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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 6</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">New!!</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments <a href="../../../index.html">on the front page</a>!</font></p>
              
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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../../corner/index.html"><font size="-1">Thinking 
          Outside the Box</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          Low Poly Tricks, Tips &amp; Techniques</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT">&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Paul &quot;<a target="_self" href="mailto:paul@loonygames.com">Villam</a>&quot; 
          Steed</font></b></font> 
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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#0022A8" size="+1">Roundedness</font></b></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The most face-consuming 
          geometry you can make is curved, tubular objects like hoses or bars 
          or tentacles. Normally I limit the maximum cross-section to a pentagon. 
          Sometimes based on the visibility and proximity of the object you can 
          mix up the cross sections accordingly (see MIXED CROSS-SECTIONS below).</font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="images/lectur10.jpg" width="391" height="287"></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="+1" color="#0022A8">Diamonds 
          Over Squares</font></b></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">When you need 
          to make a tube-like shape such as an engine nozzle or cable, a pentagon 
          is the optimal shape for low-poly objects. However, sometimes we need 
          to use less and a square cross-section is all we can afford. If the 
          shape is supposed to be rounded make it a diamond shape instead of a 
          square. The reasoning for this may be debatable, but it's been my experience 
          that if the top edge of a supposedly round object is blatantly flat 
          as in the case of a square. With an edge at the top it seems just that 
          much closer to being round.</font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="images/lectur12.jpg" width="398" height="253"></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="+1" color="#0022A8">Mixed 
          Cross-Sections</font></b></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is a technique 
          where a shape is not constrained by the same cross-section or lofting 
          shape in it's length. This works especially well with darker or smaller 
          objects or when a cross-section is very noticeable in the design and 
          needs to look rounded.</font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="images/lectur15.jpg" width="393" height="212"></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font size="+1" color="#0022A8">Splitting 
          the Difference</font></b></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sometimes you'll 
          get an edge which needs to be represented by a more traingular shape 
          than a rectangular shape. A quick and easy way to accomplish this with 
          accuracy is to 'split the difference. Basically you simply take an edge, 
          divide it and merge the end vertices to that point. You could just merge 
          the vertices and move them but then that'd be more work now, wouldn't 
          it?</font></p>
        <p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="images/lectur16.jpg" width="371" height="273"></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A corollary 
          to STD I use in <b>3D Studio Max</b> is to just select the two vertices 
          making up the line being divided and uniformly scale them to a point, 
          and then click 'select' under the vertex merge command.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT">&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="LEFT">&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">(<a href="index5.php" target="">Continued 
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      <p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> </font></i><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
        Thinking Outside the Box logo illustrated and is &copy; 1998 Dan Zalkus. 
        Thinking Outside the Box is &copy; 1998 Paul Steed. All other content 
        is &copy; 1998 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
        productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so 
        don't even try it. We've got really big guns, and we're ripped, baby.</font></i></p>
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