Hi Jeff, Ok I've attached here a model file with things set up for history editing as I described above.

This is set up with an angled cplane but only in the 3D view, the top/front/right views are still oriented with the world axis.

I made a curve and extruded it to form the sloped piece, then intersected that with the vertical plane to make the magenta intersection curve. Then I enabled history updates on that magenta curve and then hid the vertical plane to kind of get it out of the way.

So now your job is to select the base curve of the extrusion which is this one:



Then adjust those control points and while you are adjusting them watch the magenta curve in the Right-side view here:



That magenta curve will show you the section that you want to have match with your blueprint.

You can adjust the points vertically in either the 3D view or the Right-side view but if you want to move them left or right you need to make that kind of adjustment in the 3D view since it has the cplane set to the same plane of the curve - remember that extrusion base curve is set at an angle and so you don't want to go move any of its control points in the ortho views other than in the world z axis direction.


Hope this helps to get your sloped piece set up properly!

- Michael

Hi Jeff,

> Maybe I'll model some simpler/original things too to learn more basics.

I'd definitely encourage that! It's kind of a more manageable way to get a head of steam up...

- Michael

An old test of sculpting guitare :)
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2145.1

Thanks Michael. I really appreciate all the personal attention.

BTW, I think I've found a simpler way to accomplish what I want for this project. I may set the configuration that you put together so I can learn this method too.

Here's what I did. Let me know if I'm a little crazy.

1. I drew the profile curve in the plane of the cross section.

2. I extruded this curve into a trimming surface, but set the direction parallel to the armrest slope.

3. I had to extend the curve a little to trim the entire armrest area, but I can just tweak in the right view. (I learned a bit more about the extrusion command.)





Thanks for all the help. I think I can move on to the filleting/roundover step shortly.

Jeff

Hi Jeff, yeah if that gives you the right shape then that's a great way to do it!

That will maybe have a kind of different shape to the overall sloped part than the one that has the cross section at 90 degrees though.

- Michael

I agree the 90 degree slope will be different, but I think it will capture the intent of the blueprint. The surface will pass through the curve at the cross section and that's the only info we have.

Filleting looks like it may be complicated. I'll start playing around with it after all the family goes to bed tonight.

Is there a forum link regarding how to model a screw? I need to figure out how to make some to attach the neck and pickguard.

Thanks again for all the help.

Hi Jeff,

> Is there a forum link regarding how to model a screw?
> I need to figure out how to make some to attach the neck
> and pickguard.

Well, to make the base shape you can draw a side profile and use the Construct > Revolve command.

For doing threads, see this for some links:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4140.1

But one thing to keep in mind is that screw threads pretty detailed geometry, so you do not really want to model them on things that are not going to be visible, if you were to explicitly model every little tiny feature like every screw thread it will tend to create an extremely heavy model and a very large file size.

- Michael

Thanks. I understand the heavy model issue. I'm just clueless as to how to model the screw threads so I want to learn. I'll check out the post.

I should work on the filleting issue first anyway. It seems to be a common issue for guitar modeling.

Hi Jeff,
So now that you have drawn the curve from that angled perspective for reverse engineering, you could try to switch to that cplane and view the curve from that particular angle, to see if you could recognize it as something other than arbitrary.. For instance, it may be very close to some radius value! Then you could make a determination that it "IS" truley a radius, and just draw that...

For added information...

Hello Burr,

I did look at is from the side view (basically what you are saying). I just rotated the 3D view until I could see the curve from the side.

It was an interesting revelation. It's pretty much as I thought the build process would go. It looks like it was either cut off or sanded flat then blended into the top and the bottom edge softened. I guess I could model it the same. cut it off with a plane and then ease the edges.

Thanks for your comments and insights.

Jeff