how do i make an arch?

# 1 13-01-2004 , 12:32 PM

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I just started learning maya the other day, so yes, this is a very newbie question. I am trying to make an simple arch with polygons. I've tried looking in my book, and through the website for a solution, but haven't found one that yeilds the result I want, so hopefully I'm not asking a redundant question.

I have taken a face and extruded the face along the curve, resulting in what you see in ex. 1. (hopefully my .jpg is attached correctly) While this is a good start, you can see that the arch does not lay flush with the right side. More so, even if I moved the verticies to be flush with the right side, my arch still would have be unevenly built (notice the shape of each polygon). So this isn't exactly what I want.

In Ex. 2 I used wedge faces and ended up nice even polygons, but I lose the flexibility of extruding and can't give the "arch" an inner radius to actually make it an arch, or use any of the interesting things it looks like you can do with extrude.

Anyway, I just want to know how to make a simple, even arch.

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# 2 13-01-2004 , 12:58 PM

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you can use a non-linear deformer called bend to do it. That should work. One other way is to create a cylinder then duplicate it and scale it down a bit but make sure it extends beyond the edges of the original one (length ways) then use a boolean to get the hole for the arch. Then delete the bottom half of the faces and voila one arch As long as the cylinders have the same properties you should get very clean geometry.

If you need more help or a better explanation just post your questions

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# 3 13-01-2004 , 01:42 PM

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you can also extrude along a curve but using the blend deformer is probably the easiest.

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# 4 13-01-2004 , 02:02 PM

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One thing to consider, is making half of an arch the way you like, then duplicating and mirroring it for the other side.

-Mike
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# 5 13-01-2004 , 09:56 PM

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personally i think the very easiest way to do it is to, create 2 3 pt circular arcs (create-->arc tools-->) make 1 larger and the second smaller. Create a quick curve that connects the 2 and doing a Bi-Rail 1 operation, ok it is nurbs and only a flat surface...but you can easily convert to poly and extrude the face

The only constant is change...

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# 6 13-01-2004 , 10:33 PM

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There are 2 methods that I like to use:

1) Create a poly torus with 4 sides. Set the twist to 45. Adjust the subdivisions and radius to my liking. Delete half of the torus. Extrude the bottom edges to create the height of the arch.

or

2) Draw a curve that represents the path of the arch. Draw another curve that represents the profile of the arch (in this case a square or rectangle will work). Select the profile then shift select the path. Perform a Surfaces > Extrude with the output type set to polygons.

In both cases, you can simply adjust elements in the history the original components to tweak your arch.

Danny Ngan
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my website | my blog | my job

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# 7 13-01-2004 , 11:26 PM

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When I was making a japanese footbridge, I went the long way around by creating a cube, scaling it out and increasing the subdivisions...then just pulled each set of end vertices into place to make half the arch....then duplicate and merge vertices to make the other half.

"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."

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# 8 13-01-2004 , 11:53 PM

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I think an simple few extrudes with a duplicate negetive scale and merge should work fine right?

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# 9 14-01-2004 , 12:57 PM

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Thanks for all the different suggestions. For the curious, I used the two cylinder method and did a boolean difference to remove the middle of the cylinder, making a ring, then selected and deleted the bottom half, giving me an arch and the clean geometry I desired. Thanks!

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# 10 14-01-2004 , 01:09 PM

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i win

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# 11 15-01-2004 , 06:44 AM

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darn. We will meat again batman!

err something.

Good to know theres so many different ways to do anything.

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# 12 15-01-2004 , 02:43 PM

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I've had several helpful individuals on this board advise me against using booleans. Any particular reason? I assumed that once the History was deleted the resulting geometry would be functionally the same as if it had been created via any other method.

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# 13 15-01-2004 , 02:49 PM

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The main problem I have with booleans is that they don't always work. :p

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# 14 15-01-2004 , 02:57 PM

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But if the Boolean function DOES work, then once the History is deleted does the resulting geometry have any nagging "ooh, you did a Boolean funtion" notes attached to it somewhere, or is it the same as any other geometry?

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# 15 15-01-2004 , 03:16 PM

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Pretty much the same.

When a boolean function does decide to work, it can be helpful in some situations. I'd have to say the vast majority of the time, when I do come to a situation that a boolean would be the best route to take, it doesn't work. So far, I've not managed to determine exact reasons as to why.

-Mike
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how do i make an arch?

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