DreamDesign
Vue Explorations

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Breaking Glass

Shatter glass or break up monoliths
and pick up the pieces, too!

1 - In a New file, create two Sphere primitives.. Don't change their positions. 2 - Select the second Sphere and resize it globally to be slightly smaller than the first. 3 - Now select the first Sphere, hold the Shift key and select the second Sphere. Create a Boolean Difference. You've just made the object hollow. Name this group: Ball. 4 - Now load any irregular-shaped object. One of Vue's sample Stone objects will do nicely. Position it so that part of the stone object intersects the Ball object. 5 - Select Ball, hold the Shift key and select Stone. Create a Boolean Difference. Name this group: Broken Ball. 6 - Apply a glass material to Broken Ball. Do a quick render, and you'll see that the ball is indeed broken. Now let's find the missing piece of Broken Ball. 7 - Select Broken Ball and copy it. Now paste and name this BBCopy so you don't confuse it with the original. Move BBCopy to the side of Broken Ball so that you can see both objects clearly..  8 - Now select BBCopy and Ungroup it. After ungrouping, Ball and Stone will both be selected. Let them remain selected and create a Boolean Intersection. Name this group: Broken Piece. 9 - Now render again, and you'll see you've found the missing piece! What other uses might you find for this technique?