Q: Is there a quick way to make a smooth transition from a hexagon cylinder to a round cone. I am trying to produce a realistic looking pencil.

A: I assume you are using 3DS R4 (please next time say it clearly!)

My first idea is using boolean substractions.

There are two ways, the first is for a novice, the second is a bit more complicated.

1.Two boolean substractions:

  • Create the hexagonal cylinder and the cone. The base of the cone should be bigger than the cylinder! Create a Box that is some bigger than the cone. Put the cone with the sharp side into the box and substract it from the box. (Create/Object/Boolean)

  • Put the cylinder into the box where the hole is - Substract the box from the cylinder. You have just sharpened your pencil!

    2.One Revolution and one Boolean substraction:

  • You can create a shape in the 2D Shaper like this:

    
<--R-->

______

|     |

+     |

|    /

|   /

|__/
    The + is the Hook, R is the radius.

  • Get the shape into the Lofter, use SurfRev with Diameter=2xR to create your "sharpening tool" and use boolean substraction as described in 1 to sharpen the cylinder.

    If you happen to use MAX, read the manuals, there was a pencil somewhere...

    Addition:

    The second way is too complicated, but it gives you total control over the angle of sharpening - in the first case you would need to 2Dscale the cone until you get the form you need...

    After writing this I went home and tried it out - IT WORKED! :o)