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• Detach: Removes the selected subobject from the current object and saves it as its own Body Object. Edges also are not welded.

• Merge: Combines the other object with the current selection, making one element.

• Project: Projects the curve of a single face onto the other object along the face's normal, creating new edges.

• 3-D Cut: Creates new edges on the current object by tracing the overlapping volume of the picked object.

• View Cut: Cuts into the current Body Object using a projected profile from the picked object. If the Cut Selected Only option is enabled, then the cut affects only the selected subobject.

Figure 28.3 shows a cube Body Object that has been cut using the 3-D Cut and View Cut methods. For the 3-D Cut option, the torus object was used and then moved to reveal the remaining circle where the torus overlapped the cube. The View Cut option projected the edges from the cylinder onto the cube.

Using the Join Bodies and Body Cutter features

If two or more objects are selected, you can use the Join Bodies button found in the Body Objects subcategory of the Create panel to convert the objects into Body Objects and combine them. Within the Conversion Parameters rollout, you can select how the objects are combined. The options including weld only the edges, weld into solid, weld edges to surfaces, do nothing, intersect + merge faces, and Boolean union.

FIGURE 28.3

Body Objects can be cut using the 3-D Cut or View Cut operations.

Note

The Join Bodies button doesn't require that one of the objects is already a Body Object. •

The resulting object is a Join Bodies object type that allows you to revisit the Operands as subobjects and in the Operator Parameters rollout. If you're happy with the result, you can use the Body Objects button in the Create panel to convert the resulting object into a Body Object.

The Body Cutter works like the ProCutter tool and lets you cut away part of an overlapping volume. This begins by selecting an object; it doesn't need to be a Body Object. Then click the Body Cutter button in the Create panel. This creates a Body Cutter object and presents several rollouts of options. The Body Cutter object is a cutter, and you can choose the Pick Stocks button in the Body Cutter Parameters rollout to select the base object. You also can choose additional cutter objects with the Pick Cutters button.

Once cut, you can select which portion to display with the Cutting Options. The options include Stock Outside Cutters, Stock Inside Cutters, and Cutter Outside Stocks. Figure 28.4 shows a cylinder cut from a cube object.

FIGURE 28.4

The Body Cutter feature works like the ProCutter tool.

Setting display and rendering properties

Although Body Objects display and work in the Max world, you have control over how refined the objects are when being displayed in the viewport and when rendered. The Rendering Approximation rollout lets you define how the Body Object is treated when rendered. The simple method is to use the Draft, Good, and Production presets depending on how much time you have to wait for the rendering to finish. For each, you can get more specific in defining how the face, edges, and chords are approximated.

Many of the same values, along with three quality settings, also are available in the Viewport Display Settings rollout. These affect how the object appears within the viewports.

Exporting Body Objects

If you want to move the Body Objects back to a CAD package, you can use the File⇒Export menu and choose the ASIC format. This opens the SAT Export dialog box, shown in Figure 28.5. When exporting, you have the option of switching back to the standard CAD axis with the Z axis as up. You also need to specify the type of object being exported. It could be a simple primitive, a NURBS object, or a Mesh object.

If you are exporting an object that has modifiers applied to it, you want to use the Export Mesh Objects option and be aware that the stack will be collapsed