• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

Max/GMax - Cut Tool

n4gix

n4gix

Resource contributor
Messages
11,674
Country
unitedstates
I really need to start looking in the Help files more often.

I found an interesting new "Tool" in there today while researching a question from another modeler.

Open the Help "gmax User Reference" (or Max equivalent) and type in the keyword "cut" (no quotes!) in the box. Two suggestions will pop up. Pick the first one (cut and slice).

Read carefully the instructions "To create a new face using Cut:"

You can use Snaps with Cut. To divide an edge in half, set Snaps to midpoint. To start or end a cut at a vertex, set snap to vertex or endpoint.
Click to expand...

I should have known this already, but...

...there's just so many words in there! :rotfl:
 
Last edited:
I had only accidentally put snap on before, much to my annoyance.

I only just discovered recently that it can be useful!
 
hcornea said:
I had only accidentally put snap on before, much to my annoyance.

I only just discovered recently that it can be useful!
Click to expand...

What isn't at all intuitive is that after right-clicking on any of the Snap icons, then setting the desired options, clicking on the [X] is the correct way to close the popup!

The "Cut" tool is very, very handy when the Slice tool will simply make too many cuts...
 
The ignore backfacing and snap options in Max are much more intuitive than in Gmax
 
At the risk of stating the obvious here :o:

You can also use the slice on a selected polygon, or set of selected polygons. Of course the most flexible result comes from using the slice as a new modifier from the modifier stack.
 
I've had the best results with slicing in "Edit Poly" mode; YMMV though.

The slice plane is best used if you need cutouts without wanting to re-map the entire part again afterwards.
Granted, the area around the slices will be a total vertex mess after you're done, but hey...better than re-mapping.
 
Heretic said:
I've had the best results with slicing in "Edit Poly" mode; YMMV though...
Click to expand...

Me too, in Editable Mesh I found the slice would be a little way off where I put the Slice Plane (in gmax).

@n4gix: Thanks Bill, I've found vertex snap useful, but this will be another arrow in the quiver! :D
 
What I've found most useful is using the "Cut" tool on edges, when there's a need to cut out an irregular area from existing mesh, when neither boolean nor shape-merge "cutting" will really work well...

...since unlike either boolean or shape-merge, one isn't left with a bunch of unwanted vertices to clean up! :D
 
I still prefer my newly discovered technique of just hand cutting all the edges. I can cut out windows on a mapped fuselage with ease. No extra Vertices all over the place, etc. Takes an extra few min's, but if you make some cut guides (Splines, curves, etc) to use as your cut guide, you are good to go and it goes quickly, even on very rounded windows or landing gear openings. No remapping.


Sorry, didnt mean to add all that over Bills post and find. I think its good to know all the cool things you can do and Bills discovery on this feature is huge, getting rid of a zillion left over Vertices, a problem we have had for ages now.
 
Actually, until I (finally!) discovered "Edge Cut" I'd been doing the same thing manually by going to sub-vertex level, using "Create" to add two new vertices, then going to sub-edge level and using "Create" to add a new edge!

Now how clumsy is that bit of hash-work! :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top