Hi,

I’m wondering if you can help, i’ve constructed a building using 3ds max 2009 and i’m now adding windows. One of the windows is circular. I’ve created the window ok, but would ideally like to create a hole in the side of the building, which the window can sit in but i’m finding it difficult.

I’ve tried cutting a shape, tracing the edge of the window but things seem to go a bit crazy with edges jumping all over the place. I’ve also tried boolean cutting the shape from the building, but half the building disappears when I try this.

What’s the best way to do this?

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Well you can snap & cut around the object like you where trying to do, but you must keep in mind that the circular cutout will have to be anchored to the existing geometry; in other words, the circle cutout cannot just be free floating in the middle of the wall, & yes, while you are cutting around the circular shape things are going to look a little strange (when properly anchored everything should look fine). 

An alternative to this would be for you to connect some edges that form a cross, at the point where the lines cross you will have a vertex & you can chamfer it to created more of them as needed.  Once you’ve created enough verts you can then snap them into place along your circle to form the cutout.

I’m sure I can think of some more ways to do it, but for now see how the above two options work for you.  If you are still having problems let me know & I will do a quick example for you.

Chris Robinson
http://www.supercoonstudios.com (Under Development)
3ds Max 2011
Dell Precision 690, Intel Xeon Dual Quads @ 2.66 GHz, Dual NVIDIA Quadro FX4500s, 12 GB RAM, Windonws 7 x64

I had to dig back through some of my notes from class, but I found this illustration I made that might help you.  Truly this may not be the way I would tackle your problem, but it is kind of an alternative that could be applied.  Once again, if this does not help I will try to do a quick example for you.

Chris Robinson
http://www.supercoonstudios.com (Under Development)
3ds Max 2011
Dell Precision 690, Intel Xeon Dual Quads @ 2.66 GHz, Dual NVIDIA Quadro FX4500s, 12 GB RAM, Windonws 7 x64

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Tbh I wouldn’t (bother with cutting existing polys, that is) - I’d start with the window, remove the polys around the outside, extrude the borders outwards (bigger than the triangular portion) then slice them to fit the shape.

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

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Cheers both for your quick answers,

I still struggled a fair bit with the cutting from the existing poly, even when trying to chamfer the vertex - think it’s more to do with my novice modelling and messy model rather than the method though.

Using the window and extruding out to create the shape has worked perfectly… cheers loads, would never have thought about doing it that way

Thanks

..and if you need a cutout in a curved wall, you can:
image1) project a curve onto Nurbs surface (easiest, cleanest, but who uses Nurbs?)
image2) Boolean a hole -messy and can’t really be cleaned up. btw, when your model won’t boolean properly, just detach the faces you want to boolean, do it, then reattach and weld -good for problem models with gaps, etc.
image 3) use Steve’s method, then slice across the bend so the slice meets the cutout verts, weld all verts, delete the spider web, and you have a nice, clean model.
The rar has the Max file and images.

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OK, so I can’t attach a rar -pm me if you want it. Merry Xmas!

Shape merge is another “compound object” option, but I’m not a huge fan of it because one sometimes has to have too many steps in the mesh for it to work; basically, it’s easier & cleaner to do it with an editable-poly.  I know this is really not a great option, but none the less I felt it should not be over looked.

Chris Robinson
http://www.supercoonstudios.com (Under Development)
3ds Max 2011
Dell Precision 690, Intel Xeon Dual Quads @ 2.66 GHz, Dual NVIDIA Quadro FX4500s, 12 GB RAM, Windonws 7 x64