Modeling a broadcast tower?

Support Basics & Interface
1

Hi all.
I’ve been working with Blender for a couple of years now and am making great progress, but this has never come up before. Is there a way to make something like the pic I’ve pasted here without modeling each bar. It also has to be two sided. I’ve thought about doing it with alpha channels, but I want it to have some depth to it. Is there a good way to get a “Z” pattern on a plane , and then extrude it? Thanks for any help. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/tango10/tower.jpg I’ll be using this for some towers i’m making.

2

i think an easy way would be to model one section of the tower to your satisfaction and then duplicate it (SHIFT + D) press z,x,y to lock it in movement on the plane and then move it up to the right area and set it there. do that multiple times until it is the required height and then select them all and join them (CTRL + J)

3

Right. I had planned on doing it in sections. Maybe I didn’t make my question clear enough. What I really need to know is how to model it without making a bunch of “poles” . I was wondering if there was a way of cutting the shap out of a single plane and then extruding it for depth. I don’t know if the new boleen function would work or not. I would use boleens in 3DXmax, but blender’s new boleens either don’t have the same functionality, or I just don’t know how to get the desired effect using blender’s system.

4

You could cuves:

http://members.shaw.ca/rjplus/panel10.jpg

You can then use the curve extrude and bevel depth buttons the same way you use them for text.

http://members.shaw.ca/rjplus/panel11.jpg

GreyBeard

5

http://h4x.snipanet.com/blender/index.php?act=view&file=aW5mb2JsZW5kOS5ibGVuZDEuYmxlbmQ=
this blend has a truss in it I made it as described above I have also tested the alpha tex and it worked well if its not a close up.

6

Just to add to metaltailz’s idea,

Another way to do that fast is use the “Extrude Dup” :D. Setting the amount of steps and offsets will let you do that in a flash :wink: Saves you the hassle of keep pressing shit+d yeah?

Sorry, I don’t know what you’re on about data65.

Wolf

7

Greybeard. Thanks, that is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks to everybody who replied. I appreciate your help.
data65