I already tried a search but I didn't find anything, if there is another identical topic just tell me or post a link. Any way I know a few poeple here use Mechanisto, and I am trying my first ship ever in it. It is a stupid looking freighter but I want to finish it. The questions I have are,
A) Can you rotate the ship/object, it is damn annoying that I accidently started building it vertical instead of horizontal.
Is there anyway to group objects?
C) Do you have any advice (on anything, even a better FREE program to use)?
When I get it slightly more finished, I may post it on the image gallery so be on the lookout for a stupid looking freighter

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You just proved signatures work.
STILL Lord Demonthenes but my other account is screwd.

You can always rotate using photoshop, or any of many other programs.

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"Many things are possible. A smaller set of things are likely." -pipeline

Quote

Originally posted by Lord_Demonthenes:
< snip>

First of all, their is a very good tutorial (url="http://"http://www.squibix.net/mech-ev/")here(/url) that shows you how to build a cool fighter step by step.

Now, to answer your questions. To rotate an entire ship, you have to put all the objects into a group, then perform a rotate transform on the group. To make a group, go to the Object menu, then into the Insert sub-menu, in there you have to choose "Group". This will create a group, you just have to drag the objects into the group. (you don't do this in the window where the wire-frame is, but in the other window, I can't recall what it's called right now, and I don't feel like starting up classic.)

Hope that answers your questions :).

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"An eye for an eye and the whole world is blind." -Gandhi

Quote

Originally posted by Lord_Demonthenes:
**I already tried a search but I didn't find anything, if there is another identical topic just tell me or post a link. Any way I know a few poeple here use Mechanisto, and I am trying my first ship ever in it. It is a stupid looking freighter but I want to finish it. The questions I have are,
A) Can you rotate the ship/object, it is damn annoying that I accidently started building it vertical instead of horizontal.
Is there anyway to group objects?
C) Do you have any advice (on anything, even a better FREE program to use)?
When I get it slightly more finished, I may post it on the image gallery so be on the lookout for a stupid looking freighter

**

Better free program? Pov-ray is good, although it is probably more complex. You code your graphics. Go to (url="http://"http://www.povray.org")http://www.povray.org(/url) .

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Why are you all looking at me like that?

Quote

Originally posted by Lord_Demonthenes:
A) Can you rotate the ship/object, it is damn annoying that I accidently started building it vertical instead of horizontal.

Yup: like mac_man said. I think you could also move the camera, which would the same effect... but I don't see why you'd want to.

Quote

Is there anyway to group objects?

Yes. In the 'objects' menu select 'insert: group', and folder-lookin thing'll appear in the objects window (the one with the red spheres). Drag the objects (spheres) you want into the folder, and that's that. You can then perform transforms on the group as if it were a plain old object itself.

Quote

C) Do you have any advice (on anything, even a better FREE program to use)?

Yeah: keep it up, and don't fall for the Pov-ray propoganda! (actually, though I couldn't make heads nor tails of pov-ray when I tried it, I'm sure it's better for some people. It just depends how yr mind works, I guess). Also, check out my tutorials. Yeah.

I actually like POV-ray, I'm pursuing a degree in computer science, so its right up my alley, but it takes too long to render! I haven't gotten past the start phase of rendering anything yet!

Maybe its cause I've only got a 300Mhz G3 card with 40Mhz bus speed :frown:.

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"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system!" -- Dan Quayle, on the concept of a manned mission to Mars
"I do not like this word 'bomb.' It is not a bomb. It is a device that is exploding." -- Jacques le Blanc, French ambassador on nuclear weapons
"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." -- Bounty Hunters Motto

How come my model has so much space between the objects? I followed the online guide exactly:

Edit: and how come my image isn't showing up? (url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/pougan7/Test_ship_pic.jpg")Here's(/url) the link.

Edit again: you have to reload the page after you get the page unavailbe message for some reason. Go figure ;).

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"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system!" -- Dan Quayle, on the concept of a manned mission to Mars
"I do not like this word 'bomb.' It is not a bomb. It is a device that is exploding." -- Jacques le Blanc, French ambassador on nuclear weapons
"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." -- Bounty Hunters Motto

(This message has been edited by Pougan (edited 09-25-2002).)

(This message has been edited by Pougan (edited 09-25-2002).)

(This message has been edited by Pougan (edited 09-25-2002).)

(This message has been edited by Pougan (edited 09-25-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by Pougan:
**I actually like POV-ray, I'm pursuing a degree in computer science, so its right up my alley, but it takes too long to render! I haven't gotten past the start phase of rendering anything yet!

Maybe its cause I've only got a 300Mhz G3 card with 40Mhz bus speed :frown:.

**

I used to use POVRay on a 266 MHz G3, and yes, it was slow, but it was better than nothing. I made a model of the proposed International Space Station, and it had something like (I can't remember the exact numbers anymore) 11,000 objects (or was it 11,000 lines? I can't remember. Must have been lines), and at a really high resolution (2048x1526), I think it took like an hour to render. I made an animation with a fighter and glows and lights and rings that the fighter flew through. It was 12 seconds long, and I think it took 15 hours or so to render on a 1GHz G4! So stick with it, render in portions, turn down reflections, and render your good images at night.

Matrix

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"Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool."

Quote

Originally posted by Pougan:
How come my model has so much space between the objects? I followed the online guide exactly..

It's hard to tell, with only that one view to look at. If you want you can download my version of the model from my site (direct download (url="http://"http://squibix.net/mech-ev/downloads/sample_ship.sit.hqx")here(/url)) and compare it; or, you could send me yr version and I'll take a quick look at it.

How does one shrink, expand, or stretch objects. Can it be done?

