Help needed to join objects in programs

Hi All,

Well todays dumb question is as follows :


I have created objects in programs such as Rhino 5, Cinema 4D, Blender and 3Ds Max that consist primarily of different shapes combined that are then reshaped to form my desired end result BUT I cannot seem to find which step is required next to physically join all those shapes together into being a one piece design.

Example insert a cone, insert a cylinder, bring both pieces together and then need to know how the weld them together for lack of a better description so the two become one object ???

I know this is basic stuff but we all have to start somewhere.:o

Steve

well the problem is that they are all done in different programs. not sure why something is modeled using all those different softwares BUT that doesnt help you out so you need to be able to go into all these different programs and find a common filetype that they all will export and read. i use rhino and that os pretty good with opening many different filetypes but when you do many arent usable. i found that step/stp or iges will work well so if you can export everything in one of those then bring them all into rhino you will be able to boolean union all the parts together. if not and you can only export in a mesh like stl then things become more difficult. meshes are a pain to deal with and tools are limited BUT you can still do what you need to in rhino with a bunch of stl's. there is a set of mesh tools in there. bring them all in and do a mesh boolean union on them. its hit or mis though. sometimes it fails.

Thanks jimc,

Even when say using the one program like rhino 5, I insert objects and move them all into position, just haven't yet found the mesh Boolean union thingamajig your talking about.

An old brain grasping new concepts...the stupid things I do

Steve

ahhh well the boolean commands are the heart of rhino and many cad programs. that is how you join, split and subtract from solid objects. in rhino the boolean union command looks like two spheres half stuck together. click that in the menu and the rest of the booleans should be there. in the mesh drop down menu there will be the same set off booleans but mesh specific. try to not work with meshes. rhino is a nurbs modeler not mesh.

Jimc,

Thanks again, had been wondering what those two spheres were for :confused:

Shall be playing around with Rhino a bit more tonight, that is after I managed to kick my daughter off my PC, her argument being yours is better for my homework.
Well last time I went to school an interactive website was not part of the curriculum.

Steve

Blender is so much simpler, and its free.

Select both objects, boolean, union. Done. Creates perfectly hollow structures of joined objects.

Thank you to everyone for their input / assistance.

Shall be giving it a fair tryout after this weekend as have quite a few files with objects in them that I just need to join up.

Going to be a long week between working fulltime, family committments and somewhere in that mix some me time.

Steve

well the issue is that they are all done in different applications. not sure why something is made using all those different software programs but that doesn't help you out so you need to be able to go into all these different applications and discover a typical file type that they all will trade and study.