Aminet 25/Aminet 25 (1998)(GTI - Schatztruhe)[!][Jun 1998].iso/Aminet/gfx/3d/IIB10.lha/IIB/Threads/measurement_suggestion

Internet Message Format | 1998-02-16 | 10.0 KB

Date:         Mon, 22 Sep 1997 21:09:35 -0700
From: Seclusion <[e-mail]>
Subject:      Re: [IML] IFW: lmeasurement suggestions?, long

ok peoples....

what's the easiest way to make an object when you know the dimensions of
all the components, but not in an x,y plotting format? (like, a desk as
seen from above).

I made this desktop with graph paper and a protractor and I'm trying to
toss it into Imagine.

I don't have a scanner, or else I could just put it in the background
and create the points and lines over it (and yes, I could just go to
Kinko's, but if there's an easier way than what I'm doing, I want to
know it anyway).

My current method is to convert 1 (real life) inch = 10 Imagine units
(and 1 inch = 1 foot on my graph paper) and use the transformation
requester on a point by point basis...which I'm not really fond of, cuz
I keep dealing with 1/8th and 1/16th of an inch conversions which
becomes like, 3.0625feet x 12 = 36.75 inches which becomes 367.5 IU
which gives me the distance from the original starting point of
measurement to place the point in question.

If some of you didn't follow that, you got my point (or I did a bad job
at explaining =)

anywho, I'm thinking of just using the metric system for 1 thing.

for 2, this is for me, so I could just shave little bits off here and
there to only deal with round numbers, but I'm really curious to know
how people deal with this effectively...

General question:

I ran into problems with using the transoformation requestor to change
the size of some of my object because it seemed to give me the size of
the axis, not the object size...say it ain't so! (unless it is so)

Quick comment:

I've been using Imagine for a while and I like to just play around and
see what I get, but I've been trying to get a little more precise with
it, hence my questions and observations...I pretty much just eyeballed
everything up until now.

FEATURE REQUESTS:

the ability to create an edge/line by selecting the endpoint of an
exsisting line and an angle of direction for the new line to flow along,
for the user defined distance.  perhaps even a protractor background
that shows the angle in the status line at the bottom, allowing you and
easier way to visualize what angle will work best (heck, I guess I could
just get a pic of a protractor (somewhere?) and load that into the
backdrop, but it's not quite the same thing).

multi-colored gridline:  a larger gridline, say, a line every 100 IU,
when you zoom, you can still see the larger grid, but another more
detailed one appears (like 1 every 10 IU), and in more to 1 per 1 IU.
(the three grids being in different colors, or whatever the user sets
them to be).  On a  sidenote, how about partial transparency...I know
you can turn the grid off, but the only reason I do is because it
clutters/clashes with what I'm working on, if it were only 20% visible
or something, I think it might help...or maybe letting the grid color
bet set by RGB valuse instead of the wacky pallette method ;P

the guy who wants a tutor. Bill? =)  heh.

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Date:         Tue, 23 Sep 1997 16:24:05 +0500
From: Rhithyn Yr Arth <[e-mail]>
Organization: Rhithyn Creations

When I was modelling homes for a multimedia company here in Calgary, I was
given blueprints to input into the computer and end up with the final house
modelled for perspective view renders.  The technique I used was very simple,
and I still have the conversion chart I was using at the time for fractional
to decimal value conversions.

I would measure the object with a ruler to a 1/16 of an inch from origin lines
I would sketch onto the blueprints, convert it to decimal and place the
bounding points at that position.

As for scale in Imagine, I would set grid size to 6.25, multiply the inch
values by 100 and use that value for the points positions.

e.g.:

IF
- grid size is set to 6.25,
- measured size is 5 7/8 from origin by ruler,

THEN
- set gridlock on, (_important_ for relative precision)
- converted to decimal is 5.875, X100 = 587.5.

RESULT
- place your point at 587.5.

With gridlock on, it is easier than trying to place it close and being a
little off.

It takes a little getting used to the grey matter of all those gridlines, but
you can be sure to get it at the location you desire.

The added feature of this is if you know your (x,y,z) location of the bounding
points of a sloped line, you can easily duplicate the slope desired.

One note on doing this technique:  be *sure* your origin line is in the same
location on all three objects and the separate views are to the same scale.
You should also be safe and place an axis at Imagine's origin and scale it out
so you can reference your drawn origin with Imagine's origin more easily.


Hope this helps.

