Breaking up a sphear

[Master chief]

Quick question, i wish do make a bot that can fold up into a sphear to roll around to move, is there a way that i can take the sphear that comes with the library and cut it into 4 parts and still have the 4 parts keep its shape so that when moved together they form a round sphear again? i have tryed som basic cutting methodes but the remain parts allway warp due to not having the CPs if deleted

[robcat2075]

You'd pretty much have to adjust the biases of the CPs on the edges to get things back into shape.

 

Or... here's a cheat... Instead of deleting the parts you don't want from a sphere, make them transparent.

 

 

 

If you want to make it look like a sphere is divided into 4 parts, you'd take 4 spheres and make 3/4ths of each one transparent.

 

 

 

 

Wow! this worked better than I expected. I was sure there'd be a Scooby-Doo type giveaway seam showing.

 

quadSphereH.mov

 

SeparatingSphere.zip

[NancyGormezano]

bravo Robert - very clever

[Gerry]

You can also have two models, one complete sphere and one segmented, and swap them out with the "active/inactive" switch. I did something a little more elaborate in my 2006 Christmas animation. But Robert's solution looks a lot easier than mine!

[Ganthofer]

I definitely like Robert's solution, but if you want geometry, try using Steffen Gross' Explode_Rebuild wizard. It will build an inner or outer surface (depends on the choices you make in the plugin) and you can define the thickness. I not sure if it is included with AM or not. Check for E_Rebuild.hxt in you HXT folder.

 

Steffen Gross' Plugins

 

E_Rebuild instructions

quartersMP4.MOV

[robcat2075]

I definitely like Robert's solution, but if you want geometry, try using Steffen Gross' Explode_Rebuild wizard. It will build an inner or outer surface (depends on the choices you make in the plugin) and you can define the thickness. I not sure if it is included with AM or not. Check for E_Rebuild.hxt in you HXT folder.

 

I like that solution. I didn't know it could create parts based on groups which is cool.

 

However, it seems to be forming numerous non-continuous splines which create creases, more apparent on my bare sphere, at points where two splines butt into each other. I CAN detach and reconnect them, which would be doable on a small model such as a sphere, iffy on a more complex subject.

 

But creating thickness for the sections is a real plus over my method.

[Fuchur]

There is another quite easy way to do that:

Use the detach-cp-button...

 

1.) Copy your sphere into the same model as the original sphere. Make sure you are not using a paste-offset (can be setted in the options).

2.) Keep the models separated by using 2 different groups. This is important to preserve overview.

3.) Detach the CPs of the first half of one sphere.

4.) Detach the CPs of the other half of the second sphere.

5.) Now you will get two separated sphere-halfs which will have all the cps still there (which will help to preserve the exact shape.

 

The good thing about this technik: You can break apart exactly the parts you want. Go to high-resolution-sphere if you need small details or even better: use the stitch feature to create very customized holes in the model.

 

*Fuchur*

[johnl3d]

http://www.hash.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=34797

 

just did this recently may help you

[GAngus]

Well, I did it the hard way as perhaps "Master Chief" was trying to do it by, starting with the 32 patch sphere and using the delete key to eliminate 3/4 of of the original sphere first, then re-adjust the 1st Quad (peak 4 places and adjust the bias handles to get the proper proportions back) then copy/paste/rotate the new 3 quads (grouped them) and animated it in a Chor. in muscle mode, with each Quad.

 

Yes indeed, a little more tedious, but is able to be done that way.

Just one glitch, where some interior patches got created on each quad. (as you can see) but, with a more front camera angle view, they could be hidden from view.

 

A Fun challenge.

( did it in 14.0c)

Quads.mov

Quads.prj.zip