Mesh Materials

[Anonymous]

I just modelled some terrain using the mesh tool and I was wanting to know if it's possible to use different materials on the mesh; eg. the mesh is grass but an area defined on the plan needs to be dirt. I'm completely stuck for ideas as I am new to using the mesh tool. Any help on this would be much appreciated.

[James Murray]

You can't have different materials on the top of a mesh. That's what ArchiTerra is for. (Yes, I saw your other topic.)

Do you mean you need an "island" of one material surrounded by another? If so:

1. Copy the mesh in place, so you have two identical, coincident meshes.

1a. At this point it's a good idea to change the pens and material of one of the meshes so you can tell them apart going forward.

2. Split the island mesh along one of the island's edges, and delete the outside piece.

2a., 2b., etc. Repeat for the other edges.

3. If the shape has interior corners, you need to boolean-subtract those areas. Curves are tough; I don't think you can split a polygon with an arc. You'll need to approximate them.

4. Once you have the island mesh trimmed how you want it, use Solid Element Operations to 'subtract upwards' the island from the big mesh.

As you split the mesh, AC adds nodes on the edge to keep the edge polygons in place. This means you can't move nodes around afterwards, or the two meshes will get out of sync, and you'll never fix it manually. Make sure your big mesh is really done before starting.

If you have to start over, just delete the island mesh. Since you used SEOs to cut the whole, the big mesh is back to its old self instantly.

HTH,

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for the help

[Anonymous]

Another question I need answering...
I have a sloped mesh but I need a flat area where the building site is going to be. whats the easiest way to do this?
I thought using a hole would do the job, but I can't seem to be able to specify the depth of it.
I then tried using the Solid Element Operations to subtract the bit i don't want, which kind of works, except when I delete the mesh I used as the operator, the subtraction also goes.
I also tried manually making the ridges but they couldn't turn out how i wanted them.
any ideas?

[Anonymous]

you can't delete the operator, but you can put it on a hidden layer

best way is to use the ground slab of the building for an seo with upwards extrusion


bill

[Anonymous]

when you create you can create a hole at the same time. as the attach showing.

[Anonymous]

here is how it looks like after you set up the high.

[Anonymous]

Hello Ashley

I think that your problem is in the setting you choose when you create your hole. You may choose "Fit to all the ridges" and not only "Fit to user Ridges".

Hope that helps

[Anonymous]

Ashley,
Frédéric is right. You need to make the hole without the sloping sides.
Personally, I find "make hole" unreliable and so I always use the
"subtract from mesh" pet pallet option. Check in the manual about
how to use the "subtract from mesh" option.
Thank you,
Peter Devlin

[Anonymous]

thank you for the suggestion. After I saw the first message, I tried to follow. I think I didn't follow the direction very well. I'll tried it again. :wink: