Is there a simple way to generate right cylinders to replace the edges of all the polygons in a creased sphere? I can use the "Vertex modeller/Create Sphere" command to generate a dome in various even-numbered geodesic frequencies, but now I'd like a skeleton framework where all the lines are replaced by thin cylinders, and all the vertices are replaced by connectors, e.g. small spheres or icosahedra.

Build it from scratch. 1st make a triangle of the parts you want. Then group the pieces together. Then duplicate the group, rotate and position accordingly. Then un-group the groups, delete the overlapping part, group all, then repeat. After you make your object, export it as a OBJ file. Then you can re-import it as a single model instead of many pieces. Using the UV editor in the vertex room, it'll be easier to assign textures to the final product. Eventually you'll get what you want, it will just take some time. :< When you do, please post your WIPs, I'd love to see how well it comes out! Hope this helps! :>

Found a bit of a method. Created a polyhedron in mesh modeller. Applied extrusion with "link polygons" unchecked. Hid those, deleted the original polyhedron, brought them back. Then a manual step; linking the centers a la the "spreaders" of a real dome. Filled all, emptied the triangles, applied "add thickness" to the remainder. Turned on Subdidivision Surfaces and selected each "spreader" with the marquee tool to crease the edges there. About twenty minutes all told. I'm noticing now that I'm rendering that the squared-off edges are a bit obvious. A little more cleverness with the extrusion tool and you could get a better cross-section going, I bet.

Very interesting solution. Why did you delete the original and then bring it back? I'd also like to see this model with the subdivision turned off just to see what the mesh looks like. Again, great idea to crack this problem. Always seems obvious after you know the answer. -Kix

A variation on the above. Add a polyhedron. Extrude with 'link polys' unchecked but put in a small minus number such as -.2. Then choose Selection>Empty Polygon. Next Extrude again, a small positive number such as .2. Subdivision produces some interesting things [small pics]. Mark

Subdivision:

Wow, really cool shapes falconperigot! I must try this for myself. Groucho

Thanks Groucho. I forgot to say Select All before the second extrusion. Mark

Nomuse, Falcon - thanks for your ideas. But I find that when I go to the vertex modeller (C2) with my polyhedron, "Construct/Extrude" is greyed out, whether I select all, crease, don't crease, or select one polygon or one edge. No command for "Unlink polygons", either. Can you show me a screen shot of your Extrude command?

Carrara TWO. That makes things more interesting! I had some luck getting the same general scheme to work using the "add thickness" command instead. I then had to manually link and fill the polygons I wanted...after that another "add thickness" created bars with a square cross-section. It wasn't as neat as it could be. It might have looked better had I the patience to fill all the rectangles before adding thickness to make beams out of them. And, yeah....I was immediately caught by some of the wonderfull shapes you get with subdivision applied. Goes right in the trick bag for ways to get unique shapes.

Yes,my method was C3. As nomuse suggests, Carrara 2 won't do an extrude on more than one poly at a time. Mark

Thanks Mark (falconperigot) for the great tip! Wow, that was fun. Steama I love this forum

Attached Link: http://peda.com/polypro/

I found a software called Polypro, which generates figures like the above for 100 or more polyhedra, including several frequencies and types of geodesic domes. It can generate right circular cylinders of varying diameters to replace the edges, and it can generate spheres of varying diameters to replace the vertices. It's a bit tricky trying to get the output into Carrara, but I think Polypro has the potential to be very useful.

I was thinking of mentioning PolyPro. But I thought you wanted to do it yourself in Carrara.