Maya for 3D Printing - Rapid Prototyping
In this course we're going to look at something a little different, creating technically accurate 3D printed parts.
# 1 15-11-2009 , 02:13 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 2

Any floorplan tutorials out there?

Howdy, I'm a little new here and to Maya as well. I'm taking a little break from 3ds max and trying out Maya.

I'm posting because I, like many, have had trouble with booleans. I've checked all the posts, and still have not found what I am doing wrong.

I'm posting to find out if there are any tutorials out there that show how to build a house from floorplans. I tried finding some simple plans and importing an image plane.

I then used a plane on top of the image and drew out a wall. I used the plane slice and formed my walls, using merge vertex where two walls would need to join when the situtation arose.

I then extruded the object up, and made a door. I put the door inside the wall, so that it stuck out both sides and tried boolean difference. It disappeared. Cleanups and other steps I tried failed.

Is that the process one would take for making a house from floorplans(import image plane, draw walls with plane object, extrude up, boolean doors/windows) ?

Is there another way to cut out the doors and windows without a boolean? I'm liking maya a bit more than 3ds, if for no other reason than the reference images don't distort and warp when you move around in viewports.

# 2 16-11-2009 , 12:35 AM
EduSciVis-er
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,374
I wouldn't use booleans for windows/doors. Draw edge loops on your surface that make a boundary where the windows etc would be, then delete the interior faces, and/or extrude them as necessary. Hope that helps.

# 3 16-11-2009 , 03:39 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: TN (USA)
Posts: 1,889
I used to avoid booleans but now I use them all the time because it saves me alot time. The trick to using booleans is knowing the requirements to make them work. The Maya help files has alot of info on how to use booleans correctly.

In the meantime though, stwert's suggestion will/can save you alot of headache.


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# 4 16-11-2009 , 03:45 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 2
Thanks for the replies. I think I'll be avoiding booleans for now, woulda been so useful if they worked like I had hoped.

I think I could have built the entire building with all the rooms,doors, and windows, in the time I've spent remaking a single floor searching for my mistake and searching the web for solutions :headbang:

Maybe I'll use them on something smaller like a gun or something.

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