Sorry for baby questions, but I’ve got a quickie job and this is taking way too long!
Got the .ai file imported into MAX 2010 (still only takes Illustrator 8!?). It’s a flat pair of 3D glasses… I have to bend the arms, that’s it! I’ve tried all different ways, but nothing with real success. I’ve been able to extrude, convert to mesh, slice plane and bend the arms (though I don’t see how to move pivot point for selection) at 90 degrees, but the smoothing is always a problem! There must be an easy way to do this, but I can’t figure it out… duh!

Thanks…

ron labbe
studio 3D

ron labbe
studio 3D

Can you zip and post the file?
Or at least some viewport grabs.

That would really help.

Tim Wilbers [FA]

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Visual Arts
University of Dayton
http://www.udayton.edu/
3ds Max: 7.5, 8, 9, 2008, 2009, 2010

Thanks… I will attach to this… there is a bent copy hidden called poly glasses.

ron labbe
studio 3D

OK, will try again with small zip file.

ron labbe
studio 3D

One more… :)

ron labbe
studio 3D

	Attachment
zipper_glasses.zip

Odd… I refresh the page to see if there’s a reply, and my reply is repeated. It’s not like I’ve never been on a forum before, but this one seems a bit quirky.
In any case, I would be really happy if someone can take a quick look at the small max file??

thanks

ron labbe
studio 3D

You can’t bend a flat object like that - you need edges where the bend needs to be, then the Bend Modifier has something to work on.

Add an Edit Poly, select all the polys and slice them in the area where the bend needs to be (top image).
Apply the Bend, Angle = 90, Bend Axis = X, Limit Effect ON, Upper limit you will need to play with. Move the Bend Centre so it lines up with the 1st of the new sliced edges and adjust the Upper Limit so it coincides with the last of those new edges. (middle image)

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

	Attachment

Thanks!

Not sure if you saw the hidden glasses that I had bent, I did a plane slice, then bent the poly arms with rotate (though I couldn’t figure out how to rotate around the pivot, so I had to move the poly arm into place after rotating). The way I did it worked, except for the very unsmooth color! Will try the multiple slices and bend modifier.

I do appreciate your time!

ron labbe
studio 3D

what about Extrude Along Spline and than do your refine

or select the arm and with Poly Select Modifier add bend and us Limit Effect.

Tried out the bend command on the edit poly, but it was impossible for me to figure out how to get both sides perfectly even...?? I’m going to give a shot to the Extrude along Spine… other that that I can just cut the thing in half and flip a copy. Such a simple thing shouldn’t be this complicated! ??

ron labbe
studio 3D

	Attachment

Tried to bend the segments before extruding (used working pivot) and that didn’t work, normals are totally screwed up and I can’t fix them…

ron labbe
studio 3D