Better Modeling with Meta/Pep/P.N – Tutorial 1: Introduction

[Jaybats]

hi, sorry i'm extremely busy right now and haven't been able to find time to update... i may be able to take a break soon and see what i can do to add to the tutorial...

nothing, the "disappearing" faces might be because they are being added to a different object that is turned "off", so once the face is completed it also turns "off". on the Objects Panel, make sure that the highlight is on the visible object to which you want to add the face you are making. i can see from your screencap that the highlight is on an invisible object.

that also means that any faces you drew several times before and got "cancelled" may have actually attached to/hung around that other object; in that case you need to erase them or else they will show up in pepakura as mysterious red lines indicating broken faces that don't show up when you look at the meta model. you can delete them face by face, or you can use the "delete overlapping faces" command.

on your unfolding issue, "Join adjacent edges" works only if the edges/faces are part of the same Object. Pepa won't join the edges of two separate Objects in meta. similarly in meta, points and edges of two different Objects will not join, although you can make them align perfectly so that there is no seam/gap.

skip, nice job on that Eternal!

and everyone else, you're welcome!

 

[JT Fox]

thank you. yes. i am waiting for some hi rez orths from the original designer.

ok. in this picture i want to make a polygon in the white out lined area.you can see where i have created a triangle face in the corner.but it will not stick. anything i do will cancel the face. what am i doing wrong? i would like to know how to do this in meta as it is aggrevating bouncing this mesh between 2 programs. i succesfully created 2 faces earlier but cant figure what im doing differently here.
View attachment 70091

It appears from your picture that the object you are looking at (eye) and the object selected (blue highlight) are different. I think they need to be the same.

Cheers JTF

Edit: Replied before reading Jabats reply. Oops

 

[Nothing]

super thanks jay! i feel stupid now, such an obvious thing!(now that you pointed it out to me. and thanks jt.

 

[SAustin16]

Hi Nothing and Skup,

Little is obvious in 3D design when it's invisible or turned off. You are way ahead of most people.

I really like your website. Especially the Boeing 787. Excellent job.

Skup,

Thanks for the "Join Adjacent Edge" suggestion. I've been having the same problem.

I learn so much from this forum. Thanks to ALL.

 

[Nothing]

thanks Steve. i should have pics of the built 787 shortly. This forum has ben the best resource ive found.

 

[Nothing]

can any one translate the text in this dropdown?


i am trying to creat the cockpit cabin. i want to have this box on the inside but following the contours of the outside.

 

[JT Fox]

You could use the "create face" option.

Make a new object.

On the front example. select the top left corner then the bottom left where the curve and the box meet and the next point to the right. This should create a new triangle in the new object.

Then repeat, top left corner point, 2nd point in and the 3rd point in.

Then repeat, top left corner point, 3rd point in and the 4th point in.

Keep going till you get to the middle, then start on the right and work back to the middle.

All that should remain is to create one last triangle. Top left to middle to top right.

When you turn off all other objects the new one you made should be a top half of the box and a bottom half that matches the curve.

You will have to join the points if you want all the new triangles to be the same part.

Repeat for other sides.

Hope this helps.

Cheers JTF

 

[JT Fox]

Nothing, check out page 7 of this thread for some examples.

Cheers JTF

 

[sjsquirrel]

Boolean functions

can any one translate the text in this dropdown?

i am trying to create the cockpit cabin. i want to have this box on the inside but following the contours of the outside.

Nothing, while I can't translate the menu directly, I've experimented with the items and can give you some tips. (BTW This menu is an add-on in the registered version, so anyone using the free version of Meta won't see this menu).

At the upper left of the dialog is a button labeled ???. If you select one of the operations, then click that button it gives you a bit more of an explanation, like "obj1+obj2" = "obj1" + "obj2". This is pretty cryptic, but the key is the operator (in this case "+" ). Each of the 8 options performs a specific function, represented by a specific operator. If you try them all out you get to know which operator does the kind of thing you want.

Try each one in turn until you get something like what you want, bearing in mind that for most operations the order of the objects is significant. obj1 - obj2 will not be the same as obj2 - obj1.

What you are trying to do can be done with fuselage-box, then delete the fuselage bits from the result, but there may be other functions that will do it quicker.

SJ

 

[wccrawford]

Thank you for the amazing tutorial so far. I learned more than I had hoped at this point. (I'm not totally new to modeling.)

 

[Nothing]

can someone tell me what real time measurements this denotes?

in otherwords if i change x, y, and z to say .990 how many mm would that translate to?

 

[JT Fox]

It's a percentage. so .990 would be 99% of it's current size.

Other than one decimal place extra to the normal scale window I haven't found anything new here.

Cheers JTF

 

[SAustin16]

Hi Nothing,

If you're trying to scale a part or object to a specific mm try this:

Say your part is 100mm in diameter, and you need it 99.5mm, scale it to .995. Use your calculator and divide 99.5 by 100. This gives you .995 to input.

Does this answer your question?

It would be nice to have another set of windows that allowed precise size inputs vs. a percentage.

 

[Nothing]

It would be nice to have another set of windows that allowed precise size inputs vs. a percentage.

AMEN to that! but yes yours and everyone elses input has been very helpfull. thank you.

 

[kampfflieger]

Just a little question.

I have a Metasequoia 2.4.8 but it hasn't the "Map" or "UV" buttons

Could you tell me what is the problem?

 

[SAustin16]

Kampfflieger,

I also have the freeware version 2.4.8.

The Map and UV buttons should be located in the Command / Edit section in the last row of that group. This is the same group of buttons that contains SELECT, SCALE, ROTATE, LOCAL.

If the buttons do not exist on your interface, perhaps when you loaded the application the hierarchy of folders loaded incorrectly.

I hope this helps.

 

[kampfflieger]

Thank you, SAustin16!

Let's try to download again

 

[kampfflieger]

Oops I've just downloaded and installed the Metasequoia again and have the same problem. Do you have any other ideas?

 

[D-WHALE]

Privjet, Kampfflieger!
I think, you have the "basic mode" active! go to "File"-"basic mode"! if there is a "V" is the Basic mode active! click on them and the basic mode will be inactiveted!

 

[kampfflieger]

D-WHALE, you are genius!

It's OK now!

Thanks a lot!