bottom at the "zero point" of the layer it is in. 2) So you should always go to a side or front view to check, and 3) In a side or front view you can use the MOVE command(command m) to move the shape up or down by typing the desired number (positive or negative) into the "Y" field in the Move dialog.

I hope that helps and was not too confusing :-)

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yeah it was the polyline function that I was needing. That did the trick.

I used the convert to polygon function because I thought when I drew the lines and selected convert to polygon..that it would do just that. The Polyline function tracing over my original object is really what I needed.

"If you are fairly new to VW's (and it sounds like you might be) there are a couple things you should know: 1) An extruded object, like the one you just created) will always be created with its bottom at the "zero point" of the layer it is in. 2) So you should always go to a side or front view to check, and 3) In a side or front view you can use the MOVE command(command m) to move the shape up or down by typing the desired number (positive or negative) into the "Y" field in the Move dialog."

I've actually been using VW since version 6 but I sometimes struggle with the 3D aspects (and it's relationship with Cinema 4D). Thanks for your help Peter, I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future...

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Another option...

Select all of the lines you drew in plan view. Select "Tool : Compose" from the menu bar. This command will compose your lines into a closed polyline. Now select "Model : Extrude" from the menu bar.

This is faster than re-tracing with the polyline tool, it will also allow you to compose a shape that has arcs & lines making it a very flexible and useful command.

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  • 12 years later...

Just wanted to throw one in here... ...Thanks for asking the question, thanks for the answer, and generally, thanks to Nemetschek who built this software.  For me, nothing ever goes 2d to 3d, it always goes from 3d to 2d--something my dad taught me when I was trying to draw the diagrams for a project for school that required some wood construction.  This is an old thread, but it's been a while for me and the software is very different from the old 1990's MacDraw I used for a long time.  There are some nuances I'm still learning and this is one of them.

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