coloring for nets

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Robin Adair
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coloring for nets

Post by Robin Adair » Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:42 pm

I am trying to create a model of W-58, Twelfth stellation of the icosidodecahedron. When I bring up the model in Stella 4d, the star arms are in red, and the remaining pieces are yellow. The star arms look similar to poinsettias. So, I thought I would try having the pentagon form surrounding the star arms in a medium green, to simulate the greenery of the poinsettias. Then, I would like to have, at the end of each star arm, on the piece that meets the pentagon pieces, one at the left to be a spring green, with the one to the right a forest green. There are five different pieces for the model. Essentially, this would make each of three of those pieces a separate color, a shade of green. Finally, I would like to use the colors of red, beige-white, and pink on the star arms, each "poinsettia flower" having only one of the three colors. There are two different pieces for the star arms, one a left hand, and one a right hand piece. I can color the individual pieces, and this is a bit of work; but one problem is the shading for the view. Visually, the piece changes color as it is spun, so that it is unclear which of the greens the piece actually has. My feeling is that I am making a simple job difficult (maybe I missed something?). Any assistance would be appreciated! Thanks.

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robertw
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Re: coloring for nets

Post by robertw » Tue Nov 27, 2018 11:21 am

First, from the Stellation view showing W58, you should hit the left-and-down button at the top-right of that view to convert the stellation into the new base model. As a stellation, the two kinds of yellow part are actually parts of the same face, and as such must have the same colour. Converting to the new base model makes all the externally visible parts separate faces.

Then switch to the base view, rather than the stellation view, so you are looking at the base model.

To colour all faces of the same type, select one of the faces and hit Shift+C (or "Color->Set Face-Type Color" from the menu).

Make sure "Options->Maintain Reflexibility" is disabled if you don't want "same type" to include reflections.

To make faces of the same type different colours, you'll need to colour each one one at a time. You can use Colour Mode to make this quicker and easier, but you'll need to get used to the combinations of Shift/Ctrl+Left/Right mouse to make use of this.

Robin Adair
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Re: coloring for nets

Post by Robin Adair » Wed Nov 28, 2018 3:11 pm

Thanks, this is working well. I have one additional difficulty. When viewing and spinning the base view, parts of the same color appear in various tints. For example, if I were to make a piece white, it appears white only when viewed directly. It will change to various shades of gray as turned. Is there a way to turn off this shading?

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robertw
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Re: coloring for nets

Post by robertw » Thu Nov 29, 2018 1:45 am

The tinting is due to 3D lighting, like in the real world. I'm afraid there's no option at the moment to turn off lighting and just use the raw colour. I'll think about adding that in the future though.

Robin Adair
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Re: coloring for nets

Post by Robin Adair » Thu Nov 29, 2018 2:38 pm

I understand. Unfortunately, I am having another difficulty. When I print my nets, the outlines for the tabs are printing in the same color as the paper, making them invisible. I discovered this by printing one net sheet on white paper. The rest of the lines as well as the edge connection numbers are in black as desired. I assume I changed a setting somewhere, but I can't find which one.

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Re: coloring for nets

Post by ndl » Thu Nov 29, 2018 7:13 pm

Maybe you by accident selected "no tabs" in the menu? Do the tabs show up on the print preview?

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robertw
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Re: coloring for nets

Post by robertw » Fri Nov 30, 2018 5:05 am

What makes you say they're printed in the same colour as the paper, as opposed to just not being printed? Were you printing on dark grey paper at first?

It is true though that the lines for tabs are printed in a dark grey rather than black, just to give some variation. You can't change this.

You can however make the lines thicker. It's generally a good idea to print them thicker than "1" because printers are high res and a 1-pixel line is very thin on a printer. In the printing options, under "Line Widths", change "Edges" to something larger.

Robin Adair
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Re: coloring for nets

Post by Robin Adair » Fri Nov 30, 2018 5:14 pm

Thanks for bearing with me.
The print preview shows the tabs plainly. Initially, I printed on a medium green card stock paper. I couldn't see the tabs, so I printed on plain white paper. The tabs showed, but faintly, approximately the color of my card stock paper. The printer showed low ink, so I replaced the ink cartridges, and it now prints in grey on the tabs. In previous models, when printing on dark paper, I have been able to detect the tab outlines in bright light(even sunlight, if possible), and holding the paper at an angle which somehow highlights the tab printing. I have always used "1" line thickness, because I am going for the best precision I can accomplish. I wear a headset magnifier as I work, as well. However, I will change the line thickness to bring out the tabs a bit.
I appreciate the time you take to deal with me, Thanks!

Robin Adair
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Re: coloring for nets

Post by Robin Adair » Fri Nov 30, 2018 6:14 pm

Well, I printed example nets, increasing line widths up to eight. No worries decreasing precision, it only makes the lines easier to see! Never got a "fat" line. This should work nicely!

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