Polygon Creator for Autodesk 3ds Max
version 1.2

Create splines
With this script you can easily create smooth polygonal surfaces. First you need four shapes. You can draw splines or NURBS curves too. Create panel > Shapes > Splines > Line Create panel > Shapes > NURBS Curves > Point Curve or CV Curve The shapes must be opened. The direction of the splines doesn't matter, but the endpoints must be in the same coordinate.

Pick up the shapes

Next, on the "utilities" panel click on the "Pick 4 splines" button, and now you can select four shapes. The order doesn't matter. In case that you have selected a wrong shape, just click on the "Pick 4 shapes" button again. After you have picked up all the shapes, the polygonal surface is created automatically with the default settings. Now the "Polygon Creator" rollout has opened, and you can see some subrollouts in it. Also you can see the "Accept" and the "Cancel" button. If you don't want to change anything, click on the "Accept" button.

Change the parameters of the polygon
Open the "Segments Settings" rollout. Here you can change the width and the length segments from 2 to 100. Click the "}" checkbutton, to set the segments together. The shape selected first will be the width of the polygon.

Follow normals
Normally the width splines follow the normals of the length splines, and the length splines follow the normals of the width splines. Sometimes it's better to switch off the "follow normal mode". You can do this separately with both sides. To understand the "follow normal mode", see the pictures below. Don't forget: The firstly selected spline will be the width side of the surface!
With follow normal	Without follow normal
In this case it's better to NOT use the follow normal mode.
But usually it's better to use the follow normal mode.
With follow normal	Without follow normal
It's your choice wich mode you use.

Open the "Width Loop Position" or the "Length Loop Position" rollout. Here you can change the relative position of the edge loops in percent. Values must be between 0 and 100. By default the distance between each edges are equal. The helpers (splines and points) help you to know wich controller directs wich edge. To hide helpers, turn off the "Show Helpers" checkbox.
		The colors help you to understand the usage of this setting. You can change all the colors. The helpers automatically disappear when you close the rollout.

To set the relative position of an edge loop, press the "set" button. You can separately set the position of the first and the last point of the edge loop. To change values together, turn on the "}" checkbutton. If you want to reset the parameters, press the "Reset" button.

In the "Polygon Settings" rollout you can change the color of the polygon, and you can set threshold angle of auto smooth. If you want to flip the normals of the polygon, just click the "Flip normals" now button.

Polygon Creator Hide
		In the "Polygon Creator Hide" rollout you can hide the unwanted objects. Turn on the "Hide Poly.Crea. objects" checkbox to hide the polygons you created. To unhide these objects turn off the checkbox. To hide all other objects (splines), turn on the "Hide all other objects" checkbox.

Don't forget to press the "Accept" button, after you have set the parameters.

Options

Click the "About" button for the current version. This script automatically check for updates on startup. Create modes You can switch between the 3 and the 4 spline modes. Default values You can set default values for segments, color of polygon, and the threshold angle. After picking up shapes To create the polygon with the saved default values, turn on the first radio button. In this case you can't change anything after you have picked up the shapes. If you turn on the second radio button, you can choose, wich rollouts should open automatically after you have picked up the shapes. After creating polygon You can choose what you want to hide after creating the polygon. Polygon Creator Hide rollout Open / close the "Polygon Creator Hide" rollout. Press the "Reset all" button, for the default values.

Tipps:

To get really smooth surfaces, don't set large values for segments. Use smaller values (20-30 segments), and then add a turbosmooth modifier.

If you have any requests or questions please write to "info@heavenlypictures.hu".