#777 Allow to cut holes in general shapes

[mirakels]

It would be nice if objects like box, cylinder, triangle or the custom made shapes would have a flag to allow cutting holes in them by othere objects. E.g. to create a custom rised floor using a base box or custom shape and letting a staircase cut a hole in it

[Emmanuel Puybaret]

It's already possible for staircases in floors and doors/windows in walls. Please read Guide for SVG Path cut-outs.
But I don't think it will happen soon for the other kind of objects. If you need a boolean modeler, see Art of Illusion.

[mirakels]

The thing I wanted to do was create a special shaped floor with sloped edges using the generate 3D shape editor. But becasue it is not a real floor object, staircases will not cut holes through them,
The guide for SVG paths does not help with that I think.

[Steven Hartley]

Now, unless the Gent is talking about taking a Rubics Cube model - punching a hole into it - and inserting a dagger model (which would be redesigning a whole new model), why couldn't a standard hole punch be made?

For house designs (in ceilings, floors, and walls), couldn't this simply be a design of a DOOR or WINDOW in the preset design shapes the gent suggested? If you had a series of Window Frames - at both 0 degree and 90 degree elevations - they could punch holes in floors & ceilings (like Sky lights do now), and walls (like doors & Windows).... Couldn't they? You just need to fool the program into seeing these hole punches as an object they already recognize... A Window, for instance...

I have the same problem with hatchway entrances in ceilings - trap doors to attics, etc... The ceiling is laid in and the trap door vanishes... On both the 2d Blue Print and the 3d walk through perspective.

I have also had a problem with staircases cutting holes in floors where you do not want a hole... For instance - you have a staircase which doubles back on itself - (you start up the stairs heading north and then turns 180 degrees to reach the top of the stairs facing south) - and the staircase punches a hole in the upstairs floor on both sides of the staircase - even though only one half of the staircase requires the opening. That is alot of waisted floor space taken up by a gaping hole, over the lower landing of the stairs - 12 feet below the upstairs floor....

Couldn't the stairs design be altered slightly to only cut holes over the area required: say only over the sections which require a clearance? Maybe have a setting switch which allows for the end user to set the head clearance requirement (say 8ft as a default)....

Or better yet - design the stairs in multiple sections. One going up to the landing at 4 feet. This would be recognized as a furniture object and not a staircase. And then the second section can be added, with a four foot elevation, to extend the stairs from the landing and up through the floor... This would be recognized as a staircase object: punching the hole through the floor. Plus, in that way - the sections can be scaled seperately: to better fit the individual design need...

I have been floating throw rugs over the hole, and changing the color to blend with the rest of the floor, for now - but there must be some kind of fix.... This solution just makes me want to throw real rugs over real gaping holes in my real floors - for my Mother-N-Law's visits...

And as long as we are the subject of Staircases - When will we see 3d perspective - assending the staircase - views? We are giving a 3d movie of the house we designed - but can't take the stairs up to the 2nd floor... Whats up with that? I have actually design houses with Star Trek transporters to get from the ground floor to the 2nd floor - to explain why we just suddenly appear upstairs in the movie....

This does not seem that dificult to do... All you need is the stairs to change the 3d characters view point elevation as you proceed up the stairscase. Yes, either of these suggestions would require future models of stairs to be a little more sufiscated than an armchair model... But that is called progress...