topic Re: Cutting Streets, Sidewalks, and Driveways into Mesh in Modeling

Cutting Streets, Sidewalks, and Driveways into Mesh

Anonymous — Thu, 25 May 2023 15:17:05 GMT

I'm using AC 8.1 and I'm creating a large 30 block site and need some help adding streets, driveways, and sidewalks. It has numerous hills and rises 100 feet in elevation and I'm needing my streets and sidewalks to have the same contours as the mesh ground have. I've tried copying my mesh ground and then use the - (minus) tool to subtract certain areas. This takes a long time and i was once told that if you are working really hard on something that there is probably an easier way to do it, so here i am and any help would be appreciated.
Thank You

Re: Cutting Streets, Sidewalks, and Driveways into Mesh

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 01:13:43 GMT

Chad,
I know of no reliable and faster way to put
roads into a mesh other than the method you describe.
It occurs to me you could take a drawing of the roadways,
including the perimeter of the terrain mesh, and magic wand
all of the areas other than the roadways into slabs
and use the slabs as subtraction operators on
a copy of the terrain mesh as the target.
I really don't know if this would be faster and easier
since I've never tried it.
Peter Devlin

Re: Cutting Streets, Sidewalks, and Driveways into Mesh

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 01:58:52 GMT

Chad,
I just tried the method I suggested in my last post on a simple
mesh and I think it might be faster since the magic wand tool
is much faster tracing than manually tracing using the "minus"
pet pallet command.
You have to keep the line drawing of the roadways so that you
can see the edges in 2D because SEO operation are only visible in 3D.
Alternatively, you could magic wand roadway lines into ridges that
follow all ridges.
Peter Devlin

Re: Cutting Streets, Sidewalks, and Driveways into Mesh

TomWaltz — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 02:13:37 GMT

Architerra is an add-on made for that purpose. I can't say I've ever used it, but it seems popular.

Re: Cutting Streets, Sidewalks, and Driveways into Mesh

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 12:32:34 GMT

ArchiTerra can give you exactly what you would like to achieve, with embankments. AFAIK, when editing the road its a bit cumbersome.

Re: Cutting Streets, Sidewalks, and Driveways into Mesh

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:31:34 GMT

Thanks for all the great replys. ArchiTerra is perfect for what i need, i also need the parking lot maker and many other add-ons. i was just trying to find a way that didn't have to include any add-ons. AC's abilities are so vast that it is possible to do everything within AC without the add-ons.
I think that turning 2d lines into slabs and then mesh is going to be the fastest way without the plug-ins. Ill reply after i try all the options