Weld

From K-3D

Description

Eliminates points with duplicate 3D coordinates

Plugin Status:	Stable
Categories:	All Plugins, Stable Plugins, Mesh Plugins

Metadata

Name	Value

Properties

Label	Description	Type	Script Name
Input Mesh	Input mesh	k3d::mesh*	input_mesh
Output Mesh	Output mesh	k3d::mesh*	output_mesh
Distance	Maximum distance between points	k3d::double_t	distance

Notes

If you "join" two surfaces by merging them together into a single mesh (such as joining two halves of a symmetric object), you typically want them to become a single surface, not just two surfaces that happen to be next to each other in space. This has a big impact on rendering, particularly when rendering your model as a subdivision surface. The Weld modifier joins two-or-more surfaces by discarding any "overlapping" points, and "stitching together" the adjacent polygon edges.

Two halves of a cylinder joined with MergeMesh render as two separate subdivision surfaces.

After applying Weld, the two halves have been joined into a single surface that renders as expected.

Usage

• Apply Weld to a mesh that needs to have boundaries joined.
• Adjust the Distance property so that Weld can correctly distinguish overlapping points.

Tips & Tricks

See the Symmetric Modeling Tutorial for a detailed example of where to use Weld.