Hi,

I seem to have the worst luck with welding shapes together - in that even if I have 2 vertices irght
on top of each other they won’t weld. I have set the threshold to a country mile and it still won’t co-operate.

Basically what I’m doing is creating a shape (circle) then creating a rectangle, with start
new shape “off”, then trying to join the 2 into one shape by welding them together - ala
selecting the 2 vertices and clicking the “Weld” button. But, like I said above - 9 times
out of 10 it just won’t weld for me.

What am I doing wrong? :)

Thanks
Daf

Max 2009 [Creativity Extension] - Mental Ray
Windows XP SP3
Intel Q6600 \ 4 GB PC2100
ATI FireGL V5200

You really, really need to do the tutorials which ship with Max. This is basic spline
manipulation - if you don’t learn and understand the basics then you’ll come unstuck at every turn.

The simple answer to your question is - you can’t. A spline is simply a number of vertices
connected by segments, either open (as in a single line) or closed (as in a circle). Any
given vertex can have at most 2 segments connected to it. They cannot “branch” as
in in a letter “Y”.

An Editable Spline object may contain many Splines - open and/or closed - but they
remain individual splines similar to (but not the same as) Elements in an Editable Poly.
You can boolean shapes (splines) together, but the result is still going to be an individual
spline. What you can do is to remove unwanted segments (so you have 2 open
splines) then weld the end vertices together - because they only have one segment
attached to them (prior to the weld). See the images below.

Max 4.2 through 2014, Composite 2014.
XP-64 (SP2).
nVidia 9800GTX+ (512MB) (Driver 314.22).
i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

	Attachment

Why is the text running outside ot the entry boxes in this thread and correct in all the other threads?

Mark

4thandten 27 September 2007 12:11 PM

Why is the text running outside ot the entry
boxes in this thread and correct in all the other threads?

Mark

Known issue and has been reported.
Its due to the horizontal pixel size of the attached image.

I edited the posts in this thread be inserting an <Enter> to create line-breaks.

Tim Wilbers [FA]

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Visual Arts
University of Dayton
http://www.udayton.edu/
3ds Max: (started with 1.2) 2012, 2013
HP Z210, i7-2600, Win 7 Pro, Quadro 600

Oops - sorry about that.

I’ll redo that image vertically.

[edit] Fixed :) [/edit]

Max 4.2 through 2014, Composite 2014.
XP-64 (SP2).
nVidia 9800GTX+ (512MB) (Driver 314.22).
i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

"What you can do is to remove unwanted segments (so you have 2 open splines) then weld the end vertices together - because they only have one segment attached to them (prior to the weld).”

I’m sorry I wasn’t clear - that is exactly what I’m trying to do. I have removed segments from the 2 shapes and am trying to now weld the 2 “partial” shapes together in what will be one spline.

I’ll post a screenshot when I get back to that machine to show what I mean. :)

Daf

Max 2009 [Creativity Extension] - Mental Ray
Windows XP SP3
Intel Q6600 \ 4 GB PC2100
ATI FireGL V5200

Wow, Tim, you’re right on top of it!  Thanks for the quick fix.

Mark

Steve,

Having revisited both the Max issue and your explanation I see where I was going wrong. I think I have a better handle on it now - thanks so much!

Daf

Max 2009 [Creativity Extension] - Mental Ray
Windows XP SP3
Intel Q6600 \ 4 GB PC2100
ATI FireGL V5200

I’ve been studying max for a year now and realized it was time to go back to the basics when finding myself stuck at times and in going through them I became stuck trying to weld vertices. I get that you can’t weld them unless they are at the end but if you’re using refine/connect to add segments, how do join those extra vertices.....or you just don’t.?????? What’s the correct way to add segments to an editable spline? What do you do when they are not at the end?

Laptop Studio XPS Intel Duo Core CPU 2.13GHz 4GB RAM, Win7 64-bit, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670

It rather depends on exactly what you’re trying to do. To simply “split” an existing segment into two, then Refine (without Connect) is the easiest way. Likewise, the easiest way to create a new spline is to use Create Line. The Connect option works rather differently depending on how you answer the pop-up question (Refine or Connect Only). It basically does the same as Create Line, gives you better control over the Vertex Type but doesn’t show the completed line until you right-click to cancel further creation. How you answer the pop-up determines whether the new vertex belongs only to the new spline or whether it refines the existing vertex as well. I think the normal response would be Connect Only, but I rarely use that feature, preferring the Create Line instead. It really does depend on the exact circumstances which you use.

Perhaps a couple of screenshots showing where you are getting stuck would help?

Max 4.2 through 2014, Composite 2014.
XP-64 (SP2).
nVidia 9800GTX+ (512MB) (Driver 314.22).
i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

I’m doing the knight chess piece tutorial that comes with max. I know this is really simple but like I said I had to get back to the basics here....in adding lines they tell you to use the refine/connect. I’ve clicked on connect only when that window would pop up but there’s still 2 vertices. In create a line it’s a seperate line from the spline. Is that ok? Am I missing something? Does everything not have to connect?

Laptop Studio XPS Intel Duo Core CPU 2.13GHz 4GB RAM, Win7 64-bit, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670