3D studio max help...
 

ok so I'm trying to creat a line between two vertices. But I only seem to be able to create a line first off on a vertice that has a box around it... The vertices I want to create a line betwen don't have a box around them.. Is there something I'm missing here??

:crazy:

ok all.. figured out the vertices bit.. but now it won't render.. so I've got these two parallel plates and have ajoined the vertices between them..

sorry, i dont really understand what you are trying to do, could you draw a pic or take a screen shot of your scene and post it?

http://home.iprimus.com.au/goldenouro/helmet.jpg

So yeah anyways, I've made this face plate.. first of all I couldn't get the lines to work from the vertices.. but worked around that by using the create line instead of the subobject create line option in the modify list.

So I've got this.. box helmet and I was goin to test it out to see if it renders or not.. it doesn't just a blank screen.. it don't even activeshade.. argh.. I dunno.. : / About to give up..

http://home.iprimus.com.au/goldenouro/helmetmesh.jpg

And when ever I convert it to mesh/poly or patch it turns to this.. stumps me... 8/

are you trying to model the head or just a flat face type mask?
i have never really liked modeling with splines, i find that starting with a box and cutting is the best way to get what you want.

http://www.enriconencini.com/tutorials/part1/index.htm this is a spline modeling tutorial, read through it and see if any of it applys to what you are trying to do.
with the spline also, i think that you have to deselect create new line which is above the spline creations and use snap as well, but I have never modeled with splines so i may be of little help to you.

hope this helps

Thanks Hans, I will take a look and post the end result if it ever gets there :)

And it's gonna be a helmet with some photoshop editing :D

making a helmet will be mostly the same procedures as making a head, here is a head tutorial which I found very usefull.

http://www.secondreality.ch/

look under the tutorials section and it is the subdivision head modeling. The best part about subdivision modeling is that you can really see the progression and this makes the task less frustrating.
www.3dtotal.com also has many tutorials under the free stuff heading.
hope this helps!

Its hard to tell what you are doing based on your screens & descriptions. Is the spline cage one object, or a bunch of individual splines? Do you have the surface modifier applied? Do all of the polys have 3 or 4 sides?

In all honesty for what it seems you are trying to do a simple extrusion would be much easier and faster.