he popular 3D software suite 3ds Max offers an extensive arsenal of versatile tools for the computer graphics professional. Furthermore, the open architecture of the software package invites third-party plug-in developers to add their input to the toolset. 3ds Max plug-ins can roughly be divided in two categories: plug-ins that add a new tool to the arsenal and plug-ins that offer an improved alternative to existing 3ds Max tools. nPower Software's Power Booleans belongs to the last category.

BRILLIANTLY SIMPLE AND SIMPLY BRILLIANT
The English mathematician George Boole (1815-1864) was responsible for a range of relatively simple algebraic formulas, incorporating logic into mathematics. His contribution to mathematics was a fine example of "brilliantly simple and simply brilliant". The so-called Boolean algebra is now widely used in computer programming languages and graphics software, offering methods of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing two or more operators. If you have ever entered an "OR" or "AND" operation between keywords in your favorite search engine, then you have used Booleans.

‘The developers at nPower Software recognized the need for an improved Boolean function in 3ds Max and created Power Booleans.’

In 3D software, Booleans are used to perform complex operations that interact between two or more 3D elements. For instance Booleans are ideal to create holes in solid geometry, by effectively subtracting one 3D object from another. The typical four available 3D Boolean operations are:

• Union - unifies two or more 3D objects into one new object.
• Intersection - leaves only the intersecting part of objects.
• Subtraction - subtracts one or more objects from another.
• Cut - cuts the intersecting outline of one object into the other.

However, the Boolean Compound Object that comes with 3ds Max has a bad reputation and has not been updated since the earliest versions of Max. The native Max Boolean function is notorious for the very skinny mesh triangles it can produce after a Boolean operation, not to mention the nasty clutter of open vertices it usually leaves behind. Such drawbacks often result in 3D objects with ugly creased edges, mangled polygons, disturbed smoothing groups and leave a mesh that is not suitable for the popular method of polygon subdivision.

A basic Boolean setup: a simple box primitive with three intersecting cylinder primitives.

POWER TO THE BOOLEANS
The developers at nPower Software recognized the need for an improved Boolean function in 3ds Max and created Power Booleans. Power Booleans comes in the shape of an alternative Max Compund Object and addresses the most important flaws of the shipping Max Boolean module:

• A higher quality mesh - less small edges, less skinny triangles.
• A more optimized mesh - fewer resulting vertices and faces.
• A cleaner mesh appearance - co-planar edges remain hidden.
• Easier and faster to use - unlimited objects per Boolean operation.

After a Power Boolean operation, every involved element is still completely adjustable. You can go back to the base level of all involved primitives, interactively adjust their parameters and view the Booleaned result in realtime. Animating the operands is no problem either, which can lead to quite remarkable effects, such as a moving spherical gap in a solid box.

But Power Booleans offers more interesting functionality, such as the Merge operator, which is essentially a union without removal of the original objects. The plug-in also comes with a built-in polygon decimation function, for convenient optimization of the resulting mesh and to avoid objects with a polygonal structure that is too dense after a Boolean operation. By simply adjusting a decimation percentage value you can determine the amount of polygon reduction. Speaking of reduction, Power Booleans optionally takes care of an automatic removal of planar edges from the Booleaned mesh, resulting in a cleaner and more convenient mesh structure.

‘Power Booleans effectively replaces the default 3ds Max Boolean tool with better and more powerful functionality.’

POWER CUTTER
Another interesting feature of Power Booleans is the Power Cutter tool. The Power Cutter enables you to conveniently cut a mesh into many solid pieces, which can be used for many applications, such as glass falling apart into fragments, but also to divide an polygon object into many intricate individual elements and assign a different material ID to each part. The Power Boolean tool itself already features options to cut and imprint with operands, but these do not form separate solid elements within the resulting mesh. In stead the Power Booleans Imprint and Cookie Cutter functions are comparable with the functionality of the native 3ds Max ShapeMerge Compund Object, but again with the pleasantly cleaner and smoother results of the Power Booleans algorithms.

The three cylinders subtracted from the box using the Quadrilateral Tesselation function.

One of the most powerful Power Booleans options is the possibility to retesselate your Booleaned mesh and turn it into a quad-polygon object. The intelligent quadrilateral tesselation algorithm makes the Power Booleans result suitable for working with poly subdivision, better known as MeshSmooth or TurboSmooth in 3ds Max. Using subdivision you can add nicely filleted edges to your otherwise unrealistically sharp-edged Boolean mesh. The "Make Quadrilaterals" option includes a percentage value to determine the level of quad-poly detail, where lower detail means generation of larger quadrilateral faces, resulting in more pronounced edge fillets after subdivision.

MeshSmooth added to achieve a nice, smoothly edged result.

THE ROUNDUP
Power Booleans is an essential addition to the toolset of 3ds Max polygon modeling aficionados, especially if you're active in the field of mechanical engineering, industrial design and similar design professions. The plug-in seamlessly integrates into the Max user interface and includes a convenient Help system in the shape of question mark buttons for each distinctive rollout of the plug-in interface. When one of these buttons is clicked, the appropriate chapter of the HTML-based manual is opened.

Concluding, Power Booleans effectively replaces the default 3ds Max Boolean tool with better and more powerful functionality.

Metin Seven

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