Cutting a mesh

[charglerode]

I was reading an aircraft tutorials on lwg3d about modeling a MiG-3 in Lightwave. I noticed that the instructor would draw a 2D spline-like object using the "pen" tool. From here, he used another tool called "drill" that would cut through his mesh in the shape of the spline he had just created.

Now, my question is this. Is there a tool similar to the "drill" in Cinema 4D that allow me to cut through a mesh in the shape of a 2D spline already created? Or, perhaps an alternate method of cutting a complex shape into a mesh?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

-Chris

[roshent]

Not sure what you mean with cutting with a spline, but Cinema has just as most others packages a 'boolean' tool. You can use that to cut in several ways a hole in a created object using another object.
Be aware though that cinema has also the same problems as most packages with boolean, it creates a havoc of polygons to show you your resulting mesh.

[giant551]

I could be wrong because ive never used LW but the method you are discribing i think only works on nurbs surfaces. In XSI its the trim surface command which allows you to cut shapes out of a surface using a curve, really cool:) have a look through the help for surface trimming i recon you'll find something:)

[zarroun]

one thing you could try is projecting a spline onto the mesh. I can show you where the function is if you can't find it. But that wont give you a drilled hole in your mesh. I've been looking for a way to do that as well, haven't found anything yet though. C4Ds booleans are pretty solid though, but clean up work is still necessairy.

[kiwi123]

Drill is basically a 2d boolean. You can therefore achieve the same effect if you extrude your shape and use it for a 3d boolean. Not as quick, but similar.

[zarroun]

Ture, that works just as well. The spline projection is very hand though for matching the topography of your mesh.

[kiwi123]

Yeah, I use drill all the time, and almost never use boolean. But if you don't have it...