excessive cylinders

# 1 02-01-2011 , 12:22 AM

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Join Date: Oct 2010

Posts: 234

I'm modelling a block of flats (does the UK term translate to the US?) and decided to add railings to the balconies using my newly found toy of 'duplicate with transform' kindly learnt to me by ctbram.
I made a cylinder, scaled & positioned, duplicated and moved it to the next position. then shift+d along the balcony, selected all the railings and duplicated them for each balcony, then selected all railings on that floor and duplicated for the remaining floors.
I've ended up with 4120 cylinders in the scene and maya's already starting to struggle. I get the feeling I've gone about it the wrong way.

Short of reducing the numbers, are there any rules you should follow for hi-rep objects such as this?

Last edited by se7enhedd; 02-01-2011 at 12:25 AM.

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# 2 02-01-2011 , 02:54 AM

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Join Date: Mar 2007

Location: TN (USA)

Posts: 1,889

If you plan on using alot of duplicates of the same object, a nice option is the instance feature but I've never really put it to the test. If you look at the duplicate special options, you'll see the instance option. You can get more info about it in the help files. If I understand it right, an instance is basically a reference to the original and any changes you make to the original will update all the copies (instances). I think it's supposed to be a little easier for your computer to handle.

Don't be satisfied with what you can do but rather strive to do the things you can't do!
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# 3 02-01-2011 , 10:37 AM

The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

Posts: 2,381

i imagine you have just created a cylinder with 20 subdivisions, which you have duplicated. Try it again with one that has 6.

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# 4 02-01-2011 , 01:48 PM

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Join Date: Oct 2010

Posts: 234

thanks all. I followed the various advice and it became more manageable.
Once I combined it into a single mesh and imported it into another scene it was back to normal.

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excessive cylinders

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