Ungroup/Explode with Round Faces

Mistro11

Is there a way to separate objects within a group without exploding? Or how do I explode a round object without it turning into many faces? For example I made curves for various profiles to use with the follow me tool. The initial curves were nice and smooth with one face per curve. I made it a group/component. But once I explode the object for editing, I get lots of faces and edges. I'm trying to keep my poly count down.

Gaieus

Hi Mistro,

The poly count is the same - no matter if it is a smooth, welded curve or face or segmented. The problem is probably with the Follow me tool which unfortunately explodes the curves of a profile you are using for the extrusion.

What exactly do you want to accomplish however? I do not follow you exactly...

You can edit a group by double clicking on it - no need to explode.

Mistro11

@gaieus said:

Hi Mistro,

The poly count is the same - no matter if it is a smooth, welded curve or face or segmented. The problem is probably with the Follow me tool which unfortunately explodes the curves of a profile you are using for the extrusion.

What exactly do you want to accomplish however? I do not follow you exactly...

You can edit a group by double clicking on it - no need to explode.

Thanks for the explanation. I'm still learning how to manage my elements when modeling. As I began to type my explanation of your last questions, I figured out what I was not doing. I downloaded a rivet component that was a component within a huge component box and was trying to get the rivet out of the annoyingly huge box. In my tired state I didn't think to explode the first box to get to the rivet. For some reason I thought I had to explode the rivet (modeling too many hours).

The follow me tool would not explode my curves when I use it fresh; it's when I try to continue using it after the initial operation. I experienced this when I was installing crown moldings which would not follow all the way around the room in one shot.(complex ceiling) I tried using the existing profile at the end of the extrude and that's where the curves exploded on the new segments. I was just wondering why that happens and was concerned about poly count.

TIG

You can edit a component or group by double-clicking it.
Think of these as mini-SKPs with the Model.
They are 'containers' fro entities - just as the SKP file itself 'contains' editable objects...
When you edit one you are in that container's 'context', not the model's.

To copy something - like your 'rivet' - that's 'inside' something else, you do this...

Edit the 'container'.
Select the thing[s] to be copied.
Menu > Edit > Copy.
The selection is now duplicated on your 'clipboard'.
Exit that edit session.
Now, either in the model itself or in another container's edit session, use Menu > Edit > PasteInPlace to reproduce the selected things[s] in this new context.
You could 'Make Group' of them at this point to avoid geometry clashes.
An alternative would be Menu > Edit > Paste and then the thing[s] appear on your cursor and you can choose where to place them.

Also note that as well as Edit>Copy...PasteInPlace/Paste methods there are also Edit>Cut...PasteInPlace/Paste methods where the selected things are cut from their current context and are then available to put into another context... If you are cutting 'raw-geometry' I recommend you Select > Group > Cut - because you might cut an edge that was required by a non-selected face, and that face will then delete as it needs all of its edges intact, BUT if you use 'Group' on it first SUp is smart enough to spot this - and it then moves all unconnected geometry into the new group BUT duplicates any edges that are still needed by non-grouped faces etc... You then 'cut' the new Group without affecting unselected objects.

Gaieus

@mistro11 said:

The follow me tool would not explode my curves when I use it fresh; it's when I try to continue using it after the initial operation. I experienced this when I was installing crown moldings which would not follow all the way around the room in one shot.(complex ceiling) I tried using the existing profile at the end of the extrude and that's where the curves exploded on the new segments. I was just wondering why that happens and was concerned about poly count.

Yes, that's it. The curve of the profile gets exploded during the Follow me operation and when you want to use it for another extrusion, it already leaves those edges unsoftened. Just like with an easy example: draw a circle > right click > Explode - and now use the PushPull tool to extrude it to a cylinder. See the same thing.

If you select all these edges (just triple click on the geometry - or single click on a component/group) then right click y soften edges, a dialog pops up. There move the slider a little bit to the right to see your edges softened again. You can also see (and edit) these softened edges (and the facets in between) if you turn on hidden geometry under the View menu.