Help with modeling a mall ceiling

[gxsaurav]

I have this project to model the whole city, so far, 40% modeling is done, it's a futuristic city, i m from lucknow &amp; here we have sahara gunj &amp; i really liked the ceiling &amp; Wanted to addd it in my city mall<br><br>this is how i want it to be, sorry for the pic it was taken from my mobile phone cam<br><img src="http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5917/celiling3yx.jpg" border="0"><br><br>however i m unable to make the grid like that, there are 2 methods which i can find<br><br>1) Splines &amp; Sweep modifier<br><br>this one is easy &amp; low poly, however as u can see from a render below, it has gaps, i mean there is no glass in between the space of grids, here is the splines model<br><img src="http://img350.imageshack.us/img350/1944/top7hs.jpg" border="0"><br><br>2) 2nd one is simple using cylinders to make the grid &amp; a sphere for the glass, however it's high poly &amp; the sphere cannot be made transparent green like that in the real pic<br><br><img src="http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2778/top24mn.jpg" border="0"><br>i need help, how to make a grid like that with glass also, making the grid skeleton is not tough for me, splines will do, but how to add glass there<br>

[death]

please clear it litil more.you mean glass is transpernt or translucent.
<br />and also wich software you are using??i think sweep is in maya??.and spline is in 3ds max??.
<br />

[gxsaurav]

i want the glass to be transparent, for this i already got a SSS material from mental ray, I use 3D Max 8 SP1 &amp; it has both splines &amp; sweep in it<br><br>but the problem is modeling, how to fill that gap in between with glass (not material, but mesh) while still maintaining low poly<br><br>just how t omake that kind of grid<br>

[kippu]

just put another sphere in middle of the grid and apply the material in the splines model... it depends on the material nothing else

[gxsaurav]

that will do, i know, just adding a material in the 2nd scene will do, but that will be high poly, that the problem

[death]

<P>check this.</P>
<P><A href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CEE1XHGF" target="_blank">http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CEE1XHGF</A></P>

[gxsaurav]

ok, i just used boolen to cut the sphere, by another sphere smaller in dimension to it, gonna make a draft render tomorrow, with translucent glass

[render_man]

hey,<br>
<br>
the refernce pic u have shown is not speherical at all....but u r tryin
to model it out using a sphere..wat i cud read frm the pic was that its
a cylindrical sliced top trusses.<br>
and glass covering. <br>
<br>
so do this..<br>
<br>
*use arc splines.<br>
* then outlines it to suitable amount.(in 3ds max)<br>
*extrude it.<br>
* then create rectangles of width eqal to the outline amnt.<br>
*then align the pivit point of the rectangle with the pivit point of the arc.<br>
* then rotate holding shift key....and make copies at interval u want.<br>
* extrude the rectangles...u will get somethin close to ur reference pic.<br>
<br>
regards<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>

[gxsaurav]

gonna try what u advices renderman, the shape is indeed not a sphere but it's the same when it comes to modeling, i was making it spherical insted<br><br>but i din't get 2nd step, can u provide a rough model of what u mean plz<br>

[render_man]

aight, here u go......<br>
<br>
<br>
<a href="http://imageshack.us" target="_blank"><img src="http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5530/cg1sk.jpg" border="0"></a><br>

[gxsaurav]

hmm, seems like we both were modeling the same thing with&nbsp; different techniques, i didn't understood your way so i made this kind of grid myself, here it is, made using Splines &amp; Sweep modifier<br><br>I finaly managed to make the glass, all i did was taking a box, with height of .5 to make it thin, then, i used vertex adjustement to place the vertex at the apropriate position to make it like a glass, here are 2 renders to signyfy that<br><br><img src="http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5074/topuc3hj.jpg" border="0"><br><br>i m remodeling the mall now, with the new grid based glass roof, will show here soon, the glass in pic 2 is not shown transparent as there is no light in the scene &amp; to render fast i disabled the translucency<br><img src="http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/1497/topuc22yt.jpg" border="0"><br>