|
I’ve used “ShapeMerge” a number of times over the years where multiple shapes needed to be merge to a single object. An example that might work here is the use of “ShapeMerge” for creating markes on a highway that was best accomplished with “ShapeMerge,” as opposed to any other methods. A part of the highway object that needed some shapes merged, rather than materials, was the center line. This object needed about 135 broken white lines. The rectangle objects were created and placed over the highway.
This is where your question comes into play. I found, during the work on that scene, that I could select each white line, individually, and create the merge successfully. I could then convert the highway object to an Editable Poly and go on to the next white line - or, I could leave as it was and go to the next white line without converting anything. It worked both ways. I, also, found that I could select all of the white line shapes and merge them all at the same time.
I, also, learned, during that same project, that sometimes the merge did not happen even though I seemed to have done everything by the numbers. In this example, and others, I had to experiment. Sometimes, I went to a previous saved file and started, again, from that point. Sometimes, I went back and started from scratch. The most common fix for me, in the case of the white lines, was to slightly move the problematic white line rectangle shape. I, also, found, in the case of the white lines, that if one of the rectangle shapes was too close to an edge, the merge might not happen. When I moved the shapes away from the edges, I was successful (sometimes). Sometimes, switching my tounge to the other side of my mouth helped. Most of the time, “ShapeMerge” works fine. Most of the stuff that I, now, could do with “ShapeMerge,” I prefer to use materials.
The short answer: you can convert to Editable Poly and continue with the merge. It should work either way. Sometimes it doesn’t work and you have to back up.
Most people on this forum know more about “ShapeMerge” than I do; so, somebody else will possibly have a better answer for you. Good Luck.
Max 2012(64) Win 7 - 64
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800
Dual Xeon E5520 Six-Core, 3.33GHz
16GB DDR3
|
