Anim8or Community

General Category => General Anim8or Forum => Topic started by: Dosser on July 27, 2008, 01:18:23 am

Title: trouble getting shell tool to work
Post by: Dosser on July 27, 2008, 01:18:23 am
hey all,

How do you use the shell tool? I'm making a chariot, and have made the basic shape of the cart. Now I want to add thickness to the walls, and the connected extrude means I have to rebuild the back faces. I think shell is the right tool.

Anyway, I've read the manual and its description on how to actually make the shell doesn't really explain it :S Am I supposed to select the faces, then use the shell tool (in the same way as the extrude tools)? It doesn't seem to be working. I've attached a render of the model.

Thanks
Title: Re: trouble getting shell tool to work
Post by: Tanzim on July 27, 2008, 03:34:37 am
Well explained, not sure if this has come up before. :-\
Quite simple actually, click the Shell tool in Point Edit mode, then click on the object, then drag to set thickness.
Title: Re: trouble getting shell tool to work
Post by: GeniusAtWork on July 27, 2008, 09:05:29 pm
you might need to select all the points in the model and then select shell and drag from middle the add thickness.
Title: Re: trouble getting shell tool to work
Post by: RudySchneider on July 28, 2008, 06:01:50 pm
It appears that that object is two (or more) separate primitives.  One thing you need to be aware of is that many of Anim8or's tools will only work on a singular mesh.
Title: Re: trouble getting shell tool to work
Post by: Dosser on August 01, 2008, 12:45:12 pm
Yeah, it's a problem with the model rather than how I'm using the shell tool. I managed to replicate the 'example' in the manual: of the sphere with a quarter cut out, then successfully shelled it.

Can someone take a look at it for me and see why it won't Shell?
Title: Re: trouble getting shell tool to work
Post by: hihosilver on August 01, 2008, 02:09:50 pm
When you look at the chariot seat's mesh in wireframe mode, you'll notice that one half of the mesh is a brighter white.  That means that there are overlapping faces.  This also messes up the subdivision on your object.
So, to fix this you'll need to use the select tool on the the vertices (not drag select) because basically what is happening is that there are "double points".  There are two points, both in the same spot, and they are all connected to faces.  So select once, and delete a point, if it deletes and the structure of your mesh is intact, move to the next.  If not, undo and find another point to delete until you get a clean mesh again (remember there may be some points you might miss because after you delete some points, they'll be left over but not connected to faces.)
That's how I solved the problem.
Title: Re: trouble getting shell tool to work
Post by: RudySchneider on August 01, 2008, 04:17:58 pm
Dosser ---
You might consider starting over on your chariot "seat."  And while there's always more than one approach to a problem, I suggest you start with a cylinder.  Once you convert to mesh, you can delete half the points and shell the remaining faces.  Then, use the knife tool to cut an edge near the bottom, from which you can then extrude the "floor."

Another way would be to select only the end faces of the cylinder, inset sightly, and bridge (you'll end up with a tube).  Then, you can delete the points for half of the tube, and fill-in the missing faces.  This approach takes a bit more work, but it shows an alternate approach.