Here is another example. When several forms come together in complex relationships, integrating them is a serious problem. Some of the programs that use polygons may be faster for relatively simple jobs, but when things get complicated, they fail. MOI can deal with anything, but you have to go about it in the right way. 'Project' is a powerful tool that is probably not used much. 'Blend' and 'Network' are probably used separately, when they work best together. Use all three together and the results are really impressive.

oops i posted this before refreshing the page.......lol....this looks like i will understand......................its still not completely clear to me. i get the idea of using the different tools....i wonder if you could make a simpler example and do a screen grab with each stage instead of so many words.....my mind is more visual learning....understand your busy so just if you get a chance.

great work Sir

Neil

My words exactly! it's difficult to fully understand just through words. So small video would be great if you ever find the time.

I know that a video would be very helpful, but -- even if I had time to do this -- I don't know how. My work is in engineering, and MOI is a most important tool that I use. I marvel at what you guys do with computer graphics, and that's because I'm clueless in this area. However, if you go back and look at the pics that I posted here, and the explanations, Then Practice, I think it will all become clear. When you have two or more surfaces that don't fit together, you have to create gaps between them, that can be filled using 'Blend' and 'Network' together. So, the first step is to "Project" curves onto the surfaces. The beauty of 'Project' is that your projected curves may not be quite right. But your curve-to-project only has a few points, and After the Projection, if you move those points, the projected curve moves in accord. So you can keep playing with the curve on the Plane until the projected curve is just what you want. The most important trick that I wanted to show here is how to create a rough curve on a Plane that is at an appropriate angle to the surface to be projected onto. Sometimes you can use the orthogonal views, but often, the surface is at an odd angle and you need to set up a Plane at a corresponding angle. I gave you a picture that you should study, as this shows such a Plane and the lines that translate the curves between the surface and the plane. When I started this, I thought that I would have to reset the 'C-Plane' to the new odd-angle plane, but this is rarely necessary. MOI automatically 'Projects' perpendicular to the Plane -- except in rare cases, and if it doesn't Project, then set the 'C-Plane' and it will work. Don't forget to reset the endpoints of the projected curve before trimming the surface -- this eliminates a lot of spurious endpoints. Another reason that I posted this technique is that I hoped that someone with more experience would tell me that there is an easier way to get the same results. Nobody has come forward, so I am assuming that my method is unique. AND, if this is true, then I have to say: if you don't know how to do this, you are going to run into a multitude of complex problems that you cannot solve. IF you know how to do this, you can do anything!

Do you use more Project Mode "Direction" or "Closest Pt" ?

hi Tim,

i was wondering if you could show some images of what you mean about pulling away projected curve end points...your method has me excited to learn from your wisdom and skip the headaches you spoke about extra endpoints errors.


best Regards neil

__Pilou, I always use 'Direction'.
__Regarding endpoints: In some cases, in the orthogonal views (or if you set the 'C-Plane') you can draw a curve and use that directly to Trim a surface. That seems the easier way. However, you are then stuck with that result, or you can undo it and go back to where you were. When you project a curve, all you have is a line on the surface, which you can still modify. One modification is to 'Show Points' on that curve. Go to each endpoint, and sort of drag it (hold the mouse button down and move it a little bit). That endpoint of the curve will then Snap to the intersection of the surface(s). Ideally, when it Snaps to the intersection, you will see "End, Int". If you wiggle around here and you see "End", and then "Int", then "End, Int", that means that there is not a clean intersection there. When I used to Trim surfaces directly, as I said at the beginning, I often had these multiple, not coincident, intersections. Then, when you select a point here later, which do you want, "End", "Int", or "End, Int"? If you look down at the coordinates, you often see that as it jumps between "End" and "Int", there will be a difference, maybe only 0.001, but that's enough to cause you trouble. If you project a curve and reset the endpoints, you eliminate these errors. As I said before, I think these are due to rounding off calculations. When you set the endpoints of a curve by Snapping to the intersection of the surface, there is no rounding off (or maybe it would be more correct to say that all the possible points are rounded to the same number).
__Another advantage of Projecting a curve (rather than trimming it directly), is that you can look at it from different angles and see if that is really what you want. If it's not, you can move the points on the original curve, on the plane, and the projected curve will follow it. This is a great advantage. The only time this doesn't work is if you project onto a cylinder, or something, where there are two sides and the projection produces two curves. In that case, moving the points on the plane, after the projection, won't work. I guess manipulating two curves at once is too difficult. But please just project a curve onto a surface and then move the points on the plane and watch what happens. BTW, you want to keep the point count as low as possible on the curve-to-project. Four or five points is usually enough, and then you can adjust those points and keep the curve fair. If you show points on the projected curve, it might have 50 points! It needs that many to keep the curve on the surface. You can't manipulate a bunch of points without making a mess. So what you are doing in effect, is moving a few points on a flat plane, and at the same time manipulating 50 points on a surface with compound curvature! It's very powerful.

thank you !!! thank you so much for taking the time to really explain that! it makes sense now....i have been trying to do on solids not surfaces and have been getting the wrap round which means no after manipulation. ....plus as you say the resulting curve has a ton of points and that is ok makes me feel better.


thank you again.....ps i would be honored if you could offer your solution to the attached images.







https://www.sinkwarehouse.com.au/products/fiona-basin-mixer-black/


the black one shows more clearly the under belly curve that transitions into the base flat neck.


best regards Neil

If you really want to take advantage of manipulating the projected curve --where the surface is a cylinder, or something that will result in two projected curves -- just copy the surface (solid) to one side, cut it in half (eliminating the back side), project and manipulate the curve until you have what you want, then move that curve back onto the original surface. Remember to set the endpoints.

after reading your last note that is exactly what i have been doing thanks again....ps i have spent more than 4 hours trying to make this tap in an intelligent way...fail after fail...with imperfect surfaces.