Trapezoids, Triangles and Arches

Hello all. Just got wind of this game the other day, signed up for beta and have been hopelessly drawn into after 2 evenings I have done some modeling and a little scripting before so I managed to get a house started. My only problems are that I need some triangular panels and some arches but have no idea how to make them. I have successfully created see thru rectangular panels for my walls as I am up on a mountain. I guess what I am asking is if there is a way to make trapezoidal or triangular panels and also if one can take a cylinder, stretch it and then make an arch out of that. One last question; if I wanted to make a rectangular wall panel can I cut out windows in that panel? Or do I need to make the objects to "frame in" a window and then link them together? Sorry this got so long, and any help would be very much appreciated.
P.S. are there any good "how to" sites on creating objects?

trap and triangular can both be made out of boxes. just adjust the top x and y sizes. i believe it is the option under the pull down menu on the right side of the properties panel in the build menu.

Thank you Nada Will try it tomorrow, can't wait, like a kid with a new toy...

Currently, because there's no way to subtract primitives, you'll have to create windows with multiple prims or with a texture with transparencies - the first is more expensive, the latter more complicated.

You can...

Change the hollow shape for a primitive. You can cut circles, squares, and I think triangles out of shapes. It's sort of a like a centered subtraction that you can enlarge/shrink.

As a generic technique, the combination of hollow shape/cutaway often gives you the same effect as a regular subtraction. Not always, but more than you'd think if you push 'n pull it some.

Arches...take a cube, flatten, hollow with circle shape, use cutaways on both sides. You will be left with the upper half of the cube/panel with a half circle cut into it. If you just want a plain old arch arch, take a cylinder, hollow it, flatten it, use the cutaways again, now you can make the golden arches. You can also use a tori with cutaways (no hollow required) for an arch without sharp edges.

Window transparencies aren't hard...take a cube, flatten, apply blue plasma (or whatever), 70 percent trans. Set in frame. Bam window. Use two windowpanes in their own frames if you'd like to script open and close action.

Triangle shapes for filling in those roof bits are never easy. When it's too wide for the top size options (almost always the case), you can do it with 3-4 pieces, a couple of different ways depending on the situation. Basically, a triangle on the left point, another on the right, another on the top, and a regular square panel to fill in the middle/bottom.

Good luck