Introduction to Maya - Rendering in Arnold
This course will look at the fundamentals of rendering in Arnold. We'll go through the different light types available, cameras, shaders, Arnold's render settings and finally how to split an image into render passes (AOV's), before we then reassemble it i
# 1 06-10-2008 , 04:13 AM
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command limit?

Hello everyone, although i do see booleans are apparently a very talked about subject here, searches have failed to dig up an answer to my specific issue >_>

I'm in the process of making an object with polygons (last instruction I had with Maya was back in highschool...), and I've used many boolean commands on it. However, I'm literally down to the last two booleans I need to complete the object, and they fail on me (aka. disappear).

I'm quite sure the polygons are faced correctly, as I've undone a few of the previous cuts, and used boolean on the last two I need with no problems (the cuts go in perfectly). I tend to save my projects every so often before proceeding with something major like finally cutting into the shape with my booleans, but the last backup save I made was a little late in the process, when I was down to my last 6 cuts.

What's interesting about it is, if I do each of the cuts independently (1 piece at a time), it fails on the second cut I attempt. However, if I "combine" 4 (tried 5 and 6, they fail) of them together, the cut goes in successfully, but attempting to add in another cut after that fails.

I need to point out that these last 6 cuts are not full cuts through the object, they only go in about a third of the way into the material.

I'm just wondering if there's a maximum limit of booleans/commands you can use per shape? Also if anyone can think of a solution, I'd be glad to hear it...

# 2 06-10-2008 , 04:22 AM
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Problem probably is that after the booleans you get some ****ed up geometry. look around the areas where you used it and see what I mean...
This geometry is probably what makes the objects disappear so clean it up if you can. otherwise you can try doing all booleans at one try user added image
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# 3 06-10-2008 , 04:49 AM
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define F*ed up geometry xD

I do get a LOT of weird edges after the booleans, but the surface itself isnt distorted, just partitioned.... deleting the edges just makes the model look nicer when selected, but it doesnt affect the shape itself.

Tried the cleanup tool, it does next to nothing to my object, other than trim off edges that I actually need....

# 4 06-10-2008 , 07:04 AM
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You need to get some kind of an edge flow for the object. n-gons should be avoided as well. here's an example:
BTW, I couldn't replicate it so I don't know if it's the problem.

Attached Thumbnails

When in doubt, delete history and freeze transformations.

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# 5 06-10-2008 , 07:31 AM
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Re: command limit?

Originally posted by Surnia

What's interesting about it is, if I do each of the cuts independently (1 piece at a time), it fails on the second cut I attempt. However, if I "combine" 4 (tried 5 and 6, they fail) of them together, the cut goes in successfully, but attempting to add in another cut after that fails.

I need to point out that these last 6 cuts are not full cuts through the object, they only go in about a third of the way into the material.

I'm just wondering if there's a maximum limit of booleans/commands you can use per shape? Also if anyone can think of a solution, I'd be glad to hear it...


Delete your history after every cut. I made a little script that's a "cookie cutter" for boolians for generating simple shapes from objects. For example I create a cube with no divisions then draw a curve that cuts the shape out, I can then run my script that cuts the object based on an axis, if I then want to do another cut on the resultant objects I need to delete the history to be able to do it. I need to write that in but I'm too lazy! But I think thats the problem.


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# 6 06-10-2008 , 11:24 AM
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Originally posted by BennyK
You need to get some kind of an edge flow for the object. n-gons should be avoided as well. here's an example:
BTW, I couldn't replicate it so I don't know if it's the problem.

here's an image of the thing itself...
and i'm going to attach an image of the cut i'm trying to make.
user added image
(please ignore the giant red + grey parts in the back, i was using them for size reference) The upper holes in the riser (white part) were the successful cuts.

you did say avoid N-Gons, may I ask what other options I have to cut these parts out?
user added image

As you can probably see, its a set of N-Gons >_>

GSter, I've tried the history delete thing before (but forgot to mention it), and had no success.

Just tried out cutting the last two blocks out of a giant rectangle, deleted history, then using boolean --> intersect and still nothing... aside from a complete rebuild of the white part (which would still need booleans... unless I can dig out some other hole cutting methods...), what other options are there?


Last edited by Surnia; 06-10-2008 at 01:09 PM.
# 7 07-10-2008 , 05:45 AM
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I think you'd be better off actually modeling that rather than using booleans, right now the mesh is messy with n-gons and it looks like a real headache.

Attached Thumbnails

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# 8 09-10-2008 , 02:04 AM
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to make holes you can add more edges and do a bit of deleting of faces and fill polygons where needed?

do you clean up your mesh after the boolen operation?




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