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I would like to turn two regular spaced grids (so same amount of vertices, spaced at regular intervals) into a volume in which the top plane becomes the top of the volume and the bottom plane the bottom of the volume.

top and bottom plane

I've succesfully done this duplicating the two planes (save for later), then join the original two planes and then in edit-mode -> "Bridge faces". This would remove both planes and leave me with he outer band of the volume (see image)

outerband of the volume after bridging the faces of the planes

I then placed the outer band between the previously duplicated planes. Job done.

Outerband with the original planes

But this is a bit of a pain in the neck because i would like to do this for a lot of sets of planes. And also do this with irregular spaced planes and regular spaced planes with a different extend.

Is there a method or workaround to do this more easily?

Andy FK
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    Are the top and bottom faces exactly the same ? Have you tried the solidify modifier ? – Gorgious May 15 '20 at 14:20
  • No, they are not exactly the same. X and Y values of the vertices are the same (so vertex n of the top plane lies exactly above the vertex n of the bottom plane). But the Z values are different. The two planes are basically two different height maps. In fact, they are depth maps of a geological model. – Andy FK May 15 '20 at 18:41

2 Answers2

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Bridge Edge Loops should work here.

  1. Join both planes into one object through Object > Join, Ctrl+J
  2. Use edge selection and go Select > All by Trait > Non Manifold (to select the loops)
  3. Then Edge > Bridge Edge Loops

enter image description here

Edit:
In your case, the mesh has two forgotten edges in one of it's corners (one on each plane). Just delete them an it will work no problem. After all that you can recalculate normals so they're all pointing the right way

enter image description here

jachym michal
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First you need to make the two elements a single object. No vertices can belong to two different objects.

Using bridge edge loops doesn't work because of two sets of vertices on two different corners. Bridge edge loops works only with closed loops.

There is a lonely vertex with no faces that cannot be part of a closed loop

enter image description here

Then, there is a single quad on some other corner. Technically that quad in itself is a closed loop, so if you use bridge edge loops that is the only loop that will get new faces.

enter image description here

So you can simply ignore those (or delete them) as part of the selection at the edge and use bridge edge loops successfully.

enter image description here

If you still need faces for the elements on the corners, add faces manually.

Now as a comment of workflow used in the original question, it is still valid, but will result in duplicated edges and disconnected geometry so it is not "job done" but "almost done" to finish the job you need to use "merge vertices by distance". All vertices should be then connected as part of the same object.

yamalai
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    Good eye :). That's why using edge selection (not vertex selection) is very useful here - no problems with single vertices or quads :). Try it. – jachym michal May 16 '20 at 19:04
  • Many thanks to both of you no-can-do and @Jachym_Michal. I did not spot that lonely vertex and the single quad. Thanks for pointing them out. And thanks for the way to improve my first method, even though I will not use the bridge-face method anymore now. Good to know how things work. – Andy FK May 16 '20 at 19:32
  • To select the edges use "Select All by trait" -> "non manifold" – yamalai May 16 '20 at 19:32
  • @AndyFK Please don't add thank you as a comment, upvote the answer instead. If you feel it completely solved your problem consider marking it accepted – Duarte Farrajota Ramos May 16 '20 at 19:49