Combining two objects? Rounded corners?

# 1 02-01-2013 , 12:41 PM

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Hello there, I'm new here and new to 3d modelling in general.
I hope I'll be able to learn and even help others here in the future~

Anyhow I've been trying to get fast into 3d modelling and I found myself in a few troubles that I'd love to get help with.
My goal was to create an iphone model for the sake of learning but my problems were:

1) Rounding corners of a square
2) For things such as the home button of the phone , Camera, side rounded buttons, I tried using the polygon cylinder tool and combine it with the main mesh, but I had a problem with the home button as it needed to be lower than the main face, an example pic:
user added image

After I combined the cylinder with the square, I tried to move the cylinder down to have a rounded hole.. but it just disappeared under the surface.

These are my main issues at the moment,
Thanks in advance user added image

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# 2 02-01-2013 , 05:03 PM

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I would reduce the edges on the cylinder and increase the edges on the box then do a boolean difference............dave

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# 3 02-01-2013 , 05:08 PM

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You might want to add some edges befor you do the boolean to clean up the box

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Last edited by daverave; 02-01-2013 at 05:16 PM.

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# 4 02-01-2013 , 06:22 PM

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You might want to add some edges befor you do the boolean to clean up the box

Originally Posted by daverave

Hey Dave,
Firstly thanks for replying! user added image

I tried to select the cylinder and the box, I went to "Mesh" => "Booleans" => "Difference",
The result was a bit odd, the box was removed from the scene and I was left with the cylinder only.
I tried to go to the same menu but selected "Union" and it connected the two meshes, seems like it's what I was looking for.

I am curious about the whole booleans menu though, what is it supposed to do? why Union worked and not Difference?

Thanks!

Edit:
I tried those a bit and realized what they do.

About the rounded corners, I'm learning how to model in order to use my models on games that I develop,
And I realized that when I export my models, they won't look like they do in the smooth preview (When you press 3 with the object selected) But they just look like the simpler version.

Therefore I'll probably need to get smooth results without the smooth preview,
How can I achieve rounded corners with that in mind?
Thanks again

Last edited by Array; 02-01-2013 at 06:32 PM.

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# 5 02-01-2013 , 07:21 PM

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Its just the order you need to do the boolean, select the box first then the cylinder, for game a bit of bevelling, normal maps(if permitted) and texturing to keep the poly count down......dave

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# 6 02-01-2013 , 10:29 PM

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Its just the order you need to do the boolean, select the box first then the cylinder, for game a bit of bevelling, normal maps(if permitted) and texturing to keep the poly count down......dave

Originally Posted by daverave

Alright,
Sorry for asking so many things haha , I'm just trying to get into this as fast as possible user added image

I followed your instructions, but after messing with the main square, I got this issue:
user added image

The Cylinder is under this face, and I just can't remove that face without leaving a big squared hole..
I tried using the "Fill hole" but it just filled the square again without caring about the cylinder in the middle

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# 7 02-01-2013 , 11:14 PM

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It looks like you have two cubes delete one then do the boolean...........dave

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# 8 02-01-2013 , 11:51 PM

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It looks like you have two cubes delete one then do the boolean...........dave

Originally Posted by daverave

Uhm, well I know have two cubes, the inner one is for the iphone's metal surrounding.
The boolean worked fine at first, but look at the selected face, I cannot select only the circle, but it selects this whole face when I try to.
I hope I made myself clear

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# 9 03-01-2013 , 01:32 AM

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Also there are a lot of rules for booleaning things in maya.

One thing I see that you are doing that is a no no is you are trying to bore a hole into the middle of an open face. Look at Dave's example.

There should always be an edge going from the outer edge a face to the object you are booleaning.

Search the site for boolean and you;ll find a list of all the rules and I think I even have a couple video's floating around that demonstrates a couple of the most common issues that bite new users on their bottoms.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

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# 10 03-01-2013 , 05:13 AM

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Also there are a lot of rules for booleaning things in maya.

One thing I see that you are doing that is a no no is you are trying to bore a hole into the middle of an open face. Look at Dave's example.

There should always be an edge going from the outer edge a face to the object you are booleaning.

Search the site for boolean and you;ll find a list of all the rules and I think I even have a couple video's floating around that demonstrates a couple of the most common issues that bite new users on their bottoms.

Originally Posted by ctbram

Well I did not do the boolean when the cubes were cut, I will look into the rules though.
But then again lol, why can't I select the circular face there? It's like.. Still separated even after the Boolean
(it was like that when the cubes weren't cut too. Just so you know)

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# 11 03-01-2013 , 11:23 AM

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Could you show a reference shot of what you are trying to model, if its for a game you might get away with just a texture and bump map..........dave

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# 12 03-01-2013 , 12:30 PM

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Could you show a reference shot of what you are trying to model, if its for a game you might get away with just a texture and bump map..........dave

Originally Posted by daverave

Hey again,
What I'm trying to model is this iphone:
user added image

This model isn't for a game, it's just an attempt to learn how to work with 3d

EDIT:
It seems like you guys are finding it very hard to understand what's the matter so I made a little screenshot with hopes that it'll help a bit.
user added image

Mesh (A): I made this mesh just like you said, made a cube, made a cylinder, and did a difference boolean.
Mesh (B): I copied Mesh(A), and added bevel to the edge, result: the cylinder was covered for some awkward reason..

I hope I made myself clear now.

(By the way, this is just to try and understand how to make an inner button, such as the iphone's home button..)

Last edited by Array; 03-01-2013 at 12:42 PM.

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# 13 03-01-2013 , 02:00 PM

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You need to add edges to your bevel and make the offset smaller, the left one I had to soften some of the edges, middle is a normal map looks a little wonky, right is a bump map look OK none of these are smoothed............dave

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# 14 03-01-2013 , 02:18 PM

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I will say this again. You should not cut a hole into the middle of a face! You are going to have problems. You are asking for advice and we are giving it to you. If you are going to ignore our advice I see no reason to continue trying to give it to you. lol

It's fine to cut the hole but you need to have and edge connecting to the outer edge of the face,

To prove this, Try to use split poly and split an edge to that hole you cut in figure A above. You will get an error message and maya will not let you do it! You have created what maya calls a "hole" and it is illegal geometry.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Isaac Newton, 1675

Last edited by ctbram; 03-01-2013 at 02:23 PM.

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# 15 03-01-2013 , 05:04 PM

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I will say this again. You should not cut a hole into the middle of a face! You are going to have problems. You are asking for advice and we are giving it to you. If you are going to ignore our advice I see no reason to continue trying to give it to you. lol

It's fine to cut the hole but you need to have and edge connecting to the outer edge of the face,

To prove this, Try to use split poly and split an edge to that hole you cut in figure A above. You will get an error message and maya will not let you do it! You have created what maya calls a "hole" and it is illegal geometry.

Originally Posted by ctbram

Lol,
I understand now, what you said before was that I was trying to bore a hole in an open face and I thought you meant something else (As you can see, the model was cut using the geometry cut tool ).
I didn't ignore your advice, I just misunderstood it..
But now I understand, so thanks for the help! feels good to know what was the issue hehe user added image

I tried doing what you said by the way, and you're right, It didn't work.
As a matter of fact, I couldn't use the split poly tool on that mesh at all lol

So yeah, thanks again!

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Combining two objects? Rounded corners?

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