This tool is rather experimental, since there are many parameters deciding about its success.
But when you follow some regulations for the selection in the mesh,
the results give a rather useful basic construction for further editing.
So,
the tool's job is to created a basic bridge construction and a new terrain under it from a simple 3d-mesh.
Let us assume, that we have
- a 3d-mesh without any vertical faces and an intact mesh structure
- the mesh has all edges unsmooth = visible
- the mesh (besides the road) has not the street material assigned
- there is a street painted across the mesh and the street faces have the AREAL3D-street material
assigned. This area may be smoothed. Start and end of the bridge road should be visible
Now we can select a part of the mesh, where the bridge part of the street is included and some mesh areas left and right to it (2 mesh-rows or more are good...).
Press now the bridge-button in the toolbar and following (hopefully) happens:
- a menu asks for 'bridge' or 'tunnel'
after selecting 'bridge'
- the street mesh remains unchanged (geometry) and will be smoothed
- the bridge area becomes a simple 'body' under the 'road surface'
- under the bridge a new terrain with a defined depth will be created
- anchor walls close the vertical gaps
- simple railings are created, where necessary
Some 'bridge' materials will be applied to its faces for quick visualisations.
With regular meshes very often good results can be achieved.
Also a bridge crossing can be created that way.
Alternatively, a simple tunnel can be created for further modelling.
Same tool, same selection, tunnel chosen from the pop-up-menue, and a mesh will be created above the street, as well as tunnel walls inside.
As already said, this is the first basic version of the tool and will surely be improved in the future.
Note: for the bridges then, the column tool offers a row-function for the collumns,
where all generated columns adapt to terrain and bridge height! This may be usefull for quick sketches.....
