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Nice clean bevels...


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I've been away from Animation:Master for a while. I know I can get a decent bevel with extruding (or replicating spline rings), scaling and positioning, but is there a nice tool or plugin to do that these days?

 

The following is the simple frame I'd like to add a nice small bevel onto the upper face edges. (Attached JPEG image.)

 

 

LogoFrame01.jpg

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Hi Bill,

While there is no direct Bevel plugin or wizard that I am aware of there are several ways to get at what you are after.

I will say that my primary method would very likely be to just stitch the bevel in as that is mostly habit to me.

 

Depending on the layout of spline you might be able to use the Split Patch plugin... but I don't think that will be your best bet.

The method I just tried that worked quite well is to use the Connect wizard.

 

The process is to copy the spline that you want to have beveled and then place that where you want the bevel (I scaled it down slightly).

Even better would be to copy that spline twice for use on both sides of the spline you wish to bevel.

Then make sure the new spline(s) are as near as possible to where you want them stitched into the model.

Then invoke the Connect wizard (which by default should connect splines with new Control Points where those splines cross.

The tolerance can be changed if you don't want to mess with small tolerances.

 

Forgive the cheesy attempt to replicate your model but here's an example of a spline automatically stitched into the model via Connect wizard in order to use it as a bevel:

I uploaded the images in reverse order but in the second image you can see the selected spline that was copied and connected to create the bevel in the first image)

ConnectWizard.png

Spline to Copy for Beveling.png

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I should have mentioned also that it is useful to change the offset for copy/pasting or duplicating to zero (0) so that the copy of the spline is at a known location.

If you know the bevel needs to be at a specific distance from the original spline you might adjust the offset to that but understand that the Connect wizard will move the splines to connect them with a new Control Point if they fall within the wizards set tolerance. So, it helps to consider those tolerances and offsets.

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Also, if your model didn't have a hole in the middle you might be able to simply extrude and shape and then use 'Remove Internal patches'.

The issue you'll run into with your current shape is that the process will likely get confused about which patches are internal and which are external.

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There is also .AI import.

 

 

If you have a program that can make shape in vector art and export it as a .AI file that would be the way to go.

 

 

AI.PNG

 

 

 

I realize your original question was how to add a bevel after the shape has been made but I still think that will be the least attractive result and I'm not sure it's faster.

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Good trick on the lathing approach, Rob. Unfortunately, bevels in A:M are one of the underdeveloped areas, and you should know that you want them as a forethought to modelling... not as an afterthought or 'hey- a bevel might look good here...' kind of thing. Other apps that are highly actively supported have amazing bevel capabilities... among other things. They also cost 100X what A:M does...

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Thanks! These are all very helpful. What I did in the mean time was add spline rings using the extrude tool. Then I scaled the top surface boundaries to create a bevel...scaling, plus translation to align the contours. Then I just tweaked the control point bias handles for splines perpendicular to the main contours to flatten the surfaces. Probably not the most efficient, but it works nicely when you want to preserve the curvature of the corners of hole and outside corners and produces very precisely flat/straight sides.

 

I was aiming for nice slender (and rounded) bevels, which this produced nicely. Yves Poissant had a nice tutorial on bevels on his website (no longer available)...BTW looks like his last post was some time ago--any news on Yves lately?

Bezel01.jpg

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