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SQUEEK

Menu: Transformation info
to stretch: Scale + adjustments to X Y or Z axis (same with expanding)
If you understand that it should help.
And thanks for all your other tips and ideas guys

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You just proved signatures work.
STILL Lord Demonthenes but my other account is screwd.

POV-Ray is hard , but it can do everything a 3000 dollar piece of software does.

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Eat, sleep, eat, sleep
Blödpinsel / Blood Würst
As of today, officially the greatest loser in German rowing.

<url="http://zap.to/vap">Here</url> is my website. You can download my model from there.

It is a very modest site put together in a few minutes

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"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system!" -- Dan Quayle, on the concept of a manned mission to Mars
"I do not like this word 'bomb.' It is not a bomb. It is a device that is exploding." -- Jacques le Blanc, French ambassador on nuclear weapons
"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." -- Bounty Hunters Motto

Quote

Originally posted by Pougan:
**< url="http://zap.to/vap">Here</url> is my website. You can download my model from there.

It is a very modest site put together in a few minutes

**

HTML is off. UBB uses ().

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Why are you all looking at me like that?

Quote

Originally posted by Pougan:
You can download my model from there.

Right: two things. First, I noticed that instead of tapering the whole nose group you tapered the two bits seperately; it seems to have worked, but I don't know if the two methods come out exactly the same. A little experimentation would reveal that. More importantly, you used 'orientation' instead of 'rotate' to change the angle of yr cylinders, and that's what caused the gaps. I don't know why --I don't have the math skills to ever think about using orientation--but that's what it is. I'm sure there's a way to make the model work with orientation (in this case all you'd need to do, I think, would be to 'translate' the hemisphere back (-z) 0.01) but is you're following along with my tutorial I'm afraid you'll have to use rotates.

Hope that helps!

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'Dost thou think that because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?'
(url="http://"http://squibix.net")Squibix Web(/url)

How do you make pyramids. Three or four tapers almost gets there, but it starts to pinch at the top.

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Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
--John Lehman,US secretary of the navy

Quote

Originally posted by Vast Deathmaster:
How do you make pyramids. Three or four tapers almost gets there, but it starts to pinch at the top.

The simplest way is to taper a cube, using one taper on the y axis with a value of 0. The problem with that is, the top gets a little distorted (which may be what you're alluding to with 'pinch'); but for casual use that should do fine.

If you're looking for exactness, though, you can make a pyramid out of planes. Rotate a plane 90 degrees around z, then taper it to 0 on y. Rotate it -30 degrees around x and translate it +0.5 z; then save and add that object and rotate the copies around y to fill up the four sides. A default plane should fit the bottom, if you need one.

Easy! (I know I'm often not clear in my explanations; if you want I'd be happy to send you my model pyramid. But it really is easy. I never though of pyramids before, and I just made this one in about 2 minutes.)

(spelling...)

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'Dost thou think that because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?'
(url="http://"http://squibix.net")Squibix Web(/url)

(This message has been edited by Danny (edited 10-02-2002).)

Okay, I got ride of the spaces between the objects, but now I've run into a problem with the one of the toruses for the cockpit. I did exactly what the tutorial said, and played around a while with it, but the vertical torus doesn't respond correctly to the adjustments the tutorial says to make.

(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/pougan7/Testship.sit")Here(/url) is the mechanisto file.

Thanks :).

Edit: Why won't my picture show up? I hate geocities, just go to my site zap.to/vap or vap.zap.to
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"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system!" -- Dan Quayle, on the concept of a manned mission to Mars
"I do not like this word 'bomb.' It is not a bomb. It is a device that is exploding." -- Jacques le Blanc, French ambassador on nuclear weapons
"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." -- Bounty Hunters Motto

(This message has been edited by Pougan (edited 10-02-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by Danny:
**The simplest way is to taper a cube, using one taper on the y axis with a value of 0. The problem with that is, the top gets a little distorted (which may be what you're alluding to with 'pinch'); but for casual use that should do fine.

If you're looking for exactness, though, you can make a pyramid out of planes. Rotate a plane 90 degrees around z, then taper it to 0 on y. Rotate it -30 degrees around x and translate it +0.5 z; then save and add that object and rotate the copies around y to fill up the four sides. A default plane should fit the bottom, if you need one.

Easy! (I know I'm often not clear in my explanations; if you want I'd be happy to send you my model pyramid. But it really is easy. I never though of pyramids before, and I just made this one in about 2 minutes.)

(spelling...)

**

Thanks, but I like to learn by doing.

Infact, I had a heck of a time following your directions (see, you were right! )
It turns out, I had to add a second Rotate after the first (this time in the Y/default direction) of 90.

Once I did that, everything fit.

Thank you.

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Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.
--John Lehman,US secretary of the navy

Quote

Originally posted by Vast Deathmaster:
...I like to learn by doing.

I agree entirely. But not everybody does; so I stick that in, to save em asking me for the model and wasting time waiting for me to respond. Oh wait, that doesn't work... anyways, people ask so I supply. But you're right, it's much more helpful if you can figure it out yrself. Which transitions to:

Pougan, those toruses (specially the on round the base of the cockpit glass) are so confusing anyways, I don't know if there's any way to explain them clearly. What I did to get them there in the first place was just move em around til they looked good, and that's much the best method to follow. The problem is, if you're just starting with Mechanisto it's tough to figue out what to change, and it can get frustrating if nothing you try seems to be working (I know!). In that case you can download my version of the model, and compare the two.

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'Cause I'm the type of kid that's on the positive tip; but that's because I supress my urges to slaughter you quick'
(url="http://"http://squibix.net")Squibix Web(/url)