trashcan Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 I have a pyramid structure that I want to use the pen lines to become a generic solid. In other words, how do I turn this: Into a solid? Basically making a framed pyramid. Or is there a better way to do this? Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 If I got that right, you would have to redraw. - Close all Faces by 3D Polygons - Select all 3D Polygons - CMD+ALT+R to convert to Mesh - Convert to Generic Solid (Isn't there still a legacy Pyramid Tool to dig out of the Workspace ?) 1 Quote Link to comment
Kevin K Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 If I am not mistaken, I believe you can create the pyramid by simply using the flat rectangle and a locus, the selecting multiple extrude. Not at the computer at the moment so I can’t test it. 1 Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 @Kevin K yes that is correct. 1 Quote Link to comment
trashcan Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 Sorry to clarify - I know how to make a pyramid. What I want to do is to convert the pen outlines to a solid so that we see the "frame" as a solid rather than as pen outlines. Does that make sense? Quote Link to comment
Tom W. Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Extrude Along Path? 1 Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 @trashcan I know that if you build it in 3d w/ lines, and then ramp the line weight WAY up, you can see them in a render. I'm not sure if they will be anything other than the line color. Quote Link to comment
Kevin K Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 @trashcan Uh, no....that does not make sense. :-) First of all a generic solid IS a solid object....filled solid. Perhaps your nomenclature is off a bit. In my ancient brain, 'seeing the frame as a solid' would imply it is a filled. solid object. So....if I better understand your quest...would those 'lines' have a dimension/thickness ?? Tom W is correct, in that you could do an extrude along path. That would work. But, if you went that route, and used a small circle to use as the profile object, you would need to designate a diameter or radius of that circle. There may be another way. The sun just came up here in Tahiti, so let me make some coffee and investigate if there is another way. Don't hold your breath. :-). What is the end goal of this. if I may ask ? Quote Link to comment
Kevin K Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 @trashcan Not sure in your example with your 'lines....how you created them to get the pyramid shape ? It seems to me that the easiest way is use the multiple extrude approach to get the exact pyramid shape you want....which IS a solid object btw. Attribute any line weight you wish, and simply tell it to have a "None" fill...It does tick the box you wanted as far as it being a 'solid' object', but you can see thru it because of the none fill. It will render in Open GL or any of the Custom RW choices, and maintain the line weight thickness you have choosen. Have a go at it and see if this achieves what you wanted. Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Here's a "wireframe" 3d pyramid made of 3d polys. pyramid.vwx Quote Link to comment
trashcan Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 Exactly @Kevin K - I want those pen lines to have dimension and thickness and be treated as their own solids. Kind of like framing. Just the frames of the pyramid. The end goal here is to produce a projection beam that I can then import into After Effects to do a little render with video. If I have the beam lines (pyramid "frame") represented as solids then I can get it out as a clean OBJ. Wish I was in Tahiti 🙂 Quote Link to comment
Tom W. Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 I did this earlier: I drew a 2d rectangle then two 3D polygons up from it then extruded a hollow circle along each. Then add solids. But vertices not very pretty... Quote Link to comment
Kevin K Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 @trashcan Man, you are speaking a language that is wayyyyy above my pay grade..."Projection Beam". ?? So.....be more specific. WHAT dimension do you want those 'lines' to have when they are fattened up? And I assume that their final shape wants to be based upon a circle? As opposed to a square or some other etherial shape. :-) In this case, since you want to have them as individual objects, it will most likely involve an extrude along path, as has been suggested by others in this thread. I think that grant_PD and Tom are on it. Tom W's example is good and the intersections of the objects would be fine if the diameter of the circle used for the extrude along path profile was a bit smaller. Is that diameter critical for what you are doing?? I am still a bit lost pertaining to the whole Projection Beam thing. 1 Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 The file I posted has no extrude, just polys. If you assign a white texture to it or whatever, it will render as just 3d lines. Quote Link to comment
Kevin K Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 @grant_PD Very true, but you could use those individual 3d polys as the basic for extruding them along path, I believe. I am thinking that the "trashcan" when referring to a 'projection beam' is confusing it with an episode of Star Trek. :-) Quote Link to comment
trashcan Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 Haha. Projection beam meaning the light the emits from the projector. I'm a projection / video engineer. If you use illustrator, this is how it's done there - you create your solid, you make the fill none and then all your left is the stroked path. You can then "outline" that stroke to turn the strokes into solids. So that's basically what I'm trying to do here, turn the pen strokes into solid frames. @Tom W. basically created what I'm trying to do, but wondering if there's a way to simply say "convert pen strokes to solids". Quote Link to comment
Kevin K Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 @trashcan Ok....now we are getting somewhere. :-) VW doesn't have the infamous 'pen strokes to solids' option. So, at the end of the day you will export the these items as an .OBJ file and import them into Illustrator?? So, this begs the question....why not just use Illustrator as you outlined, to obtain what you want? Quote Link to comment
Kevin K Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Also..based upon what you had described, do you actually only need the 4 angled lines (solids) that define the projection, to do you also need the rectangular shape on the ground plane? Quote Link to comment
trashcan Posted January 22, 2021 Author Share Posted January 22, 2021 No I'll export them and import them into After Effects. I was just using illustrator as an example. I need the four sides of the pyramid and yes, the base. Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 @trashcan did you look at the file I posted? It does what you want. Quote Link to comment
Kevin K Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 @grant_PD it appears the trashcan went silent. :-) I too would like to know if he is content with your offering or if we need to keep at it. 1 Quote Link to comment
trashcan Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 @grant_PD that's exactly right - is there any automated way to do this from a multiple extrude (how I make pyramids) or is it all manual 3D polys? Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 use the pyramid tool and convert to 3d polys, turn the fill off, decompose each face? I'm not AE guru so I don't know how this imports for you. You could also use the create projector tool and show cone, then do a high level ungroup. Attached is my exported pyramid, after converting to 3d polys I then decomposed the polys into it's lines. pyr2.obj.zip Quote Link to comment
trashcan Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 Ah snap, your OBJ isn't coming through in AE for whatever reason though it is showing the vertices data. Very strange. I suspect Tom W's solve is probably the move, though I'm not sure how to do it. Here's my dummy check (this is your pyramid): Imports into AE looking like: Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Can AE import a .dwg? that use usually more "wireframe" than .obj Quote Link to comment
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