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[new3Der]

Hi, great program - I need some help getting started from point data.

I have some 3-D curves that are edges (ridges) of an object.
If I draw a segmented line, shouldn't I be able to go into "Point Edit" mode, double-click a point and then type in the coordinates I want it to have?
I can draw the line, and activate point edit mode, but double-clicking a point does nothing.
I even selected the point before double-clicking :-)

Is there a better way to construct an object from its "ridge lines"?

Think of a boat (or something similar) with prominant lines runing its length - edges of cabin and deck, water line and keel line. These edges are a series of 3-D points (x y z). I figured I could turn them into segmented curves that I could then join with cross-lines to build a mesh. Not so sure how to do that with anim8or. The tutorials seem to like free handing stuff. I want specific point locations.

Any ideas how I should procede?

[rellik420]

yea u can double click a point and then enter the coords. maybe u have the wrong selection button clicked on. i think u need the point select to be able 2 double click the point. if u have the line or face select button on then u cant select the point.

when i 1st started i used 2 use that all the time. but if u think about it no1 will notice if its like .5 off. i think unless ur doing like auto cad work,  as long as its close it will look good.

usually i only use the coords to go to 0 on y axis so when i mirror it the points will line up perfectly.

[RudySchneider]

You can select points of a straight or curved segmented line that you create using the straight- or curved-path tools, but you can't edit them, because these don't result in a mesh.  What you can do, however, is start with a simple primitive (like a box), convert it to a mesh, then add line segments coming off of that mesh (using the Add Edge tool in Point Edit mode).  You can edit the coordinates of any of those points!

[new3Der]

Line != mesh.
Only mesh points can be edited.
Wish the manual said that.
Thanks, I will try again.

[RudySchneider]

Line != mesh...

That's not exactly true.  A mesh consists of lines, but lines do not necessarily make a mesh.  For instance, when you create a box primitive, it consists of several lines, but in order to manipulate the points and/or edges, you must first convert all of these lines into a mesh.  Once you have a mesh, you can manipuliate points, edges, faces to your heart's content.

[Gyperboloid]

Line != mesh...

That's not exactly true.  A mesh consists of lines, but lines do not necessarily make a mesh.  For instance, when you create a box primitive, it consists of several lines, but in order to manipulate the points and/or edges, you must first convert all of these lines into a mesh.  Once you have a mesh, you can manipuliate points, edges, faces to your heart's content.

 
That's what he meens i think. Just with "line!=mesh" he wanted to say the same, like line of a mesh

[new3Der]

Yes, I realized lines do not a mesh make. But also primative shapes are not meshes. Build/Convert to mesh does what is necessary.

So, I started with a cube, converted it to a mesh then activated point mode. I used the add a point function to add a line of points. Those I could double-click and edit their location - relative to the cube center. If I had thought to click the "global" coordinate frame button, they would hopefully center on the display center. There is hope! Now that you all helped me figure it out, I can write some xslt to turn my xml data into a script that will set the points for me ;-).

Thanks for getting me started.