Hello, RudySchneider. Let me see if I followed your progression.
1) You made a default cylinder and converted it to a mesh.
2) Next you applied the "inset" command to add new geometry just to the ends.
3) Then you used the "Edit-Bridge" command on the original end caps (Normally I just deselect end caps whenever I make a cylinder but obviously this would not allow me to build geometry only at the ends) which both deleted the unwanted end caps and skinned the interior of the cylinder with very simple (non-subdivided) geometry.
One interesting note: Empirically, I found that the "inset" command can also "inset" a face OUTWARDS!
So instead of insetting a door into a frame (thus producing a smaller door), I can use the "inset" tool to frame the face I want to use for my door. In the case of the quonset hut I can produce simple exterior geometry with complex interior geometry. That would allow me to produce the appearance of the interior of an inflatable building by the simple expediency of making a single "ring" and duplicating it multiple times.
Thanks for the example. Just trying to figure out how you did what you did helps me learn so much more. I find it highly informative/useful to crib from somebody who actually
KNOWS what they're doing. Unfortunately I often go down several blind alleys before figuring out exactly what I'm doing. For instance, my first pass at duplicating your work was to use the "Shell" tool. Of course that means I had to delete the end caps (which you clearly had not done) and it also produced complex inner geometry which I did
NOT want. Finally I figured out your
uber-cryptic "inset the ends" meant actually using the "inset" command. Who knew?
Again, many thanks for the help. I actually learned a lot.