How to make an arch for a bridge!

[KDR264]

Hey, as the title suggests, I am trying to make an Arch-Brdge, I have a screen shot below, and I am having some trouble with a couple areas:

1) whats the best way to go about making the "spokes" for the bridge
2) whats the best way to fill in the gap between the circle and the actual blocks?

I looked up a few videos here and there and for the most part they show beginning and end stages without really showing if there are any tricks to get the perfect fit, etc.

Any help would be super appreciated.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1647389883

[Tryst49]

Your best bet is to hit creative mode and run a few tests. It's the only way to really learn how to do things properly. Others can tell you and make video's to show you but, unless you take the time to learn all the calculations and little tricks yourself, all you can do is copy. You may even pick up a little trick nobody else has found yet and become a building legend in the game because of it.

The first tip I will give is that there is no Structural Integrity in the game at present so you can build a straight line from flat ground to flat ground over a ravine without it falling apart due to lack of support.

[Avanar]

there you reach a point which separates the beginner from the advanced :)

that building arches is possible at all in this game is awesome!

ok, so first of all you need to work with beams, not blocks. you need to spawn them in the texture you desire, either via command console or via the plugin Planks and Beams.

so, once you have the proper textured beam, you should size the beam accordingly. I suggest for the beginning to use the size command (size 1 1 1) to have it in the same dimensions as a regular block.

then you need to measure the distance between your both ends and the height you want to achieve. also here i suggest for the beginning to make it easy, not too complicated.

the standard setting for rotation is 15 degrees - keep it that way for now! (if you want to change it in the future it is setr xx)

ok, then when you know the proper height you want to start your arch at, attach the beam to the beginning, click the right control key to hold it in place.

then use right ctrl key + pgup/dn or arrow keys once to rotate the beam one step (as chosen before it is 15 degrees).

once this is done, you carefully use the arrow keys to slide the beam inside the starting pillar until the left/right edge (depends on if you start on the left or right end of your arch) and the lower edge are vanishing into the pillar.

ATTENTION: sometimes this can cause a flickering as 2 different construction elements are overlapping. you could use the command sets 1 to define a really minimal step in resizing, then use right-shift-key + arrow keys to make the beam a little bit smaller than the previous. this will prevent the flickering and you won´t have a huge difference from the optical side. the next beam you attach should be done similar, just instead a step smaller, do it a step bigger.


so, once your block vanished correctly in the pillar, you should have a beam, rotated by 15 degrees and looking as if a mason would have attached it to the wall. if you are satisfied with this, click the right mouse button to do the final step and place the beam itself.

for the next beam you use the ENTER/Return key to acitvate the snap-infunction (if you used beams only you could use this also before, it just doesn´t work witha block/beam combination).

then the 2nd beam will snap into the same rotation as the previous one. Now proceed from the beginning.... right-ctrl-click, right-ctrl+pgup/dn or arrow keys, slide into the previous beam, etc.

the 2nd beam logically now has a rotation of 30 degrees, 3rd will have 45, etc. so count each beam you place and once you placed the 6th you have reached the horizontal 90 degrees. from there on you have to decide if you want to go down towards the other end of your arch or if you want to place a few more beams to widen the arch.


sorry for the detailled explanation but this is how i found it working. it takes some efforts to learn it but once you understood how it works also more complex things will work.

[Avanar]

Here is an example :

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1646689644

[Lyanna Dreth]

Avanar, thank you for that very detailed description of how it works... I have done this in the past but forgotten exactly how I did it...!!! Now I know :) Excellent explanation.

[Avanar]

Originally posted by Lyandreth:

Avanar, thank you for that very detailed description of how it works... I have done this in the past but forgotten exactly how I did it...!!! Now I know :) Excellent explanation.

Glad it is understandable and helpful. Building arches without a tool to measure radius, distance, etc is really not easy.
I hope red51 will give us such a tool one day

[Lyanna Dreth]

Originally posted by Avanar:

Originally posted by Lyandreth:

Avanar, thank you for that very detailed description of how it works... I have done this in the past but forgotten exactly how I did it...!!! Now I know :) Excellent explanation.

Glad it is understandable and helpful. Building arches without a tool to measure radius, distance, etc is really not easy.
I hope red51 will give us such a tool one day

Agreed!!! Thanks again for the helpful tips :)

[Tryst49]

Originally posted by Avanar:

Originally posted by Lyandreth:

Avanar, thank you for that very detailed description of how it works... I have done this in the past but forgotten exactly how I did it...!!! Now I know :) Excellent explanation.

Glad it is understandable and helpful. Building arches without a tool to measure radius, distance, etc is really not easy.
I hope red51 will give us such a tool one day

That's why I normally use blocks to measure out a distance. A line of blocks and then another block on top at 2, 5 or 10 intervals, depending on the distance I am measuring. Makes it easier to find centre points etc.

You can destroy the blocks when you finish but while they are there, you can also use them as anchor points for constructing the final build from the centre outward in each direction, ie: The apex of an arch.

[Avanar]

Yes, that can be helpful.