Using Splines for Boolean Cuts
 
Cleaning Up Our Mesh
Page 3
 

Cleanup is optional but I personally strive to make what I call tight and efficient meshes

Convert the Boolean to an editable mesh, then go to Point sub-object mode. You can see the all of the new points that were made. Some we want to keep and others we want to get rid of. You can also see that there are 29 vertices selected so I know I have 7 to remove.
 
Unhide the cookie cutter then zoom in on the seam. Turn off See-Through under the cylinders properties. Turn on Ignore Backfacing, Set your Snap for Vertex and 3d. Also set your weld radius to 0.001'. Select one of the nonessential points and drag it over and snap it to one that we want to keep. Usually the one nearest is best in my opinion.
 

Now select both of these points and weld them. Work your way completely around the seam and eliminate any point that is not right on an edge of either the cutter or the cylinder.

Why don't I use Target Weld? Simply because it doesn't always work for me, and this does.
 
When you have completed the point clean up it should look something like this.
 

Now lets organize some edges. Again, this is completely optional but I feel this greatly helps with making the door smooth with the rest of the cylinder.

Go to Edge sub-object mode. Select the edges in the door.

 
Make them visible by clicking on the Visible button.
 
Deselect them and zoom in on the top group of edges in the left viewport. Click on the Turn button and start selecting edges to turn. As you click on it, it will jump to connect to another point. Start with the short semi- vertical edges and get them going horizontally as the cylinder mainly runs in that direction. Work your way towards the bottom. When you are done, you should have a sort of zigzag pattern with alternating parallel and diagonal edges. I like to go back in and hide the diagonal edges... makes it look much less cluttered and easier to work with. As you add more cuts, you will need to also consider the edges in between the cuts and handle them in a like manner.
 
As you can see in this final image, the door is virtually invisible. Once you have made all of the cuts and done all of the cleanup work on the cylinder, you can detach and animate as you like or in the case of windows, apply a transparent material.
7/24/05