BuiltWithNOF
A collection of Meta functions

At first activate the 3 panels

Object Panel
Material Panel and
Edit Panel.

Meta_start_2102

Move the 3 panels to the position shown below:
Be shure to have only pressed the buttons ‘Pt’, ‘Ln’ sn ‘Fc’ from the line above the 3 panels and the button ‘D3D’ from the view-panel of the toolbar.

Meta_start_230202

 

Now some of the functions we will use:

Primitive (from the Command menu)

Edit Panel

Knife (from the Command menu)

Move faces to a new object (Selected from the menu bar)

Clone (from the Object Panel)

Background Image

Map

 

Pressing the button Primitive from the Command panel will open the Primitive-window.

Here you can select now nine geometric figures.

Primitive_0002

Press the button with the cube-symbol and then Property

A new window will appear

Primitive_0102

Choose a new size for all axes, e.G. 20.0 for the X, 50.0 for the Y and 200.0 for the Z, set a hook to the parameter Create as new object and
close the window by pressing the x in the right upper corner.

Primitive_02

Now press Create in the Primitive-window and you will get a new object called obj2:

Primitive_03

Pressing the right mouse button and keep it pressed while moving the mouse yo can view your object from several sides:

Primitive_040202

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With the Edit Panel you can move, scale and rotate objects.

Example for MOVE

Meta_edit_01_move     Meta_edit_02_move02

If you press the left Y-button, hold it and move the mouse to the right, the object will go upwords.

Meta_edit_03_move

 

Example for SCALE

Meta_edit_01_zoom     Meta_edit_02_zoom02

If you press the middle Y-button, hold it and move the mouse to the right, the object will be scaled bigger in the Y-direction.

Meta_edit_03_zoom

Using the circle with the 2 squares in it you will scale the object in all directions. This way you can easily change the size of the whole airplane (if you have selected all objects).

Meta_edit_04_zoom

Meta_edit_05_zoom

Meta_edit_06_zoom

 

Example for ROTATE:

Meta_edit_01_rot   Meta_edit_02_rot

If you press the right Y-button, hold it and move the mouse to the right, the object will be rotated in the Y-direction:

Meta_edit_03_rot

At this point you should practise these functions to get familiar with them!

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The next function is the ‘Knife’. It will be used to separate an object or to cut out an aileron or an elevator.

To show the function we first create an object by using Primitive:

Meta_functions_knife_0102

Now press the button Knife from the Command Panel and set 3 cuts, 2 vertically and one horizontally like shown on the picture below:

Meta_functions_knife_0404

Now you can select the new part using the function Rect from the Command Panel:

Meta_functions_knife_0503

The selected faces you can move to an new object: choose Selected from the menu bar and then Move faces to a new object.

Meta_functions_knife_0603

Now you got an obj2. If you make this object invisible by removing the eye-symbol in front of the obj-name, your obj1 looks like that:

Meta_functions_knife_07

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Create a Primitive, e. G. obj1. Choose the function Clone from the Object-Panel and set the properties like shown below:

Clone_01

If you now click OK you will get an obj2 at the same position as obj1. Mark obj2, select the object and you can move it where you want:

Clone_02

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Sometimes it makes sense to use the Background Image:

BackGroundImage_01

1   Press the Img-Button; the Set Background Image window will appear.
2   Press Load from this window. You will get another window.
3   Choose the desired picture. The pulldown-menu below the file name shows you the supported files.
4   Press Open to select the file and close the window.
5   Press OK in the Set Background Image window

If you have pressed the GDI-button from the View panel of the menu bar, you will see the background-picture like shown below:

BackGroundImage_02

If you press the BkImg-button from the Command panel, you can move the background-image to the right position. Using the mouse-wheel you can zoom the image.

BackGroundImage_03

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The painting of an object is called Mapping. To do this you need a  texture. For AFP/D you should use a square 24-Bit-Bitmap (bmp) with a size of either
64 x 64, 128 x 128, 256 x 256, 512 x 512 or 1024 x 1024 Pixel.
Please notice:
To use 1024 x 1024 you have to change the setting from the standard MetasequioaLE R2.1 (Configuration / Preview / Max resolution of texture)!

At first create a Primitive like shown below:

Meta_Map_01

Then create a new material. By doublecliccking mat1 you will get a new window, where you can give a name to the material and assign the bmp-file.

Meta_Map_0202

A click on Show will show you how the Deproni.bmp looks.

Meta_Map_03

Leave the preview with Close and close the Material Property window with OK.
Press the F1-key to get the side view.
Select the obj1 and choose Selected / set material to faces.

Meta_Map_04

Be shure that obj1 (Object Panel) and Deproni (Material Panel) are highlighted!
The result will be this:

Meta_Map_05

It seems that we have to trim something! If you press Map and set the hook for the parameter Realtime in the Mapping window you will see this:

Meta_Map_06

Press Property from the Mapping window and a new window will appear: the Mapping Property. After a little trying with size and Angle we can see the texture correctly, but too small.

Meta_Map_0702

After setting the Size to 100.0 and confirming with Apply you can move the texture to the desired position.

Meta_Map_08

Press Shift / F1 to get the side view from the right side. Once more you dont’t see what you expected!

Meta_Map_09

Now you know, that you have to paint each side of the object for itself!
Unselect all.
Press Select from the Mapping window and select the faces you want to change

Meta_Map_10

Set Angle/Head to -90 and apply. Now you can move the writing Deproni to the place you want to. Think of changing from Select to Move in the Mapping window befor moving the mouse!

Meta_Map_11

Unselect all.
Press the F2-key to get the top view.

Meta_Map_12

We will leave this side unchanged.

Press Shift/F2 to get the bottom view.

Meta_Map_13

That does not look like Depron-foam!
Select all faces (hold the shift key pressed down while selecting the faces with the left mouse button). Set Angle to Head=90.0 and Pich=90.0.
Select Move from the Mapping window and move the texture like shown at the picture below.

Meta_Map_14

Press  the F3-key to get the front view. Set the Size to 45.0 instead of 100.0 to get a well-fitting writing. Angle has to be 0.0 for Head, Pich and Bank.

Meta_Map_15

Pres Shift/F3 to get the rear view. Select all faces you can see and move the texture until you see the blue square in the midlle of the rear view.

Meta_Map_16

To paint the whole area with blue you must set the Size to 300.0.

Meta_Map_17

Unselect all.

Now rotate the object to see what can be done with only one bitmap with one writing Deproni!

Meta_Map_18

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