Bridge

The Duplicate->Bridge command in the Model module is a flexible duplication tool that allows you to duplicate or "bridge" a polygon mesh, curve patch, or NURBS surface model between two polygon mesh, patch, or NURBS surfaces you specify. The objects you bridge must be of the same type. You can duplicate the model at each vertex, at each tagged vertex, or randomly in a specified number of times.

In addition, you can also create a model which determines the orientation of the x-axis in the resulting duplicates. This provides you with complete control over the sizes and orientations of the duplicates.

Note:

Faces cannot be used as the surfaces to bridge. You must convert the face to a polygon mesh using the Effect->Convert command in the Model module.

The Duplicate->AnimatedBridge (Motion Module) command is the animated version of this effect.

Procedure

1. Create four models:

• The model to be duplicated.
• A surface model upon which to duplicate.
• A y-direction model with the same number of points as the surface model.
• An x-direction model with the same number of points as the surface model.
  
  Note:
  The x and y direction surfaces must have the same number of points as the surface model. An easy way to ensure this is to create the x and y direction models by duplicating the surface model using the Duplicate->Immediate command. You can then reposition the copies and/or transform the control vertices of the duplicates before using the Bridge effect.

2. Choose Duplicate->Bridge. The Bridge dialogue box is displayed.
3. Set the parameters as desired.

Parameters

Positioning

The duplicated model may be positioned randomly on the surface model or located once at each vertex. If it is to be positioned randomly, you must specify the number of times to duplicate the model, and a seed number for the random number generator. Different seeds produce different patterns of duplication. If the model is to be duplicated at the surface vertices, the Tagged Points Only option determines whether the model is duplicated at each vertex of the surface or only at the tagged points of the surface.

Scaling

There are three scaling options:

• Scale to Fit Y Axis duplicates are scaled to fit between the surface model and the y-direction model. If this option is not selected, the other scaling options have no effect.
• Scale X Uniformly duplicates are scaled uniformly in the
  x-direction relative to the scaling of the duplicates in the
  y-direction.
• Scale Z Uniformly duplicates are scaled uniformly in the
  z-direction relative to the scaling of the duplicates in the
  y-direction.

Result

Determines the form of the resulting object: either one large polygon mesh with all the duplicates merged together, or a hierarchy with one node for each duplicate.

Note:

If the model being duplicated is a patch or NURBS surface, the resulting object is always a hierarchy.

Jittering

Scale, Rotate, Translate, Shape

Each of the x, y, and z components for scaling, rotation, translation, and shape may be jittered independently on each duplicate. This allows you to create a large number of duplicates that are not all identical.

Last updated 02-apr-1998