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Date:         Tue, 23 Sep 1997 22:15:07 -0400
From: Gerry Sylvia <[e-mail]>

I have a pretty simple system that I use. I've used it to build a deck
and I'm
currently using the same system to model the renovations to my house. I
have built
exact replicas of my furniture and 'stuff' and the entire floor plan of
the house
all to scale, so I can move things arround and see if I have clearance
to
open doors and all that. Then I render "walk throughs" to see how it
will feel
to walk through the house. When I built the deck, over all I was off by
one inch,
due to the fact that the ground in the back yard was not as flat as the
one
on the computer! not to mention that the guys at the lumber yard freaked
when
the saw my "blue prints" were fully rendered 3d, and full color....
I said " hi I'm buliding this..."

so here is what I do....

for larger object, set the grid to 60, and one grid space = 1 foot, I
chose 60 because
it just fit right on the screen and the math works out, see bellow.

so then when the grid is set to 30 one grid space = 6 inches etc....

here is how it breaks down: grid size/world size
                                60 = 12"
                                55 = 11"
                                50 = 10"
                                45 = 9"
                                40 = 8"
                                35 = 7"
                                30 = 6"
                                25 = 5"
                                20 = 4"
                                15 = 3"
                                10 = 2"
                                5 = 1"
                                2.5 = 1/2"
                                1.25 = 1/4"
                                .626 = 1/8"  this is about as much resolution as I ever need

so for your desk top, let say it is 4 feet wide 36" deep, set the grid
to 60, place an axis
SNAP IT TO GRID! very important,  draw a line 4 units wide set grid
snap, so that both points
snap to the grid, change the grid size to 30, go three units down, for
your 36", then close
the box. Then you can fill in the faces using the edge fill thingy, you
can extrude it using the
same scalling, i.e if it is 2" thick, set the grid size to 10, and
extrude it by 1 unit, or set it to
5 and extrude by 2 units! The reason you want to make sure you snap the
axis to the grid before you
start to build the box, is so when you build the rest of the desk you
can snap all the object right into
place, and they all have a common scale base...

Here is an other little tip, if you have ever used Photoshop, you can
set grid lines (guide lines?)
to help you place objects within specific areas, what I do is just draw
a line (edge) and use it as
a 'place holder' this works well if you are having to zoom out to create
a large object and need to set
your origin or destination point, just delete them when your done, great
to set specific angles as well....

I hope this makes sense..... if you want I can post some pics on my web
site or create a
tutorial........

......oops.. I haven't said anything for the last year and now you can't
shut me up.......

see ya!
Gerry Sylvia
come visit the Bears  http://www.magic.ca/~grsylvia
3d comic strip! more to come soon!

p.s. a few months ago at a very bad time in my life, a very wise man
said to me:
           "don't stay in front of the computer all day, go outside"
so I took the deck out of Imagine and made it real....Thanks Mike, I had
a cold Canadian Beer out
there for you when I was done.....


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Date:         Thu, 25 Sep 1997 22:23:52 +0200
From: Thomas Zander <[e-mail]>

First this, you can scale objects very easy and precisely so makeing something
10 times as big is not a big issue.. (or 12 times for that matter)

Normally I just take the mesurements in centimeters and draw them beside the
drawing of the object. Then I make planes etc. to match the size and set the
sizes accordingly. Depending on the sort of desk you are creating it might be
easy to create some stuff in the forms editor. An example might be a curved
front and back of the tabletop which are easy to model in the forms editor.

Just build things one by one allways reflecting the mesurements in your
drawing effectively on the object at hand, you might find creating a lock
for the drawers easyer to create at a larger scale (smaller grid) and
downsizing it afterwards..

> I ran into problems with using the transoformation requestor to change
> the size of some of my object because it seemed to give me the size of
> the axis, not the object size...say it ain't so! (unless it is so)
>
It's so, just resize your axis (shift s) to match the size of your model..

> FEATURE REQUESTS:
>
> the ability to create an edge/line by selecting the endpoint of an
> exsisting line and an angle of direction for the new line to flow along,
> for the user defined distance.  perhaps even a protractor background
> that shows the angle in the status line at the bottom, allowing you and
> easier way to visualize what angle will work best (heck, I guess I could
> just get a pic of a protractor (somewhere?) and load that into the
> backdrop, but it's not quite the same thing).
>
Use the grid intelligently. 1 left 1 up = 45 deg. 2 left 1 up is 26 deg. why??
(up/left)=tan(direction) (in degrees naturely)

So with this, who will make that arexx script...

Hope this helps..