Is this shape possible?

Is it possible to make an object that would neatly fit into the red "holes" in the spherical shape in the picture? The item in the photo is six sphere prims (end-dimpled 25 points) and arranged at right angles. A single piece is off to the right for referenece
If SL had boolean subtraction, I'd be looking for the difference between this object and a solid sphere the same size.

This has been driving me crazy.

BIG thanks in advance for anyone who can help!

Possible, yes, practical, no
With XyObject you can render whatever shape you want out of individual triangles. But its really prim heavy...

*head now officially hurts*

why not make a sphere centered on the assembly that is just a hair smaller than the radius of those funky cut spheres?

Arti

Edited to add:
OHH wait I read that wrong... you want the boolean intereference of a sphere and those, gotcha. Yea even a decent CAD system would have problems rendering that because of so many compound curved surfaces... LOL Good luck!

Whatever is that shape for??

What is XyObject? Nothing in the Wiki about it: http://secondlife.com/badgeo/wakka.php?wakka=TextSearch&phrase=xyobject

Hmm, would have to try this inworld, but would a box, hollowed out (hollow shape circle), and top size 0 for both work?

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the PERFECT example of why we'll probably never have boolean geometry.

Thanks Ariel. I tried playing with that. The problem I ran into was that a circle-hollow box (topsize zero) has a conical hole as oppossed to a sperical hole.
I may be wrong, but I think the only prim that has a spherical cavity (as opposed to cylindrical) is the sphere, and I don't think it can be sliced (short of prim torture) in pieces that would fit together to make that shape.

This took all of 10 minutes to create in Maya, and then about 2 seconds to render. Booleans are completely unnecessary here. The 3 walls are simply cones, revolved just 90 degrees instead of a full 360, and the top is a simple loft between two of the edges with a guide curve placed inbetween. Simple, simple, simple.

http://forums.secondlife.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6050&stc=1

Anyway, Olypmia, I haven't tried this in SL yet, but the principle is the same (although my "simple, simple, simple" comment wouldn't necessarily apply in SL). For the walls of each piece (the easy part), use three cylinders, cut to 25% with top shrunk to zero.

The top is going to be tuff if you want it spherical. I would suggest one of the following three options:

1. Use a real sphere with an alpha texture. This will be the most natural looking, assuming this isn't gointg into a location with other alphas around, which could lead to those lovely sorting problems we all love.

2. Use a lot of individual triangles to construct the surface. This would be relatively prim heavy, but would be the most geometrically sound option.

3. Make it flat or pyramidal instead of spherical and just use 3 boxes with round holes, each cut to 50%. This is the "easy way out".

Let me know how you make out. Good luck.

for some reason...a tori comes to mind. A tori would be the solution to this puzzle...dunno how. It is just a gut reaction to looking at it. torture that tori and let us know.
ohhh and what happens when you fill out the spheres?

Yes, part of the problem is wanting the outward facing pieces spherical.
I'll copy your suggestions to a notecard and try them out. Thanks!

its a really flippin cool device made by that Xy guy.... Basically this thing creates huge prims out of rezzed triangles. Its really fun to do and watch. I dont think that Xy object would have anything to do with this problem though.

Combining three cut hollowed cones at the right angle would probably provide a neat fit. There's nothing i can think of that would make it possible to cover that construction though to align with the rounded surface.
If you don't mind the top not being a rounded surface equal to the rest of the puzzle, maybe making a construction of three cut and advanced cut (0:25) toruses (thus creating half pillars) with angles reverse to the three cones, possible topped off with a small three-sided pyramid on top (no perfect fit there) would work.

Otherwise Chosen's first option with the alpha texture on a sphere would probably be the only way to top the object, but considering the way a texture on a sphere warps, making this texture to fit would be no small accomplishment, if possible at all...

I'm sorry, i'm not in world, to make these words also make any sense primwise...

Don't apologise- I can always paste your suggestions on a notecard if I have trouble remembering them.


Thanks again to everyone who replied. I'm looking forward to playing with this some more (when I get some more time)

I have used CAD, its a HORRIBLE program to begin with.