Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Extra credit
Leaving modifiers unapplied becomes undesirable when the object's geometry
gets too complex. Simply performing Boolean operations on cubes together may
not cause a crash, but adding Boolean operations to multiresolutioned objects and
moving them around or changing the order of their modifiers has been known to
slow down or even crash even the heartiest of systems.
Try to see how quickly Blender will slow down by making several cubes, adding
multiresolution modifiers to increase their polygon count and Boolean them together
all without pressing the
Apply
button. Add more and more multiresolution cubes
and move them around to see when performance becomes choppy. It may be
surprising how little time it takes.
With the measurements of an SD card available, any object can be turned into an SD
card holder. Why not make an SD holder key chain or an SD holder that clips to a
breast pocket? Add an SD holder to a mini mug or vase to turn decorative items
into something functional. Measure pencils and pens and create a desk organizer as
well. Locking the SD card may also be needed in some applications—an exercise left
to the reader.
Summary
Leaving modifiers in place is a technique that allows for a high degree of flexibility
that is particularly desirable for something that stands a good chance of being
customized. If someone else wanted their own SD card holder ring, it would be
trivial to resize the ring and adjust to position of the SD Holder.
Also in this chapter, Blender's tools for precise placement were employed to make
an object match real-life measurements. Blender may never be able to compete with
other CAD programs for precision, nevertheless with some careful planning and
clever manipulation, Blender is capable of extremely precise modeling.
The next chapter is a huge challenge where the tools and techniques learned so
far will be applied to making a modular multi-part toy with moving parts. The
modeling will be simple, but the result will be impressive as the ways that parts
can be joined together and designing those joints to be printable will be explored.
