Quick 3ds Max Question

[Renzatic]

See, all this time I've been under the impression that you HAVE to make your models from a single mesh and can't add seperate primatives to flesh out detail. But recently I've figured out that I've been totally wrong...

 

From what I've heard you can somehow incorporate seperate polygons into a single mesh, if I can figure out how to do this then you'll suddenly see my 3DSM output practically triple (you know..from almost nothing to something) almost overnight. So my one question is....how do I do that?

[Fingernail]

It's not a great thing, and I don't know 3DS Max, but it sounds like you're talking about BOOLEAN operations (add, subtract, etc.).

[DeepOmega]

NO! NO! NO!

 

Dear god please don't use booleans.

 

OK. Here's the deal. If you look at the selection buttons for an editable mesh or poly, you'll see vertex, edge, border (on poly only), face (on mesh only), polygon, and element. Select element, click your object, and it should turn red. This means that the whole object is connected up.

 

Now, lets say you are making a table. You want it to have legs. You COULD create a little rectangle on the bottom of the table, one at each corner, and extrude it. This results in about 8 or so extra polygons being created on the bottom.

 

Option two: Make 5 separate meshes, one for each "piece" of the table - in other words, the big flat part and four legs. Select the flat part (making sure it's an editable mesh or editable poly). Click the "Attach" button on the modifier panel. Click each leg. Now each leg will be a part of the mesh, as a separate element. Huzzah!

[Renzatic]

Woot! Thanks! I'm gonna try this out.